Progressing on Menace Holds

[ruststains]

I'm in my first season of the rock prodigy program, and I'm in my strength phase. I am extending it by several weeks due to a boulder closure at the gym I go to.

I was having a problem in the beginning of the strength phase where I would get super pumped and be unable to complete the latter half of my sets solely to exhaustion, leaving me unable to train strength on those holds. I'm doing an experiment where I switch the sets around every training session. For example, I do the first half of the sets first and the second half second on one day, then the next I do the second half of the sets first and the first half of the sets second. I leave the jugs first always as a warm-up. It seems to have been going well so far and have added lots of weight on most holds. Does this change seem reasonable to you?

I am still having trouble with one hold, and haven't progressed at all on it. In fact, I seem to be less strong on it now than I was in the beginning. I consistently reach failure after the first rep, whether or not I have weight on. I can't really set up a proper pulley system as I hangboard in the gym. The hold I'm having trouble with is the medium edge on the so ill iron palm hangboard.

How can I start making progress on this hold? It's just making me feel weak and like I'm not making any progress.

[MarkAnderson]

That's an interesting experiment (switching grip order from workout to workout). Generally I think if you're making lots of progress, then it must be ok. Granted, since this is your first season I'd expect you to make lots of progress either way, but its noteworthy that it solved your problem of running out steam in the second half.

Anyway, I'd guess the problem with the Medium Edge is that you started out with too much resistance. The preferred solution is to use a pulley system. It's probably worth exploring some options for rigging a make-shift pulley if your gym doesn't already have one. Perhaps take some pics of your setup and post them here so we can offer some suggestions. Failing that, I'd suggest you up-size to a hold that allows you to complete all the sets, and then add weight from there.

Finally, if you're making steady progress in the other grips, don't let one bad apple (grip) get you down. Clearly the process is working, you just need a more realistic combination of hold size and resistance on one grip.

[daustin]

I've done something similar in the past when I was brand new to HBing, though I've only varied grip order from season to season as opposed to from workout to workout. It was valuable self-experimentation that taught me how much grip order affects resistance. For me this was especially true on the RPTC Wide Pinch -- when it was one of the last grips in my set, I'd have to use pretty significantly lower resistance than when it was one of the first grips in my set. Eventually you'll want to settle into a more consistent routine, but I think it's great to experiment like this, and the benefit of doing so while you're a beginner is that you're likely going to make big gains no matter what.

Agreed with Mark re: needing to remove resistance. Rigging some sort of pulley system would be ideal (I used to girth hitch slings onto the 2x10 that my gym's HB was mounted on and then clip pulleys onto the slings). If that's truly not an option, I'd consider either 1) dropping this grip altogether for now and coming back to it sometime in the future when you're stronger, or 2) decreasing the intensity by experimenting with other variables, like increasing the rest time between reps or decreasing the hang time

[Liam]

Thanks for the suggestions! I did a session today with a really poorly rigged pulley system. There's a ton of friction so it's not ideal, but I still think it's a great way to make progress. I read about it in the book and had my doubts that it would be that helpful, but I can see the light now. I threw 12lbs on it and was able to get the whole set in. I had a huge pump at the end which I wasn't able to get just by failing on it over and over again. I think I can decrease the weight by 2-4 lbs next session.

[ruststains]

By the way, this is me posting. Made the post as a guest accidentally.

Jun 21, 2017 19:49:17 GMT -7 Liam said:

Thanks for the suggestions! I did a session today with a really poorly rigged pulley system. There's a ton of friction so it's not ideal, but I still think it's a great way to make progress. I read about it in the book and had my doubts that it would be that helpful, but I can see the light now. I threw 12lbs on it and was able to get the whole set in. I had a huge pump at the end which I wasn't able to get just by failing on it over and over again. I think I can decrease the weight by 2-4 lbs next session.

[MarkAnderson]

Awesome! Now get yourself some proper pulleys and some cord (not webbing). You will find your current rig has so much friction that it won't be very repeatable.

You can get suitable pulleys at Home Depot for a few bucks, and they will make a huge difference. Or if you have a rich uncle you can ask him to get you the Cadillac of hangboard pulley systems.