Adapting Programming for Unreliable Weather and Partners

[Charlie S]

Well, it was a rough fall here in the intermountain west.  The weather dial jumped back and forth between winter and summer with not a lot of autumn in between.  Further, my climbing partners were either injured or out of town, so I kind of lost a chance at try hard.  When I did go out, it was to new areas on routes I had never tried and styles that were completely perplexing (though I did get an excellent trip down to Indian Creek and got 2 5.11+ onsights.)


Anyway, I deliberated as to whether or not I should share some modifications I've been working on, realizing that it has a departure from the RCTM.  If you're not interested in paradigm framework, ignore the section between the **********.  I wrote most of this for a friend after a discussion, and figured I would share it and risk the calls of you "you heretic!" 

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First off, I love reading comments about how the RCTM is "linear" and "rigid."  People who say that haven't peeled away the onion to look at the scaffolding that RCTM employs.  It's this scaffolding that can support creativity and modifications for a program that works for you.  That being said, I think some significant time sticking to a program is helpful so you have a great baseline rather than a "I just don't like that workout" and then tossing it to the wind.  There are reasons that the workouts are structured the way they are, and you really have to understand why before making tweaks.

From later in this writeup:
I’m implementing this into a year-round training cycle. The periodized program to try and peak at certain times of the year has been nice to try, but the reality is that partners and weather seldom line up. I feel like I’ve squandered so many trips because I wasn’t prepared, or wasn’t able to find a partner. So there’s a little bit of paradigm shift going on.

As a background, I have been on the RCTM for almost 5 years and have recorded every single workout.  I have completed 148 hangboard workouts, over 100 power workouts, 53 power-endurance workouts, and I've tried to forget the ARC workouts.  I sent my first 5.13a this spring, only 8 weeks after ankle surgery and the first week I was able to fit into my for-real climbing shoes (I did a TON of hangboarding!).

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Here is the e-mail I sent my friend, answering a question about 1-arm hangboard workouts:

Here’s what I’ve been experimenting with. A little early to tell if there are any results. I’ll start with the workout, and then explain why I tweaked it to this. 

Find the grip positions you want to work. For me it’s 3: Open hand small edge (probably around 15mm), two finger pocket, three finger pocket, in that order.

I then do two sets of 5 hangs with 7s on, 5s off. The second set is +10 pounds. So for me, the whole workout looks like this:

Open Hand Small Edge
Baseline weight (for me, it’s around -90 lbs)
7s on, 5s off for 5 hangs on left arm
10s break to reposition
7s on, 5s off for 5 hangs on right arm
2 minute break

+10 pounds (so -80 lbs)
7s on, 5s off for 5 hangs on left arm
10s break to reposition
7s on, 5s off for 5 hangs on right arm
2 minute break

Then I repeat that for the two finger pocket and three finger pocket.

That’s a lot of weight to be taking off. I have it, but you may struggle to find that many plates at the climbing gym. I’d recommend going with a larger hold that requires less weight reduction in that case.

Ok, so now for the anecdotal reasoning behind the changes:

3 grips instead of 6-10
There’s been some research lately looking into joint angles in the fingers for strength. Realistically, almost every single grip has the same joint angle on the tendons. So for connective tissue, it looks to me that you only need one grip that strains every tendon/pulley equally. The reality is that this isn’t the case, so you need to mix it up a little. But beyond connective tissue, there are also the muscles in your forearms and the whole construct ending in your shoulders and back. You’ll find even your pecs and abs are engaged in a 1-arm!

I’m afraid to train half or full crimp with weight, so I leave those out. Though the obvious application is that the joint angle is different, so there may be some benefit. Check out Tyler Nelson’s “density hangs”.

For my goals, they are usually small edges and/or small pockets. You may want to consider something else for your goals. Like if it’s steep European tufas, I’d recommend pinches and big holds with a LOT of weight added. And probably weighted pullups.

5 hangs for both baseline and +10lbs
In the RCTM and other protocols, they usually call for something like 7 hangs at baseline, 6 at +10 (for 2 arms), and 5 at +20. I did this for a long time. Many times I felt totally spent by the 3rd hang on the final +20 round. It wasn’t lack of strength; it was total fatigue. I was not able to systematically overload my arms because I had spent all usable energy at the lower levels (so maybe that is strength? Or strength-endurance).

In my bench press regimen, I usually do something like 10 reps at a warmup (135lbs), 5-6 at a medium weight (185lbs), 2 at pre-warmup (205lbs), and then 3x6 at the weight I’m working (currently 225lbs). Realistically, everything except the 3x6 is warmup. Taking that mindset, I make the first set of hangs the warmup hangs and 5 reps is sufficient to accomplish that purpose. It’s the 5 hangs at +10 that need the work, and it’d be prudent to save some energy for the push.

7s on 5s off instead of 3s off
The 7/3 protocol has been pretty popular. Similar to the section above, I wanted to save some energy to try and push myself further. I’m not trying to train fatigue. I’m trying to get really strong. If I’m stronger, fatigue will hopefully onset later.

During my last 2-arm hangboarding season, I decided to wait a little longer between hangs. It was amazing that I could actually finish the hangs with just 2s more rest between reps. This felt less dangerous to me, as I was able to really set my fingers and engage without feeling rushed.

I think 7/3 works nice because it’s easy to track 10 seconds on a timer. But with the interval apps available today, it shouldn’t be an issue to use any combination. It’s also a little more specific to do 7/3 instead of 7/5, but I think that specificity is probably better addressed using power-endurance laps.

