Max R Training

[Chris W]

So I'm going to the beach a week from now for a much needed family vacation. I'm psyched for the trip and my kids are going to have a blast. We'll be in the Outer Banks, which is completely devoid of anything that even resembles rock, much less a rock gym. My last hangboard workout is the day before we leave, which would have me starting the power phase of my mini summer session while there. My plan was to do two Max R workouts with my hangboard, but I reviewed the info this evening in the RCTM and it discusses using this if only if you are climbing 5.13 or have years of hangboarding under your belt.

I've gone through a total of (soon to be) 7 full strength phases using the intermediate protocol and am hoping to redpoint my first 5.12 this fall. Highest redpoint so far is 11d. Is the Max R a bad idea at this point? I'm planning on using:

-warm up jug, LVDER, sloper

-SVDER open hand

-MR 2 finger pocket

-Wide pinch

-IM 2 finger pocket

My only other option is to either ARC with the hangboard or just take the week off and start my fall training season early when I get back.

[MarkAnderson]

Do the Max R workout.

It might have been better to say "Only extremely well-trained climbers should voluntarily attempt
this workout (those who have used the hangboard for many years or are climbing in the 5.13+ range)."

You're doing it as a last resort, and it will be much better than doing nothing (or Hangboard ARCing).

[Chris W]

Thanks for the advice Mark. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Chris W]

So my two Max R workouts went off without a hitch. I mounted my RPTC to a blank slate board I had hanging around collecting dust and, aside from flexing a bit when weighed, it worked well.

I used some conservative weights because of a fear of tweaking something, but I was a bit shocked at how much weight I could hang during the workout without breaking a proverbial sweat. Dropping from 7 sec reps to 5 sec reps seems to really make a big difference.

[MarkAnderson]

Cool! Let us know how your Limit Bouldering/Campusing feels relative to a typical cycle.

[Chris W]

It's a bit tricky to say how my first limit bouldering workout went. I caught a bug my kids had at the end of our trip and had several days of chills and diarrhea . Par for the course with our family vacations, but I'd need my own blog to cover all of those. The first limit boulder workout was Monday and I kept it very short because I was feeling a bit fatigued and weak. Still, I managed to send all my "benchmark" boulder problems in my WBL on the first try, which is actually pretty good for me.

Today was the first Campus workout of this power phase and was my most productive ever. I probably have more room for improvement in campus training than anywhere else and am still unable to complete the entire "Beginner Campus" routine. I managed to do 1,3,4.5 on the large rungs, which is my best ever, and snagged [but didn't match or hang] 1,3,4 on the medium rungs. This was a pretty big deal because I actually struggle to do matching ladders and basic ladders on the medium rungs.

My goal was to go from 1 to 5 with matching ladders and basic ladders on the medium rungs [whole numbers only, no half numbers], but I only made it as high as 3 without matching. Not entirely sure why I did better on a max ladder with medium rungs than I did on the basic or matching ladders.

[Chris W]

And the damn turkeys ate all my blueberries while I was gone. I hope they enjoyed them, greedy little [turkeys].

[MarkAnderson]

Sounds pretty good, I would classify it as a smashing success (relative to Hangboard ARCing). The next question is, do you think you would be better off had you spent those days LBing/LB+Campusing rather than Max R-ing?

[Chris W]

Hard to say. I have a hard time quantifying any gains during limit bouldering. This is likely in part due to limited experience with it. I have several problems (truthfully, only two) that were old "hard" or limit problems that I actually like and have left up on the 35 wall. I have used these as a gauge of my baseline for the last year and managed to send them first try first workout for the spring and summer phases. I'm having a hard time designing problems will be an appropriate step up in difficulty.

Would I have been better off campusing? I believe yes, I would have. My campus abilities are so bad, there is only room for improvement. Not entirely sure why this is; lack of strength, technique, being new to campusing, being too heavy, etc. I've even considered focusing only on a WBL and campusing during the power phase, but this may be because I need to set better limit boulder problems.

Did I actually lose anything by doing the Max R training? Don't think I did, but I also don't think it would have been as good as campusing.

I'm wondering if Max R training would be beneficial in the future, when I've come close to my potential in strength gains, or if I reach a bad plateau in hangboard gains. Perhaps using it to transition into a power phase under these circumstances would allow you to expose the body to higher weights, stimulating adaptation in the setting of "stale" gains. Just a thought

[MarkAnderson]

Jul 2, 2015 20:44:54 GMT -7 Chris W said:

My campus abilities are so bad, there is only room for improvement.

Haha. Just keep at it, you will get better.

Jul 2, 2015 20:44:54 GMT -7 Chris W said:

Perhaps using it to transition into a power phase under these circumstances would allow you to expose the body to higher weights, stimulating adaptation in the setting of "stale" gains.

I've tried that before, but in the end I always felt like I would have been better off just going into the Power Phase. YMMV.

[Chris W]

Thanks for the feedback Mark. If nothing else, at least I know I can use the Max R workouts without injuring myself and to bridge a gap if I need to.

[alexp]

Hey guys, sorry to resurrect this thread, but I have a related question.

I'm finishing up my strength phase right now. This is my fifth time through the whole program and my second time doing just a bouldering-focused season. Is there any benefit to adding max hangs in either the strength or power section in addition to campusing and regular hangboarding repeaters? If so, how should I work it in? For reference, I mainly boulder, many V6s under my belt and usually onsight 11- on sport routes.

[Chris W]

Mark or someone else may be better able to answer this question. Frankly, I don't know, and I've never done max hangs. I'm a bit afraid of doing them, for fear of injuring something. I'm also seeing good results with my current plan, and don't have a good reason to change it. My assumption would be that max hangs (I assume you mean one rep max hangboard hangs, lots of weight) would maximize the pure strength you have with the resources (muscle) you have. I would guess it would do this through training your nervous system.

My understanding of repeaters is that they are safer, a bit more sport specific, and give you some potential for growth of strength by allowing for some muscle hypertrophy.

I'm not too worried about teaching my muscles neurologic recruitment through max hangs, because I'm counting on the campusing and limit bouldering to do that. My focus, though, is single pitch sport climbing, not bouldering.