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carCamper
Dec 15, 2006, 12:27 AM
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Registered: Dec 15, 2006
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I'm going on a two month road trip starting February 1 and I'm looking for help training for it. I'll mostly be bouldering (Joshua Tree, Bishop, Hueco, etc) but I might do a few short routes. My goals for the trip are to have fun and climb a lot of good problems, including some that I would consider hard.
What can I do over the next 7 weeks so that I'm climbing my best during the trip?
This is my current weekly schedule:
M 2 hours climbing - fitness training
T 45 mins cardio
W 5 hours climbing - movement and fitness training, 30 min easy cardio in the middle
Th 45 mins cardio
F 4 hours climbing - 2 hours warm up and movement training, 30 mins easy cardio, 2 hours fun/performance
Sa rest
Su 3 hours climbing for fun/performance
(I happen to have a light work schedule on Wed and Fri right now.)
The cardio is because I'm trying to lose 3-5 lbs and as active rest between climbing workouts W and F.
I'll mostly be climbing in the gym because of the weather.
My main questions are:
1) What kind of fitness training should I be doing? What should the breakdown be between anaerobic endurance, hypertrophy and recruitment? (I'm guessing I don't want to spend much time on aerobic endurance since I'm mostly bouldering, but maybe that's wrong). Should I do some or all of these each week (e.g. AE monday, hyp & recruit wed)? Or should I do one for a while and then switch (e.g. 2 weeks hyp, 2 weeks recruitment, 3 weeks AE)?
2) How is my breakdown of fitness training/movement training/performance climbing/rest?
But I'd also appreciate any other comments and suggestions.
Here are a few stats (these are indoors on soft ratings, outdoors about 1 grade less)
-I've done ~10 v6s, usually in 2-3 hours, I've done 3 v7s, usually in 2-3 days
-Usually onsight v4, sometimes v5
-CIR bouldering - 15 v4s or 8 v4s, 7 v5s
-4x4 (3 mins rest) - v4,v2,v2,v3
thanks!
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petsfed
Dec 15, 2006, 12:59 AM
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Registered: Sep 25, 2002
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Every time you actually climb, focus a lot more on doing things in as few tries as possible. Since this is a road trip, you may only have one day at a given place, so you want to be able to send things before you have to leave. So really focus on contact and campus strength so that you can always power through stuff, but mostly try as many different styles of problem as possible, and if you can't succeed in one session, don't come back to it until its completely out of your head. That may mean waiting a week between sessions on a particular problem. You'll be a happier climber on your trip if you succeed more often. Failing too often just sucks the life out of a road trip. So prepare yourself for as many different styles of climbing as possible. If you know you have a weakness (eg big moves, or thin slabs) take extra time to work on problems of that style during the next month. But still don't spend too much time on one problem. Nobody wants to be the guy who spent his entire week in JT projecting White Rastafarian.
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neoamhas
Dec 15, 2006, 2:16 AM
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Registered: May 14, 2004
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drink more beer, and remember to enjoy the climbing.
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sidepull
Dec 26, 2006, 12:37 AM
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My goals for the trip are to have fun and climb a lot of good problems, including some that I would consider hard. In reply to: This is still a pretty vague goal. It seems you want to do both volume and difficulty and it's pretty difficult to train for both, so I'd recommend being a bit more precise - are you going to climb a ton of 4's and 5's or a couple of 7's (not in JT, beware of humble pie). Whether you change your goals or not, I'd recommend scheduling your training to match your climbing and rest days on your road trip. So, basically, list out how many days you plan on climbing on your road trip and you should have a 2 week cycle of training days. Then, design training days that match the intensity and type of climbing. This will give you 3 climbing cycles and each should be progressively more difficult so that when you hit the road your body should be better adjusted for what you'll attempting. Have fun!
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rockprodigy
Dec 26, 2006, 4:06 PM
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Sidepull has given you some good advice as far as try to train how you plan to climb. The problem that I see is that you won't be able to maintain the same level over seven weeks. You could figure out if there's a specific part of the trip that you want to peak for, and train with that in mind, or you could just decide that you want to be about the same throughout the trip (along the lines of what sidepull said...climb tons of 4s and 5s, or a few 7s).
Chances are good that you will get weaker throughout the trip since climbing outdoors tends to be less intense than training indoors, but your technique will probably improve...especially the way undervalued aspect of applying movement to real rock versus man made holds.
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yuiruprup
Jan 5, 2007, 2:04 AM
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Registered: Dec 15, 2006
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During all this training you should remember that....
