Bouldering and gymnastics

So, I have been doing gymnastics training for a some years. It has not been consistent due to a rotator cuff injury I suffered two years ago. Still I have been able to start doing the WODs and my FSPs have improved. I have started gaining back some strength, though there is still a way to go.

I have been looking for a way to get a social element into my training, which it is lacking currently, though this is a great online community it cannot replace real human interaction.

In my city there is no gymnastics facility for adults, I have been trying to get something started, but it does not seem to be happening. There are however good climbing and bouldering facilities. I thought that these might be a good fit for sports activities that would benefit from the gymnastics training, and vice versa. Also it seems like a lot of fun.

I have seen that other members of the forum have some climbing or bouldering experience. How do you see the cross-over, have you experienced any benefit?

My main concern is how to implement it with WODs and other gymnastic conditioning? I thought I would focus on bouldering, because it is more power based than more stamina-oriented climbing with ropes. However, long bouldering sessions on top of WOD and the other gymnastics training would probably be to much volume - at least initially. Or are bouldering, and other climbing more like skill work, that could be done on top of the ordinary training?

So does anyone have insights into the nature of how to merge these things?

I did combine bouldering and gymnastics for a while and thought they complemented each other fairly well. As you mentioned bouldering is mostly a power based activity (although you can get a great cardio session out of it as well) and at first I found it to be very demanding but I also found that my strength and endurance developed much quicker than my skill and so after a few months it was Ok. I would say back off the WODs for a bit, get into bouldering and then reintroduce the WODs carefully.

You need to really careful with your hands as it's very easy to tear the skin badly or even damage the ligaments which can make training almost impossible. Also don't be afraid to take a good 5 minute rest between each attempt at a route, this is a mistake many people make initially and as a consequence they don't develop in terms of skill, just sit back watch someone else attempt a route, chat with your friends or just study your route for a bit and try to work it out in your head.

As for the social aspect it's really great, nothing beats being the first up a difficult route that you and your friends have spent a good 30 minutes working on.

Definitely make sure you watch out with the callouses on your hands. Both gymnastics and bouldering give major callouses as it is and once you combine the two it's going to be much worse.

The secret to bouldering is, after you warm up, climb some routes until you feel a 'pump' in your forearms. Once you feel the pump, stop immediately and sit down for 10 minutes. It sounds lame, but you'll be able to climb for much longer. And as spinelll said, once you fall off a route, sit back and relax. You never see good rock climber immediately get back up on a route after they don't complete it.

Bouldering isn't really going to be skill work, it's a huge power game. Perhaps you could approach it as skill work if you climb in very low volume. Top roping and eventually lead climbing might interest you a bit more if you don't want to exhaust yourself quickly.

Okay. Good advice.

Probably true that the WODs are too much with the bouldering on top. I was thinking along the lines of keep doing the FSP plus some handstand work. And to add some random sprinting and leg workouts on the non-bouldering days / and when fatigue will allow.

I figure that bouldering by itself will hit the upper body pretty effectively, so no reason to do much additional work in that department. By doing the FSP there should be some slow progress in that department, so that I do not loose all gymnastic prowess, and might even be better of down the line.

Fryk said:

I figure that bouldering by itself will hit the upper body pretty effectively, so no reason to do much additional work in that department. By doing the FSP there should be some slow progress in that department, so that I do not loose all gymnastic prowess, and might even be better of down the line.

Although I still believe you'd make a lot of progress doing the FSPs alone, I think you should still add in FBEs. Since obviously bouldering is your bigger concern, you should design a SSC around it. Do some climbing and do some FBEs and then decide what your body is capable of. The SSC is completely customizable and you should be able to combine the two much better. Just some patience and you'll figure it out well.

I went bouldering for the first time in a couple years recently. I thought I was gonna be stuck just doing a low ranking routes, I still managed to do a v5. I impressed myself quite a bit with that. Crimps will give me a problem until I begin to climb frequently, but I feel like a much better climber now.

Fryk said:

I figure that bouldering by itself will hit the upper body pretty effectively, so no reason to do much additional work in that department.

Bouldering is gonna work upper body pulling in a few planes pretty well! But its worth noting there's not gonna be a lot of upper body pressing in your bouldering so if you're going to do any gymnastics FBEs I'd suggest working on pressing movements to balance things up.

I think the combination will be a lot of fun and pretty effective

Finnbar said:

Fryk said:

I figure that bouldering by itself will hit the upper body pretty effectively, so no reason to do much additional work in that department.

