Increasing Time Until Fatigue - Part 1

Exercise Order Matters!!!

It has been well documented that large, compound movements, involving multiple muscles over a number of joints stimulate the release of growth hormones acutely (ie dead lifts). Conversely, isolated movements, involving small muscles across a single joint (such as the bicep curl) have very little effect on growth hormone release. The practical relevance of this observation is that large compound movements performed prior to isolated movements will result in far greater growth and development of the isolated muscle; eg bicep.


In rock climbing, the number one predictor of climbing performance is time until fatigue. That is, the time taken for the forearm muscles to become fully fatigued and unable to grasp the holds. Technique, body fat percentage, age, nutritional status, anthropometric measurements etc all play factors in this equation, however, all factors the same, time until fatigue is the number one determinant.

Therefore, increasing the time until fatigue will, assuming all factors are the same, have greatest effect on your climbing ability…

Shoulder Stability: Exercises

In an article below titled "The Weight Training" I made reference to some rotator cuff exercises. If you do not have a back ground in anatomy/physiology you may not have an idea what I am actually talking about. The rotator cuffs help to stablise the shoulder by drawing the arm into the joint socket. Imbalances in these muscles may lead to impingment issues and inflammation.

The topic itself deserves a number of dedicated articles which I will write up soon. For now I have found a few videos which describe some appropriate exercises quite well. Enjoy!



The Pilates and The Stretch

As a strong advocate for core stability and it's applications in sport I recommend performing a simple pilates routine 4-6 times per week. Some yoga or stretching will also help to open up those tight muscles. I have found a number of YouTube videos to be helpful in this area and will post some links in below:

Aerobic Conditioning and Climbing

Rock climbing is not predmoninatly and aerobic based sport and as a result a high level of cardiovascular fitness is not really required. Furthermore, adding intense cardiovascular conditioning to your work outs will create another stimulus from which your body must recover. This ultimately leaves less time to actually climb, and, if you do, creates a greater chance of injury... With that being said, there are two particular situations where cardiovascular condition stands out as being important.

One, if your goal is long alpine style routes, requiring extended periods of scrambling or walking

Two, if you are in sub optimal physical condition. That is, those carrying a bit of extra body fat. If you fit into this catagory and are relatively new to rock climbing then climbing more than 3 days per week may not be an option (increased injury risk). Low to moderate level aerobic activity on your off days will help burn the extra calories required to lose the excess weight.

If you are still asking "please, can I go for a run" then some light, conversational pace exercise shouldn't hurt your training too much. Just keep these short and only a few times per week.

Happy climbing :-)

Hugh

Weight Training and Rock Climbing

When ever weight training is mentioned in climbing circles heated arguments relating to it's effectiveness erupt. Unfortunately, this is generally due to a missunderstanding of how to effectively use weight (resistance) training.

Unless your primary sport is weight training (which as a climber it is not) it should only be used as a supplement. Supplements are merely added to our normal program, they do not detract from it. Any "supplemental" program should therefore be "easy" enough for us to recover adequately after and not detract from getting as many climbing miles in as possible.

The focus then becomes on giving our body and mind a little break from the rigours of intense climbing. It gives us time to balance our those muscles that are underused (such as forearm extensors) and isolate the small stabilisors which if left unchecked may lead to injury. 

A supplemental program should therefore include:

1. Strength work of opposing muscle groups (muscles not used in climbing)
2. Stability training of major joints (wrists, shoulders, core, hips)

Keep the resistance of each exercise low and the repetitions high (15-25). This will develop the muscle to prevent injury but not damage it so that you may feel to "under-recovered" for your next climbing session.

Will post more on this soon

Happy climbing :-)

Hugh