Climbing is fun! That is why we do it. I understand that you want to climb hard during your road trip, we all would want to climb our best. One of the most important points of a road trip is to see new places. J tree, Hueco, and Bishop are some of the greatest bouldering areas in the country. Enjoy yourself and dont get caught up in the training.
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jto
Jan 5, 2007, 8:44 AM
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I find it strange that almost every time someone asks for a training advice people point that "NO! You should have fun and forget training!". Why an earth is that so? I know a huge bunch of people who ENJOY the training aspect TOO.
Not everybody´s the same folks. Not everybody likes to chill out and smoke power-tobacco or just see new places or just climb cool routes. I totally appreciate this side and see no harm done that way.
BUT: for many people the physical stress IS the fun. Some people train a lot not just to climb and see cool new places but train to climb at their best and see cool new places. Or maybe someone doesn´t like to see cool new places at all but after a hard training season goes to the same spot every time to work those same projects over and over again and is having the time of his life!
So my point is that people should appreciate other peoples opinions on what is THE THING in climbing and not tell others how climbing should be experienced. I think this should be very normal behaviour really but not so often seen in the climbing scene.
Cheers.
(This post was edited by jto on Jan 5, 2007, 8:46 AM)
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yazey
Jan 5, 2007, 5:02 PM
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Registered: Apr 5, 2004
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I would say you need more driving practice, and hoisting beers and whiskey. If you can't handle yourself around the campfire at night, and ar the first to pass out, you will have no respect in the morning.
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angry
Jan 5, 2007, 5:19 PM
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You'll be in great shape because of the trip if you make sure to actually climb. So many people get sucked into the "Lets sit on a rock and smoke weed" aspect of long trips.
Just go on the trip and have fun. The only thing I'd caution you about is overuse. I climbed almost every day from June through August, then like 4 days a week through November. The tendonitus I developed in my left elbow as a result is unspeakable. If you feel achy, maybe it's time to go sit on a rock and smoke weed.
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valygrl
Jan 5, 2007, 5:29 PM
Post #10 of 12
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Registered: Jul 8, 2002
Posts: 247
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Road Trip Training regimen:
Running - from the Law
One-Arm Weighted Pull-ups - over the lip of the dumpster, carrying a case of expired produce.
12oz bicep curls
Stretching - to reach the remote control for the van stereo, because the mp3 disc just started playing Eminem.
Breath control - boyfriend had beans for dinner, again
....
and most important of all
......
squats.
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sidepull
Jan 5, 2007, 5:33 PM
Post #11 of 12
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Registered: Sep 11, 2001
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jto wrote: BUT: for many people the physical stress IS the fun. Some people train a lot not just to climb and see cool new places but train to climb at their best and see cool new places. Or maybe someone doesn´t like to see cool new places at all but after a hard training season goes to the same spot every time to work those same projects over and over again and is having the time of his life!
JTO - I think a lot of us agree with you. Moreover, roadtrips often provide the best motivation for training. For example, if I know I'm going to be working on a specific problem, I will try to create a duplicate of the problem on my board and add it into my circuits. When I was going to a gym I would pick problems that stressed similar moves. I really enjoyed this training because I knew that as I was getting stronger on these problems I was also getting closer to reaching my goal. Almost all of my "training" now is designed to help me climb specific problems on rock.
Also, I agree with Rockprodigy. You need to plan where you want to climb your hardest and try to peak for that place. Please note that road trip living, particularly getting the appropriate rest and nutrition is often difficult. I think a lot of people go down hill very quickly on road trips - so plan your meals and rest days and hold to them. It's tempting when you're in a place like Josh to climb every day. Bring a good book and fight the temptation.
Good luck!
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organic
Jan 6, 2007, 12:21 AM
Post #12 of 12
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Registered: Jul 16, 2003
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I think one thing people do not train for is continued endurance. unless you want to be taking 3 rest days a week I suggest that you work up to training 5-6 days a week. Try an work different muscles on different days &c. I think the most enjoyable part of roadtrips is climbing, if you have two months you will be able to work hard problems to death if you want and from all the 'scends lately it seems like Hueco is becoming a soft bouldering area and lots of things are being downgraded(get in there quick! joking). Think about taking supplements (creatine, glucosamine, multi-vitamins, vitamin I) these will help you keep your body going day after day. To avoid tendon strains and medial epicondylitis and such make sure you warm up and stretch really well when you begin pushing into 4,5 & 6 days a week.
Take a nice rest before you leave to allow your body to recover fully. Good luck.
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