marvinclimbing blog - climbing training

About designing the routes for training endurance (part 2)

2011-09-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

Juan Marin Miranda

Taking into accountthe adaptation of the climber to the route, as I mentioned in previousarticle, I would like to add some interesting facts to consider.

First let me citethe study by De Geus (2006) whose aim was to determinewhether climbing routes with different inclination and / ordisplacement, but with equal difficulty affect physiologicalresponses. The authors' hipótesis was that traverse climbing isphysiologically less demanding than climbing up because itwould require a lower percentage of the maximum values ata treadmill maximum test.

15 climbers wereevaluated (7b-8a), a maximum test tape (oxygen consumption,lactate and perceived exertion scale of Borg), and nonclimbers were evaluated on the same parameters, including heartrate, in 4 routes (7c difficult) with different inclination ordisplacement (the climbers were able to work the movements of theroutes) and conducted in a random order. Thecharacteristics of the route weres the following:

The subjects wereasked to climb continuosly at a self pace with no rests longerthan 5 seconds only for magnesium both hands. Theclimbers warmed up in 3 routes 6a, 6b and 7a +,thenrested 30 minutes prior to the first route, then restedanother 30 minutes and climbed the following route in a random order. Oneday off and did the test again with the other two routes.

It was measured thetotal time on the route, heart rate and continuos gas exchange in thetest, and lactate concentration before and warm beforeand after each route. They also measured the rateo f perceivedexertion.

The average climbing time was3 m 22 s 22s and climbers were longe on thevertical route with vertical displacement (VR) compared with the vertical traverse invertical wall and with thevertical displacement in the overhanging wall. They found higher velocity ofexecution in overhanging routes (both, traverse and verticaldisplacement). Also the peak and average heart rate washigher in the vertical displacement route.

This could be the resultof the center of gravity movement . In vertical displacement, the center ofgravity moves in opposition to the line of gravity, while intraverse displacement it moves perpendicular to it.

The average oxygenconsumption was significantly lower in the vertical traverse offsetfrom the other three conditions.

This results indicate thatclimbing four routes of the same difficulty but different inclinationand / or displacement leads to a peak and average heartrate significantly higher on routes with vertical displacement. Theroute with vertical displacement and overhanging wall was morephysiologically demanding . Heart rate, oxygen consumption and lactateconcentrations were significantly lower on traverse routes.

The verticaltraverse route was the least physiologically demanding . Possiblythis is the result of the type of muscle contraction, whichdemands more technical and / or better relative rest positions as a result of angle of the wall and because the body moves horizontally.

In another studyby Noe et al (2001) analyzed the reaction forces andvariations in technique of vertical climbing and overhanging positions. Theclimbers voluntarily let go a foot and seek balance. Theoverhanging state of quadrupedia was characterized by a significant participation ofthe arms to prevent fthe all. Moreover, the horizontal forces appliedwere less important, suggesting that the balance is easier tomaintain than in the vertical wall. Tripedia status (whenreleasing a foot) was characterized by smaller contralateral forces to transfer tothe remaining holds, enhancing the safety margin on thehands, which indicates that the weight of the climber is mainly supportedby the upper body. This study suggests that balance iseasier in overhanging walls but at the expense of increasedenergy expenditure, whereas in vertical wall, the vertical forceapplied to the holds only prevent vertical collapse while thebody weight counterbalances by the horizontal forces that are much higherthan in the overhanging state.

When lookingfor the intensity of thetraining route to produce relevant ,physiologicaladaptations presents us with many things to takeinto account not only the difficulty determined by graduation, butalso the inclination of the wall and the direction of movement,and other conditions dependent on the climbercharacteristics that determines the demand level of for theroutes.

In a studyby Sibella (2007) analyzed the strategies of differentclimbers in horizontal and vertical displacement. Theclimbers had to climb 3 meters traverse and then 3 meters vertical,with their own style, and choosing the necessary holds forclimbing. Movements were filmed with positiontrackers with 6 infraredcameras. The marks were placed in locations related to motionanalysis. There were two main strategies to solve the task:first,based on the ¨agility ¨ that requires lowerspeed and lower power to move,while the second based on ¨power¨that requires greater speed and more strength to do themovements. Obviously the first is the mosteffective strategy,since it requires lesspower, more fluidity and greater balance control. This studyshows that different types of climbers havea higher energy demand if they adopt the second strategy withregard the first strategy. So we can take into accountthe principle of individualization when designing theroutes , and of course think that the more technicalclimbers are more efficient. Work on technique is the maintask when looking for an economic performance.

Zampagni etal (2010) studied the posture and movement coordinationadopted by climbers. They compared the center of gravity movementand feet vertical reaction forces on climbers and non climbers.Contrary to what they thought, the climbers did not keep thecenter of gravity closer to the wall, evenmore far tended to take longer than control subjects,and had large lateral oscillations associated with asignificantredistribution of weight between the legs during the phasein which both feet were supported. The authorsconclude that this is because the experts have developeda diagonal preferably vertical motion, ie theweight is transferred to the left foot when you wantto move his right hand, then return to balanced and vice versa. Controlsubjects have a lower oscillation,suggesting a wasteful strategy whenmaking the move.

It is importan to note:

-To increase the stimulus intensity it is possible to varythe route, the displacement direction and/or the wallinclination

- With poor technical climbers, the physiological intensity of the individual movements willbe higher

- Soindividualization is a must here, consequently the design ofroutes should be personal and should meet each climber needs

Juan Martin Miranda

Referencias:

De Geus, B., VillanuevaOʼDriscoll, S., & Meeusen, R. (2006). Influence of climbing style onphysiological responses during indoor rock climbing on routes with the samedifficulty. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 98(5),489-496.

Noé, F., Quaine, F.,& Martin, L. (2001). Influence of steep gradient supporting walls in rockclimbing: biomechanical analysis. Gait & Posture, 13(2),86-94.

Sibella, F., Frosio,I., Schena, F., & Borghese, N. A. (2007). 3D analysis of the body center ofmass in rock climbing. Human Movement Science, 26(6), 841-852

Zampagni ML, Brigadoi S, Schena F, Tosi P, Ivanenko YP(2010). Idiosyncratic control of the center of massin expert climbers. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in Sports, 2010 Mar 11. [Epub ahead of print]

About designing the routes to train endurance

2011-09-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

When we try to work endurance, what is usually done is sets andreps on one or more pre-designed routes. Regardless if it is short or longendurance, as coaches we propose one or more routes for our athletes and theymust repeat certain number of times and in certain Lumber of sets, along withits corresponding rest times.

So far, training can bestrictly planned, but measuring the intensity that poses a route is not soeasy, and worse in climbing, an sport dominated by complex technicalgestures. Repeating a route and technically perfect their movements (thoselittle subtleties that make movements easier), decreases the intrinsicintensity of the route, and therefore the athlete is not training with an homogeneous intensity over the sets andreps.

An example of this can be seenin the following graph heart rate, where a climber climbed the same route, ondifferent days.
Here we take heart rate as avalue that indicates the effort intensity on the climber's body (can alsoinclude psychological aspects) and not as an difficulty index of the route.

It is interesting how for the same route,made virtually in the same time, the effort intensity issignificantly lower when performed a second time, about 10-15beats less throughout the entire route. We can alsosee that fluctuations in heart rate vary with thedifferent partial intensities of the route, such asa roof or a large overhang that makes heart raterise. This also shows that the intensity is not constantalong the entire route

Fortunately, since earlythis year, Vanessa España Romero et cols, published a veryinteresting study in the Euopean Journal of AppliedPhysiology (1). They evaluated 9 experienced climbers inthe same same route in a number of physiological parameters. Thestudy consisted of climbing a 35 moves 6a (5.10) route in9 opportunities, separate them by 1 week. Theclimbers were allowed to continue their usual training, but theycould only climb the route in the instances provided forevaluation.

