|
Post by scienceguy288 on May 19, 2015 18:20:50 GMT -7
Although some of us may be purely sport climbers, boulderers, or alpine climbers, many probably like to mix it up, have goals in various disciplines, and want to perform well in all of them. I realize that this probably isn't ideal from purely physical standpoint: improving performance in a particular discipline seems like it would be most effectively and efficiently achieved if that was all one did. However, I enjoy all of these pursuits and enjoy the variety. It keeps my stoke up. This is precisely why I agree that establishing long, mid, and short-term goals is important.
I suspect that transitioning from goals that involve more power and strength (e.g. bouldering) to endurance and aerobic capacity (e.g. alpinism), or vice versa, will involve some losses in the former. How would one go about minimizing the those losses? Do those skills/strength gains atrophy quickly? It seems that there are well-rounded mountain athletes have the ability to balance and excel at both ends of the spectrum (eg. Steck, Huber brothers). Would it be insanely difficult for the average person to do so in their training?
Now that I am done with the vagueness of hypotheticals, let me detail my specific situation:
I have been training for sport and single pitch trad climbing for two cycles/seasons because I planned trips to the Red and Rocks. I was very pleased with my results from following the RCTM. However, my more proximate short term goals involve some alpine-style climbs. I know that I will need to expand my cardio work and aerobic capacity, but don't want to completely lose the gains I've made over the past couple of months. Hopefully this will make my above questions a bit clearer...
|
|
|
Post by MarkAnderson on May 19, 2015 19:02:51 GMT -7
In my experience you could focus entirely on alpine climbing over the summer, including whatever cardio training you want to do, and return to sport climbing in the fall with no negative effects. Depending on your eating habits and exercise you may be a bit heavier than usual at the start of the fall cycle, but you can certainly shed the weight in time for your performance phase if you're motivated.
The only real downside would be that you are missing out on a season's worth of sport climbing improvement. You can mitigate that by performing whatever aspects of the RP program don't interfere with your alpine plans (I'd recommend doing a strength phase if you can). Regardless, you have plenty of years ahead of you and there is more to life than grade chasing on clip-ups, so if alpine climbing gets you stoked, then you should definitely do it.
|
|
|
Post by scienceguy288 on May 20, 2015 7:33:13 GMT -7
Huh. I've definitely skipped a training cycle and come off way worse after not having climbed for about 2 months while training for other goals. Will simply using a fingerboard a few times a week help negate that?
|
|
|
Post by joev9 on May 20, 2015 8:22:41 GMT -7
What Mark means is that with one proper training cycle you will be right back where you were. Obviously, at the end of your alpine stint, you will be at a lower point with sport climbing, but you will come right back with one cycle. I'm pretty sure the RCTM book talks about the benefits of detraining every once in a while...
|
|
|
Post by slimshaky on May 20, 2015 10:10:30 GMT -7
Huh. I've definitely skipped a training cycle and come off way worse after not having climbed for about 2 months while training for other goals. Will simply using a fingerboard a few times a week help negate that? you will likely be a bit 'rusty' your first few times out. after you have gone through this a few times you figure out that this is going to happen, and use the first couple sessions to get used to the rock again. for me, a big thing is remembering the different types of texture and how to use them comfortably with my feet. how to keep calm clipping, etc. for me, it is always easier to transition from hard sport climbing back to fun trad climbing than vice versa (which kind of makes sense). the hard sport climbing helps you climb 'better' - the main challenge is obviously the mental part of knowing if there will be gear ahead, trying not to over-place gear, etc. going the other direction, it usually takes me a couple months to really get going. i just tend to lose a lot of strength if i am not using it.
|
|