This is the second part of a twelve-part training series written exclusively for Redpoint Nutrition by professional climber, Certified Personal Trainer and Nationally Accredited US Climbing Coach, Brandi Proffitt. Please visit the list of topics in the Women's Climbing Series and the date's they'll be posted here. Don't want to miss out on future posts? Send us an email and let us know you'd like to be added to the Women's Climbing Series email list. We'll ping you everytime a new post is added!
I have worked with climbers for years, and many begin by telling me that they need to improve their endurance. Endurance is one of those things that seems to take forever to build, and then feels so easy to lose. I've written this article to give you some basics on tracking and training endurance.
Begin by devising a system to record everything you do in a workout; the more information you can track, the better you will be at setting realistic training goals, planning future sessions and understanding your results. Below are 4 aspects of training that you can begin to record and then modify in your sessions; with each is an example of a way you can use that training element to improve your endurance.
1. Overall # of moves in a given workout: Begin by tracking the number of hand moves you complete in a climbing session, including your warm-ups, as well as the rest intervals between climbs. Try increasing your # of moves by 10% each workout for a period of 2 weeks, then begin to modify other aspects of your training. Note that the process of counting moves in a workout will help to improve your route-reading skills.
2. Rest period between routes/problems: after your warm-up, spend the next hour climbing with minimal rest between routes/problems - even if you don't increase the overall number of moves in a workout, you will be training your body to recover more efficiently.
3. Difficulty of movement: select a range of difficulty that is challenging for you (e.g. 5.11, or V2-V4), but in which you can still get completion. Look at the number of routes/problems in this range that you normally complete and increase it by 1-2 routes per session for 2 weeks.
4. Style of movement: many women tell me that they are not strong at steep, powerful climbing. While working endurance, it's important that you don't focus solely on the angles and styles of routes that you are already comfortable climbing. Include at least 3 routes/circuits/problems per workout that you consider to be "out of your style." It's ok if those routes are not at the same level of difficulty as the others you're climbing in your session.
Maintain your base: by tackling the above basic aspects of endurance training you will build a strong base that you must learn to safely maintain. So often I hear that climbers have "lost their endurance" because it's bouldering season and they're training for power. While I agree that it's very difficult to maintain peak power and peak endurance for climbing at the same time, I definitely don't believe that one has to lose all endurance fitness when he/she begins to train power more specifically. Even when you add more bouldering and strength work into your program, you can maintain a great deal of endurance by training by the number-of-move method once every week. And don't forget to sip some Crank before and during your endurance workouts - it really will give you the juice to increase your moves week by week.
Remember that the goal here is to improve endurance, not necessarily increase the grade at which you're climbing. That will come later when we begin to train power and focus on identifying your weaknesses in movement. For now, just work on building that base!
Please visit the Redpoint site often, and be sure to check back on Wednesday, 12/9 for Endurance Training - Part II!