Workout 1: Complete both the Climbing and the Weight workouts described below:
Climbing Workout (4x4):
One of my favorites and most painful of the PE workouts. Pick 4 problems that you can do pretty easily and do the 4 problems back to back with no rest in between. Upon completion of the 4 problems rest for 2 minutes and repeat the same 4 problems. Do this for 4 rounds. It will take some practice to get the ‘right’ 4 problems. You want to be able to at least get through the first 2 rounds (3 is optimal) without falling off any problems.
The nice thing with 4x4’s is that you can adjust your 4x4 for a specific project. Suppose you have a project with a hard boulder problem at the end, then you would make the last problem in your 4x4 the most difficult, but not so difficult that you fall off it (you want to get used to success). On the other hand, if the project has a hard opening section then eases off for a little while then gets hard and then eases off towards the top, you could do a hard problem first, an easy one second, a hard one third then an easy one to finish out on. (Note: Use some time on a tactical day to figure out good 4x4 problems).
The workout:
- Perform 1 set of 4x4s. Progression can be achieved by adding another 4x4 to the workout or making the 4x4 more difficult. If you want to have more ‘all day fitness’ then add another 4x4, if you want to redpoint a particular project then increase the difficulty.
Weight Workout:
- Burpee & pull-up combo + push-press: 15-15-10-10 for time.
- Set up a barbell with 65lbs. Perform 15 reps of 1 burpee followed by 1 pull-up followed by 1 burpee followed by 1 pull-up, etc. for 15 reps. Then immediately perform 15 push-press’s followed by 10 burpee & pull-up combos followed by 10 push-press’s. Do the entire thing for time. This is better explained visually. For footage of Mark Twight kickin’ ass in this workout here.
Workout 2: Complete both the Climbing and the Weight workouts described below:
Climbing Workout (HIT):
The HIT workout is the same as the one described in the MxS section but the number of reps has increased.
Hypergravity Isolation Training, or "HIT", refers to Eric Horst’s style of finger training. This type of HIT training adopts the weightlifting idea of performing repetitions of the same motion, but in a climbing-specific way that increases finger strength. The idea is that you set up the same type of holds on a wall so that you can climb up and down the set of holds creating a climbing specific rep structure and then add weight to achieve failure at the desired number of reps. For example, you attach 10 sets of side-by-side crimps going up the wall and then you climb up and down these holds (like a ladder) adding weight to achieve the desired number of reps before failure. You can purchase HIT strips at www.Nicros.com or you can simply find ten holds that are very similar and set them on the wall side by side.
Note: 32 reps = 16 reps each hand x 2 sets. Go through the entire list of grips to complete 1 set then start at the beginning for set 2. Rest 2-3 minutes in between each grip. Add weight in the form of a weight vest or backpack (fanny pack’s work well for this) filled with weight plates so that you fail at around the 32 rep mark. I've found keeping the skin on my fingers is somewhat tough during this workout. To help alleviate this you can tape your fingers between the 2nd and 3rd joint.
The workout:
1. 1/2 Crimp |
2. 1st 2 fingers |
3. 3rd 2 fingers |
4. Full Crimp |
5. Middle 2 |
6. Pinch |
Weight Workout:
Repeat this set four times.
- Dips holds on rings for 3 minutes. Break the 3 minutes up any way you can. Maybe do 30 second reps or 10 second reps, but complete the full 3 minutes of dipping no matter how long it takes.
- 40 finger-curls
- 2 rope climbs
Workout 3: Complete both the Climbing and the Weight workouts described below:
Climbing Workout (Circuit training):
Circuit training for PE can be done in at least two ways. One way is to perform the same workout as was done in AA phase (i.e. Interval training on a bouldering wall. Climb on the wall for 1-2 minutes then rest for 30 seconds. Complete 20 rounds). An alternative is to climb a long boulder problem (10+ moves) repeatedly with 30 second rests in between each go. If you choose to do the 1-2 minute intervals then start each round with a fairly difficult boulder problem then climb around on the wall for the remaining time.
The workout:
- Perform 20 rounds of 1-2 minutes on the wall, 30 second rest between rounds
OR
- Climb a 10 + move boulder problem 5 times with a 30 second rest in between each go, then perform a different boulder problem 5 times with a 30 second rest in between each go, then perform a different boulder problem 5 times with a 30 second rest in between each go, then perform a different boulder problem 5 times with a 30 second rest in between each go. In total, you will you will climb 4 different boulder problems 5 times each with a 30 second rest in between each go. Note: You can add a few moves into problems you already have pretty dialed to increase the number of moves.
Weight Workout:
This weight workout is intended to maintain (or not lose) some of the maximum strength gained in the MxS phase.
- Weighted-Staggered pull-ups: 4 reps - 2 minutes rest x 2 reps (increase weight) -2 minutes rest x 4 reps.
- Peter-Pan’s: Perform 3 sets of 8 reps (alternating which foot you put back on the wall each time). See MxS – Weight Workout 1 for description of Peter Pan’s
Peter Pan's:
1. Creatine Monohydrate (buy it here)
2. Beta-Alanine (buy it here)
3. Crank Forearm Fuel (buy it here)
Creatine:
The supplements I’ve discussed up to this point should be taken all the time, regardless of the climber’s training phase. Certain supplements, however, are more appropriately used only during certain training phases. I believe creatine monohydrate falls into the latter category.
Creatine: Think of your muscle cells as a car's engine, which can only run on gasoline. Your car stores gasoline in its fuel tank and, when you step on the gas, it pulls fuel from the tank and burns it, which releases the energy necessary to move the car. When your car runs out of gas, it can no longer move. We then pull oil from the ground, turn it into gasoline, and put it into the fuel tank so the car can burn it and continue running.
