climbing while training?

[mikeb]

Your training schedules (and your discussion on trainingbeta) indicate rest days roughly every other day.  I'm wondering if ARC or harder climbing can go on the rest days.  I'm only about halfway through your spectacular book.  Pardon me if the answer is coming later.  My hands are throbbing at night and I've got some tender spots, but it doesn't seem too severe.  I'm having a hard time judging how much is too much.  I'm climbing 6 or more days a week right now. 

[RyanJohnson]

Unless you're Sean McColl training endurance for the Sport Climbing World Cup, 6 days a week is generally thought to be way too much volume. The most important thing to know is that you're only stronger after you rest! Your body needs to heal the damage you've done to it during climbing and training. If you structure your climbing, training and resting in the right manner, you will get stronger. If you don't take adequate rest, you will get weaker. In the similar manner, if you don't manage the right intensity in your workouts you won't get stronger either.

I'd aim for 4 days a week max. You can always stretch, ice your muscles, sort your climbing gear and haunt climbing websites on the other three days.

[Blamo]

Hey mikeb,

I fit into the category of "climb way too much." I can really appreciate the rock prodigy approach, but am way too hyperactive to be able to sit still for two days after a hangboard session (my wife finds me going nuts and I am jumping off the walls like a kid who was injected full of sugar. I generally do two a days 5 days a week). With that in mind I find that aimlessly climbing non-stop is a waste of time. Are you structuring your six days a week to focus on what you need to work on? Are you following a focused periodized program? Or are you showing up in the gym and doing whatever you feel like in combination with socializing for half the time?

I have noticed a number of the really good climbers can go many days in a row (e.g. Alex Puccio, Dan Mirsky, Carlos Traversi, Paul Robinson). However, they also have a fair amount of time, are very focused, and have fairly low outside stress, outside of climbing (as far as I can tell). The fact that you are saying "I have tender spots" seems like a few shots across the bow. Blow a pulley tendon and you are going to spend a few months on the kiddy wall hating yourself. My rule of thumb is that if I warm-up and am not ready to pull-hard and be at least a bit better than the last time I climbed it is time to rest. Do you have specific goals that you are working towards or are you just going to the gym and climbing? You can really do whatever you want. If your goal is to climb non-stop, then you can definitely train for that. If your goal is to hike the 5.hard with your shirt off wearing a beanie "like it ain't no thang" than 6 days a week might not be to your advantage.