The researcherscompared the first, fourth and ninth attempt. Theresults are detailed in the table below.

One of the interesting facts to noteis the decrease of the total realization time, 2.02minutes to 1.38 minutes, probably causing less energyexpenditure (17.0 to 11.5 Kcal). Just like that asexpressed in Article ¨The faster movement over the repetitionsprobably reduced the overall time of isometric work and thereby lowered thetotal climbing energy expenditure. This could also be related to a concomitantimprovement in the participants’ climbing technique. ¨

And thelatter is very important to keep in mindwhen prescribing exercise. In climbing there are constant technicaladjustments that makes that the differentintensities are related to the degree of processing each individual gesture(movement) of the route, which makes the intensity varies over thetime if the athlete trains on the same route. Following are somerecommendations to keep in mind when prescribing climbing endurance sets/:

-designnew routes for each training session, this doesnot give time to the climber to fits technically to the route

-Using previouslyknown routes, where there is no possibility of technicalimprovement, which will definitely be a greater difficultythan those proposed above.

-Monitoring the execution time of each route, that is notreduced sharply, thus losing the desired intensity ofthe effort to produce the corresponding adaptations.

What we mustnot do is to use the same route several sessions, so theintensity will be decreasing as the techniqueis suited to the route, and therefore the trainingstimulus will be of lower quality.

Juan Martin Miranda

References:

España-Romero, V., Jensen, R. L., Sanchez, X., Ostrowski, M. L.,Szekely, J. E., & Watts, P. B. (2011). Physiological responses in rockclimbing with repeated ascents over a 10-week period. European Journal ofApplied Physiology.

TRAINING SEMINAR AND CONFERENCE IN ECUADOR!!

2011-05-25T05:44:00.000-07:00

SELF-HANDICAPS!!!

2011-03-23T06:39:00.000-07:00

Prof. Juan Martín Miranda

How many times we hear in a crag or in a comp, that wall conditions do not help, that previous night we didn´t sleep well, that the holds are humid, that I do not have enough strength, etc., especially when climbing is stimulated by evaluation pressure, like public approval (not necessarily in a competition, but the pressure of the nearby friend), achieving a new onsight or redpoint level, or a competition, where the uncertainty for the success or failure is an important agent of pressure. These self-handicaps can be real or imaginary.

Self-handicapping are any action or choice that prepare a person to be responsible of failure. In agreement with Jones and Berglas (1978), the self- handicaps are obstacles created by the individuals in anticipation to a performance failure. These behaviors allows to externalize the mistakes and failures and internalize the successes, accepting the credit of the achievements and allowing excuses for the failures. It has a double function, it allows the individual to diminish all that of the personal skill that plays a major role in failure (protecting the selfsteem) and in case of success, it increases the skill of the sportmen, since the success was obtained in spite of the obstacles. (increasing the selfesteem) (Prapavessis y Groove, 1998)

Martin and Brawley (2010) concludded that self-handicap can also be understood from the own efficiency. The sportsmen would use excuses in situations where they have poor efficiency for their skills or to introduce themselves in a certain way (i.e.: I am not good at overhangs, technical moves, etc.).

Those individuals with low selfsteem tends to use more frequently the self-handicapping before a performance that those of high selfsteem, since they encounter more situations where they are uncertain about their ability to solve the task (Prapavessis and Grove, 1998). The athletes who frequently use the excuses incline to take commonly the responsibility of potential failures out of himself and in case of team sports, inside the group (Prapavessis and cols, 2010).

All these excuses that we self-impose, are impediments before a performance. People who use these impediments or self-handicaps can be divided in two categories: chronic or occasional. The chronic selfhandicappers use self-handicaps that are more applicable over time and in varied situations, as physical or psychological symptoms. The occasional ones use self-handicaps for every specific situation.(Ferrand and cols, 2006)

The more frequent self-handicaps used by the sportsmen before a competition are the study and physical conditions or injuries, but they change depending on age, level and sex.

Ferrand and cols. (2006) analyzed the self-handicaps of 6 french elite teenager climbers in three major competitions, where they had the aptitude to reach the podium, with this goal setted by their coach. Before every competition, they had to report their self-handicaps that might affect performance.

The results that the study showed are summarized in the following table. Self-handicaps can be categorized in 6 categories.

It has been argued that the criterion that the trainers use can impact in the way that the climbers perceive the environment, which can be a source of stress in the teenagers elite athletes. The climbers of this study report different types of impediments that allowed them to deflect the reason of the failure away from their sport competente and reduce the coach´s expectations in the subsequent performance.

The repeated use of self-handicaps might place the athletes at-risk of motivacional difficulties that might have a negative effect in the long-term development and performance.

The authors conclude: ¨it is important for the trainers to gain knowledge of self-handicapping, to take into account the rehaznos underlying self-handicapping hmong teenagers for practical implications, and to examine more closely the ego relevante of high level context which may be an important factor determining self-handicapping in a sport context.¨

One important goal for coaches is to understand the reason of the previous impediments and to work on them to impede a performance reduction. Too many exigency, and the exposition of highly sressful goals in young climbers can lead to long-term consequences, like quiting the sport.

References:

1. Ferrand, C., Tetard, S., & Fontayne, P. (2006). Self-Handicapping in Rock Climbing: A Qualitative Approach. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 18: 3, 271-280

2. Jones, E. E., & Berglas, S. (1978). Control of attributions about the self through self-handicapping strategies: The appeal of alcohol and the role of underachievement. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 4, 200-206.

3. Martin, K.A. & Brawley, L.R. (2002). Self-Handicapping in Physical Achievement Settings: The contributions of Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy. Self and Identity, 1:4, 337-351

4. Prapavessis, H. & Grove, J.R. (1998). Self-handicapping and Self-steem. Journal of Sport Applied Psychology, 10:2, 175 – 184

5. Prapavessis, H., Grove, J.R. & Eklund (2010). Self-Presentational Issues in Competition and Sport. Journal of Sport Applied Psychology, 16:1, 19-40

6. Smith, T.W., Snyder, C.R., & Handelsman, M.M. (1982). On the self-serving function of an academic wooden leg: Test Anxiety as a self-handicapping strategy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 314–321.

From athletics methodology to climbing. Fartlek method.

2010-06-02T07:40:00.000-07:00

Prof. Juan Martín Miranda

To write this post I had to dig into some old training books of my student time, specially Prof. Jorge de Hegedus book: " The science of sports training " in which I would find the historical bases of what I want to detail.

" … on the fourth decade of our century (XX) there started being delineated two currents of work that in spite of their differences, had the same common denominator: to adapt exclusively to the means that the nature offers "

foto: A. Uzal

“On this premise there arise two eminences of the sports training (specially the athletics): Gosse Holmer and Gosta Olander.

The first one (Holmer) , founder of the Fartlek method (in Swedish: play with the speed), training method that includes all kinds of speed variations. This method can be summarized:

1- Efforts realized exclusively out of track

2- All kinds of distances combinations during the course

3- Intensity of the distances regarding their length

4- Rest periods related to the distances and characteristics of the run

Hereby a training session according to these slogans might have the following scheme:

a- Easy run to warm up

b- Médium speed run

c- Fast walk

d- High velocity sprints reps

Undoubtedly training hereby is not a very systematic and planned method, since the effort intensity is regulated by the athlete subjective sensations .

On the other hand another Swedish trainer, Gosta Olander, continuing with this current of training in the natural way, was taking advantage of the difficulties imposed by the area in which the sportsmen realized the training, since it can be mud, now, different inclinations, etc, that it were offered in his prestigious training center of Vololaden, in a former hotel lost in the depths of Sweden (for the fanatics of the athletics I recommend the website: www.vololaden.com). Giving more importance to the intensity of the actions than the tempo of the same ones.

