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

time, the best method of overload for you depends on your climbing preference. If bouldering is your favorite type of climbing, then you’d want to favor training that builds strength and power (and create overload by increasing resistance and speed of exercise). In training for roped climbing, however, it would be best to increase volume and decrease rest intervals to improve muscular endurance. Finally, big-wall and alpine climbers looking for greater stamina should create overload by increasing total volume of exercise.

Variation
     
    One of the most common training errors among all athletes is the failure to regularly change their training program. This principle states that the body becomes accustomed to training stimuli that are repeatedly applied in the same way. Therefore, if you go to the climbing gym and engage in the same basic routine every time, your strength and climbing gains will eventually plateau despite what feel like good workouts. Strive to vary your training by manipulating the type of overload (per above) as well as mixing up the type and order of climbs and exercises performed.
    Periodization, another form of variation, involves alternating the overall workout intensity and volume from session to session. For example, with indoor training you might alternate workouts among “high volume” (doing many moderate routes), “high intensity” (hard, powerful bouldering), and “high, high” (climbing as many hard routes as possible). You could also vary your workouts every few weeks as in the 4-3-2-1 Training Cycle described in chapter 7. Bottom line: Make the principle of variation a cornerstone of your training for climbing program and you will get uncommonly good results!

Rest
     
    The muscular adaptations discussed earlier occur between, not during, workouts. Sufficient rest and healthy lifestyle habits (including proper nutrition and adequate sleep) are fundamental to maximizing the strength gains that result from training stimuli. As a rough guideline, complete recovery (supercompensation) takes anywhere from twenty-four to seventy-two hours depending on the intensity and volume of the stimulus (see figure 5.5). For example, it might only take one day to recover from a high volume of low-intensity activity like climbing a bunch of really easy routes or just hiking, whereas it will likely take two or three days to recover completely from a high volume of high-intensity exercise, such as climbing a bunch of routes near your limit, or performing hypergravity and campus training in a single workout.

     
    Figure 5.5 Supercompensation Cycle
     

    The importance of this principle cannot be overstated, since training too often (or resting too little) will eventually lead to a decline in performance and/or injury (see figure 5.6). This is known as the overtraining syndrome, and it’s surprisingly common among serious climbers. Observe how many climbers out there are whining about their nagging injuries or complaining that they are “not getting stronger” despite their dedication to hard training. You now know why: overtraining.
    Another factor leading to overtraining or unusually long workout recovery is the mistake of placing too much training stimulus on the neuromuscular system. As shown in the Supercompensation Cycle (figure 5.5), the workout stimulus results in neuromuscular fatigue and a temporary degradation in functional ability. With adequate rest, the system regenerates to a level higher than before the workout. Interestingly, working out beyond a certain point provides no additional stimulus for growth, though it does make further inroads (muscular breakdown) from which you must recover. This is an important concept to keep in mind when performing high-intensity training. Doing twelve sets of campus training probably provides no more stimulus for growth than six sets, but by doing twelve sets you dig yourself a deeper hole from which it will take longer to recover. The same argument could be made against doing twenty sets of pull-ups or spending sixty minutes hypergravity training on a fingerboard. Summing up: In high-intensity training, less is usually more.

     
    Figure 5.6 Long-Term Training Response
     

Detraining
     
    Upon cessation of strength training (or frequent climbing), recent gains in strength begin to erode slightly in just ten to fourteen days. A more significant decrease in strength will occur in the weeks that follow if training or climbing does not resume.