Traversing

[SCIN]

Do you think that training power endurance by setting long traversing problems translates into straight-up climbing power endurance? Or does it only train you to climb better sideways?

[allah]

dan't hurt

[captain static]

Long traverses will build endurance but not power endurance. To build power endurance you need to climb to muscular failure. What I have been doing at Climb Time to build power endurance is climbing up a route near my limit, downclimbing an adjacent easy route, and then moving back to route at my limit, climbing in a circuit until I just can't hang on anymore.

[Horatio Felacio]

muscular failure? so if i climb up a bunch of huge jugs 1 foot apart until my muscles are too tired to hold, and i fall, is that power endurance training? how do you define endurance then?

[captain static]

Horst defines endurance training as continuous climbing for 20 minutes at a grade below your limit. I tend to think of endurance training more in terms of feet climbed. i.e, I traversed 100' of 5.10 moves, I climbed a 5.9 40 foot route four times getting back on as soon as my feet touched the ground when I lowered to make 160 feet of 5.9 climbing. For power endurance training there needs to be an aspect of pushing the pump.

[tutugirl]

Do understand that doing the 20 minutes climbing only helps the local endurance and doesn't help the power endurance. If you open and close your arms above your head 200 times as open as possible and close them as tight as possible it works the forearm endurance but it doesn't make you a better climber. The local endurance should be only used for getting back to climbing or as the first facet of your periodic time table. Never forget that climbing higher grades has the need of holding smaller holds for longer time and the only way to go from big holds to small ones is by power and power endurance. Power defined as no more than 4 maximum moves before falling off and power endurance no more than 20 moves before falling off. Power subdiving it into finger power (just being able to hang from a given small hold), big muscle power and contact power. Above all, none of the items listed will make you a better climber unless you have great technique and the ability of your brain to access very fast a wide range of movement repertoire.

[Yasmeen]

For me, it doesn't translate into straight up power endurance, since there's a certain momentum I feel/use when I'm climbing up that I don't get when I'm going sideways. Though that could be because I try to baby my shoulders, and traversing feels a little too weird on my shoulders after awhile, so I go more slowly while traversing then I do when I climb straight up. I do think traversing helps with general endurance as far as increasing the amount of time on the wall it takes to make you tired.

[anticlmber]

1-2-3-4 circut is the shit man.
get four problems that you can make it up but that still work you, say two grades below your redpoint. v3 if v5/6 is your tops.

climb #1 and drop off. hop right on to #2, climb, drop, etc.
you should be able to do all four, but just barely. falling off the last move of the last problem=good.

do three sets of these after a good warm up. do 2-3 per week and in two weeks you will see some good payoff.

[der uber]

1-2-3-4 circut is the shit man.

Yep. Doesn't matter as much what direction you're going as it does the intensity/frequency if your target is power endurance.

If you literally only went sideways, and didn't do any up/down movement (assuming you don't also do pullups or some other drill that works the traditional pull muscles) the I'll speculate that it won't be as effective.

[512OW]

Sure it does. As long as you're reaching failure it will help, right? Your capillaries don't have any clue which direction you're climbing.

I'm also not a strict fan of the "less than 20 moves" school. Especially at the Red. It just doesn't translate as well.

Besides, how does everyone preach all this, when I've seen exactly 3 people actually training at local gyms....??? Ya'll read too much.