Prof. Yuri Verkhoshansky proposes aerobic Fartlek method to increase the anaerobic threshold. It consists in a uniform and prolonged run with 8 to 10 (or more) seconds sprints every 10 to 12 minutes.

Well then, we have seen that this type of training takes as a premise to go adapting to the terrain in which it was realized, and therefore the intensities are imposed by the terrain. And is not this is what happens in climbing??

It is almost impossible to find climbing routes of that are completely uniform in their intensity, since they can have different angles, one o more crux, good, bad rests, without hands, technical moves, hard moves in roofs, everything what we can imagine. Whenever we climb a different route, we will face a completely different ground, which will force us to alternate different effort intensities, as is it is done by the Fartlek training method.

In an article published in Engineering of Sport (2006), M. Michailov experimented with this method on climbers with the idea of improving their anaerobic threshold. Six climbers were trained for seven weeks, three times for week with a specific training plan that alternate intensities during the climbing bouts

2-3 sets of 8-10 reps of: 20-30 moves easy route and 15-20 moves hard routewith 30-60 seconds rests. Sets rest was 20 to 30 minutes.

The aim was to climb near the anaerobic threshold heart rate estimated by ergometry. The author mentions (and it is a part of the conclusions) that heart rate is not an indicator of climbing intensity, but it was used to control that the climber is near to the threshold heart rate determined before, same conclusion at which Burnik and Jereb (2007) arrived after evaluating 11 climbers in three different intensity routes.

He used two different test to evaluate the improvements, the first one consisted on climbing the major quantity of movements during 5 minutes in a 120 degrees overhang wall to determine the capacity of mixed energy (anaerobic aerobics) supply and the second test performed in a roof wall during 1 minute, to determine the anaerobic lactic energy supply. The results showed an improvement of 32 % and 43 % in both test respectively.

Beyond the difficulties of evaluating these capacities (and obviously the proposed test can be questionable) the improvements are interesting, and definitively this methodology improves the specific climbing endurance.

With this type of trainings in which we alternate different intensities in the same repetition it has some benefits:

- Major specificity of the training

- The special endurance is improved

- The capacity to take advantage of the easiest climbing sections as recovery of the intense efforts is improved

- The in-climbing recovery capacity is improved

Here some Fartlek training drills used in climbing

Traverse + route

For this exercise a route must have from 15 to 20 high intensity moves designed in the bouldering wall where simultaneously we could realize a very low intensity traverse for a long period of time (more than 30 minutes). We must be kept traversing for a period from 4 to 5 minutes and then the 15 moves hard route. Once the route is finished continue with the traverse for 4 to 5 more minutes and then the route again. Keep this training for more than 30 minutes (up to 1 hour).

Broken routes

Design two or three circuits of 15 to 20 movements which the final hold of the first circuit coincides with the initial hold of the second one and so on. The circuits must be linked without stooping, but forcing the recovery period at the end of each one. It is possible to measure resting time, and force it up or down. I.e. a maximum rest time (of 1 minute), or a minimum rest time (of 2 minutes)

Continuous Interbloque:

Design a set of three to six relatively easy boulder problems that starts from good holds. The problems must be performed linked by an easy traverse from the last hold of the previous problem to the firsts holds of the next problem (generally down traversing), and rest in that holds all the necessary time.

References:

Burnik S, Jereb B. Heart rate as an indicator of sport climbing intensity. Acta Univ. Palacki. Olomuc., Gymn. 2007, vol. 37, no. 1

De Hegedus J. La ciencia del entrenamiento deportivo. Ed Stadium. 2006

Joan Rius Sant. Metodologia y técnicas del atletismo. Ed. Paidotribo 2006

Michailov ML. Evolvement and experimentation of a new interval method for strength endurance development. In: Moritz FE, Haake S, ed. The Engineering of Sport 6, Volume

2. Development for disciplines. New York: Springer Science and Business Media; 2006: 291-6.

Verkhoshansky Y. The block training system in endurance running. Sport strength training methodology. Elctronic publishing 2008

Training for bouldering competitions

2010-05-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

Prof. Juan Martín Miranda

There are several scientific studies concerning physiologic characteristics of sport climbing, but almost exclusively on sport climbing routes. Recently there were published some articles that describe and analyze bouldering competition demands.

A bouldering competition consist on a series of problems during each stage (4 to 5) with a determined performance time for each problem (4 to 6 minutes), and a similar period of rest/recovery between them. The competitor during his realization time must administer their attempts and rest intervals to solve all the comp that lasts more than 50 minutes.

One of the scientific articles, published by White & Olsen (2010), analyzed the performance of several elite english bouldering climbers during a national competition. Next chart shows the data obtained.

These numbers give us some guidelines about the effort during this type of competitions. Climbers tried only 3 times each problem (mean), where they spent 30 s to solve each. The work/rest ratio (for 6 minutes period) was 1:4 in each problem. If we consider contact time and time to reach next hold (8 s / 0.6 s) the ratio is 13:1. During route climbing this ratio was 3 s : 1 s (Watts et. al., 2000).

Another interesting thing of this study is that static time is lower than route climbing (25% vs 38 %) founded by Billat et als (1995).

Another study by La Torre et al. (2009) analyzed elite Italian bouldering climbing during two national comps and on simulated comp. In the firsts two comps they analyzed working time and lactate concentration at the end, and in the simulated comp they analyzed times, lactate concentrations at the end of each problem and heart rate during all the competition.

The data presented here differs little from the other study (keep in mind that there is a climbing time of 5 minutes here). Mean of each movement time was lower: 5.3 ± 0.7 s for the national comp and 5.2± 0.6 s for the simulated comp. Mean climbing total time for each problem was 65 ± 20 s and 92 ± 24 s and mean total climbing time for all the comp was 391 ± 85 s and 551 ± 96 s respectively.

Mean heart rate during recovery period did not increase in the simulated comp in males, but slightly increased in females.

Lactate concentrations during simulation didn’t raise with the increase of competition time, but mainly depended on the time needed to climb the attempts of the previous problem. Using regression analysis they determined that changes in lactate concentrations depended on effort duration, with an apparent cut-off value of 20 s. Describing this way short attempts (<20>

In the third study (Michailov et al., 2009), anthropometric characteristics and strength of elite bouldering climbers that participated in a world bouldering cup were measured. Next chart shows their results

Elite bouldering athletes had very low body fat and muscle mass close to 50% in males and 40% in females , same as difficult (routes) climbers.

Male climbers had 20% more grip strength tan route climbers (Watts et al., 2000), this is due to the strength nature of the contest.

Conclusions

The intermittent character of the prove, shows some specific determinants in recovery time during each problem, and during all the event. During a competition (more than 50 minutes) some recovery times are stipulated by rules, and other depends on the climbers tactics and strategies and their recovery capacity. The higher the level of the climber and the more experience has, without doubts the climber will give less attempts, administer better the effort, and therefore his recovery times will be higher.

Using specific training means to increase recovery capacity is a must. Intermittent training (aka interbloque) is an excellent choice to increase it. And due to some problems duration (more than 20 s), lactate accumulation must be removed rapidly, so high intensity interval training can be used to increase lactate removal capacity.

With regard to the action time of the muscles (holds contact time), training should be specific to maintain very high intensity intermittent efforts of 5 to 8 seconds approximately with an excessively short rest (<1>

Strength levels for this type of efforts are very high (20 % plus than route climbing), therefore the strength capacity is also another training goal. The climbers must use specific exercises like hangboard training, system training, campus training and especially boulder climbing, which is the specific exercise.