Final Thoughts
The idea is to get strong, not necessarily get tired. This whole workout takes about 23-25 minutes to complete. A fraction of the hour that my old program used to require. It is DEFINITELY more intense, though I think I recover faster from it since I’ve downed the volume. I can actually consider climbing 2 days later, whereas in the past I really needed 3 after a solid hangboard workout. And even then, I always just felt incredibly exhausted. It wasn’t until about 1 week AFTER the hangboard season ended that I started to feel really good.

Also, I’m implementing this into a year-round training cycle. The periodized program to try and peak at certain times of the year has been nice to try, but the reality is that partners and weather seldom line up. I feel like I’ve squandered so many trips because I wasn’t prepared, or wasn’t able to find a partner. So there’s a little bit of paradigm shift going on.

As part of this shift, I need to focus on more actual climbing. To do this while staying strong, I think “Moonboard Mondays” are going to become a staple for a few months, with hangboard Wednesdays. Friday and Saturday will be outdoor days. I’m also tossing in Tyler Nelson’s “density hangs” on Tuesdays or Thursdays. These are good for tendon health and really are not exhausting.

I guess the summary is that I’m totally experimenting, and we’ll see how it goes. 

[Charlie S]

Edit to add:
I want to up my baseline. When I find "the next project", I will likely revert back to a more "normal" looking RCTM construct, modified for my goal.

One thing I've learned this year is that specificity is key, as well as route rehearsal. I can't train gently overhanging and expect to do well on thuggy cave routes.

[acmesalute76]

Hey Charlie, great writeup. Let us know how it goes. Interested to see how you do on a non linear program. I’d be curious to see if your performance level increases in a similar timeframe to a normal linear cycle (say four months) or longer if you decide to stay with it that long.

I’m curious what your outdoor days look like. What’s your intensity like? Are you projecting at all or just climbing onsight mileage? How do you balance it with the training?

[Charlie S]

The training has helped my redpoint ability. Humorously, my OS is around 11b/c, flash is 12a, and then highest RP is 13a. That's a huge spread, and atypical compared to others I know working 13a.

I'd be hardpressed to call my next plan "linear" or "nonlinear," or even periodized. Rather, I need to focus on some skills and body mechanics. At the same time, I want to maintain my strength and power. So we're shifting "modalities" to address a weakness.

Outdoor days generally are warmup on 11s, then try to OS a 12. I can usually give a good burn for an RP after an appropriate rest.

At my normal after-work-project-all-the-things crag, the process goes: 11a, 11c/d, 12b, then project (the 13a).

At new-to-me weekend crags, it's usually warmup 11a, 11b/c, try to OS a 12 (a/b), try to RP it, and then move on to something else that looks entertaining.

The frustrating thing to me has been that I can do all the moves. It's been a while since I've felt like "I just can't do that move."

And it's quite possible that I keep getting suckered into caves and I most certainly have not been training caves!

[acmesalute76]

So it seems like you are still climbing pretty hard around the training, no? I’ve always had a hard time avoiding injuries when I go hard all the time, which has been one of the benefits of a more linear approach. It also helps me keep from getting burnt out on hard climbing. After a couple hard projects I’m ready for that break. But your way means more outdoor climbing, which is a big plus! I like your ideas for the hangboard as well.

[Charlie S]

Intermediate update:


I've modified the plan a touch.


First off, general training has been:
Monday: Moonboard
Wednesday: 1-arm Hangboard
Friday: Moonboard placeholder (dependent on weather and Saturday)
Saturday: Climb outside placeholder (dependent on weather and Friday)

Now for what I've actually done:


You can see how I've moved many of the workouts based on other things (uhm….like skiing....) on the upper half, versus the notional plan (lower half, whose dates are yet to come).  Of note, last weekend my first weekend of climbing outside since middle of November.

I've been happy with this.  Last weekend we went down to Sun City in Nevada (pretty cool little crag).  I onsighted a 12a as my warmup (big accident...I was looking for the 5.10a and grossly misread the description [probably soft]).  Undeterred, I was NOT going to come off and held it together.  Later that day, a 12b [not soft, probably fair] went in 2 attempts.  So both of those were big accomplishments for me.

Hangboarding was talked about previously.  I changed it a bit more; the 5 reps at "baseline" wasn't always enough.  What if I was having a heavy day?  What if I had skipped a week or 2?  What if I was injured?  I needed something more flexible.

Here's what it looks like now.  I have a starting weight for each hold.  5 hangs.  Add 10 pounds, 5 hangs.
Did that go ok?  Great, next session keep the weight the same, now do 6 hangs.  Add 10 pounds, 5 hangs.
Next session, same weight: 7 hangs.  Add 10 pounds, 6 hangs.  Now we know that the strength and volume is there.  Increase the whole set by 5 pounds for the next session and go down to 5/5 reps.  In table form, it looks like this:


Apart from some numerical mess-ups on the 1/13/2020 workout (I was looking at the wrong row when I started, doh!) you can see the pattern.

Of note, I haven't failed any of the reps using this method.  Some may argue that means I'm not pushing hard enough.  However, what isn't shown is that my last hangboard "season" on the 1-arms, the weights I achieved today with no failures I was massively failing just 1.5 months ago.  Today was a PR day and it felt pretty relaxed, all things considered.

Some general rules I try to follow on it: if I take over a week off, do not step up; go back to 5/5.  Was 5 too hard?  Drop 5 pounds.
If I do 5 at baseline, and then feel really strong and do 6 at +10 lbs, then level up: add 5 pounds and go to 5/5 next hangboard workout.
If I'm supposed to do 7 at baseline/6 +10, but feel week and barely do 6 at baseline, then only do 5 at +10.

Essentially, I'm building a gate: if I can't do 6 at +10, then keep working those weights.  It also gives me flexibility to add/drop in the middle of the session.

I'm going to keep tinkering with it.  I like the idea of perpetual hangboarding in the middle of the week.