|
|
|
|
lemon_boy
Jan 9, 2007, 10:10 PM
Post #1 of 6
(1059 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Mar 12, 2002
Posts: 287
|
I am currently coming off a rest period (month of December) and plan on spending the month of January doing ARC / local aerobic endurance workouts in the gym. Several reasons for the ARC workouts are as follows:
1) I have been climbing cracks pretty exclusively for the last 6 months, and gyms don’t really have much in the way of cracks. So, I am kind of easing back into face/steep climbing. I want to keep as fit as possible for my return to crack climbing, and I like being able to take big whippers on plastic and impressing the chix.
2) Just coming off minor surgery and a month off. I have had elbow problems in the past and I am trying to avoid more in the future.
3) I did a lot of ARC training on my hangboard last year, and the results were very, very positive.
I have gone through the threads dealing with this topic, but I still don’t feel that I have come to a conclusion.
First, I will describe what I have been doing. Four days a week I have been going in and doing 2 sets of 45 minute continuous up and downclimbing. On the vertical face routes I can climb with a light pump into the 11- range. However, on the steep juggy 9’s and 10’s I can develop a pretty heavy pump, but I never feel like I am about to run out of juice.
My question is the age old, dead-horse beating question of “how much pump should I have”? This is kind of a tough one because it is pretty tough to keep a really steady-state mild-level pump in the gym, unless you do the same route over and over. Rockprodigy quoted PRC in another thread as recommending approximately 30% of max strength as being the optimal ARC load. This is probably pretty similar to the ARC workouts that I did on my hangboard last year. On the other hand, bicyclists often do very long rides in the 70% to 90% heartrate (I know, apples and oranges probably but maybe apples and pears??).
The primary goals of my ARC workout are to build capillaries, increase my local aerobic limit, and to make sure my elbow doesn’t give me problems when I start hitting it in February, and to produce more of the enzymes needed to perform better in the anaerobic zone. Also, I like the feeling of climbing aggressively with a pump as it provides a bit of mental training.
After 10 days (approximately 12 x 45 minute sessions) I feel like the workout is going pretty well, but I do feel a slight tightness in my elbow, so I wonder if I am going a little bit heavy. I think a lot of the problem stems from bending my elbows quite a bit (I swear that all of the route-settters at the cock rub must be 5 feet tall). It seems that my workout kind of fluctuates between having a light pump during a vertical route, doing a steeper route and getting a medium pump, doing a vertical route and getting back down to a mild pump….. in an oscillating fashion of sorts.
Just curious as to people’s opinions of what benefit or harm would be associated with doing this with too heavy of a pump, or with an oscillating pump. I have a couple theories, but I will add them later in the discussion. (I need to get back to work).
Looking forward to your input, thanks in advance.
|
|
|
|
|
lemon_boy
Jan 10, 2007, 6:16 PM
Post #2 of 6
(953 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Mar 12, 2002
Posts: 287
|
here pony pony. come on folks, i'm sure somebody wants to kick a dead horse. where are the prodigy, fluxus, wyoming, jto, sidepull, and others? probably out getting torn up while i'm sitting here at work. you guys are killing me!
|
|
|
|
|
alexnees
Jan 10, 2007, 6:38 PM
Post #3 of 6
(912 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Oct 24, 2003
Posts: 78
|
Hey there,
Sorry I'm no training expert and can't really help you out with your question. But I do have a question for YOU. How do you manage to do an ARC workout on a hangboard? As someone with no access to a climbing wall, this is something I'd really like to know.
|
|
|
|
|
jto
Jan 10, 2007, 7:44 PM
Post #4 of 6
(845 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 18, 2004
Posts: 272
|
I think it´s very easy to do ARCing too hard. I myself can go on and on with a light pump...that really isn´t so light. One jug for quick shake and all the pump´s gone. But a grade harder and I´m in trouble pretty soon.
So I have no straight answer really but if we look at ARCing in two points of view:
- training for technical abilities the pump should be so mild it doesn´t bother your tech drills at all.
- training for different aerobic stuff I think you can play around much more. Like fartlek drills in germany where you play around with intensity sometimes going a bit over the AnA threshold.
Pretty much like you described: altering bits in the overhangs and then get back to verts etc. This way the fast muscle cells are endurance trained too. This happens, when the slow cells run out of steam meaning in the end of the workout. For example when running it´s good to step up the pace in the end of the session to get the same benefit.
Anyway the most of the time, maybe 80-90% should be spent at the limit or a bit under it.
Maybe you can build a pyramid where you alter the intensity a bit from set to set.
An example if your AnA threshold is at 6b:
30´ @ 6a+ 80% of the time at vertical and 20% overhangs
20´ @ 6a+ 65% vertical and 35% overhangs
10´ @ 6b 50% vertical and 50% overhangs
20´ @ 6a+ 65% vertical and 35% overhangs
30´ @ 6a+ 80% vertical and 20% overhangs
Try to raise the grades bit by bit. The pyramid can end in the hardest part to get the endurance benefit for the fast cells mentioned before. After that it´s wise to do an adequate warm down of course.
Cheers.
|
|
|
|
|
lemon_boy
Jan 12, 2007, 6:00 PM
Post #5 of 6
(711 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Mar 12, 2002
Posts: 287
|
jto,
thanks for the reply. the variable intensity sounds like what i am kind of doing. one thing that i like about it is that i feel like i am building better endurance on the steep stuff. also, all of the routes that i am doing are easy enough that i can focus on different technical drills (climbing entirely one side in, then the other side in, then straight on, movement centers, straight arm pivoting, etc. i think it is going to work pretty well.
also, in reply to the question about ARC'ing with a hangboard..
i have my hangboard setup on a huge ceiling beam, and i have a pulley mounted directly behind it (similar to the hangboard setup shown in rockprodigy's article). using the pulley, i can take a lot of weight off of my body (weights tied to a rope that goes up and over the pulley to my harness). i usually do 45 minute sessions. you can break up the sessions all sorts of ways, here is one example:
(note, most people will find this absolutely mind numbing, but i kind of find it relaxing to stare at the clock while i am doing this)
first 10 minutes:
hang on jug 10 sec
rest 10 sec
hang on sloper 10 sec
rest 10 sec
hang on edge 10 sec
rest 10 sec
repeat for 10 minutes
next 10 minutes:
hang on sloper 10 sec
rest 10 sec
hang on edge 10 sec
rest 10 sec
repeat for 10 minutes
next 10 minutes
hang on sloper 10 sec
rest
repeat for 10 minutes
next 10 minutes
hang on edge 10 sec
rest 10 sec
repeat for 10 minutes
last 5 minutes
hang on jug 20 sec
rest 10 sec
repeat for 5 minutes
|
|
|
|
|
jto
Jan 12, 2007, 6:13 PM
Post #6 of 6
(694 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Sep 18, 2004
Posts: 272
|
I´ve done ARCing on a hangboard too when not doing it on the wall. I use a scale to measure how much I take off and try to make progress that way. The pause between reps though are much shorter. I usually hang between 2-15 secs and rest 1-5 secs. If you try to build capillaries you really don´t need to do any static work, same as running etc. Of course hangboard ARCing does nothing for my technique but it´s good for basic endurance. It can also be used for AE training.
|
|
|
|
|
|