A high percentage of mass muscular derived from the unspecific strength training can be counter-productive, since the climber will have to move his overweight. That’s why any increase of the muscular mass must be specific and necessary to the demands of the event. It is necessary to control it by periodic anthropometric tests. Therefore the muscular mass should be ideal and the hypertrophy should happen only in the determinant musculature of the performance.

References

1 – White, DJ and Olsen, PD. A time motion analysis of bouldering style competitive rock climbing. J Strength Cond Res 24: 1533-4287, 2010

2 – Billat, V, Palleja, P, Charlaix, T, Rizzardo, P and Janel, N. Energy specificity of rock climbing and aerobic capacity in competitive sport rock climbers. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 35: 20-24, 1995

3 - Watts, PB, Newburry, V and Sulentic, J. Acute changes in handgrip strength, endurance, and blood actate with sustained sport rock climbing. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 36: 255-260, 2000

4 - La Torre, A, Crespi, D, Serpiello, FR and Merati,G. Heart rate and blood lactate evaluation in bouldering elite athletes. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 49: 19-24, 2009

6 – Michailov, ML, Mladenov, LV and Schoffl, VR. Anthropometric and strength characteristics of world-class boulderers. Med Sport. 13(4): 213-238, 2009

SPEED CLIMBING TRAINING PART 3

2010-04-28T06:16:00.000-07:00

This is the last post of the speed climbing series. I will show some methodology and exercises.

The speed in a climbing route will depend on two factors: length and frequency of individual moves.

Length depends on:

1- Morphologic characteristics

2 Strength

3- Holds

4- Flexibility

Frequency depends on:

1- Contact time

2- Flight time (COG in vertical direction)

Improving each of these aspects will improve in final climbing speed. Some aspects can’t be changed like anthropometric characteristics or where the holds are screwed. But strength, flexibility, contact time and flight time can be trained and there is where our efforts will be centered.

Methodological tasks

- Increase speed possibilities by high frequency innervations using low resistance and a short period of time
Increase special strength preparedness using dynamic moves
Increase speed endurance using interval method
Reach perfect coordination and maximum efficiency of the neuromuscular effort

The following videos shows some methodologies to work upper body strength

Frequency campus exercises

And for movement length

Assisted exercise will be helpful to frequency improvement when using campus board because sometimes (always!!) body weight is excessive to apply a correct speed training load. Using elastic bands attached to a harness will be enough.

Non assisted exercises need to be performed after assisted ones, so we can finish with the real motor path

Methodology

Normal – resisted – normal
Normal – resisted – normal – resisted – normal
Normal – assisted – normal
Normal – assisted – normal – assisted – normal
Normal – resisted – normal – assisted – normal
Normal – resisted – assisted – normal

7. assisted – resisted – assisted - normal

Some exercises to train lower body strength

For power nothing better than jumps

This chart resumes the tasks to train for speed climbing

Some reflections concerning speed training

Technique and coordination are important do speed
Max strength and power have a positive effect; max strength, power and speed makes a dynamic unity
Muscular imbalances are counter-productive during speed development
Exercises performed at sub maximal speed generate sub maximal speed neural paths.
It is preferable quality than quantity. Maximum speed improvements is only possible by a complex and well developed process of load planning and control

Prof. Juan Martín Miranda

SPEED CLIMBING TRAINING PART 2

2010-04-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

In this post I will show how are upper and lower body moves during a speed climbing comp, and the way this information help us to understand speed climbing training methods.

Upper body moves

Pay attention to this video, specially arms moves

Now let’s see the same video in slow motion and with contact time analysis.

If we analize in numbers what the video shows:

• Numbers of contacts 10 left / 9 right

• Total contact time 4,08s/3,6s

• Double moves 4

• Average contact time : 360ms

• Esplosive actions with stretch shortening cycle (SSC)

There is few cientific studies published concerning speed climbing. Konstantin Fuss and Gunther Niegl (2006) studied climbers forces during different situations, using piezoelectric sensors attached to holds to determine how forces is applied on them.

They concluded that during speed climbing as higher the reaction force over the hold, higher initial shock spikes , and shorter the contact time. So it is necessary to apply high forces in a short period of time, thus reduce the contact time. Keep in mind that if we reduce each of the contact times , we will have a less time until the top.

t this point, a striking difference becomes apparent: in lead climbers, the better a climber is, the smaller are the contact forces at the hold: in speed climbers, the opposite is true, i.e., the better the climber and thus the faster, the higher are the contact forces. In lead climbers, the magnitude of these forces depends on how economical the climbing style is; in speed climbers, the force is a function of speed (Fuss and Niegl. 20O6).

Next graphs shows forces and contact time / velocity

Number of moves shows that during comp format (15 meters tall) and with accurate technique, a climber do 19 moves, 4 of them are double dyno.

Average contact time is between 300-500ms, classifying some of the actions as Long Stretch Shortening Cycle actions (SSC-L), that means that there is some elastic energy stored and released during the contraction. This determines some parameters to consider when planing the training to maximize the efficacy of each move

Lower body moves

Next Image shows lower body moves.

• Number of contacts 9/9

• Both feet at the same time: 1

• Average contact time : 400ms

• Explosive isometric-concentric actions

• Knee: >90 grados

• Foot internal rotation, Hip abduction

Number of contacts is similar to upper body, but contact time is higher, maybe because great angular amplitude of the involved joints.

If we see the knee in each move, we will notice that they’re flexed more than 90 degrees at the beginning of the move. So they’re deep knee flexions.

At the same time each move is performed with feet external rotation and hip abduction, that determines an specific pattern to train lower body.

All this actions are considered explosive isometric-concentric actions, because the climber first fixes his feet, and then perform the explosive concentric action always with upper body support.

Next post I will describe methodologies to improve efficiency of upper and lower body contacts.Prof. Juan Marín Miranda

Speed climbing training

2010-02-17T07:12:00.000-08:00

In this series of posts I will analyze a purely competitive climbing discipline: speed.

This discipline is growing in the competitive world, and is one of that is in the sight to be the representative in the Olympic Games.

According to speed climbing rules two formats are possible, record format and classic format. In the latter the athlete climbs two routes in each of the series of the same height and similar profile and difficulty, whereas in the record format (15 or 10 meters standard wall with standardized holds located in a precise position) the climber climbs once in each of the series. This videos are an example of both formats.

Record format

Classic Format

The speed implies the velocity with which a body does a displacement in the space. So the speed is the resultant the space crossed by the time used.

From a sports point of view the speed represents the capacity of a subject to realize motor actions in a minimum of time and with the maximum of efficiency. Therefore to demonstrate speed we must known which are the determining factors. The speed is a hybrid quality that is determined by all other qualities: strength, endurance, and especially by technique.

Speed must be learned and trained always by specific exercises, and these exercises must be realized at high speed, so by this way we will assure ourselves fast movement paths.

Speed training has two manifestations:

QUICKNESS: all the isolated actions that are constituted by one movement.

SPEED: linking movements in a given sport action

This way we see that we can improve the quickness of each move, and then link them. If we use the record format, where all is standardized, the training would consist of maximizing the quickness of the individual movements of then link with speed.

The training objectives are:

· Treduce reaction time

· Maximize the acceleration of the displacements

· Increase the speed of each move

· Achieve major moves frequency

· Reduce the contact time on each hold

· Reduce the speed loss

Reaction time:

It is the time between the beginning of a stimulus and the beginning of the response. This stimulus in case of the speed climbing is a simple stimulus: the judge order.

