Unsolicited Advice Part III: How to get Better at Climbing

Post by **mike_anderson** » Fri May 01, 2009 10:55 pm

So suppose you have identified a critical weakness in your climbing, or you just started climbing, and your weakness is "climbing". What to do? There are many theories out there, several suggested workouts online and no shortage of "experts" who will tell you what to do before you even ask (yours truly?).

ASIDE: This reminds me of another unrelated topic: Who is an "expert", and who should you take advice from? We all know that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king...so that guy at the gym who climbs 12a may be the shit in Buttf@$#, Indiana, but that don't make him an expert. Climbing is a tricky sport because it hasn't been studied very long. There is a lot of science behind the 100m dash, but not climbing. The fact is, there really aren't many, if any, "experts" out there when it comes to climbing, only a handful of innovative folks using common sense and logic to apply the science of other sports to climbing, and making educated guesses to fill in the gaps. Anyone who claims to know the ONE TRUE WAY, is a snake oil salesman. You need to think for yourself, use your own judgment, and develop an attitude of experimentation to determine what works for you.

OK, back to the topic at hand. So, how to improve? We'll leave the ultra-specialized training out of it for the time being. The common sense answer here is that you get better at climbing by climbing. Surprisingly, it seems that most climbers don't know this, or at least they don't apply it. The most obvious example of this is the beginner climber at the climbing gym. He goes in there and wants to climb to the top, so he jumps on the first route he sees, makes it 3 feet up, then has to hang on the rope. Maybe after 45 minutes or so he's worked his way to the top thanks to a lot of tension from the belayer. This person isn't really doing any climbing.

The lesson here is that you need to be on easy enough terrain that you are actually CLIMBING most of the time, not hanging. But wait! Steve-O from the gym (who TR'd an 11b at the Red once) told me the way to get better is to work on hard routes....remember: one-eyed man.

Clearly, you get better at climbing by climbing, so you need to be spending a significant amount of time climbing, yet many climbers don't do this. They go to the gym, spend no more than 5 minutes warming up, then work on their "project", be it a hard boulder problem or route they are working. If they're bouldering, they pick a problem that is so hard they can't do more than 2 moves in a row at a time. Therefore, they pull on, do two moves, (taking up about 15 seconds) fall, then have to rest a couple minutes (at least) before the next "burn". As a result of this process they might spend three hours in the gym that accumulates to less than 20 minutes of actual climbing in all. That is absurd!! This may give you better finger strength in the short term, but your technique is suffering, and technique is more important.

On the other hand, if you pick problems that are difficult but that you can onsight, or do in a couple tries you could get a good workout in one hour, and get in a lot more climbing wherein you are actually learning and rehearsing moves, not just rehearsing falling.

This translates to the crag as well. Do you spend most crag time climbing routes and learning how to climb, or do you spend most of your time hangdogging up a dream project that you're never going to send? It's fine to have a project, but make sure you are actually climbing. Many climbers complain that they get out of shape when they are working a project because you spend so little time actually climbing. You are resting between burns, and when you have a burn you probably spend more time hanging on the rope than working moves. That is a necessary evil that is part of the process of redpointing, just realize that if you are constantly "projecting", you aren't often "climbing", and you will not improve...in fact, you may get worse! If you're going to work a project it needs to be easy enough that you can climb it relatively quickly and get back to other activities that will make you better, not worse. (In Performance Rock Climbing, Dale Goddard recommends spending no more than 10 days on a single route--most people probably spend less than this but there are some who spend WAY more.)

These ideas are not new, and others have explained this concept in terms of the climbing "pyramid". That is, you build up a resume (for lack of a better term) of climbs that you have sent (not one-hanged, or TR'd, routes you SENT). Then the idea is that the quantity of routes that you've done at a given grade should increase as the grades decrease. For example, the ideal is that a climber trying to redpoint a 12a will have done the following prior to working the 12a:

2x 11d
4x 11c
8x 11b
16x 11a
and so on...

This system encourages the climber to spend the vast majority of her time climbing routes well within her ability, which is the condition under which improvement takes place, not hanging on the rope "reaching" for the next grade. Furthermore, it pushes you to seek out a variety of different climbs which makes you well rounded. If you have to climb 8 11b's, it will be tough to stick to only routes that perfectly suit your style. When she does send that 12a, she'll have a lot of work to do to fill in the rest of the pyramid to the point that she is ready to try a 12b. That means she'll need to climb another 12a, two more 11d's, and so on. By the time she's done all that, the 12b will be a piece of cake.

