Post by tedwelser on Aug 24, 2014 21:04:27 GMT -7
TL/DR: Designing strength training on a hangboard: what reasons would we prefer repeaters over max weight hangs or vice versa? what reasons would we prefer one selection of grips over another? what principles determine our selection of holds and protocols?
Earlier this week I made a blog post about my intended strength training plan, and linked it onto reddit climbing. I actually got some good feedback and ended up doing some new research, reading earlier FAQ's from this blog and some of Eva Lopez's blog posts. I changed my plan in several ways. (also added pulleys, as I should have from the start)
Here is the RCTM post that was most influential on my plans. "Hangboarding FAQ #2: Should I use big holds with lots of added weight, or small holds with lots of weight removed?"
The key insights for me are that hangboard workouts should be specific to a persons goals, and those climbing steeper, juggier routes should generally select large holds and higher weight. That post plus Lopez's research and comments online caused me to reconsider the type of exercises and the types of holds that I wanted to concentrate on initially.
The short version is that I changed my plan for strength hangboard workouts away from timed repeaters and towards max weight hangs (10 sec effort, with 180 second rests).
A second major change that I made is that I tried to select more general hold types, while also focusing on those that would both be most specific to my climbing goals (steep 11's and 12s at the Red River Gorge). My workouts primarily include open hand holds and medium sized half crimps. I am limiting pockets to three fingers (IMR, MRP), and the wide pinch. I will diversify from these simpler grips after I reach max desired added weight (+55 or +1/3 bodyweight- this is just a guess).
Principles I draw from Lopez's work suggests that people should increase max weight hangs before making the hold more challenging and that people should train primarily on the most commonly encountered type of hold for their level.
I am wondering if we can articulate the principles that would allow climbers to answer the specific and more general question posed in the title of FAQ #2.
Principle #1: train foundational holds first.
Principle #2: increase intensity by increasing weight up to the point of added weight becoming prohibitive.
PRinciple #3: after maxing weight, extend development through increased repetitions, smaller and more limited or extreme grips
Principle #4: further specification of hold type and workout parameters should reflect seasonal goal specific attributes.
In my blog I gave some reason why I am trying max weight hangs rather than repeaters at this stage. The key one, beyond Lopez's research showing the efficacy of max weight hangs for strength gains, is that some climbers I talked with suggested that they found repeaters to be very helpful subsequent to a period of max weight hangs. Repeaters seem to edge towards developing the capacity to endure high but not maximum level effort over an extended period. I do not know of any study that directly compares repeaters to max weight hangs. It might be similar to in olympic weight training, the difference between workout sets of 1-2 reps vers 6-8. Fewer reps might be more intense and faster strength gains at some other cost, (perhaps a downside of max weight hangs is that they more risky for injuries?) Beyond that, some circumstantial reasons that I have chosen max weight holds are limits of my skin pain in high humidity and heat, and development of hold weight knowledge from max weight efforts will help me chose the right level to use for repeaters.
This is my updated plan, with records from my first workout
boulderingathenscounty.blogspot.com/2014/08/updated-finger-strength-workout-plan.html
This is the earlier plan
boulderingathenscounty.blogspot.com/2014/08/finger-strength-training-plan.html