Consist of 5 phases:

· t1: the interval of time that elapses while the climber detects the sensory input from the starting order

· t2: the length of time needed to acknowledge and correlate the array of sensations discovered in t1

· t3: the total time required to organize a response

· t4: time required to the stimulus to arrive to the muscle motor plate

· t5: time required to initiate and complete a specific movement

This area is one of the most difficult to train and obtain improvements since we are speaking of miliseconds. In the following table, I present the reaction times (RT) of the 100 meters flat races 5 best times.

It is well-known that less than 150 milliseconds it is the time of reaction to execute the first movement. If one delays it or gives an advantage from a slow start it can be the difference in the classification. There is not enough information on speed climbing reaction time, but this training area can offer to us valuable milliseconds in a speed competition.

The methodology to train the reaction time has some requirements

· Start from simple conditions of execution.

· Go on to changeable conditions.

· Low volume of work and exercises

· Exercise them in the first part of the training session

· Improve visual and propioceptive feedback mechanisms

We will always try to begin the reaction time training without previous fatigue, and with simple execution drills.

The idea is always to vary the stimuli to which the climber must react. The stimuli can be tactile, auditory, visual.

But looking for specificity, at the end of the reaction time session we will focus on specific starts, doing only the first one or two moves.

The work volume must be low, since it can generate sensorial or physical a fatigue that it will prevent to react quickly generating slow motor pattern.

Normally with 15 or 20 minutes of reaction time at the beginning of the training session we will have a suitable stimulus.

The following post will be dedicated to analyze the moves of the upper and lower body in the format record, and later we will see the training methods to improve the quickness and the speed..

Prof. Juan Martin Miranda

TRAINING FOR CLIMBING. IS REALLY NECCESARY?

2010-02-03T08:33:00.000-08:00

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

CONTACT STRENGTH (PART 2)

2008-12-19T02:58:00.000-08:00

In the previous article I demonstrated the importance of contact strength with the rise of climbing level. Due to the intensity of this kind of training it is not recommended to novice climbers

To increase this capacity we could use climbing itself or use the campus board as a fundamental tool.

Contact strength training via climbing

As we saw, contact strength is the capacity to apply the higher strength as possible in the minimum amount of time, so, using climbing as a mean to increase contact force there are some activities:

Speed climbing: climb as faster as possible, toproping or bouldering. It’s a funny exercise. Main idea is to think holds are super hot, so you have to leave them as soon as possible. Sets must be 8 to 10 sec max to develop powerful movements, and rests must be complete (3 minutes)

No foot climbing: no foot bouldering is ideal to increase your contact strength. Once your increase your ability you could reduce holds size. Always in a maximum of 6 movement problems and a complete rest (3 minutes)

Contact strength via campus board

Campus board is a training mean that has two different goals: to train finger flexors contact strength and to train back and arms strength and power. Wolfgang Gullich started using it in 90´s, and then this tool became popular among climbers.

Campus board is an excellent tool to increase contact strength. But several cautions must be taken. Definitely isn’t a tool for novice climbers, and it is not recommended for climbers younger than 17 years old that haven’t arrived to full bone maturity, because finger joint trauma generated by campus board can generate fractures, as been well documented in Audry Morrison and Volker Schoeffl studies (Physiological responses in young rock climbers).

There are two groups of campus exercises:

Reaches and pushes: consists in climb rung to rung with one hand while the other stays in the first rung. Main goal is to reach the highest rung as possible either by the pushing with the lower arm or pulling with the ascending arm, or both in a coordinated manner (better). This exercise and some variations (watch this video) don’t generate excessive impact in joints, because always body weight is supported by the lower hand which adds more control to the movement.

Even so, exercises can be classified by their impact. High impact exercises are exclusively for high level climbers, and low impact exercises are for medium level climbers.

Simple reaches: ascending rung to rung

Double or triple reaches: ascending skipping one or two rungs

Maximum reaches: ascending up to maximum extension as possible, here you have to pay attention to full extend lower arm.

Jumps or dynos: they consists on jumps with both hands at a time. These jumps can be ascending or descending (catching a lower rung).

As with pushes and reaches, an impact classification can be done with jumps

Simple dyno: jump from rung to rung (big rung) with both hands

Plyometric combinations: using simple dyno basis, jumping up and down , or jumping up skipping one rung and jump down one, and all simple combinations of simple dynos, but always respecting movement velocity and descending only one rung and ascending skipping one rung max.

Between 6 to 10 jumps for both exercises, or once movement velocity is lost. $ to 10 sets with full rest (3 minutes)

Doubles, triples, maximum dynos: skipping one, two, three, etc rungs, reaching the highest rung as possible. 4 to 6 jumps, 4 to 10 sets and full rest (3 minutes)

All of these exercises could be more intense by reducing rung size, but this strategy is only possible when all the variations are dominated and climber level is high.

Recomendations:

Analyze if you really need to add volume to your training..
Determine if you have enough capacity to tolerate a high intensity training.
High strength levels are necessary, and without actual or recently injuries in fingers or elbows joints, muscles or tendons.
It is not recommended to add any of the high impact exercises to low or intermediate level climber’s workout.
Campus board is a tool to develop strength and power, so sets must be of low volume (4 to 6 reps) and rests between sets must be complete (3 minutes)

Each campus training session must start without previous fatigue. If this happens, it would be very difficult to maintain enough power , and the lack of coordination could be an injury factor due to the intensity of the exercise.

Prof. Juan Martín Miranda

CONTACT STRENGTH (PART 1)

2008-11-20T05:03:00.000-08:00

Each time we grasp a hold, we have to do enough strength to support our body weight. But what is contact strength?

Contact strength forces are the forces that occur between objects, and they can be resolved in two components: the force that acts perpendicular to the contact objects (hand – hold) surfaces and the component that acts parallel to that surfaces (friction). (McGinnis 1999)

Climbers main motor force is the first component, and friction allows the climber to exert that motor force.

Friction between two bodies doesn’t depend on the size of the contact surfaces (hand – hold), but depends on the nature of both surfaces.

Magnitude of friction forces is proportional to the Normal between both bodies; that means more force we apply, more friction we generate. When friction acts between two surfaces that are not moving, it is referred to as static friction, and when your hand is sliding from the hold is referred to as dynamic friction. Each time we grasp a hold we want a static friction, so we have to apply a higher force than dynamic friction.

Well, now we know that we have to apply enough force (strength) to catch a hold, and if we analyze a little more, to get more friction force we’ve to apply even more strength.

As sport performance increase, conditions to apply force worsen: the climber will have less time to apply strength, since the same action will be done with greater velocity. So time to apply force is reduced with the increase in sport mastery, and the only solution to this is to improve the force-time curve, that means apply more strength in less time (Badillo y Serna 2002).

As the climber’s level increases, routes are steeper, and hold needs more friction force. But we have to apply the greater force as possible in a short period of time, since if we don’t apply enough force in the precise instant we contact the hold, the force generated by our body weight (gravity) will be enough to impede grasp the hold.

In the force time graphic, we will see that an athlete can apply his maximum strength (100%) in 0,4 sec, An excessive time if we calculate the necessary time to grasp a hold that needs a lot of friction; on the other hand, in less than 0,2 sec the athlete can apply 50% of his maximum strength. That means that the useful strength of this athlete is 50% of his maximum strength, thinking on apply strength as fast as possible.

In the left graphic, we can se how two athletes with different maximum strength con grasp the same hold if the required force is 400 Newton in 200 ms. On the other hand, in the right graphic two athletes with same maximum strength, but in 200ms the continuous line athlete can exert higher strength, so he might have better possibilities grasp holds that requires higher strength levels in lesser time.

This video (extract from Fanatic Search) shows how contact strength fails.

That’s why finger maximum strength and power (strength/time) or climbing specific contact strength has to be one of the main goals of a climbing specific training program.

Next article I’ll show some ways to train contact strength, using climbing, fingerboard and campus board.

