Applying the mastery templates and weekly cycles to rock climbing, and other sports.

Hello everyone! So this week I'll be starting week 7 of F1 and H1 (6-day template) for my given cycle, and already I can see great improvements in strength and even physique. Overall I just look bigger and stronger, and I think doing the higher rep and set count is playing a major role in that. Along with the program for both F1 and H1, I've been adding in some supplemental exercises on H1 days since they seem too easy on their own. These include neck bridges, yoga poses, calf raises/tibialis anterior strengthening; little things here and there to freshen up the routine and fill in random gaps, a lot of which were inspired by the books "Convict Conditioning 1 & 2". I've seen great success with most of them so far, and the ones I haven't I'll simply hold off on and start up again at the beginning of my next 12 week cycle since I added them in the middle of my current cycle.

So I started this topic for the sake of brainstorming ways to apply the template to mastering more complex activities beyond something as simple as a push-up or a hanging leg raise. For me, for example, I'm also doing rock climbing on the side as my chosen "sport" to apply my strength training, since there are no good parkour or gymnastics gyms nearby. In my case, I do a lot of bouldering, which is climbing without the safety equipment but at lower heights. All the climbs are rated - from beginner to hardest in the world - from V0 to I think V15 or V16 is the highest. For the past few months I've been plateaued at V3s, which is sort of right on the border from "enthusiast" to "serious climber", and I'm wondering if there's a way to apply the 12 week cycle and mastery template to the bouldering problems themselves for the sake of all but eliminating plateaus and potential overtraining injuries. Like if your best is a V3 then you maybe climb V3s in 4-6 of those 12 weeks, with heavier emphasis on climbing at lower levels for endurance, underload, technique development, etc. Then in the next 12 week cycle they're in 6-8 of those weeks, and by the next cycle you should be maxed at at least V4s, so then you're climbing V3s for 8-10 of the 12 weeks.

Now I realize there's a LOT of variables with this approach, such as the use of campusing boards, every climb being different (since the rating system in of itself is kind of subjective), etc. Regardless I would like to hear all of your thoughts on building a long-term, 12 week cycle program for improving at a more complex sport like rock climbing. For any other climbers, how would you structure such a program? This is without any addition of strength training like campus boards - all of that supplemental work will come from Coach's program or similar work from Convict Conditioning or what have you (for example, working towards one-arm towel pull-ups like in CC2 should go a LONG way for the hand strength in rock climbing). Do you see a 12 week cycle approach for the simple practice of a sport itself being feasible? I'm sure by now people have designed such programs... Of course it can take some of the fun out of the sport itself, and sometimes you just need to throw the routine out the window and do what you want.

But yeah, any thoughts you all have to offer, whether for my question about rock climbing or your own sports, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

keep the strength training in what you're already doing, you don't want to border on overtraining territory because it will set you back a bit.

as for climbing, somethings that helped me is that strength training is strength training. you have to read, learn, polish technique, hang out with people who do the same, watch videos, etc etc.

i don't doubt that you're doing the same for climbing but learn climbing technique. read, learn, subscribe to channels, watch videos, obsess over it to the point of rewinding videos 20-30 times to see "what" that was that has been missing your eye or your minds eye. then just execute.

(my 2 cents, im not looking to set world records, but I do want to train hard and intelligently)

I figure I'm a respectable boulderer if I can do V5s or higher - I think a V10 is a feasible high point within my lifetime with the proper dedication. I agree that any more supplemental strength training specific to climbing will overtrain if it's poorly implemented (and I'm NOT going through forearm tendonitis again). For me personally, my hands are definitely my weakest link relative to the rest of my body, so I know some sort of dedicated hand strengthening program should be undertaken on the side to get caught up. I've got theraputty to help with that, and eventually I'll implement towel hangs and towel pull-ups as outlined in Convict Conditioning 2, the end goal being 1-arm towel pull-ups. Of course I'm saying that without knowing what Coach has in store for the rest of his series (haven't bought F2 yet either).