Bouldering is gonna work upper body pulling in a few planes pretty well! But its worth noting there's not gonna be a lot of upper body pressing in your bouldering so if you're going to do any gymnastics FBEs I'd suggest working on pressing movements to balance things up.

I think the combination will be a lot of fun and pretty effective

Finnbar hits the nail on the head. You must do pressing exercises too otherwise you'll look like the french climbers. MASSIVE back, no chest. You'll see people in the climbing community who are hunched over because they never work out their chest.

It is always good to get different perspectives.

I tried some climbing for the first time this past Sunday, and it is only today, Thursday, that my forearms have stopped screaming at me. So at least for the time being I do not think more than two times a week is realistic.

Vincearoo said:

Finnbar hits the nail on the head. You must do pressing exercises too otherwise you'll look like the french climbers. MASSIVE back, no chest. You'll see people in the climbing community who are hunched over because they never work out their chest.

Isn't almost impossible to do to much pulling, relative to pushing? I have an interest in natural movement and the evolutionary perspective on movement, which I find fascinating. From this point of view, pushing is probably over emphasised in most programs - fore what is really the usefullness for great pushing strength compared to pulling or lower body strength. I have begun to struggle to see its necessity. Incidentally I am also looking into Movnat.

The hunched over posture you refer to is mostly attributed to people who do too much bench pressing. Though perhaps tight lats might cause internal rotation of the shoulder.

Fryk said:

Isn't almost impossible to do to much pulling, relative to pushing? I have an interest in natural movement and the evolutionary perspective on movement, which I find fascinating. From this point of view, pushing is probably over emphasised in most programs - fore what is really the usefullness for great pushing strength compared to pulling or lower body strength. I have begun to struggle to see its necessity. Incidentally I am also looking into Movnat.

The hunched over posture you refer to is mostly attributed to people who do too much bench pressing. Though perhaps tight lats might cause internal rotation of the shoulder

I don't think it's a matter of bench pressing, although you're probably right about it occurring in some people. I've seen it mostly in people who use climbing as essentially their whole workout. It's also frequent in kids, it's a weird process. They start out with good posture and then after a few years of climbing they just start hunching over. I don't really know any science behind it, I've only begun to dive into learning about that. Just contributing to what I saw over the years I've climbed.

Vincearoo said:

Fryk said:

Isn't almost impossible to do to much pulling, relative to pushing? I have an interest in natural movement and the evolutionary perspective on movement, which I find fascinating. From this point of view, pushing is probably over emphasised in most programs - fore what is really the usefullness for great pushing strength compared to pulling or lower body strength. I have begun to struggle to see its necessity. Incidentally I am also looking into Movnat.

The hunched over posture you refer to is mostly attributed to people who do too much bench pressing. Though perhaps tight lats might cause internal rotation of the shoulder

I don't think it's a matter of bench pressing, although you're probably right about it occurring in some people. I've seen it mostly in people who use climbing as essentially their whole workout. It's also frequent in kids, it's a weird process. They start out with good posture and then after a few years of climbing they just start hunching over. I don't really know any science behind it, I've only begun to dive into learning about that. Just contributing to what I saw over the years I've climbed.

They're all turning into monkeys!!! Watch out for tails...

While bouldering is very power-oriented, it usually consists of short problems that are more technically difficult than a route. So I would definitely say bouldering should be part of your skill work - and before any serious WOD work etc.

A good thing to note is that you can work the rock how you want when bouldering, especially if you go to an indoor gym. You can use it to develop power (hard problems), power endurance (downclimbing, long problems), and endurance (circuits or 4x4s). So keep that in mind depending on the WOD, or your goals. Lot of people telling you to rest between attempts - this is a good idea. A good bouldering session doesn't require you to be gassed by the end.

And definitely focus more on pressing with the gymnastics. Handstands especially, because they'll keep your shoulders healthy. Watch out for your elbows. Note that your hands are going to be in a pronated position even more now, so keep those wrists healthy! Wrist pushups and other stuff is good for this.

Bouldering will work your core and your pulling muscles a lot, so watch how much you do of that on days you're not bouldering etc to allow for recovery. If you find you're not working them enough, climb roofs for your core, or do big static moves. For pulling, just do hard problems on anything steeper than vertical, or get your campus on.

I guess the only thing to really worry about is that bouldering is soon going to be so fun you might not want to do that much gymnastics .

Oh, and if you're wondering if any gymnastics are particularly good for bouldering, well obviously all gymnastics is good cos it makes you stronger and more aware of your body, etc., but i'd probably go with the front lever and side lever.

Back when i originally contacted Coach Sommer he recommended climbing (bouldering) to me for my non-strength days. It is without doubt complimentary.