Prof. Juan Martín Miranda

Bibliography

Badillo & Serna. 2002 . Programación del entrenamiento de la fuerza. Ed.INDE. Barcelona. España.

McGinnis P. 1999. Biomechanics of sport and exercise. Ed. Human Kinetics. Estados Unidos
Zatsiorsky V. 1995. Science and practice of strength training. Human Kinetics. Estados Unidos.

Nutritional aspects to optimize climbing training and performance

2008-09-28T11:16:00.001-07:00

One of the climbing performance key factors is the body weight. Climbing depends in it. We shouldn’t forget that move extra weight will add an extra load to the muscles that are involved in climbing, mainly in overhanging walls, where it’s more difficult to use your feet to support weight and this way help upper body.
Maintaining body weight in optimal values and reducing weight to minimum is a must for performance.
In the graphic you will see the different body sizes of an elite climber in relation to the population media (Phantom strategy). Skin folds are between 2 and 3 standard deviations, which means a very lean body.
Legs perimeters are below the media, but upper body perimeters (forearms and arms) are above.Body weight is a sum of 5 different tissues: muscle, adipose, bone, organs and body liquids.
One of the ways to measure those components is doing an anthropometry, which determines the percentages of each component and with that information one can decide if it is necessary to modify body composition to optimize performance.
The next graphics shows the different component percentages of an elite climber and it comparison with the media (Phantom)

Note again, that the adipose mass is between 2 and 3 SD below the media, and the muscular mass above.

Muscular and adipose mass are the values that can be modified by training and nutrition. Upper body muscular mass (muscles) is one of the fundamental components of climbing performance, and for that reason is a must to maintain it or sometimes increase its volume. Sometimes is recommended to reduce lower body muscular mass by a specific training (low intensity aerobic exercise)
But body fat is useless in climbing, and is a must to reduce it to the lowest possible values.

It’s interesting to note that some levels of body fat are necessary to maintain body normal functions, so some minimum levels are required: 15% for men and 20 % for women predicted by Kerr 1988 anthropometric formula.

Nutrition is one of the factors for reduce or maintain body weight, determined by the caloric intake.
To reduce body weight it is necessary to acquire a negative energetic balance, which means that the energetic intake must be lower than the energy consumption.
There are two ways to do this: reducing caloric intake or increase energy consumption (by training).
Some recommendations to reduce weight:
- Moderate caloric restriction (-500 to 1000 Kcal/day)
- Low fat diet (20-35% of the total caloric intake)
- Moderate protein diet (15 to 25%)
- Carbohydrates 55-60% of the total caloric intake, using simple carbs are preferably
- Include foods rich in fibers like fruits and vegetables

Excessive food intake restriction might be dangerous for performance. It is necessary to maintain energy levels to support training loads, and recover from them.
Nutritional strategies to reduce body weight will be a guide for all day diet, but it is very important to start training with full energy stores, and during the recovery period assure the essential components to accelerate and complete it.
It’s necessary to adopt specific nutritional strategies for each climbing training session.

Previous to each climbing training session you must eat enough carbohydrates to maintain the activity throughout the whole period of time. If it lasts more than one hour it will be necessary also to ingest carbohydrates during the same training session.
In turn to recover it is important to consume them after training, before two hours of having concluded. Carbohydrate sport drinks are a good option if you don't tolerate foods in the stomach during training or immediately after finish.
Consider that not only the quantity or type of nutritious is important, but also the time where they should be eaten, if you eat them during the two previous and/or later hours to the workout, the benefits are amplified.
If the goal of the training session is the strength improvement, you’ve to supplement the carbohydrates intake with proteins, especially branched chain amino acids (BCAA) to avoid the muscular catabolism (muscular fibers rupture), characteristic of this type of trainings.
The BCAA constitute near 33% of the total of amino acids that form the muscular proteins, and they are fundamental to stimulate and regulate the protein synthesis processes
There is enough scientific evidences that indicates that the BCAA supplementation is effective to improve recovery speed and to stimulate the protein synthesis. On the other hand, they have also benefits to attenuate the mental fatigue provoked by a serotonin excess (cerebral neurotransmitter that regulates the neural activity) that could induce to apathy and performance reduction.

Prof. Juan Martín Miranda

A wrong way life

2008-05-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

The title of this post is from my best friend Nari that defines all their desires some time ago, where he was so passionate about climbing, but 400 km away from any rock. It is very probable that if he had been born in the best climbing place in the world he had wanted to dedicate to surf with the sea so, so far...

But now he lives climbing somewhere in Europe.

But take it easy Nari, you still on the wrong way.

What I mean is that no matter how much we are devoted to training, getting adaptations in muscles, more endurance, more strength, more power, improving our technique, tactics, strategy, or whatever comes to mind, it is very probable that we cannot transform our organism to such a point that climbing can be natural. Everything unless we win in some way to THE EVOLUTION

It will be very difficult to win the fight against thousands of years of evolution, not in vain we stop to climb to adapt to a walking life getting all the comforts of the modernity.

One of the main differences that separate us from the monkeys is the thumb opposition, which allows to hold things with more precision, but when we’re eock climbing we don't know what to do with that thumb that we uses so much pinching all plastic holds, unless we find a big pinch on the rock.

But the idea here is not to outline problems, just to try to solve them.

Our predecessors lived in trees approximately about nine million years ago, as today lives the chimpanzees. Later a separation took place in the line of the evolution: on one hand the big monkeys, and in the other hand, the men. It probably begins here the development of the hominids, and the man's history, of Homo sapiens, and of their predecessors, Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Neandertalis. All of them are extinguished. We are still the only hominids alive. Different monkeys have also survived: chimpanzees, gorillas, etc.

It is important to notice that the biological evolution makes reference to the populations and not to the individuals; also the changes should pass to the following generation. In the practice this means: The Evolution is a process that appears as a result of the heritable changes in an extensive population through many generations.

We can’t deny that with training we produce changes and adaptations in our own organism (THE TRAINING LOAD IN SPORT CLIMBING article in www.marvinclimbing.com). Those adaptations are those that will allow us to improve and progress.

But as individuals we will never end up possessing the characteristics of the monkeys, no matter how much we effort.

We have to think in the evolution!!!

The secret here is to achieve the best adaptations in our organism through practices and training and to PROCREATE to be able to transmit those adaptations to other generations.

For that reason I go for my second son

Prof. Juan Martín Miranda

adding extra weight to the climbing training session

2008-04-10T12:42:00.001-07:00

Sometimes training stimulus in climbing should be more intense than the normal, especially in high level athletes with a huge training record (several years, several hours per day).

The training intensity can be increased by increasing the wall angle and/or diminishing the holds size. But if the wall angle overcomes 50-60 degrades the technique gets complicated (it’s more like a roof), and when diminishing excessively the holds size it can be dangerous for the hand joints and tendons and inclusive a bit painful.

To get adaptations, the intensity of each stimulus should be bigger than the previous ones; and when the possibilities of the two previous variables are drained it is necessary to use another strategy.

At this point you can add extra weight to our body to increase intensity.

That has many purposes:

- To increase the intensity of the training of the flexors of the hand, and all the involved muscles

- To diminish the time of total training

- To generate more intense stimulus to provoke adaptations when plateaus take place

- Well planned gets extraordinary results in high level athletes, but in intermediate and low level climbers, it can interfere in the attainment of effective technical expressions and mainly provoke injuries when adding too much stress in the joints, muscles and tendons.

The weight that should be added should not be in any moment superior to 5% of the body weight. The best way to make it is through a weighted belt, so that the added weight is located near the body center of gravity. The vests ankle belts are dissuaded, the first to interfere in the movements of the shoulder, and the seconds because they generate an excessive load in the knee when making foot movement, and both methods change too much the body center of gravity.