Analogously, your muscle cells run on something called Adenosine Tri-Phosphate (ATP), which is comprised of an adenosine molecule and three phosphate molecules.
ATP is stored in small amounts your muscle cells and it is used to power muscular contractions. Once used, ATP is reduced to Adenosine Di-Phosphate (ADP), as the energy contained in ATP is released by breaking the chemical bond between one of the Phosphate molecules, leaving only two phosphate molecules behind.
Since ATP is stored in muscles cells, it is the first place your muscles go for fuel. However, ATP runs out after a few seconds (10-30, on average) and your muscle cells must get more in order to keep working. They do this in a number of ways, including converting fat into blood sugar, and then blood sugar into ATP.
However, the muscle cell has a more efficient method of providing more ATP. It does this by converting ADP back into ATP. This is where supplementing with Creatine comes in.
Once in the body, Creatine binds to phosphate molecules, resulting in a compound called phosphocreatine. Phosphocreatine is also stored in muscle cells and ADP takes a phosphate from phosphocreatine stores and uses it to provide a third phosphate molecule that turns ADP back into ATP.
When you supplement with creatine, you increase your body's phosphocreatine stores, which in turn increases your muscle's ability to turn ADP back into ATP. The end result is more energy in your muscles for short-duration, high-intensity efforts. In the real world, this translates to more power for hard moves like bouldering or crux sections of routes.
You will hear rumors about creatine, and they're just that: rumors. I gave you this in-depth explanation of how creatine works because rumors exist where actual knowledge is absent. Creatine does not just make your muscles bigger (but they will become slightly larger as a result of you being able to "do more" when you train). It does not cause stomach cramps. It does not make your heart/liver/kidneys fail. You may gain a small amount of weight when using creatine, but that's typically associated with an increase in lean muscle mass and a slight retention of water. Both of these are great for performance.
Going back to the car analogy, creatine is like putting a bigger gas tank in your car. A bigger gas tank means you can store more gasoline, and therefore you can step on the gas more times, and for longer, before running out of fuel.
Your muscle cells can retain a certain amount of phosphocreatine, and it takes a while to max out your storage capacity. It's for this reason that it takes about a month of daily use before you get the full results of supplementing with creatine.
So how does one use creatine monohydrate? The first thing I would advise is to skip the loading phase (15-25 grams a day). I recommend this because the loading phase can cause some water retention and associated weight gain. Instead, I recommend you take 5 grams a day, every day. It takes approximately one month of daily use for your muscles to reach their full phosphocreatine saturation levels, but you will typically start noticing power gains within the first week of use.
Beta-alanine:
Beta-alanine, is a naturally occurring amino acid that is the precursor to a critically important di-peptide called carnosine. Carnosine’s primary function in muscle is to buffer hydrogen ions (H+). As H+ accumulates it increases the acidity of the surrounding tissue, called acidocis. This is thought to be the cause of the “burn” or “pump” we feel in our forearms and other muscles while climbing, and it’s thought to contribute to muscular fatigue.
Supplementation with Beta-alanine increases carnosine concentration in the muscle tissue, which in turn helps buffer the acidosis-causing H+ ions which make you pumped and fall off routes.
Beta-alanine is better known for its endurance-enhancing effects (as opposed to creatine’s strength-enhancing effects). One minor drawback to beta-alanine supplentation is that it takes about 28 days to achieve muscle saturation of beta-alanine. This means that if you want to experience the endurance enhancing effects of beta-alanine during the power endurance cycle you need to start loading 28 days before you begin training power endurance.
The loading phase consists of taking 6 grams of beta-alanine daily (divided into 3 doses of 2 gram/dose) for 28 days and then shifting to a maintenance phase of 2 grams a day.
CRANK Forearm Fuel:
In my view the two most important ingredients in ‘Forearm Fuel’ are the lactate and the citruline malate. Let’s go through these in order:
Lactate: For a better description of lactate and references, read this. In a nutshell, when we get pumped our forearms get all ‘swole up’ and they burn like the dickens. One is led to believe that the burn we feel during this process is lactic acid accumulation, but that's not entirely correct. The burn we feel is caused by accumulation of hydrogen ions, which are a byproduct of producing and breaking down ATP (remember power endurance is all about raising the anaerobic threshold and being able to recover from crossing this threshold). Lactate is actually another form of fuel used to create ATP to supply energy for muscular contractions. When the body creates ATP from lactate, it also "takes up" hydrogen ions in the process, thereby reducing the hydrogen ion concentration in the muscles (we call this "buffering"). Lowering hydrogen ion concentration reduces burn and pump. By supplementing with lactate you can increase the amount of available lactate and reduce pump and burn-causing hydrogen ion concentration, thus enabling you to try hard more often during the day.
Supplementing with Crank Forearm Fuel allows you to get at least one more good redpoint attempt during the climbing day and in the case of training it allows you to perform a higher volume of power endurance exercises at maximum intensity.
Citrulline Malate: Again, for a better description, read this. The deal here is that citrulline malate helps your forearms get rid of the ammonia produced (another thing produced when you get pumped) during anaerobic activity. Citrulline Malate works well with lactate supplementation in the whole process of recovering from crossing that anaerobic threshold. Lactate supplementation gives you more "go" and citrulline malate helps clear out the by products of the last go.
The rest of the ingredients in CRANK help with general energy production (by converting stored fat into glycogen, which is another energy supply that can be broken down into ATP), alertness, and focus.