Post by MarkAnderson on Feb 6, 2016 17:05:24 GMT -7
It's really a matter of deciding what your priorities are. If you want to excel at multiple sports simultaneously, that is certainly possible, but it's not the best way to improve at rock climbing. And surely your climbing training is interfering with your performance in the other sports. I was a serious endurance athlete before I was a serious climber, and the biggest jump in improvement I ever had, aside from when I started systematic training, was when I finally stopped running/cycling on my rest days. I can't explain the mechanism (I have some theories), I just know that it interferes with climbing for some reason.
That said, clearly you have developed a very high work capacity, so you can probably handle more volume than the typical climber. There are climbers who excel with significantly more volume than what we prescribe in the book. I would say these are special individuals, but they are out there. You might be such an individual. Keep in mind though, this will likely change as you age. I'm guessing you are relatively young compared to the rest of us. Also, we're all dudes, and there are surely some differences in how aging affects athletic performance between men and women. For me, I could go all day long, every day, throughout my early/mid 20s. I started slowing down quite a bit in my late 20s. I've been fairly consistent through my 30s, though I've been feeling generally more tired on rest days the last 1-2 years, and it sounds like I should expect another drop-off as I enter my 40s. So, just because you've been able to do a ton of volume with no ill effect in the past doesn't mean you will always be able to. But if you're still young, you might as well take advantage of it while you can.
I think in your case, you can probably achieve your climbing goals without dropping all the other stuff. It just might take a bit longer. Another thing to consider is that one might argue "Volume is the enemy of Power". Since you're a boulderer, you need all the power you can get. At the very least I would look at your rest day routines and try to maximize the intensity while minimizing the duration, including cutting out any "junk mileage". For a power athlete, the "slow burn" is probably the worst thing you can do. Note that when I say "intensity", I mean empirical results, such as % of 1RM, rather than perceived intensity, which I would call "effort". I'm a bit skeptical (or awed) that someone could effectively do "intense" exercise for >4 hours a day. I'm certain someone can endure intense suffering for >4 hours, but that's not the same thing (that is, you are probably giving 80-100% effort the entire time, but at hour 3, even 100% effort doesn't produce nearly the results 80% effort would produce at hour 1). My guess is at least some of the exercises are not intense (from a results perspective) relative to what you could do if you were fresh. If there are some exercises like that, you could probably eliminate them with no ill effects, you may even find your performance improves on the remaining activities.
That said, clearly you have developed a very high work capacity, so you can probably handle more volume than the typical climber. There are climbers who excel with significantly more volume than what we prescribe in the book. I would say these are special individuals, but they are out there. You might be such an individual. Keep in mind though, this will likely change as you age. I'm guessing you are relatively young compared to the rest of us. Also, we're all dudes, and there are surely some differences in how aging affects athletic performance between men and women. For me, I could go all day long, every day, throughout my early/mid 20s. I started slowing down quite a bit in my late 20s. I've been fairly consistent through my 30s, though I've been feeling generally more tired on rest days the last 1-2 years, and it sounds like I should expect another drop-off as I enter my 40s. So, just because you've been able to do a ton of volume with no ill effect in the past doesn't mean you will always be able to. But if you're still young, you might as well take advantage of it while you can.
I think in your case, you can probably achieve your climbing goals without dropping all the other stuff. It just might take a bit longer. Another thing to consider is that one might argue "Volume is the enemy of Power". Since you're a boulderer, you need all the power you can get. At the very least I would look at your rest day routines and try to maximize the intensity while minimizing the duration, including cutting out any "junk mileage". For a power athlete, the "slow burn" is probably the worst thing you can do. Note that when I say "intensity", I mean empirical results, such as % of 1RM, rather than perceived intensity, which I would call "effort". I'm a bit skeptical (or awed) that someone could effectively do "intense" exercise for >4 hours a day. I'm certain someone can endure intense suffering for >4 hours, but that's not the same thing (that is, you are probably giving 80-100% effort the entire time, but at hour 3, even 100% effort doesn't produce nearly the results 80% effort would produce at hour 1). My guess is at least some of the exercises are not intense (from a results perspective) relative to what you could do if you were fresh. If there are some exercises like that, you could probably eliminate them with no ill effects, you may even find your performance improves on the remaining activities.