Saturday, January 15

New Year, New Training, New Goals

Rate of improvement is based almost entirely on your willingness to fail.
-Todd Skinner

"Uhh... ...campus board training is hard, and not fun" I say aloud, thinking to myself that must be the secret to why it's so effective yet elusive for climbers. Clearly Wolfgang Gullich was a genius innovator of rock climbing. Although, my objective isn't Action Direct (it's Smith Rocks in March), I am learning a lot and committed to my training with the campus board now.

(click to enLARGE)

After 7+ years of climbing, I'm finally getting around to the sane use of a campus board lol. That is, for t-r-a-i-n-i-n-g. Ironically, only one week into a structured six-week campus board training regiment I've started, I can see the rewards. I am optimistic for sustained gains to come in my contact strength/crimping confidence, and my power/lock off ability; nonetheless, I am proceeding very cautiously... a word for the wise. Campus board training is scary. Pushing your body and tendons to the brink of injury, it's flirting with disaster to become stronger. It's uncomfortable.

I climb with an earned level of familiarity and confidence with what my body can do, but I don't train with that intent. I am working for humility in my training. My workouts are equal parts muscle confusion and ego confusion lol. To investigate where my attitudinal and physical limitations are takes work! This is where I'm at with this whole campus board regiment; where are my weaknesses?, how do I exploit them?, and how do I best experiment with ways to forge new boundaries, new states of being, .... new formulas for untapped potential.

1-4-3-4...

My campus board training regiment is two (2) workouts per week, with two (2) days rest (i.e. Ø climbing) between workouts. Each workout is approximately 30 minutes; with 30 minutes prior to warmup bouldering/stretching. I throw in at least one session per week of just fun climbing to prevent burn out
Workout for the first couple weeks:

1. LADDER 1-3-5-7-9
(2 sets w/ 1min rest between)

2.
LADDER 1-4-6-9
(2 sets w/ each arm - 4 total- w/ 1min rest between)

Rest 4 minutes

3.
LADDER 1-4-7
(3 tries w/ each arm leading - 6 total- w/ 2 min rest between)

4.
TOUCHES 1-4-1
(3 sets of 1-4-1-4-1-4-1-4-1 leading w/ alternating hands, i.e. L hand touches rung 4 two times as does R hand, w/ 2 min rest between)

5.
TOUCHES 1-4-3-4
(2 sets of 1-4-3-4-3-4-3-4 for each arm, for each set keeping other arm constantly on rung 1, w/ 2 min rest between sets)



Note: For those interested in campus board training, I'd recommend researching, resting, and taking tendon/shoulder health seriously.

Resources I've found to be good:

Eric Horst's books
http://trainingforclimbing.com/new/books.shtml
Nicros http://www.nicros.com/archive/archive15.cfm
Moon Climbing
http://usa.moonclimbing.com/campus-boarding-c-334_351.html

6 comments:

Laura said...

your commitment is inspiring as ever! This is why you reap so many rewards, now i just need to do the same and buckle down and get my sit-ups on.. I am so excited for rope season, I can't wait but also need more time to train and get ready!

dom said...

I fondled the wrg campus board the other night myself, but I don't think my finger is ready for it yet. Are you open-handing on the biggest rungs? Have you thought about trying the small rungs? (Not that I necessarily think you should.) You're going to crush at Smith, what are you going to use your campus strength on, The Quickening? Agro Monkey?

Andrew said...

Vicious Fish!

Is there room for one more in your group at Smith!? I'm going to try to get down by the 15th or the 16th if you'll have me!

Micah Bryan Humphrey said...

Yeah boy! Buck buck buck boyikashot!
Beast from the east is about to be released; strength increased, doubts deceased, motivation ever-expanding, fuck the bad landing or 8a.nu standing, DAMN!

NM said...

LMAO! Micah. I don't even know what to say. Andrew ... DEFINITELY. Dom, I want to get on Rude Boys, Aggro Monkey, Heinous (Full), Boy Prophet, Churning in the Wake, Magic Light (Extension), Go Dog Go, the list goes on... definitely some trad and multipitch would be cool. Laura, glad I can be inspiring... as far as training goes, dwell in your discomfort, but make sure you don't get burned out with training (i.e. have just for fun sessions every week)

NM said...

Dom, I use the half-crimp grip... I'll hit the small rungs in a couple weeks.