Each time you finish your weighted workout you must do several climbing movements without the extra weight, means the last set of your session or at least a couple of boulder problems. This way you can rearrange the corporal scheme to the normal position of the center of gravity.

Some recommendations:

- This method is exclusive for climbers with a wide record of training

- It should be used in climbers with great consolidated movement repertoire

- Immediately after a weighted session it’s advisable to transfer the training to an unweighted climbing

- This method is great to increase strength, and also it can be used to add intensity in the different types of endurance training.

- This method should be located in specific periods of training (concentrated loads or shock microcycles)

- The recovery time among sessions should not be smaller than 48 hours, due to the excessive load provoked in the joints, muscles and tendons.

- The use of regenerative measures is recommended to increase the recovery in the weighted climbing periods.

Pof. Juan Martin Miranda

BAD LUCK FOR THE CAMPUS

2008-04-01T11:43:00.001-07:00

Contrarily to what many training for climbing gurus think, campus training would not have the capacity to be a plyometric.

In a recent study of Francoise-Regis M. Thevenet (Master in Investigation Thesis, France), he analyze the inter-joints coordination, angles, angular speeds and times of force development of three sport expressions: a Squat Jump (jumping from squat position), a campus jump with both arms and a dyno (common movement in climbing where arms and legs are used in a coordinated way).
Inside the conclusions of this study we can see that the times of force development until the arms take off in the campus jump are 691 + - 10,5 ms; keeping in mind that after 450 ms the nervous system can regulate the movement by the intervention of the antagonistic muscles, and the myotatic reflex, impeding the development of the increased power involved in plyometric activities. Due to that duration of the force expression, the campus jump cannot be considered a dynamic expression as a jump.
Comparing the campus jump with the squat jump and the climbing dyno, the movement speed and the reached height is lower (0,11 mts against 0,27 mts and 0,48 mts respectively). The problem resides in that the upper muscles should displace 90% of the corporal mass, with much smaller muscular volume that when the legs are used in the jump, or the legs and the arms in the dyno.
Also the take off in the campus jumps takes place when the joints almost arrives to its most favorable angle to produce force (90°) where the back muscles (latissimus dorsi) will be the main motors and arriving almost to the maximum flexion (52°).

On the other hand during the dyno, the coordination between legs and arms outlines an use of different musculature. The legs are the main motors, while the arms maintain the body near the wall, completing a hinge function.
Plyometrics implies an eccentric (stretching) contraction immediately followed by a concentric contraction, in other words stretch the muscle before contracting so that the accumulated energy during the eccentric contraction is released during the concentric contraction producing a more powerful movement. But the main characteristic is the duration of the impulse phase (concentric contraction). This is denominated Stretch Shortening Cycle.
Actions that overcome 350 ms lose that whole accumulated energy, so they are not plyometric exercises.
By the way not everything is lost in campus training. It is an indispensable tool for training for climbing in high level athletes. If we use both arms from complete extension as it outlines the previous study without a doubt the times of force development will be excessive, but if we limit joint range, the action have the capacity to be plyometric. At the moment I am developing a device to measure the hands contact time in the campus in repetitive campus jumps, that which will be able to clarify a little more on this topic.
As always there is a lot to investigate, but campus has many utilities, not only arm jumps. To know more about the training with campus you can check www.marvinclimbing.com

STRENGTH TRAINING METHODS FOR ELITE CLIMBERS

2008-02-23T03:24:00.000-08:00

The increment of the sport mastery (M) depends mainly on two factors: the increase of the athlete's motor potential (P) and their ability to take advantage in an effective way from that potential in trainings and competitions (H). The greater the athlete his specific motor potential and make use of it effectively, the more his performance will improve.

Now, the increase of the sportsman's motor potential (P) and, therefore, the progress of the sport mastery (M) demands a constant increase of the training stimulus (C) in the organism, since they are necessary higher training loads of to get improvements.

This is the fundamental law of the process of formation of the sport mastery . The complete content and the organization of a long term training should be focused toward the creation of the reasonable conditions for the execution of that law.

1- the mechanism under the development of the process to reach the sports mastery during many years of training consists on the steady raise in the motor potential of the body and the improvement of the sportsman's ability to use it effectively in training and competitions.
2- The increase in the key motor functions in the process to reach the mastery slows, and its stagnation in the high level athlete requires that the intensity of the training increases
3- The increase in the sportsman's motor potential throughout many years of training is based on a very concrete morpho-functional specialization of the organism.

The functional specialization of the organism throughout several years of training it is manifested in two ways.

- First, explicit adaptations / alterations are achieved in those muscular groups and physiologic systems that mainly assure the capacity of the sportsman's work

- Second, the functional improvement of the body is expressed by the development of those specific motor abilities which are indispensable for the success in a given sport activity.

Thus, the key item is the specialization of the organism or the organs on one hand, and the motor ability on the other.

Restoring the work capacity after a climbing session

2008-02-02T05:23:00.001-08:00

The training of a climber will be effective if he use correctly the means and methods of training and a complete restoring of the work capacity is achieved.

It is so important the work load as the recovery after it. When executing physical exercises, some processes starts in the organism: rupture and reestablishment of chemical substances, rich in energy, with the particularity that the first ones prevail over the seconds. Once concluded the exercise, inverse changes occurs in the functional systems activity. All changes in that period are denominated work capacity restoration. The metabolism byproducts are eliminated and the energy stores, the plastic or structural substances and the enzymes consumed during the activity are completed.

The means that are used in the reestablishment of the functions are classified in three groups: pedagogic, psychological and physiologic.

The pedagogic means of reestablishment are the selection, variation and combination of means and methods in the elaboration of the training program , the loads diversity and the combinations in different periods of time.

The psychological means of recovery diminish the psychic tension and the state of psychic depression and accelerate the energy recovery. Some common psychological means are the autogenic training, the, selfconfidence, etc.

The psycoregulation training is based on the regulation of the psychic state, using the conscious relaxation of the muscular system and the sportsman's influence on his organism functions.

Lastly, the physiologic means contribute to increase the organism resistance to training loads, to treat general and local fatigue, to replenish the energy resources and the acceleration of the adaptativos processes. This methods includes: feeding, supplementations and pharmacological treatment and the physical means.

The post of today has to do with the physical means that commonly are used in the recovery of climbing sessions. In successive post I will treat the other means.

Several options exist to accelerate the recovery and to reestablish the work capacity. Inside these methods we can find useful the massage, the cold water baths of and electrostimulation

The massage has the following functions:

- Analgesic effect

- It helps to prevent of soft tissues injuries (muscles, tendons, fascias and bursas)

- It stimulates the blood flow

- It eliminates toxins and substances of metabolic waste

- It retards the appearance of muscular fatigue

Cold water baths has been used in the sport from very long time. Cold baths analgesic and healing effect is beneficial for the repetitive microinjuries taken place by climbing. It diminishes the local muscular metabolism and the oxygen demand.

A minimum of five minutes it is required, after which the temperature in the depth of the muscle ant tendons descends about 2-3º. The time should not overcome10 minutes. The application of this technique is very uncomfortable and it requires a great motivation and willpower to carry out it.

This therapeutic measure is highly advisable also to reduce the articulations inflammatory response (especially of the hand) after intense sessions of training in the campus, hangboard and/or boulder.

Ice and water should be placed in a recipient and to there the hands for 30s x 30s period up to 5 to 10 minutes.

The electroestimulator ussage, in the active recovery program that uses some frequencies that go from 10 to 1 Hz, will produce different beneficial effects: first we will obtain an effect of elimination of lactic acid and other toxins; second an oxygenation will contribute to a quick recovery of the muscular tissues, followed by an endorphinic effect that will contribute to calm the pain associated with training, and finally to a general relaxation. Also, this recovery will allow us to confront the following training under good conditions.

