Bouldering

Wasn't quite sure where to put this one, but I thought I'd start here as I'm still in foundation one. I was wondering if anyone had any advice as to when and how often I should go bouldering. I'm using the coach's recommended schedule for F1, Stretch, and Movement. I want to climb (because its fun) but do so in a way that will supplement rather than hinder my progress. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Steven,

Thank you for reaching out. 

Good questions. Bouldering/climbing is fun activities to include in your schedule. I'd recommend to start with once a week and see you your body respond and recover before adding another day. You may do this on your day off on Sunday or Saturday or Monday after your GB workout. 

@Everett Carrollhave been doing lots of bouldering/rock climbing and may be able to give you some good advice  

good advice with starting with 1 day a week and if after a few weeks you feel like it isnt draining you then add another day.  I do 2 days of climbing skill and grip strength training with the RC progressions from foundations twice a week atm but I built up to it over several months.  currently do Monday>F5    Tuesday>RC+SLS+Climbing  wednesday rest thursday and friday same as monday and tuesday.  rest on weekends sometimes with a hike.

biggest thing with adding climbing to GST is it is easy to play(train) too much with climbing.... know when to call it a day for climbing and dont climb until you're wrecked and exhausted.... I find because it is so much fun it becomes easy to push harder with climbing and not even notice you're overtraining at the time.

7 hours ago, Pauline Taube said:

Hi Steven,

Thank you for reaching out. 

Good questions. Bouldering/climbing is fun activities to include in your schedule. I'd recommend to start with once a week and see you your body respond and recover before adding another day. You may do this on your day off on Sunday or Saturday or Monday after your GB workout. 

@Everett Carrollhave been doing lots of bouldering/rock climbing and may be able to give you some good advice  

Thank you for the advice! I'll try and limit myself to one day per week at first.

Just now, Steven Silbert said:

Thank you for the advice! I'll try and limit myself to one day per week at first.

Hey Andrew, great advice. I see that you put your climbing on the same day as RC. Do you do the climbing before or after? Also, would there be any benefit do doing bouldering on stretch days?

Thanks for the tag @Pauline Taube.

I agree that 1-2x per week for the first month or so is a good idea, Steven. Since gymnastic training sounds like your main focus, I suggest climbing after your Foundations to ensure that you get the highest quality GST workout possible. Stretching, on the other hand, is a recovery tool and should be done at the end of your other training. I'd feel too relaxed to climb after stretching. Movement and other skill-oriented workouts can go either way. 

Thanks @Everett Carroll. I think I'll try doing climbing 1-2x per week after upper body or core, so I'll be able to recover those body areas the following days.