Enjoying the last of May's cold days on a project before the summer sweat comes. Hopefully by the time October comes around I'll be fit from my off season training...The issue of when to go into 'off season' mode and put immediate climbing objectives aside and focus on training is always on my mind as an all round climber. We are sort of conditioned to think of summer as being the 'climbing' season and winter being the off/training season. But I noticed early on that there is really much more going on in winter.
Yeah the weather is bad, but even though there are fewer days rock climbing outdoors, the other aspects like winter climbing and indoor training all add up to mean I feel way more worn out and stretched than in summer. In summer when sport and bouldering is somewhere between a bit sweaty and unbearably hot, there is really only mountain trad to fill up large chunks of time. So about 4 years ago I switched my labels for the seasons and started doing the bulk of my foundation strength and endurance work right through summer (who needs good conditions when you are just training?).
In autumn I'll start prepping to peak and then in winter I scale down training but end up climbing 5/6 days a week (I'm lucky to live near crags, work from home and have a flexible schedule - this is obviously tricky with a 9-5). So in summer I tend not to be climbing so well as I do lots of basic strength stuff, but it doesn't matter too much since trad is a little easier technically than the equivalent overall sport grade. In winter I get loads of variety by mixing up bouldering, sport, mixed and indoor, sharpening up my technique. And conditions are good (if unpredictable but you can't have it all ways) for nailing hard projects. In summer I earn money and do basic strength training, punctuated by trips to the mountains.
I'll never look back from this set up, it works so well for me. Anyone else out there do the same?
First of all interesting page. Yeah I also switch a couple of yeares ago and start training in summer and climbing in winter. Summer is generaly to hot, but like you said if you just training who needs conditions?
ReplyDeleteSlightly off topic, but still in terms of training. Dave do you now what is curently hapening with training guru Malcolm Smith? Its been a while since I heard something about him.
ReplyDeletegasper
i only started climbing since coming to uni 2 years ago so i've always thought of summer as an 'off' season for my outdoor climbing mainly cos i'm at home in those months and i live in perhaps the flattest area known to man and so cant get out to the crags as much. i guess that makes summer my training season by default!
ReplyDeleteOk, but I suspect I can speak for the majority of Scottish based trad climbers by saying that I do most of my climbing at weekends between about April and September and wouldn't dream of putting training before climbing during this period. So how much and what sort of training should I be doing midweek?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, keep them coming, this is what I need to find out what y'all need to know.
ReplyDeleteTo the last commenter - If you are a trad specialist then the summer hot conditions are less of an issue, so yeah maybe its best to stick to summer as the 'on' season. But say you go to the wall three nights a week all winter but in summer you don't go at all and just climb outside at weekends, you will probably have lost all your winter's gains by October and have to start from scratch again. Result = you climb the same grades year after year. Alternative = keep using the wall on school nights right through summer or use a home woody/fingerboard and when the next training season comes along you start where you left off and build towards the next grade.
Training should never come before climbing at any time of year! But it should always help you to make the most of your climbing.
More articles on this coming...
gasper - Haven't seen Malc at the crags.
On your last comment Dave, you've just highlighted a big problem I have, not training thru summer and therefore maintaining the same trad grade outdoors. I climbed throughout last summer and reached a certain grade, climbed three times a week indoors thru the winter and this season i have maintained the same grade, I will now alternate my training thru the summer aswell. Weekends for the selfish routes.
ReplyDeleteAndy
Yeah Andy it only takes a small proportion of training volume to maintain the same level. So if you are at a stag where you need 3 sessions per week to increase strength, 1 session/week may well be enough to maintain that level. But stop for the summer and you slip back to square one. More about this in future articles...
ReplyDelete