Climbing is a multipurpouse activity, competition, hobby, way of life, etc., each climber might have their motivations, but one thing is clear, each one wants to climb more: harder routes, more routes in a day/trip, climb faster…
Even if we don’t link climbing with high performance sport, those targets denotes a similarity with sports activities where ones always want to perform better and exceed previous level and it is not necessary to compete with others!.
There are several ways to improve in our climbing: climbing itself in an anarchical way, just climb anything in an unplanned way each climbing session, or plan and organize our climbing sessions, following the advice that give us the theory of sport training.
By this way we can perform and success in our objectives in a precise time. Training is defined as a process, with a starting and an ending point. The starting point is the initial state at the beginning of a training plan, the ending point is where we are going to achieve the results, a trip, a comp, etc..
The initial state is the sports form where we are, analyzing the preceding performances in climbing and the training backgrounds that we have.
Objectives are the fundamental pillar of each training process, because they determine the ending point and with that the motivation to realize the training program during the different stages. Objectives must be defined previously in a clearly and concise manner. Some characteristics of the objectives are shown below:
Clearly formulated
Realistic and accessible
Measurable
Specific
Once objectives are defined, we have to see how will be completed trough a training plan. Basically we the training we want:
Increase the organism motor potential
Improve the ability to use effectively this motor potential
Increase the sports mastery firmness
Training is based on the administration of different loads to the organism that will produce an effect named supercompensation, in which the organism once stimulated, and during the recovery period, it is regenerated up to overcoming the initial state as measure of adjustment. All that happens if the period of rest among training stimuli is correct. If the period of rest is incomplete, the organism can’t adapt to training, and the state will be low. (FIGURE 1).
There are several possibilities to administer the training loads, looking for the ideal lapse of time to reach the maximum benefits, keeping in mind that these loads always must be of major magnitude as one progresses. (FIGURE 2)
But this supercompensation curve cannot demonstrate eternally in an ascending way. It is necessary to offer to the body every certain period of time a major rest, in order to avoid overtraining.
There are several ways to administer the loads: (FIGURE 3)
Standard: when always do the same thing independently of the session, in which we will come to a stagnation. For example, if every day at the end of the training sessions we do 10 laps on the same route to increase our endurance, we will stop in the progress rapidly, for it we will have to choose to change the organization of the training loads.
Progressive increase of the loads: consists of a constant increase of the training during the sessions. But we will come to a point where the organism will not be able to adapt any more to this constant increase of the load, and will come to a point of stagnation, and more even to a decrease of the performance due to overtraining. An example of this, instead of doing always the same 10 laps of the same route, increase session to session the number of routes (11, 12, 13, 14) or increase the difficulty of the laps.
Stepwise increase of loads: this methodology consists of doing periods of 2, 3 or 4 weeks of increase of the load for 1 or 2 weeks of decrease of the load or recovery to allow the supercompensation. On the same example of the endurance training at the end of the session, one might realize 10 laps the first week, 12 laps the second, 14 laps the third, but in the fourth we will lower the load to 10 laps. This way we will have a stepwise progression. The following period of training might begin again with 10 laps, but a more difficult route.
This recovery period is applied also before the performance period. It is called tapering, and is a period before the trip of climbing, competition, etc., in which we will give a rest to the body, especially across a decrease of the volume of what we are doing, in order to arrive to the supercompensation and perform with success.
This methodology is the modern strategy of training and is in use definitively in the training of the climbers of average and high level, since trained climbers organisms needs progressive and well planned loads, with periods of intermediate rests.
This division in weeks of increase of the load with weeks of decrease delimits specific periods of training, in which it is possible to emphasize in some aspect of the specific conditioning for climbing.
For example, and depending specifically on the goals, in this case 4 months (16 - 18 weeks) from the beginning of the training, one might organize three periods of training or mesocycles:
1er mesocycle: adaptation to the training loads where the first 4 weeks (three in ascent and one in decrease) will be dedicated to the increase of the work volume, a lot of time climbing on easy terrain, or to do routes of moderate/low difficulty, but many times. The aim here will be to create the basic conditions to support the training loads and to adapt all the body structures (muscles and tendons).
2nd mesocycle: improvement of the maximum strength and power, also a 4 weeks cycle, with three weeks of load increase and one of decrease. The general goal will be to improve the forearm muscles strength and all the back muscles. Here we will seek to have the aptitude to solve the isolated movements of the project.
3er mesocycle: period dedicated to the special endurance improvement, with this we will be seeking to acquire the aptitude to resist the quantity of movements that needs the type of climbing that we want to perform. During 3 weeks in ascent, then we will rest into the following period (tapering). Here we will centre on looking for the necessary endurance for the route/s. If our goal is 20 moves routes, we will focus on acquire this specific endurance, the same for 40 moves routes, or more, or if we are seeking to climb many routes in one day, we will focus a bit more on the work volume. We will achieve this last goal by doing sets and reps of routes of the desired length.
4to mesocycle: Adjustment or tapering, for 2 or 3 weeks, we will try to regenerate the organism to arrive to the performance period in the bests possible conditions, and all the adaptations arrives to their maximum level of efficiency. Here we will diminish the volume of work, with big rests and especially arrive progressively to maximum intensity (difficulty).
With this simple periodization it will be possible to coincide maximum point of performance with the date foreseen for the next trip of climbing or CHAIN. This is not a rigid structure, but will change depending on the goals, time to train, sport form, etc.
Juan Martín Miranda
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