Lack of Climbing Opportunities / End of Strength Phase

[firebug]

To give you an idea of my judgment and maturity level, I´ve decided at the age of 49 that it would be a great time to take up rock climbing. What can I say, but that it is fun. You may recall when you first started and the rapid progress you made. It´s addicting. I purchased the RCTM and have read it cover to cover. Purchased the RP hang board and started my first strength phase.

Unfortunately, my nearest climbing opportunities are 2 to 4 hours away. The two hour option is over 50 Km of dirt road and I must cross three rivers. Despite the distance, I have managed to get at least one climbing session in a week. I have been making progress (able to climb new routes that I couldn't the session before), as most beginners do I imagine, but have just completed my 9th hang board routine. I should be transitioning to my power phase. I do not have a campus board (the gym 4 hours away does have one). The 2 hour option is a tower with no bouldering options per se.

From the reading I´ve done, including the RCTM, I know I should just be climbing more at this point. I would love to, but I simply don´t live close enough to any gyms or natural features to climb more than once a week (on average). I have the resources to build a woody, but I do not have a location for it (I live in a condo). I have spoken to a few potential hosts (gyms), but any such plans are probably 6 months away.

What do you suggest I do in regard to hang boarding? I am still making regular progress on the hang board (i.e. I´m still taking weight off). My routine has been to hang board on Tuesdays and Fridays and climb on Sundays. Since I can´t move to a power phase do to a lack of equipment, should I keep hang boarding until I stagnate, then take some time off? Take a couple weeks off now, then get back to it?

Any advice appreciated.

[tetrault]

Personally, if I am able to get outside once in a week, I consider that a very good week! Though, I can't truly relate as I have more opportunities to spend time on plastic.

In my opinion, as long as you aren't creating any missed opportunities for movement training (outdoors, at a gym, or on a tiny condo wall), performing more Hangboard sessions while still seeing improvement is a good option.

Can you build a tiny, freestanding, or easily removable home wall? Or even a campus board? (link) The only limit to your creativity and ability to utilize the space you have is your psyche, which sounds like it is through the roof right now! Take advantage of it.

[firebug]

Thanks for the feedback tetrault. One point to clarify is that both "climbing opportunities" are on plastic. The two hour option is a tower built outside. The four hour option is a nicely equipped gym with both bouldering and routes. I have to travel to the capital, San José, about twice a month on business so I try to sneak in two sessions each time I go. I´m inclined to take your advice and keep working the hang board until I stop seeing progress or I have the equipment to move on to a different phase.

[aikibujin]

I can relate, because I’m also only able to climb once a week if I’m lucky. To answer your question, I would agree that it’s a good plan to just hangboard for the long term strength gain. Once you hit a plateau, you can probably just switch to a different protocol and see more improvement. I would only caution you to take it slow and don’t push yourself too hard. If you haven’t been climbing for long, adding weight/increasing the difficulty too aggressively may be a recipe for finger injuries.

But what you really need right now is to climb more, and sounds like you already know this. Climbing is a movement sport, you simply cannot get better it if you don’t climb. I have been climbing for a few years now, but I still feel that I have a lot to improve simply by climbing more. Hangboarding and campusing are great exercises to focus on strength and power, but you can’t learn to utilize all that strength if you can’t practice the movement.

I don’t know how long you’ve been climbing, but if you haven’t been climbing for long, even building a woody may not be all that helpful to you right now. You may not have the experience to set problems for a wide range of movements and techniques. A moon board may be a good solution since you don’t need to set your own problems, but I heard the learning curve is pretty steep.

My suggestion is to focus on making your visits to the gym as productive as you can. A lot of people go to the gym, climb a bunch of random routes, maybe get super pumped, and call it a day. That’s probably not the most effective use of your precious time.
My recommendations:
1. Climb more routes at a level that’s challenging but doable for you, instead of focusing all your time on one mega project. For routes, maybe try something that you fall once or twice on your initial attempt, so you work it until you get it without falling. If you’re falling off every couple of moves and it takes you 10 hangs just to get to the top, your time may be better spent on something easier. For bouldering, I like to give myself five tries on a problem, if I don’t make any progress in 5 tries, I move to a different/easier problem.
2. Once you climb a route (without falling), re-climb it a few times on different visits to get the movement dialed. Maybe use it as a harder warmup for your next visit, focus on refining your movement and climbing the route as efficiently as you can.
3. Try different technique drills given in the book, focus on improving one aspect of your climbing at a time.
4. Get tips from better climbers. It’s easier when you’re bouldering, people are usually more than happy to share beta with you.
5. Video yourself climbing. If you’re climbing with a better climber, see if you can video them doing the same route/problem. Watch the video at home, analysis your movement, compare it with better climbers if that’s available to you.

I think the above recommendations will help you maximize your gain from your limited visits to the gym. My last suggestion is going to be a little experimental, I’m not 100% sure it will help, but it certainly won’t hurt:
Try some visualization exercises. I can’t site any sources, but I think there are studies out there that show detailed visualization has a positive effect on movement learning. This is what I do: when I’m projecting something hard for me (warmups for some people on this forum), starting on the same day, I’ll go through the entire route in my head before going to bed at night. A video of you climbing the route is very helpful in remembering the sequence, but try to visualize from a first-person point of view (so don’t visualize the route like you’re watching a video of yourself). Try to recall as much details as you can: how does a hold look, how does its texture feel in your hand, how cold (or warm) does it feel, which muscles you engaged, etc. It usually takes me longer to visualize the route than to climb it since I try to recall as much detail as I can. It also helps to “act out” the moves by moving your arms and legs around, but you probably want to do this when no one else is watching… I think studies have shown that the more vivid your visualization, the more you can learn from it. Again, this is going to be very experimental, I don’t know for sure it will help you with improving your technique, but I don’t think it will hurt other than wasting a little time if it doesn’t help. It has certainly help me memorizing sequences on my project, so even if I go back to it months after, I still know what to do.

[firebug]

I´m brand new to climbing. Honestly I probably would not have read all of the RCTM and purchased the hang board if I had a gym or a crag closer to my home. Like most, I prefer to climb, than to train. Since I don´t have a gym close by, I have used training to fill the gap in climbing. My main goal now is to get some good advice on technique so as not to ingrain bad habits. I have a class set up with one of the best climbers in my area this Friday. Just hope to give him something to work with.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I have been doing points 1-3, but it´s nice to have some validation. Point 4 has been tough as I usually visit they gym during the week right when it opens. On several occasions I´ve been the only climber there. I love having the place to myself, but would also appreciate the opportunity to watch some better climbers. I should get that chance Friday.

I haven´t used video or visualization to this point. I probably need a better skill set and frame of reference for them to be useful. In surfing, I use a form of visualization but the situation is more dynamic as I´m moving on my board while the wave is also moving. It´s probably more of a recollection of similar past experience that allows you to put yourself in the right position on the wave to do what you want to do, but then you must correct for the uniqueness of that wave. In any case, being able to see yourself accomplish something in your mind´s eye is always a good step to achieving the goal.