Design a good 4x4s PE routine and phase.

[andreasahston]

I have now found a combination of 4 apropriate boulder problems that I can do in a row, and that brings me to the brink of failure. (I have a 4 minute break between)

My plan was to get into a routine of doing two 4x4s with a 15 minute rest. I had planned to do this 3 times a week, monday wednesday friday.
But when I attempted this today i reached failure half way through the second 4x4. That is a good indication that the first 4x4 made an impact.

So what I want to ask is, how best to structre the indiviual 4x4 workouts in the PE phase and how to distribute the workouts during the week.

Is a single 4x4 per workout an efficient way to train PE? 
Would it be a good idea to increase the number of traning days to four per week, while keeping the individual workouts relatively short (warm-up, one 4x4, cool-down). Monday, tuesday, thursday, friday?
Are there any other complimentary exercise that could be done after the 4x4 to add to the effiency of the workout. i.e. Pull-up routines or dumbell exercises?

Thanks for reading.

[MarkAnderson]

Jan 28, 2016 12:30:15 GMT -7 andreasahston said:

Is a single 4x4 per workout an efficient way to train PE? 

I think so. I've heard of people doing multiple 4x4s in a session, and my thought is always "if you can do more than 1, then you're not doing it right". The 4x4 should be really intense, and your forearms should be totally spent afterwards. That said, if you're trying to redpoint a limit route, you might end a burn with your forearms "totally spent", but then 45-60 minutes afterwards, you tie in and try again. So in theory it should be possible to do as many 4x4s as you would serious redpoint burns in a day, but then you should also be resting the same amount (45-60+ minutes) between 4x4s. And then there's the question, is it wise to do what you do at the crag, in the gym? We do multiple redpoint goes because we want to send, not because it's the best way to train. Maybe it is the best way to train, maybe not.

I think the PE/Performance Phase is hard enough already without trying to do multiple 4x4s in a training session. One is certainly sufficient to improve your PE. Now, if I were trying to increase my work capacity or "stamina" (# of quality goes in a day), maybe I would consider multiple 4x4s in a session, with rest times dicussed above, but understand that stamina will always be a tradeoff with power.

Jan 28, 2016 12:30:15 GMT -7 andreasahston said:

Would it be a good idea to increase the number of traning days to four per week, while keeping the individual workouts relatively short (warm-up, one 4x4, cool-down). Monday, tuesday, thursday, friday?

I don't think so. I generally do one PE workout per week, in addition to my outdoor climbing, which usually involves some PE if I'm at that point in my season where I'm training PE inside. Occasionally I will do as many as two PE workouts in a week, either because I missed an outdoor day, or I feel like my outdoor session didn't include enough PE. Four seems like quite a lot to me, but I also never train on consecutive days.

Jan 28, 2016 12:30:15 GMT -7 andreasahston said:

Are there any other complimentary exercise that could be done after the 4x4 to add to the effiency of the workout. i.e. Pull-up routines or dumbell exercises?

Finish every session with a selection of SEs. You can vary the exercises/# of sets based on your season's goals and such that they complement any other training you're doing.