Different kinds of training

I'm going to start going through how I'm planning my training for One More Move 2012. It's not set in stone or anything; I'll update it as I go along to adjust for injuries, illness, fatigue or maybe a newfound weakness i need to work more on.

I thought I'd start by summing up the different types of training I will be doing. Alot of this stuff comes from Eric Hörst's climbing books and online material, and some bits and pieces are grabbed from Dave MacLeods excellent book "9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes" and also from what I've been taught during last year's climbing development programme at Klättercentret.

I'll list some typical exercises to do for each type of training, sport climbing, bouldering, and general/non-climbing.

STAMINA
I like to think of stamina as fundamental to my overall condition both on and off the wall, and also as a measurement of climbing quantity. Stamina climbing means climbing alot, as opposed to climbing hard. It makes your body and your muscles "used to" climbing and because it is low-intensity, you can focus on technique as well.

Definition	Aerobic endurance, ability to perform sustained workout at between c:a 50-80% of maximum level where muscles work in the presence of oxygen
Benefits	- Increased ability to climb longer periods, e.g. all day long and/or many days in a row - Faster recovery while resting - Modest gains in anaerobic endurance
Sport exercise	Interval training on "easy", overhanging or vertical routes, example: 8 sets x 3 minutes climbing, 1 min rest between each set, total time 32 mins
Bouldering exercise	Boulder circuit, example: climb 15 "moderate" problems (vertical/overhanging but easy holds), rest 1 min between each problem. Total time approx. 30 mins
Non-climbing exercise	Interval training ("fartlek"), example: 1 min at normal pace, 1 min at "near-max" (~80% of max) pace, repeat 10 times. Total time 20 mins

ENDURANCE
This is that kind of exercise that gives you super-pumped forearms which, at the end of each session, are screaming for oxygen. Since you have to climb at near-maximum difficulty level, it is very hard on your fingers, shoulders and elbows so don't do this type of exercise for too long periods.

Definition	Anaerobic endurance (also called "power endurance"), ability to perform short sustained bouts (around 20-40) of moves at near-maximum level where muscles work in the absence of oxygen
Benefits	- Increased lactic acid "tolerance" - Increased removal rate of lactic acid etc. - Increased ability to climb short, powerful sport routes
Sport exercise	Interval training on "near-max" (pick a route you can finish but feels hard), example: 2 sets x 6 tries, climb until top/fall, lower down and rest for the same amount of time as you climb
Bouldering exercise	Boulder circuit, example: climb 4-5 "near-max" problems (avoid weird cruxes you risk falling off from), climb each problem 5 times with 1 min rest between tries and 4 mins between each problem. Total time approx. 80 mins
Non-climbing exercise	- Pull-up intervals (3-5 pullups at start of each minute for 10-20 minutes total) - "Frenchies" (hang on best holds on hangboard, do a pullup and hang in lock-off position 5 seconds, go down, do another pullup and then lower down directly to 90 degree angle and hang 5 seconds, repeat and go down to 120 degree angle: that's 1 "frenchie", repeat 2-4 times)

POWER
I see power as a dynamic application of your strength, by that I mean how fast I can summon my strength from the moment i touch a hold until I've applied adequate force on it to be able to hold on. Useful to train this for dynamic climbing which is sometimes necessary. Have to be careful not to overuse fingers though!

Definition	The speed at which your muscles can transfer energy (roughly translated to strength x speed)
Benefits	- Increased ability to "stick" a holds dynamically - Also trains anaerobic endurance, depending on exercise
Sport exercise	Climb routes dynamically (but stick to easier routes to prevent injuries to finger joints etc) by deadpointing and dynoing between holds instead of climbing statically
Bouldering exercise	Perform dynamic moves on boulder problems, campus climb (no feet) problems
Non-climbing exercise	- Ladder climbing (without using feet) up fast and down slowly. Both left-right-left-right hands from bar to bar as well as dynoing with both arms between bars - Dynamic pullups, go down slowly and then up fast - Campus laddering on fingerboard, only for the pros (which means not me!)

STRENGTH
Increased muscle mass isn't the only factor in increased strength. It is also a matter of neural adaptations in your sensory system, resulting from repetitive stimulus. Neural adaptations account for a large proportion of early strength gains and beginner climbers rarely have to actually train strength in order to climb harder.

Definition	The force your muscles exert on holds (and other things in general)
Benefits	- Increased ability to hang onto small/bad holds without falling off - Also trains anaerobic endurance indirectly
Sport exercise	One-arm traversing, put one hand behind back and lunge sideways for next hold, then upgrade feet and repeat, reverse direction and use the other hand going back
Bouldering exercise	Climbing problems at or beyond strength limit (or by using weight belt), target one specific type of hold, should produce rapid failure
Non-climbing exercise	- Pull-ups - Deadhangs on fingerboard - Lock-offs, pull up with both hands on pull-up bar and then let one arm go and hang until failure starts to set in. Drop down using both arms before failure

Comments
I feel that stamina will be very important to train both now initially as well as during the build-up for the big climbing trip. I'll need to have great endurance in order to be able to climb continuously for 3 months outdoors during the hottest months of the year.

Regarding strength, Eric keeps pointing out how fundamental it is to train strength to increase your maximum level, but as far as I know and feel from the climbing I've done so far, I haven't had a single moment where I've thought "Damn, I'm just too weak to do this move, even if I'm fully rested". I've always failed because of fatigue and being pumped, never because a single move has been beyond my strength. I don't know if that will change soon (my old trainer Robin thinks I can easily climb 7c without having to increase my strength one bit)

I love doing power training, but I think for this year there will be no or very little finger training beyond what I get just climbing normally. So for power, I will stick to doing campus moves on big holds and on the ladder, no finger- or campusboards for me.

I'll put together a full-year schedule and post it here, I've been working on it quite a bit but have had to change it because of injuries and work load so it's taken some time to get it done. So psyched to put the last touches on it now that I have an idea on how the training year is going to look!!!