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Yep, if you want contact power, get rid of the super steep stuff. 10-15 degree campus board. Get Ray's workout for it. If you can get through it by end of winter, you have made progress.

Ask tutu girl about her maxi pull, easy to make, not much space and great for contact strength.

If you can do the crux moves on whatever route you're trying, which is going to be the case in most of the Red, you don't need power. You need body positioning and efficiency. Endurance and recovery. Better tactics. I repeat... BETTER TACTICS. THEN you need power. Unless you have mutant elbows, don't campus. It will only hurt you.

That said, you will need power... you just won't need much of it till your endurance catches up. I've seen MAYBE a dozen boulder problems in the Red, on routes up to 13a, that are harder than V4, when done with good technique.

Just set four or five 3-4 move problems that you can't do a single move on. Work them until you can. Thats the most focused power work you can do that involves actual climbing, and until your footwork and body positioning are perfect, those other exercises will be for naught.

512OW wrote:...Thats the most focused power work you can do that involves actual climbing, and until your footwork and body positioning are perfect, those other exercises will be for naught...

As always, excellent advice, Odub. I have a question about your last statement though. Can you be specific on "those other excercises"? Do you mean doing the Mike Doyle 1 armed deadpoint excercise, or all of the ones I mentioned (2x4's and all)? I would be sad if I was advised to ditch my beloved 2x4's.

i agree 512OW with what you are sayin, but a point to remember....
as your max power/strength (they are 2 different things) increase you are exerting a lower percentage of your max output on any given hold on your proj at the red. this effectively increases your anaerobic endurance

that's pretty cool

stix wrote:i agree 512OW with what you are sayin, but a point to remember....
as your max power/strength (they are 2 different things) increase you are exerting a lower percentage of your max output on any given hold on your proj at the red. this effectively increases your anaerobic endurance

True dat. Thats the whole reason I'm throwing myself at the boulders for the winter. Still, theres no substitute for good technique/footwork/body postioning. It can easily turn a V6 into a V3.

Brad... I meant exercises like campusing, hangboards, and one arm lunging. Any exercise that isn't done while actually climbing. The guys who get the best benefits from those have nearly flawless technique already. I think your 2x4's are a good thing. Just don't overdo it!!

this is true....some technique and a little bit a try hard are the only way i get up anything.
another thing about training with a purpose. it's not all that productive to train multiple aspects in one session. pick what you wanna train and focus on that for the session.

Tape a "route" on your treadwall that is hard to do when slightly inclined (say at the 1 mark), something that you can barely stay on, and then climb it a few circuits and then incline it to the 2 mark, do a few circuits, then the 3 mark, etc, etc. Until you can climb the route with effeciency with the tread wall thrown all the way back.
Then tape another "route" harder than the first one. Tape a few routes on there so it doesn't get repetitive and boring. (It will too, treadwalls are great, but I have come to almost loath the one I train on. I force myself to use it).
Power, endurance, and technique all at once.

I think a big mistake a lot people make with training is training for a goal that is too vague. It's best to have a specific type of route or bouldering area as a goal then train for that. Just to train for "power" or "endurance" can lead to wasted time or gains which you'll never even use. I've learned to adjust my training for the project I'm working instead of just following some training program.

For example I'm always bouldering in my gym on sloping holds just because my joints can't handle edges too well for too long. Most of my bouldering probably doesn't get my strength up for routes but it keeps my core in pretty good shape without the stress on my finger bones. Well, I'm going to Hueco soon so I've switched my "power" training to grabbing small edges and locking them in with bad feet. This is completely different than pinches and slopers. It's something I'm not used to so I'm power training for it. I'm also doing a lot of leg lifts and dead hangs on crimps.

I guess what I'm saying is pretty obvious and you probably already know it but I'm just saying it has really helped me. Instead of just training to train, I now train with a very specific goal. Power may sound specific but it really isn't when you break it down. So with that extra time you have maybe you should think about the project you want to send and do very specific training just for that.