6 weeks program before a trip

[Dam]

Hi everybody !

Happy new year !

I need a bit of help or / and advice ;

I'm not gonna talk about the the RCT method, though I tried it before and had good result with it. I'm climbing around the 7b/c os (depending where...), RP 8a/+.

My background is that I did a full Anderson's training method last year, peaking in late spring (2017). Then I had to deal with moving to another place, but kept climbing outside.

Then I started another time the training plan (only for the strength and a bit of the PE phase, cause my projects were basically hard old school french slabs...). Let's say the PE phase wasn't going well cause in my countryside campus board are not common, though I found a tiny climbing wall for making some LB sessions and a bit of 4X4's before a trip to Spain.

Last week I went on a trip to Siurana, having good results (till 7b+ os, a few 7c+, one 8a in 6 days of climbing with 2 rest days). I came back a few days ago, and I'm resting now for a few days (5).

I'm going back to Spain in mid-february, and my plan is to climb an 8a+/b which consist of a bouldery crux at the beginning (fingery) followed by a bit of resistance climbing. It's in Siurana, some might have guess the one I'm thinking about. Basically the style of this tipical route is the style that's common there, a least for the routes I like.

Here we go ! So I got 6 weeks, and I was thinking about scheduling them like this :

- Week 1/2/3 : (per week 2X finger strength session with some biceps strength as well, 1X LB session, 1X 4X4 (my "gym" is way too small for Linked Bouldering Circuits), + some TRX on rest days

- Week 4 : 2X LB, 2X 4X4 + extra TRX

- Week 5/6: 1X 4X4, 1X LB, (+ extra TRX on week 5). On this two weeks I'm gonna lower the volume but increase the intensity.

So, 6 weeks is all I got, what do you think about this program ? Pros, cons ? Let me know...

Cheers !

[Dam]

At least, if nobody is replying, might that it's a better program than nothing...

cheers

[daustin]

Seems like a decent plan, I'd just be extra vigilant about listening to your body to avoid injury. It can be tempting to try to squeeze in more sessions at a higher intensity when you have less time to train.

I take it you don't have access to outdoor climbing in the countryside now? If you can climb outside at all, I'd try to replace as many 4x4 sessions with that as possible, focusing on routes that are similar to your goals in Siurana.

[Dam]

Yes, if weather is ok I'll try to go climbing outside.... (it's not at the moment)
Thanks a lot for the reply, peace !

[Dam]

Here we are :
Training went fine till now, but as I am now in my fifth week of training, I'm just wondering about "tapering".

Shouldn't I do this week (week 5) the same training as week 4 (so 4 sessions in total), but cut the sessions volume by a half ?
And next week (week 6), do some tapering with just two small sessions ?

I'm getting a bit confused with this "tapering" idea.

Thanks a lot to helping me to clear this kind of things !

[Chris W]

It's a bit hard to say. I plan out my training a year in advance. My current spring cycle, which will end with a week at the New River Gorge, is planned for 16 total weeks, not six. I guess I don't really "taper" my training. If I'm working on my project, I try to take two full days off of climbing training, bare minimum of one, before I hit the project. When I'm on my road trip, I try to climb every other day, though even that is kind of hard.

[Dam]

Just to give some feedback...
Week 5 : 3 X half sessions (2 X PE (4X4) + 1 LB session)
Week 6 : had to deal with moving to a new house and chopping wood for the end of the winter (could be a form of training as well...), so I just did one PE session on a rope in a gym.

Then it works pretty well : went to Spain, climb during 2 days (mostly OS and some RP), rest one day, then went in the route and checked the moves. Came back next day and send it on my 2nd try of the day, so 5 tries in total.

:-)