Campusing saps my strength for a long time

[tedwelser]

What is a good way to know if your fingers are strong enough for campusing?

This post wonders about why I feel weak for so long after a campus session. Will this get better as I get stronger? Is this a product of old-ish age (43)? How close to full strength do I need to feel to effectively train power?

As a litmus test during my fall strength cycle I included 10 second max weight hangs from the small metolius campus rungs. I ended the cycle at +40 pounds. I thought this would be strong enough, and it was. Sort of.

My first campus workout was a modified version of the beginner workout (I only have medium and small rungs). But the workout went well through matching and standard ladders on both sizes. It ended when I tried my second max ladder (an entry level 134, moon spacing) when my skin split (oh the folly of trying to campus in early September in Ohio in full humidity).

But that first session really taxed my finger strength for the following week. I ended up only doing 2 more campus sessions during my power sequence and the second one was really limited because even after 6 days away from campusing and two double rest days my strength was still really low. I had a couple more scheduled but I opted to limit boulder instead. I wondered if I needed to be stronger in order to campus effectively.

During my current “mini season” I would do a hang test on the campus board at the end of my HB workouts with one set of 7 hangs of 7 seconds each on the medium rung until failure. At first I could only do 4 reps, but I could do 7+ consistently by the end of the series.

So, I think I am stronger than fall, but I still find that I am not back to full strength after 6 days post campus. Again, my first power workout is good, the next my performance is much lower. [are my campus workouts taxing my strength so much that I am working strength more than power after the first workout?]

I wonder, does anyone else run into this, and what would the optimal training schedule be?

[Chris W]

Ted, I'm a total campus bumbly and have only been through two organized power phases. I finally managed to do a couple of smooth basic ladders last season on the large rungs. I don't seem to have the same problem you do, but I haven't even touched the small and medium rungs. It looks like your fingers are stronger than mine if you're doing sets on the small rungs with 40+ pounds. I wonder if you'd benefit from using a set of the large [metolius] rungs for a little while.

[Charlie S]

I'll feel campus workouts in my biceps for several hours (if not a full day). If I try to do any halfway challenging routes the next day, it goes horribly and hurts more.

Moral of the story: rest!

Out here in Utah, I have the skin splitting problem too, but it's from the dry air as opposed to humidity making the rungs grippy. Use Joshua Tree climbing salve (or similar) liberally after each hangboard and campus workout, and even other times throughout the day or week as needed. Keeping up with skin care is a real chore but a necessity.

[slimshaky]

one thing that i find is pretty key, at least for me, when campusing is to stop the workout as soon as i feel like i am struggling a bit. i have found that if i pass a certain point it takes a long time to recover. if i stop while i am still pretty fresh it seems like i am in pretty good shape within about 48 hours.

it is SOOO tough to stop though. it is almost like a gambling addiction, i keep just wanting one more chance to snag those rungs! "i swear, i'm gonna hit the jackpot this time!"

[jessebruni]

I don't have much experience with campusing, but I've hurt myself on the board a few times and taken some notes:

1.) If I start campusing when ANYTHING feels tweaky I'll regret it for the next 2 weeks.

2.) If I don't warm up really, really, well, I have slight pain in the tops of my forearms when I release small crimps. If I feel this pain during my climbing session I cannot campus or the same pain will be magnified on all other holds for weeks to come.

3.) Stop long before I feel spent. If I push my campus sessions to the exhaustion levels of the hangboard sessions I will be at sub-maximal bouldering levels for the next 2 weeks.

[MarkAnderson]

Dec 22, 2014 9:35:40 GMT -7 slimshaky said:

it is SOOO tough to stop though. it is almost like a gambling addiction, i keep just wanting one more chance to snag those rungs! "i swear, i'm gonna hit the jackpot this time!"

Man, that is so true.

I agree with slim, my guess would be that your campus sessions are too long.  How many sets (trips up the board) are you doing, how long are you resting between sets, and what is the total duration of you campus session (from beginning of first set to the end of the last set)? Whatever it is, I would try cutting back quite a bit and see what happens. If that helps, then you can gradually build up your volume throughout the season.

[tedwelser]

Thanks Mark and everyone for your thoughtful replies.  

Today I reduced the volume-- especially of the matching ladders and standard ladders.  I finished wanting to do more, but I restrained myself.

I went back and looked at my records, and I was doing too much volume before I got to the max ladder campusing.  Tonight I just finished the 3rd and final campus session of my mini-strength and power season before resting over christmas.   These are moon spacing (22cm centers), [edit to correct numbering error]

Campus session 1 I did the recommended warm up, and then I did the following:  

4 sets matching ladders:   2 each:  3,4,5,6,7 medium;  4,5,6,7 small
4 sets standard ladders:   2 each:  2,3,4,5,6,7 medium; 3,4,5,6,7 small
attempted, completed most; 6 sets max ladders all on small rungs:   4,6,7

So, tonight, which was campus #3 and power #5 I decreased to 2 matching ladders, 4 standard ladders and 4 max ladders.  I did these all on medium rungs, and especially on the standard ladders I really strove to maintain momentum and fluidity.  This worked part of the time, but I can see how working towards instantaneous pulling in the standard ladders builds potential to succeed in the max ladders.   

I don't know about most of you, but I can maintain some momentum on the medium rungs, but on the smalls I often need a moment to organize my fingers on the smaller edge, and in so doing, I lose momentum.   I feel like working to move with momentum in the mediums is building important strength for my max ladder moves, and is therefore more beneficial right now to me than doing standard ladders on the smalls.   


Finally, despite my earlier post, I did feel as though I was able to campus effectively today, and my warmup bouldering went well-  I felt stronger than during campus #2, but part of this resurgence may be due to the limited campusing that I actually performed on session #2.  I plan to rest well over Christmas but I also expect that integrating the advice (longer rests between sets, lower volume, emphasis on quality over quantity, etc) will help my overall power results on the next time through.  thanks!