But yeah, obsession over the details via videos and friends and such goes a long way. I probably don't do that as much as I should

F2 is wild...i can't wait to be working on the RC progressions there and see F3 and F4

if you make it to a seminar( im gonna do the same) you can get the hands on experience of it all

Personally I wouldn't try to make climbing into a scheduled workout. My personal preference is just to climb trying to understand and learn better technique and movement. F1/h1 is good for strength training and the climbing itself is great for getting better at climbing. The one thing I would recommend is a detailed finger workout.

The only climbing related strength work I think you need is for the grip really. Haven't fit much time to go into detail about it but there is lots of good info for climbing training and you could always use coaches cycles for finger training as well.

My best climb I think was a v5 outdoors. I am currently working on a 7a at font as I type this don't know if ill be able to get it. Losing some weight would surely help eating too much Nutella.

KeilaniG said:

F2 is wild...i can't wait to be working on the RC progressions there and see F3 and F4

if you make it to a seminar( im gonna do the same) you can get the hands on experience of it all

Slight derail for anecdote;

The single best thing in F2 RC work so far for me has been the PE11>IM. Fantastic, deep stretch I can feel all the way through my lats and side, exactly what I needed. That's a definite keeper.

ausswe said:

My best climb I think was a v5 outdoors. I am currently working on a 7a at font as I type this don't know if ill be able to get it. Losing some weight would surely help eating too much Nutella.

If there's one self-evident truth that needs to be known in this topic, it's that there is no such thing as too much Nutella. 

Got a few seconds to say I like doing a thorough warm up on the wall then I choose a bunch of different climbs I can't complete yet but it is consivable in the next week or 2 then I work on them changing the route when I get bored so I end up cycling through them. Once I achieve.them I repeat them until I can do them with complete control no sloppy or explosive movements (unless the climb specifically has dyno moves) then I choose some new routes that I can't do maybe a few moves at most and rinse and repeat. If I hit a plateau doing that, which only happened once so far then I basically just choose lots of climbs from easy to intermediate for me then do them all back to back no rest for the endurance. Also it's important to just take some days of there is definitely a thing as too much. Again though I cannot recommend a finger training routine highly enough. Keep the intensity down a bit though don't go crazy it's not just muscles its tendons working there too so try not to move on until something is really easy. If you find this too monotonous then stop "training". And just climb and play on the wall for a bit take some rest and go again.

I dont think that its really the best to try and apply some type of foundation mastery protocol to rock climbing.  RockClimbing is a fairly skilled sport and just takes time.  Building endurance is one of the biggest things to do.  Foundation work can and in my opinion should be done along side rock-climbing.   Just make sure you ramp up the volume and intensity gradually.  This is the biggest takeaway.  Building volume in easier climbs will help you get the bigger climbs.  Especially if you are increasing strength with Foundation.  

Im not really sure what holes you are talking about in F1 that convict conditioning could address.  I found that CC had way to many holes to even be a good program.  One thing that does come to mind is the focus you should place on achieving hand strength.  I would suggest to do this like the steady state protocol that was outlined in BTGB.  This should have a focus on finger strength.  One arm towel pull-ups should not be a focus as of now and the carry over from that grip is limited to rock climbing when compared to other hand strengthening methods.  

Yeah, I think the actual climbing is the most important, as it builds both strength, endurance and movement skill in the right proportions. Strength training should come second to climbing.

When I was climbing, some of the stronger guys in my gym recommended training open hand grip strength, ie. the type of grip you use on big slopers, as this builds functional strength, which also carries over to pinches and crimps, while crimps apparently don't carry over to slopers.

Have to agree with what most of the other guys said. It's not something that's linear as each climb/problem has its own characteristics. Like ewethestuff and Daniel said... build your endurance at the level you're at now and you'll improve. Don't worry about the grade either, just enjoy climbing for what it is... there's lots of awesome easier lines out there and I think some of the best climbing I've done has been when I've spotted a line and just had a go because it looks nice. Maybe think about it from a quality of movement point of view, maybe you can do a problem but can you use your feet efficiently or did each part of the problem flow nicely? 

If you want to supplement F1 & H1 with finger specific work then I'd add in some deadhangs, repeaters and if you're not too tired some french pullups. Have a look at the link... there's lots of info there.

http://www.beastmaker.co.uk/pages/training

talking about weightlifting if you apply the 5x5r to benchpress and squat or deadlift you can progress very well...

also percentage works well...