Long term training goals: Training for the Motherlode

[iclimb2improve]

Hey guys!
So I just got back from the RRG this last week, and one of the days when my friends and I were walking back from the Playground area in PMRP back to our car, we decided to look at the Motherlode area. I've never really been so humbled by a natural feature in my life, and it has inspired me to train to send at the very least one high 5.12 on that wall. I'm familiar with overhung rock features, but none of them have been quite that long. For example, I live in the midwest and I've been to Willow River State park which is like a shorter, less overhung, version of the Motherlode wall.

What kind of training would you suggest to achieve this kind of goal? Long base fitness and power endurance phases with less emphasis on strength and power or would you suggest longer strength phases and longer power endurance phases? Extremely overhung sustained climbing has always been a weakness of mine, and I'd like to get better at it. So if anyone has any suggestions, I'd be very appreciative!

[jetjackson]

Woot! I just got back last night from the Red. Spent two days at the Motherlode and had a few attempts at Chainsaw Massacre, but didn't have the power endurance for it, or the time to dial in the moves to the point where I could send it with my current power endurance. That's probably the entry level classic route for the Motherlode - at least the beastly overhanging section you're talking about. I watched this 58 year old woman named Gita use my project as a warm-up. She's a beast and was working a 5.13b out there. Great crag!

Having not sent any routes there, take my advice with a grain of salt. I would think overhanging power endurance training on a 30 degree wall, characterized by linked V2-V4 boulder problems featuring big moves to open hand crimps, pockets and pinches, separated by rests on open hand jugs. That's what I was doing before I left, but I only got 2 good sessions of that in, which IMO, wasn't enough. I would suggest checking out Ted's post here on 'Deep hold fitness' - boulderingathenscounty.blogspot.com/2015/07/cultivating-deep-hold-fitness.html - he talks more about recovering on those open hand jugs.

While I was at the Motherlode, I overheard some of the locals talking about the wall, saying they don't know how you could do any of these routes if you were on a short trip, because there is a specific type of 'Motherlode' fitness that only comes with working the wall for long periods at a time.

[MarkAnderson]

Nov 28, 2016 8:34:19 GMT -7 jetjackson said:

While I was at the Motherlode, I overheard some of the locals talking about the wall, saying they don't know how you could do any of these routes if you were on a short trip, because there is a specific type of 'Motherlode' fitness that only comes with working the wall for long periods at a time.

That's nonsense, but it does illustrate the parochial attitude of many locals (of every crag everywhere--not limited to the Red)