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Bryan2102
May 22, 2009, 11:34 PM
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I'm relatively new to climbing- going on my 7th week, and I climb about 4 times a week, and lift 4 times a week. The tendons in my fingers don't hurt on it's own, but I noticed if I apply some pressure to them(with my fingertips) they hurt moderately. I'm about to take 3 days off - but in your opinion, is that enough? Is there anything else I can do to prevent injury?
p.s. I wasn't worried about injuries at all until I joined this forum and read about tendon injuries :(. I feel paranoid.
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domnas
May 24, 2009, 12:38 AM
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if they hurt, it's a good sign that something worse is around the corner. take heed. I hope you aren't bouldering 4x a week....on plastic....with poor technique....
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RyanW2050
May 24, 2009, 3:24 AM
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If you keep climbing 4 days a week and lifting 4 days a week, you will injure yourself. (It sounds like you may already have.) Put a rest day, or at least a cardio day, in between every lift/climbing day.
Bryan2102 wrote: The tendons in my fingers don't hurt on it's own, but I noticed if I apply some pressure to them(with my fingertips) they hurt moderately.
You're probably describing a pulley injury. search those terms on this forum and also look into "cold water treatment."
(This post was edited by RyanW2050 on May 24, 2009, 3:28 AM)
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onceahardman
May 24, 2009, 2:19 PM
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Bryan2102 wrote: I'm relatively new to climbing- going on my 7th week, and I climb about 4 times a week, and lift 4 times a week. The tendons in my fingers don't hurt on it's own, but I noticed if I apply some pressure to them(with my fingertips) they hurt moderately. I'm about to take 3 days off - but in your opinion, is that enough? Is there anything else I can do to prevent injury? p.s. I wasn't worried about injuries at all until I joined this forum and read about tendon injuries :(. I feel paranoid.
Way too much load. Way too early. Rest until pain free. Then, one day on/two days off for six months, Then you can try every other day.
One potential problem with learning on plastic is a tendency to continually overload tendons on similar types of holds, over and over again.
You don't gain muscle or tendon strength while training. You gain strength while resting between sessions.
(This post was edited by onceahardman on May 24, 2009, 2:20 PM)
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Datadep5
May 25, 2009, 4:34 PM
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That's a lot of work on your body in just one week. Might I recommend taking at least a day off, and more if you feel the need to. Also, for lifting, don't workout for more than 45 minutes, as your body stops responding to the workout. You do still burn calories and such, but you aren't getting much more out of it for your muscles.
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fxgranite
May 25, 2009, 6:00 PM
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Datadep5 wrote: Also, for lifting, don't workout for more than 45 minutes, as your body stops responding to the workout. You do still burn calories and such, but you aren't getting much more out of it for your muscles.
Really? Maybe thats true in a very specific case but I call bullshit as it stands.
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Datadep5
May 25, 2009, 8:37 PM
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fxgranite wrote: Datadep5 wrote: Also, for lifting, don't workout for more than 45 minutes, as your body stops responding to the workout. You do still burn calories and such, but you aren't getting much more out of it for your muscles. Really? Maybe thats true in a very specific case but I call bullshit as it stands.
It may be, just passing along information that was given to me . If you can find something that refutes that I'd be interested to read it.
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Bryan2102
May 26, 2009, 4:54 AM
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Thanks for all the replies guys.
I was by no means out of shape when I started working out. I was swimming and lifting quite a bit - but with swimming there's no strain on my tendons(captain obvious!). I took 2 days off and my fingers felt 100% when I went lifting/climbing today. I actually finished a couple projects I'd been working on for a couple week .
I talked to someone at the gym and they told me to stay away from crimps for a while because the tendons are 6weeks behind the muscles. Is this true?
btw. I really appreciate the advice given.
