Power phase expectations

[jwills]

I've transitioned to my power phase after a strength phase that went really well. While I expected a fall in bouldering performance, I was a bit surprised at how hard things felt for the first 2 power workouts. Just wondering what others are experiencing once they venture back into the bouldering cave after mostly hangboarding for a while?  

[MarkAnderson]

This is pretty common. Stick with it and you should see improvement in a couple workouts.

[rob]

Don't get disheartened, I typically find that in my first few LB sessions my fingers feel strong but my coordination and precision are a little off, but by the last few I'm crushing problems that would've taken weeks of work before!

[willblack]

In my experience, my first bouldering session or two after training strength always suck, then I remember how to try hard and I feel really strong.

[jessebruni]

Jun 4, 2015 1:35:06 GMT -7 rob said:

Don't get disheartened, I typically find that in my first few LB sessions my fingers feel strong but my coordination and precision are a little off, but by the last few I'm crushing problems that would've taken weeks of work before!

+1

I always feel like such a gumby after a month of hangboarding. I feel like I can hold onto anything, but getting there feels so hard. I think it's because my contact strength has greatly diminished over the month of hangboarding. In fact, at the beginning of my power phase I usually can't even ladder on the small campus board rungs with moon spacing, but by the 2nd week I'm usually back up to max which is 1-3-6 and trying 1-4-6 on the small rungs. 

[joekr07]

+1

I usually struggle a lot for the first weeks of the power phase.

For me it usually takes 3+ weeks to get back to campus board max.

[chrishorton]

I have had the same results, especially since I usually don't boulder much at all outside of the Power and PE phases. I was stupid enough to enter a comp right at the end of my last HB phase, what a huge kick in the balls that turned out to be. By my third LB session I was sending about as hard as ever though. The movement/coordination required for bouldering seems to come back pretty quickly.

[colinobrien]

I'm nearing the end of my first PE, and had a similar 1-2 session dip during the power phase.  I kept up light bouldering throughout the hangboarding phase 2-3 grades below max, which I think helped mitigate some.  But after my 2nd or 3rd campus workout, I really started to pickup momentum.  I quickly broke into a new bouldering grade (v5-6 ish?  who cares - It's gym climbing) and found myself way more comfortable on dynamic problems. 

[jonfrisby]

I've always warmed up to within a grade or two of my max so I don't really feel a huge drop. Am I doing it wrong? I can afford to put in 4 hour gym sessions, for what it's worth.

[jabcrumpton]

+1

I was pretty bummed out when the exact same thing happened to me on my first go around. You're not alone. I'm going through my 3rd season now, and I've found that I rapidly re-acquire and rise above previous bests within each power phase. Definitely humbling/disheartening at first. Have faith, keep trying hard, and re-evaluate after a handful of sessions.

[yogicleo1]

Jun 5, 2015 18:24:31 GMT -7 jonfrisby said:

I've always warmed up to within a grade or two of my max so I don't really feel a huge drop. Am I doing it wrong? I can afford to put in 4 hour gym sessions, for what it's worth.

I believe that you are doing it incorrectly. That is, IF you're following the program. If you're not, well, then I guess it wouldn't matter at all what you warm up on. However, warming up within 2 grades of your MAX, might "feel" like something that seem "doable", but is ill advised. Say your MAX is around V8. That means that off the couch, warming up, you're hoping on V6/V7. Then, you're following it up with 4 HOURS OF CLIMBING?! Seems a bit excessive to me. 
A proper warm up can be, yes, mind numbing sometimes. Though, if done properly, can work wonders for the day! 

I'd say go read the POWER section in the book that references the WBL and the difference between a warm up, hard bouldering and LB.  

My current warm up, regardless of the requirements that the book states (which don't have to be taking SO strictly, as stated by "the man"---> rockprodigytraining.proboards.com/post/3498/thread ), takes about 1 hour or so before I'm feeling like I need to to complete the rest of my workout.

Now, as a disclaimer; I am quite new at this "training" stuff. However, I felt that when I read this that I could shine some light on your question. If I am incorrect, so be it, but that's part of learning Let me know if this helps at all.

[Lundy]

Hey Yogi,
I read Jon's comment differently. That during HB phase, he's doing a complete warm-up, up to a grade or two below his V max, then jumping on the HB, which is what I also do. I feel that it reduces the risk of injury on the HB and makes the transition to the power phase smoother. Not that he's jumping off the couch cold and trying to boulder within two grades of his max.

Would be good to hear Jon clarify.

Either way, though, I also support the idea, if you have the time, of doing a good bit of warming up/bouldering before HB (I usually do about 45 minutes) for the reasons mentioned above.

[slimshaky]

my warmups are pretty similar (although my V-max is fairly low, so its kind of easy to get within a couple grades). i have found 45 minutes to be pretty much perfect as a warmup for either HB'ing, campusing, or limit/system bouldering.

[MarkAnderson]

That's interesting. My HB warmup is literally 12 minutes of ARCing followed by two easy sets on the HB (1 set of 7 reps and 1 set of 5 reps on a 1.5-pad open hand edge(on the large VDER)). From there I go straight into hard sets on Middle-Ring.

I wonder if I would do better with more warm up. I feel like I would run out of steam if I warmed up more, since the HB portion is 80 minutes by itself (and I already feel like I run out of juice near the end).

[For bouldering the duration of warm up varies a lot based on how I feel. Some days I'm firing on all cylinders within 20 minutes, other days it takes 45+ to get going, but that's rare. If I'm working a project in Clear Creek, I warm up in the barn for pretty much exactly 20 minutes, drive to the crag, approach, tie in and try to send. So my warmup for the first burn is only those 20 minutes, and I send on that first go plenty.]

[tedwelser]

Ok, I tried to post an image of a half crimp, but the pic was enormous.  So hopefully here is a link.  The terminology is by Eva Lopez, I believe. 1.bp.blogspot.com/-OKV7VE-hG0s/TpbmqfV-hQI/AAAAAAAABwA/gxa4FEr8AW4/s1600/semiarqueo+tabla.jpg