Benefits of Campusing on a very imperfect campus board

[alexandra]

Hi all,
it seems like my campus board options around town go from bad to worse. Recently the local climbing gym we have in town(even though my partner is part owner and should have a say on those matters) installed a campus board, which seems to be even more dysfunctional than the one I was training on last. It has three sets of rungs, large, small and sloper rungs. However, the campus board is "unfinished" for the last few months, since there are only 4 (!) large and 4 small rungs (and a full set of sloper rungs which from what I understand they are not super useful for finger strength). I am hoping one day they will add more rungs to it and they will take my suggestion to replace the sloper rungs with medium rungs (I sent them a one page email copy pasting from Mark's blog post on how to build a good campus board). Luckily the rungs have moon spacing.

I am just entering the power phase of my 3rd cycle, and I would really like to try to make some use of this campus board instead of warming up at one gym, driving 20 minutes to another gym which has a pretty bad, but more reasonable campus board (As per an old post of mine). I can basically campus the total of 4 large rungs in one move, which is ok for warming up, but clearly I will not gain anything just sticking to that. On the small rungs (they are pretty small, probably smaller than usual, and pretty slippery at the moment) I can barely do a basic ladder (2-3-4, match). I do feel though using the small rungs exclusively is pretty hard on my fingers.My question is: do you think I should just keep trying to do smooth basic ladders on the small rungs and then try to skip one rung with each hand etc, is this something I would gain from? Or should I just stop being whiny and drive the 20 mins to the other gym, where I can at least do more than 3 moves on a set of rungs an they also have medium ones? (but super weird spacing between them).
I can send a picture of this new campus board if someone thinks that they could give better advice by looking at it.
thanks!

[ehowell]

Could you maybe get some benefit out of bumping (not sure of the official name)? Say start on B1-L2-L3-L4-B4, something like that? Maybe downward ladders as well? Also, there's always double dynos: B1-B2-B3-B4. Max ladders will be pretty much not an option (except maybe 1-3-4 on small, if you haven't done that) until they finish that puppy.

[alexandra]

I can do double dynos and pretty much everything else on the large rungs, so that won't get me any better. I can definitely not yet do 1-3-4 on small, which i something I definitely would like to work on, however my problem is that transitioning from the large rungs to the small feels like such a huge step. My fingers are aching and I am really afraid that I would get some injury like that...(even if I campus after about an hour of WBLand some hard bouldering)..I guess are there any suggestions on how to warm up to the small rungs instead of doing a few sets on the large ones and then diving in and hoping my tendons keep in place?

[ehowell]

Yeah, going from large to small rungs is a bit scary, but if you can already ladder on small rungs, I'd say that's good enough as a warm-up to move into at least 1-3-4 on small rungs.

Ideally you can convince the gym to purchase some medium rungs, or if you're really desperate (and assuming there's space), you can go above and beyond and donate some yourself. Maybe then they'd pony up and at least reimburse you. Still cheaper than building your own board.

So if it were me, I'd do basic ladders on the large and then small rungs, a few sets of max ladders on the large rungs, then try 1-3-4 on the small rungs. Obviously you know your body, so if your fingers are aching on the small ladders, then don't proceed. Honestly, I'm better at max ladders than basic ladders on the small rungs.

[MarkAnderson]

Another option would be to make some removable shims to put above the Large rungs to make them the same depth as medium rings. You could do your Large rung sets, put the shims in, do your medium stuff, then take the shims off. I've never actually used or made shims, but I think it would work pretty well in theory.

[alexandra]

Thanks Mark! Is there a blogpost/instructions on how to construct something like that that you can share? I had to look up what shims are
In the meanwhile, would you recommend that I keep trying to campus on the smalls? or do you think that would be too dangerous regarding injuries?

[MarkAnderson]

No. I've been meaning to make some shims myself, maybe I'll get to it this winter. If I do, I'll take some pics and write something up.

You have to figure out for yourself what is safe for your body and what is not. My guess is, you'll be fine on the small rungs.

[alexandra]

I tried using the small rungs again and they felt much better than last time. I can comfortably do basic ladders and i can also do 2-4-match. However, whenever I start from the first rung (this also happens to me on the large rungs some times) I can't even do 1-3 most of the time. There is something about the first rung being too close to the ground (I have to bend my legs a lot to start hanging) that disorients me and I cannot do the same moves that I can comfortable do when I start from the second rung. Or maybe there is some other reason that has to do with the angle of the board, I don't know. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue when the first rung is too low? Why does it happen and what is the right technique to use in order to get over it?
thanks!

[Lundy]

Hi Alexandra,
The bottom of my campus board is quite low to the ground as well - so much so that I actually pull onto rungs 1, 1.5, and 2 from the sitting position. I'm not sure what the physics of it are, but it is definitely harder like this. I basically am in an L sit until I reach the third or fourth rung. I figure making it harder can't hurt the training in the long run...

Also, one note on a previous post where you say you can do double dynos on the large rungs. Are you just doing DDs up, or are you doing plyometric work where you go down first then up. So, for example, my double dyno workout is just to start on a rung (I start on 5, given how low my board is), drop to 4, and as quickly as possible go back up to 5. If I need to reset I do it on 5 to ensure the maximum plyometric effect. This might be another way to make your training on a less than optimal campus board as effective as possible.

E

[tedwelser]

My board has a low start as well-- and I need to start at 3 or 4 to feel as though I am not at a disadvantage due to doing an L-sit just to keep off the ground.   Any single move work that I want to focus on I need to do in the middle of the board.  

[alexandra]

I managed today to comfortably do 1-3-4 on the small rungs! Given that I only have four rungs to work with, what would you recommend my next ladder attempt should be? try to do 1-2-4 or 1-4, match?I am hoping at some point that they add more rungs...

[Lundy]

That's what I would do -- I always find short-long harder than long-short.