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Bryan2102
May 26, 2009, 4:56 AM
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onceahardman - the bit about using the same kinds of grips over and over again really made sense to me, and I think I'll start toproping maybe. I've been doing nothing but bouldering until now, so it's pretty obvious to me that I need to switch something up :].
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aerili
May 26, 2009, 5:19 AM
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Datadep5 wrote: fxgranite wrote: Datadep5 wrote: Also, for lifting, don't workout for more than 45 minutes, as your body stops responding to the workout. You do still burn calories and such, but you aren't getting much more out of it for your muscles. Really? Maybe thats true in a very specific case but I call bullshit as it stands. It may be, just passing along information that was given to me . If you can find something that refutes that I'd be interested to read it.
The burden of proof is on you, dork. Btw, definitely don't mention to any world class athletes that their more-than-45 minute workouts are actually hindering them. 
Bryan2102 wrote: I talked to someone at the gym and they told me to stay away from crimps for a while because the tendons are 6weeks behind the muscles. Is this true?
Crimps are harder on your pulleys, actually. Tendons are more often hurt from open hand moves.
As for "how long" tendons are "behind" muscles, you can't put a number on it. That sounds like someone pulled that out of their ass. Tendon remodelling time isn't the same for every tendon in the body and also varies depending on the kind of forces applied to the tendon (i.e. shear, compressive, etc.). Some tendons actually appear to adapt as quickly as muscles; it isn't as cut and dried as so many climbers would love to have you believe. (But if you just keep repeating bad information enough times, it eventually becomes true, right?....) Listen to onceahardman.
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squierbypetzl
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May 26, 2009, 5:26 AM
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Tendons are years behind muscle. You can build significantly stronger muscles in a couple months, but building stronger finger tendons can take a couple of years.
Getting advice is plenty easy around these parts. My 2 cents: work out or climb max. 4 times a week, with a rest day in between, preferably 2. If your muscles (not tendons or anything else) are still sore when itīs your day to climb, you wonīt get much out of the workout except an increased chance of injury.
Work your technique more than your strength, bad habits are hard to overcome. Thereīs plenty of material here on the site in that respect, and Iīd also recommend acquiring a copy of The Self Coached Climber. I had one of my older and more, shall we say, enthusiastic students read and apply the principles contained therein, and heīs gotten quite a bit more self aware, which is relected in much better overall technique (like something just clicked in his mind or something). Itīs a pretty good book, and it also deals with strength progression, so yeah, look into it.
edit for clarifikashunz
(This post was edited by squierbypetzl on May 26, 2009, 5:28 AM)
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skibum14
May 26, 2009, 1:19 PM
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onceahardman wrote: Way too much load. Way too early. Rest until pain free. Then, one day on/two days off for six months, Then you can try every other day. One potential problem with learning on plastic is a tendency to continually overload tendons on similar types of holds, over and over again. You don't gain muscle or tendon strength while training. You gain strength while resting between sessions.
(This post was edited by skibum14 on May 26, 2009, 1:20 PM)
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Bryan2102
May 27, 2009, 3:39 PM
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So, I was foolish and went climbing yesterday. I felt a slight pain in my middle finger, so I stayed away from the boulder, and just traversed around the gym for a couple hours.
I woke up the next morning and my middle finger had a slight pulsing pain. Fuck my life. Rest til pain free. Is there anything else I can actively do to help it heal faster? Cold water?
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Bryan2102
May 27, 2009, 3:40 PM
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Also, I'm really weird about taking days off...
Is it a bad idea to go lift chest/tricep today?
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aerili
May 31, 2009, 6:40 PM
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Bryan2102 wrote: Is it a bad idea to go lift chest/tricep today?
Things like push-ups shouldn't matter. You are not engaging the finger tendons. However, if it's really inflamed, gripping heavy weights (such as dumbbells and barbells or anything like that) probably isn't a good idea at this point. Back off, and try to comprehend the notion that doing more is setting you back farther and farther, regardless of your knee-jerk reactions about taking time off.
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