First Time Through - Progress Question

[colinobrien]

Hey Everyone,

I just passed the midway mark of my strength phase, and wanted to get some feedback from this awesome community.  By way of background, I'm following the RP program precisely after spending the winter focusing on bouldering for strength and technique.  I redpoint 11b/c-ish sport, have onsighted 11a trad, and am hoping to break into 12a this summer. 

My question is about my progression through the hangboard routine.  I have been taking it relatively slowly, trying to find baseline and develop strength without pushing it too hard.  On this last workout, I really tanked, and I'm wondering if it appears that I'm adding weight too fast or if it was just an off day.  I've attached a screenshot of my progression, with the red cells representing sets failed on the 4th rep.  The failures (and completed sets) were utterly desperate, with the exception of the first two or three holds. 

For those of you more experienced than I am, does this seem normal?  I'm 5'8" 145, if that helps.

Thanks!

Attachments:

[jessebruni]

Hard to say just from a single workout. In my limited experience one bad workout is not a very good predictor of how well the phase is going. If you can't get past these weights after another 3 workouts then you've probably just found your baseline. Stick with whatever plan you had before this and update after a few more workouts.

[MarkAnderson]

Your data seems within reason to me. Note that your failing on the later grips, and on grips that often don't improve a lot within a season (two pinch grips, sloper and IM). My theory is that early in your Strength Phase, your first 4 or so grips were pretty easy, so you had a lot of energy left to devote to the last 4 or so grips. Now the first 4 are closer to your limit, and you're actually having to try hard to do them, so now you're tired for the last 4. So that makes it hard to progress, and in some cases maybe even hard to match what you've already done.

Stick with it, those grips will improve eventually, though not necessarily this season.

[colinobrien]

Mark and Jesse,

Thanks for the replies.  Mark, I think you're right.  I've found the weights for the first few grips where I'm nearly failing on the last set, and the workouts are much, much more intense than the first few (like, nausea inducing awesomeness).  Even the sloper, which has been almost a rest for me, has gotten significantly harder.  It sounds like this is where the work gets done.  I was just worried that the weight was coming off to fast, and that I might have needed to slow down the progression a bit.  As Jesse suggested, I'll continue to monitor as I work through the next few sessions.


Thanks!

[joev9]

I add weight in 5 lb increments and feel like the improvement really comes when you do start failing. Key is to make improvement next time (even if it's just holding for 1 second more than the last time). Also, with the pinches and the sloper, sometimes failure is due to loss of friction rather than actual muscle failure. Check out Mark's post on the "bubble" he made to have perfect conditions to avoid these annoying friction failures: rockclimberstrainingmanual.com/2014/09/24/the-bubble/

[MarkAnderson]

Point of order, the bubble is a result of Mike's insanity, not mine.

[joev9]

Oops, sorry, Mark. I'm actually thinking of setting one up this summer in my garage so I can hb through the hot summer...

[colinobrien]

Wow.  That's some Dexter level plastic sheeting.  Terrifying and impressive. 

[Chris W]

At first I thought the bubble was crazy, but now I'm starting to wonder if I should try it out in my barn. My wife knows me well enough by now that she won't try to 302 me.