Splitting up ARC Sets

[Audie]

So a big group of fellow climbers and I are trying out the RCTM plan for the first time in preparation for a climbing trip over labor day to The Red. I had a few quick questions about the Base Fitness phase.

- Is it kosher to split up ARC sets during our session? For example, we all do our first ARC set at the beginning of the climbing session, which also works as a nice warm-up. Then we do normal climbing, maybe work on a few projects, whatever. Finally at the end of the session we finish up with our 2nd ARC set. It's obviously a much longer break in between constant ARC'ing, but we're still climbing stuff in between. Once it gets to 3 sets a session we'd throw the 2nd in the middle of the climbing session somewhere.

- It's still ok that we're doing whatever normal climbing we want on those days as well, right? As long as we get the proper amount of time ARC'ing, whatever else we have energy for should be fine I'd guess?

- If splitting up ARC sets that drastically lessens their impact, what about just switching off belays? One person top-ropes for their ARC set and then swaps with their belayer, repeating until all sets are done. By nature of the length of the sets you'd be getting a longer than 5-10min break, but I don't really see a way around it unless there's going to be 4 of us all traversing around our small gym, which might get a bit hectic.

Sorry if this is kind of a nitpicky question, just want to make sure we're getting the most out of the program. Thanks guys!

[MarkAnderson]

I don't see a problem with splitting up the ARC sets, or trading belays if you want to ARC on a rope. The more interesting question here is, is it wise to mix ARCing with "...normal climbing, maybe work on a few projects, whatever..." in a single session?

I suppose the upside of this is primarily that it's fun. Perhaps it also provides some good practice. The downside would be that there is only so much time/energy in a day, and if you're saving some of both for "normal climbing", then you're not putting as much as you could into ARCing. I tend to think if you're doing any of these training activities "correctly," then you won't have energy for extra climbing. When I ARC I'm thrashed afterwards--skin, feet and muscles. I also think if you're ARCing correctly, you'll probably get better practice through ARCing than through normal climbing.

That said, there is a fair bit of Outdoor Mileage built into the Base Fitness Phase, so if you really want to keep your normal climbing sessions, you could look at it like Outdoor Mileage and integrate the two (ARCing and OM) into a single indoor session. So rather than doing 2 ARC sets each on Tues/Thur, and 10 pitches/day on Sat/Sun, you could do 4 days/week of 1 ARC set and 5 pitches. That way you'd still 4 ARC sets and 20 pitches each week [note, these numbers are notional and not meant to be taken literally]. Personally I think you'd get more out of doing your OM outside, but if that's not practical, I can see advantages in mixing the two.

[Audie]

Awesome, thanks for the quick reply. 

I think one of the main issues was that we weren't ARC'ing hard enough our first day. I guess I had gotten it into my head (probably read somewhere other than RCTM) that ARC'ing should have you at about 30% max power, so we were a bit sweaty and nursing a light pump when we were done with our first set, but still had more than enough strength to do some "normal" climbing.

I think going forward we may do a quick warm up and do a quick climb or two on new routes just for fun, and then go full tilt into hardcore ARC mode for the rest of the session.

Thanks!

[tetrault]

I think the "30%" power, and similar given figures, are what can give ARCing a bad rap in some cases. 30% max power does not mean 30% effort, 30% focus, or 30% technique.

Midway through what I consider to be a proper ARC session, I am using nearly all I have to control my technique, breathing, grip, etc. to maintain the difficulty of terrain without starting to pump out. From a complete rest, each individual move would be relatively easy, but in the moment, they feel completely engaging.

[Chris W]

I tend to have very limited time, so I use my first ARC set as a warm up set, typically on my vertical wall on really tiny holds.

Also, good to hear that I'm not the only one that gets trashed ARCing....

The photo I have now as an avatar (?) is of my torn up hands after an ARC session last summer.