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

instance, imagine a left-facing vertical edge in front of your face. The best use of this hold would often be to grab it with your right hand (thumb down) and pull outward to the right. This is the classic Gaston move, and this shoulder-wrenching move requires targeted training. In addition to training the Gaston position while bouldering or on a System Wall, it’s imperative that you engage in the antagonist-muscle training described in chapter 6. The Gaston position places the shoulder joint at risk of subluxation; only through regular push-muscle training will you be able to fortify your shoulder joints and lower injury risk.
     
    Arm Positions and Movements

     
    1. Down pull.
     

     
    2. Undercling.
     

     
    3. Side pull.
     

     
    4. Reverse side pull.
     

     
    5. Mantle.
     

MANTLE
     
    Mantling is the exact opposite of down pulling: Your arm begins in a bent position near your torso and then pushes downward. An ordinary life use of mantling is the simple act of pushing yourself out of water at the edge of a swimming pull—both hands contact the edge of the pool palms-downward as they push down from near your chest to below your waist. In climbing, the mantle move is significantly more difficult since there’s no water to provide the lightening effect of buoyancy. Furthermore, it is rare in climbing to come upon a large, flat surface on which to mantle (except at the top of a boulder problem). Instead you will often need to mantle with your fingertips on a shallow edge or pocket, and in extreme cases even press down with only your thumb resting on the top edge of a hold. Regardless of the amount of finger or hand contact with the rock, however, the mantle arm position requires targeted training if you are to become a master of throwdowns!

Finger and Forearm Training
     
    The following pages on finger and forearm training will likely be the most referred to in this entire book. This is completely understandable given that many failed attempts on a boulder problem or climb are accompanied by pumped forearm muscles. Of course, the intelligent climber will always analyze whether failure was actually the result of an underlying problem in sequencing, technique and tactics, or mental control. This is a crucial distinction that all climbers must consider in evaluating their performance and training-for-climbing focus. This being said, more finger strength and forearm endurance certainly can’t hurt—and if you are looking to increase your capabilities in these areas, well, you’ve come to the right place!
    Before we move on to the exercise details, I must proclaim the number one rule in finger training: Don’t get injured! While this rule is presumably self-evident, a surprising number of enthusiastic climbers get injured by training too much or in attempting advanced exercises for which they are not ready. You can best reduce your risk of injury by employing a prudent approach to finger training and by following these basic guidelines.
    • Always perform a progressive warm-up that gradually builds from easy full-body activity to difficult, sport-specific exercises.
    • Make a conscious effort to avoid the most painful and stressful holds (such as sharp, small-radius edges and pockets that feel tweaky).
    • Eliminate redundancy by using a few different exercises each session. Don’t just train for an hour on a single apparatus (such as the fingerboard or campus board) or keep attempting the same heinous boulder problem over and over again.
    • Immediately stop training at the first sign you may be injuring yourself. Break for a few minutes—or days—to assess the cause of the pang and severity of the potential injury.
    • Rest more than you think you need to—your muscles and precious digits will thank you! Consider three or four days of aggregate training and climbing per week to be the limit. Any more than this tempts injury and certainly doesn’t allow enough recovery time to maximally benefit from your training.
     

Maximum-Strength Exercises
     
    According to the principle of specificity, efficacy of training to improve grip strength for climbing is proportionate to how well it targets the neuromuscular system in ways similar to its use in climbing. For example, squeezing a tennis ball or rubber doughnut works some of the same muscles used in gripping a climbing handhold; however, the muscle force, hand and finger positions, and energy system used are very different. Therefore, squeezing a