Train To Climb

As I mentioned a while back, my goal was to complete more technical mountaineering climbs this year. I have focused my goal now to completing the climbs in Colorado Scrambles. The goal for this year will be to complete 5 of these.

So I am prepping for this goal in two ways. In April I will be taking the Mountaineering 101 course from CMS. I plan to follow that with a Trekking class from CMC followed by Mountaineering next winter with CMC.

This post however is about climbing skills. I recently started climbing at Rockn and Jamn with my co-worker Kathy. After 4 weeks in the gym, I decided it was time to focus my training a bit. I remembered listening to the PodClimber Podcast titled Training with Calvin. Here is my adaptation of his training schedule:

Endurance
Pick a lower level, do 30-40 moves in 10 minutes. My goal is to do this 5 times a night, twice a week on the same route.


Power Endurance
One hard, one moderate, one extra hard. On the wall, no rest. 15-40 moves, 2-3 minutes on wall. Done the route before. Rest 2-3 minutes. 2-3 times, then a longer rest.

Fartleks for Climbers
Pick a route one level lower than your max. I'm currently a 5.8 climber, so 5.7 would be my goal. Start the route quickly with some energy, then go easy in the middle, then finish hard. Finish the route in 2-3 minutes, then rest the same amount of time.

Power at End
Pick a hard, but doable problem of 5-10 moves. Traverse into this hard part after 15-20 moves. Do this 2-3 times, then take a longer break.

Hard Red Point
Pick a difficult route to climb. If unsuccessful, go back to bottom, maybe a 5 minute rest then learn it as you climb. Do this 2-3 times.


Power
Warm up on moderate boulder. Pick your 5 hardest problems in bouldering, write them down, and try to beat record next time at gym
Add on move, partner does 2-3 moves, then you add one, they add one (2-4 times)
Hand strength: do weighted hangs from hardest hold
System board: 5-10 moves, slowly, hang a moment between holds
Arm&Back: moderate hold, pull up and lock off for 5 seconds before moving up: one handed traverse
Core body: powerful stemming. Find a small hold in corner, press with legs to hang on. For ab strength do slide outs on an exercise ball. Finish with nice long endurance cool down.