Climbing Fatigue
If you read my last post, you would recall that I was smashing routes all over Sportrock Wednesday night. Well, I must have really overworked my fingers and arms because last night at the gym was quite possibly one of my worst climbing sessions to date. I felt a little weak after my V0 warmup, and was winded after completing one of my favorite V3s that I can practically do blindfolded. I couldn’t complete any of the V4s I’d completed on Wednesday, and struggled with the Junior Team Campus Training routes that I usually enjoy.
Endurance is obviously a large factor in the success of long routes or multi-pitch climbs, and I would assume that the best climbers out there have both an incredible level of endurance and efficient techniques for managing fatigue. I know that my climbing endurance is one of my biggest problem areas, and I’m curious as to how you deal with climbing fatigue.
- Where do you experience the most fatigue? Arms? Fingers? Somewhere else?
- Do you take certain steps or precautions between climbing sessions to ensure you are fresh for the next day?
- Do you train specifically for endurance climbs, and if so, what does that training involve?
- How do you manage fatigue in the middle of climbs?
Posted in Daily Thoughts
January 12th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Hey! I went through some of your old posts to determine what your climbing experience and fitness level might be… if you're climbing v3s, v4s and v5s, you must be fit, strong, and conditioned for climbing. I'm projecting v3s in the gym, have only sent one v4, and lead 10c/10d in the gym on routes. I just celebrated my fourth anniversary as a climber, but I only got really serious about training about a year and a half ago. Just so you have a frame of reference for my advice/input!
My fingers, and my upper back are what generally fatigue the most. When I'm working steep problems/routes, my abs get really tired, too. Precautions I take — I listen to my body. If I feel like I need rest, I rest. If I feel like I'm good to go, I climb. I drink a ton of water. I also do build a balance of protein and carbs into my diet, to help aid recovery.
My training tends toward endurance… I'm not a big power/strength climber. I work endurance by doing long tie-ins, with climbing up and downclimbing, to try to stay on the wall on moderate terrain (sub-pump… you have to be careful to not pump out, since if you pump out, you'll have to wait to recover totally before getting back on, which defeats the purpose of endurance training). I do 20 minute, 30 minute, 45 minute tie-ins (depending on how patient my belayer is)… and if I don't have a belayer, I traverse the gym for up to 30 or 40 minutes. Doing bouldering problems back to back is another way to work endurance… don't work at your max, work sub-max, and do 4 problems, then take a rest. Then back on, then take a rest, etc.
I am a mid-climb rester… I work a rest drill on occasion, where I rest on *every hold.* My belayers hate it
but it reminds me of how to find as efficient of a rest as possible. I've been trying to talk one of my climbing partners (a really, strong, dude) into doing that drill — he's so strong that he doesn't think to rest, he doesn't know how to rest, and then he pumps out because he hasn't rested! Avoid “rests” that consume more energy than you get out of them… focus on good quality, “on your skeleton” rest positions where you can take deep breaths and calm your body and mind.
I routinely take several days off between especially hard climbing sessions, especially when I'm doing fingerboard work or campus rung training. Recovery can't be underestimated!
January 14th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Thanks for the detailed response, there was a lot of good information in there that was new to me.
I've probably been climbing for 3-4 years myself (mostly through college), but have never done any formal training routines. I used to spend 95% of my time bouldering, so my top roping experience is pretty minimal, although I'm trying to change that now. I have a bad ability to push myself up to and beyond the edge and not even realize until it is too late (that comes from not being the best in high school track and field but discovering I could get ahead by pushing myself longer and harder than everyone else). I think that is what I did last week, and didn't realize I had overworked myself until I went back to the gym (I've gotten really good at ignoring physical pain, haha).
I never thought to do 20+ minute climbs at the gym. For me, it's up to the top and then my belayer lowers me back down. I know I could at least be down climbing, but even that rarely happens (and only ever on bouldering problems). Perhaps I should start with long traverses and work my way up from there.