Only 1 day outside per week during Performance Phase

[tsh]

My family life typically only allows one day per week for projecting/redpointing outdoors during the performance phase, which for me is Sundays.  I believe the RCTM assumes two days back-to-back for performance, with one day in the middle of the week for PE maintenance.  For my situation, I suspect that I need an extra day during the week to maintain strength and fitness.  Tuesday and Thursday make the most sense for me, so it would look like this:

Sunday: Redpoint Attempts
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Climbing workout (shorter?)
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: WBL,LBC, SE workout
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest

Does anybody have a suggestion for the Tuesday session?  I've thought about just doing a (maybe shorter) workout with hard bouldering to maintain power.  I've also thought about doing a PE workout, but I remember Mark suggesting that there isn't much benefit to more than one PE workout per week.  Or, is there any argument for keeping it to just one mid-week workout despite a single performance day on the weekend?

[richb]

I have a similar situation, one day a week during performance phase. It has worked well for me to just do one LBC workout midweek and climb one weekend day. I haven't experience a quick dropoff in fitness on that schedule, and my body feels great with five rest days per week. But I've always thrived on lots of rest - does that sound like you, or are you the type of climber who feels and performs better with more training during the week?

[tsh]

I guess I'm somewhere in the middle. The training/rest proportions outlined in the RCTM seem to be just right for me. For example I feel like I need all two rest days in-between hangboarding. Following a day of redpoint attempts, I usually feel ready to climb my best again after just one rest day. 3 consecutive days off, even after heavy training, does seem like too much rest for me but I haven't really experimented with it. Most of all I would need to feel convinced that it isn't causing me to lose fitness too quickly. It's good to know at least that others such as you are happy with it.

[suprcrmpr]

do a shorter workout with focus on finger strenght. I'd try warming up on boulders, 30-45 min, until you can do a couple of max attempts, then do a 3x10sec max hangs with 3 min rest between reps (Lopez protocol) (thats another 10 minutes) and then whatever your schedule allows for after that - arc, SE's, streching, antagonists.

It's my first time doing this weekly outside of a structured hangboard-phase, and it certainly feels like it helps keep my fingers strong. 

[tsh]

Suprcrmpr, for this workout do you do the max hangs on one grip only?

[suprcrmpr]

yes. 4 finger, open hand. Edge size as close to 18mm (as prescribed by eva lopez) as I can, depending on if I'm on my hangboard at home or at the gym.

My theory behind this is it gives me a finger strenght maintaning element of my climbing week. I very rarly feel a climbing session (bouldering/roped, indoors or out) gives the same stress on finger strenght as this. It's not to build strenght, it's to maintain it.

[tsh]

Cool. In the past I've used the 10 sec max hangs per Steve Maisch, which sound the same. I really liked doing them but didn't see a way to fit them into my training which is primarily rock prodigy. This seems like a good application though, keeping it minimal for maintenance, so thanks for the tip.

[jonfrisby]

I find max hangs significantly easier to recover from than repeaters. Especially if you are recovering in order to do something besides max hangs on your next day

[ehowell]

Depending on where you are in your climbing, you may benefit more by focusing on a volume day in the gym to keep the movement and technique skills fresh. The benefit is that you are getting more practice, but not putting yourself in a deep hole from which to recover. At this point the moves can be more difficult than an ARC session, but probably not much in the limit realm.

We (myself included) want to put a lot of emphasis on strength and power, but almost everyone still has plenty to gain on refining our movement skills. I'm slowly returning to this school of thought...

[tsh]

I hadn’t really considered a volume workout but it seems like a good option. I’ve been climbing 15+ years and I do feel like power/strength is my limiting factor much of the time but, like you say, there’s almost always room to improve technique, and I wouldn’t want to dig a hole.

Considering everyone’s input on this thread, each option sounds pretty reasonable depending on the circumstances. If I’m thrashed from my performance day Sunday, I can probably get by with the one PE training day during the week without losing much fitness. If I feel my power and strength waning too much during the performance phase, I could do the brief bouldering/max hangs workout on Tuesdays. If I want to work on efficiency/technique, or have a more active recovery, maybe switch Tuesday to a volume day.