It should be used no more than 3 hours after an intensive training or a competition.

The active recovery programs have a duration of 25 to 40 minutes, and with a 4 channels electrostimulator we will be able to stimulate two muscular groups at the same time.

Creatine supplementation

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The muscle only obtains energy for muscular contraction through the energy liberated by the rupture of ATP molecules (adenosine + phosphate + phosphate + phosphate).

When this rupture takes place energy is released and it is used by the muscle This reduces the ATP to ADP + P. ATP is very limited and it allows some few seconds of intense activity (2 to 3 seconds), and for that reason it is necessary to reload it quickly if we want to prolong the effort for more seconds.

To do this the energy contained in another compound, PCr (phosphate + creatine) is used. This compound, also limited, allows to rebuild ATP, prolonging the high intensity effort until 20 seconds approximately, until its concentration in the cell decrease. Because PCr has an essential role in ATP levels recovery, this decrease harms the work capacity. Next graphic shows the changes in muscle ATP and PCr during the first seconds of maximal work.

What would happen if we increase PCr levels in the muscular cell?

We could maintain elevated ATP concentrations for more time and then we could maintain high intensity effort for more time.

Also, we would accelerate the ATP recovery from high intensity efforts, and to repeat many more times that effort.

Translated to climbing, will allows to make harder boulder problems, more longer more quantity of problems per training session, In boulder comp, will allows a faster recovery from attempts, and maintain a high intensity work capacity throughout the whole event, and in the case of rock climbing, it will allow us to work routes, and if the same are divided with some good rests, will allows to use as energy source to arrive from to until the top.

To achieve this one can make in two ways, with training, in particular the intermittent training (interbloque), and/or increasing creatine stores.

So creatine supplementation is one of the main ergogenics supplements that exist at the moment.

The speed and efficiency of the PCr replacement depends mainly on the total muscular creatine, so supplements with creatine helps to increase the stores, with the consequent performance improvement.

Some of the proven effects scientifically are the following ones (Naclerio Ayllón 2007):

1. increase intramuscular creatine levels according to each person's natural limit. (Branch 2003, Syrotuik & Bell 2004, Walzel, and cols. 2002).

2. improves the speed of the recovery processes and it slows the fatigue in intense and repeated works with incomplete recovery rests(<>

3. allows to maintain bigger work volumes with the wanted intensity (Branch 2003, Rawson & Volek 2003)

4. induces an cellular volume increment, due to their osmotic effect. The hydration and cellular expansion constitutes fundamental stimulus to attenuate the catabolism and to stimulate protein synthesis, favoring the regeneration processes and hypertrophy. (I gave Pasquale 1997, Persky & Brazeau 2001).

5. facilitates calcium ions release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum speeding up the contraction-relaxation processes because the acto-miosine bridges are formed and they break faster facilitating the capacity of the fiber be stimulated in smaller periods of time , improving again the work efficiency (Nooman, and cols. 1998).

To be able to achieve a maximum saturation of the intracelular creatine deposits, the only way is through the ingest of a nutritional supplement that contains a high concentration of creatine monohydrate. There are two ways to take creatine:

First one is to use a loading period, with 0,25 to 0,35 grams per kilogram of body weight distributed in 4 daily takings during 7 days, and then to a maintenance period of with 0.03 to 0,09 grams per kilogram of body weight. Due to the increment of the cellular volume that has as effect, it accumulates water in the cells, producing this way an increase in total body weight, something that is counteractive in climbing. During this loading period it is probable an increase from 0,75 to 1 Kg. of body weight, as consequence of that increase of water in the cells.

Second way, is through a longer loading phase, using 5 grams of creatine in a daily dose for a 30 days period, wich allows to arrive to similar creatine concentrations, but after that period of time, and recently there to get benefits. Then it should be continued with the period of maintenance. This option is the most recommended for climbers that are not carrying out trainings that are mainly beneficiaries from creatine (those that train several capacities at the same time), but in climbers that are in a period of maximum force training they will be directly beneficiaries if the creatine accumulates quickly and they take advantage of it to improve the training quality and indirectly it will impact in the performance..

Lamentablemente, la creatina no es para todos, ya que existe un 30% de la población que no es sensible a la creatina, por lo tanto no se verán beneficiados por este suplemento.

To facilitate the absorption, the creatine monohydrate ingestion should be accompanied by high glycemic index beverage (fruit juice),.

The creatine supplementation should be accompanied by a washing period after 2 or 3 months, to allow natural creatine synthesis. This period is approximately of 1 month before a new loading phase.

Creatine is not for every one. 30% of the population is not sensitive creatine, therefore they won't be benefited by this supplement.

INTERBLOQUE: special boulder training

2008-01-08T05:02:00.000-08:00

Some years ago they were given to know the effects of the intermittent training in the sport practice. I start Immediately applying the knowledge of the physiology from this type of training to climbing, obviously adapting them to climbing. What I denominate INTERBLOQUE (in Spanish) is the application of the intermittent training to climbing, specially training for boulder climbing.

The intermittent training implies short moments of effort (10 to 30 seconds) of very high intensity, with rests that take the relationship 1:1, 1:2 (for example: 10" x 10" or 10" x 20"). The intermittent exercise escapes to the classic explanations of the physiology of the effort that divide the energy production in three systems (alactic, lactic and aerobic) that come from cyclic sports.

What we get from this? The idea is stress to the maximum the fast energy production, starting from the rupture of ATP and its later resynthesis from phosphocreatine, and here is where the importance of this type of training resides.

Maximum climbing performance. A matter of head

2008-01-07T06:47:00.000-08:00

Maximum performance situations consist on those moments where the climber puts everything, physical as mentally. When the climber isn´t 100% involved in the action, it is probable that that route or boulder don´t come out, mainly if it is at the limit of our possibilities.

According to some scientific works of the psychology of the sport, seven mental and physical conditions have been identified that the athletes describe as characteristic sensations that experience in the moments in that they are performing exceptional executions:

1- Mentally relaxed.

2- Physically relaxed

3- Optimist

4- centered in present

5- Full of energy

6- Extraordinary consciousness

7- Under control

All these conditions are psychological states that will make the difference when finishing a route, and not only in competition, but also when climbing at our maximum level.

We all will have felt anxiety at some time before giving our "last try" to a route or boulder. Our main task in those moments is to control the adverse sensations that can play us a bad passing impeding us success in our objective.

The presence of an appropriate emotional climate can help to mobilize the psychological reactions that are essential for a brilliant execution. A negative psychological climate generate the opposite, i.e., frustration feelings, fear, anger, concern.

High level athletes have identified their own level of individual execution and they have learned (intentional or unconsciously) to create and to maintain this state in a voluntary way.

This level of individual execution is in first measure represented by the denominated "arousal" or level of excitement of all resources of the body that influence in the activity.

The arousal is a mental state of excitement, which goes from the drowsiness to the maximum excitement level, therefore for each task will exist an optimum level. But in any moment the extremes will be ideal.

Let´s take 60 movements route for example where one should administer our energy throughout all the movements, if we begins with a too high excitement level, it is probable that we presses too much the holds and after some few movements the forearms gets pumped and don't get our objective.

The opposed would happen in a boulder problem where we need a high excitement level to give the best in each try, where we should grab each hold with our maximum force.

It is so for each activity we will find our right arousal level.

The following graphic illustrates this.

START

2008-01-07T05:23:00.000-08:00

This Blog is dedicated to sport climbing training, and I wil try to share my ideas about climbing, training, and everything related on those topics . I hope this information should be usefull to everyone. Critics, comments and oppinions are welcome.