The Right Way to Structure Whole Body Strength Training

[willblack]

I feel like the strength phase outlined in the Rock Prodigy book focuses 90% on hangboarding and maybe 10% on whole body strength training. I think this is totally understandable, since finger strength is easily ten times as important as strength in any other specific muscle group. That being said, I haven't really had great results from the minimal strength training I've done in addition to hangboarding and I feel like being able to do a one arm pull up, front lever, etc as well as respectable antagonist strength would all be helpful for my climbing. Is there anyone out there who feels like they have a really good lifting/whole body strength training plan they would be willing to share?

[aikibujin]

Ha, it's funny because I can do one arm pullup, front lever, etc, but I don't think they help my climbing. But I guess if you can't do them, maybe they will help your climbing, or at least, won't hurt your climbing.

I bought a set of gymnastic rings earlier this year, and I've been very happy training on them in my garage. I do many of the exercises from Mark's blog:
rockclimberstrainingmanual.com/2015/05/27/functional-core-training/

I generally do a pullup-type exercise, a dip-type exercise, a rowing exercise, a shoulder exercise, a lower back exercise, and a pushup-type exercise. I change the exercise every 4-6 weeks, but always stay with the 6 different types for the different muscle groups.

[dsm]

During the strength phase on post-hangboard days, I do the general core and strength training circuits in the book Training for the New Alpinism. It's a really good set of about ten exercises for core and another ten for strength. Here's a link to the core circuit if you're interested: www.outsideonline.com/1987466/definitive-10-step-guide-building-do-anything-core

I start doing 1 or 2 core circuits as a warmup, followed by a strength circuit and then every week I add an extra strength circuit culminating in 4 strength circuits at the end of the strength phase. These circuits take about 45 minutes to an hour and a half, total, as I ramp up.

For the power and performance phase, I do an abbreviated version by picking ten or less exercises more specific/relevant to climbing and I do just one circuit (because I am lazy/sick of doing supplementals after a month of doing them) once or maybe twice a week for maintenance.

I have modified out exercises over time and thrown in levers, wings, one armed pullup stuff, etc.

Besides the circuits, before I leave the gym after warming up for hangboarding, I do some weights: lat pulldown, dumbell press, tricep bulldown, bicep curls.

[willblack]

How are you guys structuring your lifts in terms of sets, reps, lifts per workout, workouts per week, etc? And do you guys feel like you are seeing measurable improvement?

[jonfrisby]

Bechtel's power company podcast episodes are great for theory on this. My main points are 1) high weight, low reps per set, high speed, 2) focus on 1 lift and maintain 2-3 others, 3) don't do to many things.

I bench and do a core exercise twice a week and deadlift and one-arm pull once a week, generally as a circuit with a mobility element and either a hang or campus set (called integrated strength or integrated power). I only do sets of 2 or 3, with overall rep counts from 6-10. So for bench that might be a warm up set and then 4 sets of 2 at 90% max.

Since last November, when I started really lifting, my dead has gone from 275 to 405, my bench from 175 to 225, my guess is that my one arm strength is 10% better, and I can perform standing ab rollouts on rings.

[aikibujin]

Aug 15, 2017 3:48:38 GMT -7 willblack said:

How are you guys structuring your lifts in terms of sets, reps, lifts per workout, workouts per week, etc? And do you guys feel like you are seeing measurable improvement?

I do my strength exercises with hangboarding mainly to use my time more efficiently, so I shoot for three sets of each exercise, because that's how many sets I do for hangboarding. I do six different exercises (outlined above), which works well with six different grips I train.

The number of rep is a bit more complicated. I rotate between low rep (3-5), med rep (7-10), and high rep (15-20) every six to seven weeks when I change my exercises. I do have a very specific reason for this though, it has to do with me not been able to climb very much.

[dsm]

For the four weight exercises I do, mentioned above, I do this 5-3-1 routine:
https ://www.t-nation.com/workouts/531-how-to-build-pure-strength. It's easy to follow and easy to track progress. I usually do weights twice a week; if I'm hangboarding I do them after warming up for hangboarding at the gym and before I go home to hangboard.

[ehowell]

I think the 1-arm PU is overrated and time spent opening your hips and getting weight off your arms is probably time better spent. Bechtel, in his new book, completely removes pull muscle exercises because he states (and I'm inclined to agree) that we get enough pulling by simply climbing and improved strength in this arena has diminishing returns. He has 5.14 climbers that can only do 10 BW pull-ups. I completely eliminated them from my training this season with great trepidation, and in the end saw no decline in lock-off strength or performance on rock. YMMV.