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

thirty-seconds-to-three-minutes training requirement.
CLIMBING INTERVALS
     
    Climbing intervals are the gold standard for training anaerobic endurance, because the exercise routine is tremendously specific to how we have to climb on hard routes. Consider that most long boulder problems or roped routes possess a couple (or more) hard sections as well as intermittent sections of easier terrain or rest stances. Such stop-and-go climbing likely pushes you in and out of the anaerobic threshold—you get pumped and start breathing harder on the hard section, and then you recover somewhat when you reach easier moves or a rest position. Climbing intervals simulate this exact scenario by alternating one to four minutes of strenuous climbing with an equal or longer period of easy climbing or rest (1:1 to 1:2 work-to-rest ratio). This, in fact, mirrors the way serious runners (and other athletes) perform interval training—runners commonly alternate fast and slow intervals in 100-, 200-, or 400-meter increments. Interval climbing is just another one of the ways we can successfully transfer to climbing the training methodology used in other sports (though more often than not this isn’t possible). You will learn several applications of interval training in chapter 7.
THE TABATA PROTOCOL
     
    The Tabata Protocol is a highly specific method of interval training that is popular among elite speed skaters, cyclists, middle-distance runners, and swimmers; but serious climbers can benefit from this training strategy too. Developed by Dr. Izumi Tabata at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Japan, the Tabata interval is twenty seconds of high-intensity exercise followed by ten seconds of rest (a 2:1 work-to-rest ratio). This interval is repeated eight times to create four minutes of the most grueling training you can imagine.
    The Tabata Protocol differs from traditional interval training in three ways. First, the twenty-second work interval is much shorter than traditional intervals. The second difference, then, is that this shorter work interval must be performed with 100 percent exertion. Third, the rest interval is just ten seconds, which is so brief that very little recovery can occur before the next work interval begins. Research has shown this protocol to be uniquely effective in producing gains in both anaerobic and aerobic capacity (Tabata 1997), although longer rest intervals are superior for training anaerobic recovery (removal of lactic acid and other metabolic by-products). Consequently, climbers can benefit from use of both the Tabata Protocol and the traditional interval training methods described above.
    Tips for Training Muscular Endurance
     
    1. Use high-repetition exercises that allow fifteen to fifty repetitions before you approach muscular failure.
    2. Climb or traverse thirty to one hundred total hand movements on a moderately difficult route (for you) without stopping for a rest.
    3. Train or climb to the point of getting pumped, but always stop before reaching the point of muscle failure.
    4. Engage in climbing interval training comprising roughly equal-length climbing and rest periods.
    5. Notch up training overload by increasing repetitions or reducing the rest intervals (between sets), not by increasing resistance. Give the grueling Tabata Protocol a try.
    6. Cycle on and off anaerobic endurance training every two to three weeks.
     
     
    You can leverage the Tabata Protocol in several ways to enhance your climbing performance. The most obvious is to alternate twenty seconds of sprinting and ten seconds of walking for a total of eight run-walk intervals—likely the most insane four minutes of exercise you’ll ever engage in!—to increase your total anaerobic and aerobic capacity (VO 2 max). Applied to climbing-specific exercises, you could use the Tabata Protocol to train pull-muscle endurance (Lat Pull-Down Tabata) and forearm endurance (HIT Strip Tabata). However, it’s highly questionable whether it would be beneficial to utilize the Tabata Protocol with less specific free-weight exercises, as commonly done by bodybuilders and other athletes. It’s my belief that your limited reserve of mental and physical energy is better invested in climbing-specific training activities.

Stamina Training
     
    Stamina training and strength training are at opposite ends of the exercise spectrum. Therefore, you cannot optimally train for both maximum strength and maximum stamina—nor can you expect to