[Peter W]

Peter W on April 3, 2020 at 1:23 pm · in reply to: ITBS, stiffness, and working from home #40135

Thanks Scott. I’ve been struggling to sort of out the causes when there’s some many things changing right now.

Fair point on thinking about total leg/core volume not just miles run which has definitely increased as my other pre-Covid volume outside running/hiking was climbing.

I watched a bunch of Kelly’s videos on hip tightness and ITBS; all the stretching and foam rolling does seem to be making a difference. The 10min low squat test was eye opening because I used to be able to do that easily and struggled to get 3 minutes yesterday. I’m also going to ditch the asphalt as it seems to, at minimum, not be making things better.

[Peter W]

Peter W on August 15, 2018 at 10:10 am · in reply to: Walking Desk and training volume. #11173

I walk about 1hr each day commuting while wearing a backpack with lunch and climbing gym stuff. I keep a separate “recovery” column in my training log; i also put yoga and light core work into this category. I give it all a TSS of 25/hr which seems to capture the right stress effect, i.e. 3.5-4 hrs of that seems to make me equivalently tired to an hour of running at HR=140. Over the course of a week it can contribute to CTL somewhat but each session on its own is mostly restorative.

[Peter W]

Peter W on April 8, 2018 at 10:45 am · in reply to: ME Workouts #9175

JP,

My take is that most of the classic Gym Jones or crossfit style power endurance/metcon workouts tend to be too short in duration to elicit the right training response. TFTNA M.E. work seems to be most cleanly characterized as: sport specific movement with a high (perhaps higher than the actual event) muscular load that lasts long enough to have an aerobic impact. Both the sport specificity and duration are often off in these workouts when RX’d.

But I think that they can be tweaked into being very useful training means with some thought (my guess is that this is most true when the objective is more intermittent/higher intensity than Liberty ridge though). Earlier this year when an elbow injury was keeping me from climbing, my M.E. sessions were a mix of long IWT’s and intervals using bodyweight exercises. For the intervals I tended to use lunges or heavy stepups (KB swings also seem like a good idea). I found 6×30:30 w/ 2-4 min rest to be good intensity level for 1hr progressing to 90-120 min sessions over 2 months. My first few sessions of these alerted me to some calf and hip muscles I hadnt felt in a long time.

Best of luck!
Peter

[Peter W]

Peter W on April 4, 2018 at 10:51 am · in reply to: Ways to build a climbing base without a rope #9093

I just wanted to say thanks for this Colin.

The past month and a a half I’ve really been focused in on doing 2-3 2hr ARC sessions a week and have seen a notable improvement in my endurance. It’s rather boring (a good audiobook selection has helped) but the gains have been there. While I’ve lost a little power on the rock, by doing 2 hangboard sessions a week I havent seen the strength decreases that many complain about when ARCing.

A key additional benefit is that I’m also feeling the least beat up I have felt in a long time even when averaging 12-15hrs of training a week.

[Peter W]

Peter W on April 4, 2018 at 10:47 am · in reply to: Local Muscular Endurance for Upper Body #9092

Steve/Scott/knowledgeable people,

I’ve been wondering about doing the type of weighted traverses (easy to do w/o a partner) or climbs that Steve mentions above for ME work. I know there’s a relationship between weight added and difficulty climbed but where would suggest the best safety/stimulus weight and relative grade combo is? I.e. at 1 number grade below onsight max add 10-15lbs?

Relatedly, if ARCing by traversing at some point the gym hug haul is too low intensity but the system board is maybe a little too difficult. I feel like this happens to a lot of 5.11/5.12 climbers. I’ve been thinking about adding weight to easy ARC traverses as a way of increasing the intensity but it seems that this is going to be too hard on the skin/tendons relative to just upping the intensity of the climbs even if the set’s duration has to be cut a fair bit at first. Seem right?

Thanks!

[Peter W]

Peter W on January 23, 2018 at 12:33 pm · in reply to: Diminishing returns to strength training #7737

Thanks for the advice Scott! Much appreciated.

[Peter W]

Peter W on September 18, 2017 at 1:37 pm · in reply to: Stacking workouts #6116

Robert,

I’ve typically found that a TSS-type approach is the easiest way to keep my training log relatively consistent. I do this approach instead of just dividing by 2 or 3 because its easier to differentiate between different types of climbing and the systemic fatigue they build.

For ex. I’ve assigned 100 to my AeT level workouts, so for volume climbing (as a 5.12/V7-8 climber this is 5.11A and easier) I use a TSS of 50, for hard onsight/redpoint days I use a value of 80, and hangboard+mobility sessions get a value of 30. I’ve settled on these values based on fatigue, but the seem to make my weekly total TSS a better summary statistic than just volume.

