Training for Climbing, 2nd: The Definitive Guide to Improving Your Performance (How To Climb Series)

power. You can, too, as long as you are a relatively advanced climber (solidly 5.11 or V5) with no recent history of finger, elbow, or shoulder injuries.
    Complex training involves a coupling of a high-resistance, maximum-strength exercise with a power-oriented, high-speed exercise. Research has shown that performing these two very different exercises back-to-back—and in the order of strength first, power second—produces gains in strength and power beyond those achieved by performing either exercise alone.
    Incorporating complex training into your program can be done several different ways; the key is the back-to-back coupling of a maximum-strength exercise and a power exercise (see table 7.6). To get started, you might climb a very fingery near-maximal boulder problem and then immediately do a set of One-Arm Lunges with each hand. Taking things up a notch, you could send a hard boulder problem with a ten-pound weight belt around your waist and then immediately ladder hand-over-hand up a campus board (sans weight belt). To up the ante further, you could do a Hypergravity Isolation Training set (with ten to forty pounds around the waist), then immediately perform a set of Double Dynos on the campus board (at body weight). This later strategy of combining HIT and a reactive-training exercise like campus training should be a staple technique of elite climbers, and it may represent the single best training protocol for pursuing absolute genetic potential for finger strength and upper-body power. Begin by doing just three coupled sets; increase to a maximum of six to eight coupled sets over the course of a few months. Rest for five minutes between sets.
    Obviously, complex training is an advanced technique that produces both high passive stress and high dynamic stress. It should thus be utilized only by well-conditioned climbers with no recent history of injury. Furthermore, its use should be limited to once every three or four days, and it should be cycled on and off about every two weeks. Finally, complete recovery from a complex workout could take as long as three to five days. Any other strenuous training or climbing during the supercompensation period would slow recovery and may limit the benefits of complex training.

     
    Table 7.6 Complex Training Combinations (pick one exercise from each column and perform back-to-back)
     

 
    Andy Raether on the first ascent of Gutless Wonder (5.14b), Puoux, Colorado. KEITH LADZINSKI
     

    CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    Designing Your Training Program
     
    Action without thought is a form of insanity; thought without action is a crime.
    —Albert Einstein
     
     
    For much of the twentieth century, the American climbing scene was dominated by eccentric, alternative types who, as a rule, rejected conventional styles of living and recreation. While this renegade bunch pushed the limits of difficulty and boldness on the rock, they were hardly of a mind-set that would consider doing any supplemental training (other than drinking!). In fact, the handful of individuals who did train, outside of climbing itself, were viewed with amusement and even called “cheaters” by a few traditionalists.
    This all changed in the 1980s and 1990s as climbing went mainstream. Supplemental training just seemed natural to the large number of individuals entering climbing with backgrounds in other sports. At the same time, a growing number of elite climbers trained fervently while pushing the envelope of difficulty on the rocks. Suddenly the masses of climbers “got it”—there was indeed a causal connection between sport-specific training and climbing ability! Of course, John Gill exemplified this way back in the 1950s.
    Today most serious climbers perform supplemental training, and tens of thousands of beginner and intermediate climbers are enamored of the idea of training to climb harder. Commercial climbing gyms have opened in almost every major city, and home training walls are now viewed as a necessity among serious climbers. Consequently, there is a growing need for information on how to structure a training program and effectively integrate it with indoor and outdoor climbing activities. This, of course, is the purpose of this chapter—to help you craft a safe and effective training program given your current fitness level and climbing ability.
    Before getting started, we’ll take a look at the keys to designing an effective program. You will learn the value in premeditating your workout, the