Due to time/commuting constraints I often find myself able to only go to the gym 2x during the week. Typically on these sessions during a base period I’ll end up doing some combination of endurance (volume climbing or run/walking) as well as strength work. When I tried do the strength work at the end of the sessions I found that the pre-fatigue has sapped my top-end so I was getting max-strength mental exertion at lower than expected weights and not really improving. When doing strength then endurance, I felt my numbers were more consistent and progressed more steadily. Also, I really make a conscious effort to really focus on my technique during these climbing sessions so I’m not accidentally learning bad form while tired.

[Peter W]

Peter W on December 8, 2016 at 8:37 am · in reply to: Staying healthy #3631

Bruno,

While I’m younger (just turned 27) and childless I have had a similar recurrent illness and work stress levels. I’ve always been extra susceptible to upper respiratory infections likely because, my physician thinks, of a case of chicken pox that almost killed me as a child and led to a fair bit of scarring inside my sinuses. For most of my life, I’ve had 2-4 multi-week colds plus at least one sinus infection per year.

The past few years I’ve realized that I will likely get sick if: I drink, in any quantity, more than two days in a row, or I sleep less than 7hrs a night for 3 or more days. If i combine these two, particularly with a tough week of training or work, it is basically guaranteed I’ll get sick.

I agree that I often find the end of the day to be the easiest time to unwind and have some me time but the stresses of the day can make it hard for that time to be truly relaxing for me. Over the past year or so I’ve started getting up much earlier a few days a week to workout when the day is still fully under my control. I’ve found these workouts are often much better at clearing my head and relaxing me than one’s at the end of the night. In your case I would imagine its tempting to workout after every else in the family has gone to sleep but I’ve often found late night energy system workouts (ie anything other than brief lifting sessions or yoga/mobility) make falling to sleep much more difficult for me even if I’m completely exhausted. Also, I’ve been trying (somewhat successfully) to limit my electronic screen time before bed and this does appear to make a difference as well.

Peter

[Peter W]

Peter W on December 7, 2016 at 1:20 pm · in reply to: deciding on a training plan #3628

Al,

I can only speak from my own experiences but you can’t fake, nor quickly acquire, technical competence and finger strength. I think these should be your short-term areas of focus at the crag/gym. Luckily they’re also enduring traits so once you have them you can emphasize other things.

To introduce, and bastardize, Tony Yaniro’s famous and cliched quote, ““If you can’t hold the holds [or lack the technical skills to do the moves], there’s nothing to endure.” If you want to do multi-pitch 5.12s at altitude then 5.12 at your local crag needs to feel pretty cruiser. Being able to quickly work or onsight multi-pitch 5.12 trad likely implies: you’re a V7+ boulderer, can redpoint 5.13, and have good (for the skill level) muscular endurance for sussing out sequences while onsighting and placing gear.

As someone with similar long-term goals, I’m focused on acquiring technical skills using both weekends at the crag and intermediate trips as tests and building blocks for longer multi-pitch trad routes out in the future. Two notes: I am more focused on pure rock climbing than most here, so non-climbing Z1 is a lesser part of my program. Also, I spent a ton of time in undergrad lifting heavy so my current gym work focuses on shoulder health w/ some heavy DLs and core work during base periods, but always protecting technical practice. I’d estimate over the course of a year around 75% (60% during base periods and nearly 100% during peaks) of my “training” time is spent climbing w/ the rest hiking, hangboarding, and lifting. I’m trying to build a base of climbing specific technique, strength, and aerobic capacity for 6-8 months a year, with two trip-focused peaks. I don’t really work on redpoint/power endurance efforts outside of my peak periods which people at the climbing gym find strange as it runs sharply counter to the typical ethos.

That all out of the way, here’s a guess at what my next few years look like:
Winter/spring 2017: base period w/ emphasis on ARC climbing, hangboarding, limit bouldering, and some strength/mobility. I’ll also climb outside w/ an emphasis on trad volume as much as possible.
Summer 2017: peak timed for a 2 week trip in early August to RMNP and the South Platte. Likely focused on hard single- to short multi-pitch trad routes.
Fall/Winter 2017/18: another climbing base period.
Winter 2018: Trip to Indian Creek or similar for hard single pitch trad.
Spring/summer 2018 another cycle leading to late summer/early fall peak
late summer/Fall ’18: East side Sierra/Yosemite/etc.

There are plenty of great resources out there for climbing specific training but I highly recommend reading: https://cdn5.trainingbeta.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/1.-Alex-Barrows-Training-Doc-V2-for-training-beta.pdf, Steve Bechtel, Steve Maisch, and many of the other more popular ones. Also take seminars as often as you can; I’ve learned more about movement in 1.5hr seminars with pros than in months or years left to my own.

Hope that helps,
Peter