OK, like I said, the "pyramid" is nothing new, but the concept isn't perfect. First of all, a simple calculation tells you that in order to be ready to climb a 13a, you're supposed to have climbed 256 11a's. Good luck with that. Perhaps if you counted gym routes and repeat ascents, maybe, but I don't know. So, you don't have to be a "Nazi" about it...just seek to climb a wide variety of route types and grades in your climbing.

The second complaint I have with the pyramid is that climbers have a tendency to rely too heavily on what they have done in the distant past. So you climbed 2 12d's and 4 12c's five years ago, if you've only climbed 12a's and b's in the last year, you are probably not ready to try 13a. Seek to keep your pyramid "fresh". Each climbing season, you should build a pyramid. Perhaps not a very "wide" pyramid, but at least work your way up. If your season goal is to RP your first 13a, maybe you should do 3 12a's, 2 12b's and a 12c before you start the proj.

During your training sessions, it's OK to work on hard stuff, in fact, I do that a lot, but you also need to climb a lot. Why not spend 30 minutes warming up on relatively easy terrain? It's not going to hinder your "hard climbing" later in the workout, but it's a great way to reinforce movement skills. For that matter, a 20-30 minute cool down isn't a bad idea either. I even do this at the crag. After I'm finished working my project for the day, I'll spend whatever time I have remaining climbing routes approximately 2 full number grades below my project level.

So go climbing, not hanging!

Post by **Horatio Felacio** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:36 pm

why are you posting all this crap?

Post by **Toy** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:45 pm

Feels like a combination of a Tony Robbins/Tony Horton/Ron Popeil infomercial wrapped around an Eric Horst "How to..." climbing novella, eh Matt

Post by **512OW** » Sat May 02, 2009 2:16 am

Actually, as far as the pyramid goes, your complaints are off base. The common idea of the pyramid is that your "base" should be made up of a grade you've done 8 of in the last 12 months.

Also, according to the common ideas, you don't go back and fill in all the way to your previous "bases". Once you are ready to move up, you simply do 4 more of the grade one level above your base, and THAT grade becomes your base.

That said, the common idea of the pyramid is crap. Its different for everyone. I did 7 or 8 13a's before I even touched 13b. Why? Because I wanted to. So what? Some people do one 13a, then want to work 13b. I guess its all about what you WANT to do. Some people want to have numbers to indicate that they're stronger... not actually be stronger.

Post by **mike_anderson** » Sat May 02, 2009 2:38 am

Those are good points, but I don't acknowledge the existence of a "common idea of the pyramid". I've seen the pyramid described in many different ways by different people.

Like anything, it's a tool. A tool used in the wrong way can make a big mess, or it can be very helpful.

So why 4 grade levels? Why not 3 or 5? It's pretty arbitrary don't you think? That's why I think it's best not to get too specific about it, and just try to heed the intent, which, to sum up is this: Don't spend all your time dogging a project you'll never send (a la Rifle climbers).

Post by **mike_anderson** » Sat May 02, 2009 2:43 am

PS: I'm posting this stuff because maybe it will help someone out. I'd also like to get some discussion going because I'm sure I could learn some things from other folks.

If there is a "training" forum, don't be surprised if people post stuff about training.

Post by **Andrew** » Sat May 02, 2009 3:05 am

We don't talk about climbing much around these parts, mike. By the way, mike is a good guy and good climber. He has a kid too which makes him extra cool and strong.

Post by **512OW** » Sat May 02, 2009 3:19 am

I agree Mike... I'm not a fan of the structured pyramid. I have some rules I use for myself that keep me from jumping ahead. Those are...

I can't have a project at a certain grade until I onsight 3 letter grades below it. 2 onsights = 2 projects. 3 onsights = open grade.

For instance:
When I onsighted my first 12d, it gave me a 13c project.
My 2nd 12d onsight gave me a 2nd 13c project.
My third opened up the 13c grade for my exploration.

(how's that for subtle spray?)

However, I still have only gotten on one 13c, one time. This year I'm focused on learning to project, because apparently I suck at it.

Also, I realize that at higher grades my system will be harder to follow. It will become increasingly harder to onsight above 5.13. My ultimate goal is 14a, and I'm not sure I'll ever onsight 13b, so i'm ok with escaping my rules once the ultimate goal is in sight.

Post by **mike_anderson** » Sat May 02, 2009 3:35 am

Yeah, I understand what you're saying. For a few years my onsight level was only one letter grade below my redpoint level, then I got better at redpointing, and found it harder to push my onsight level for various reasons. Now I've got about a 3-4 letter grade separation between onsight and redpoint, but I'm hoping to close that gap since I moved out here where (they say) it is easier to onsight...I've yet to prove that to myself. I used to think onsighting was my strength and redpointing my weakness, now it's probably the other way around...kinda like you said in the other thread.

Post by **pigsteak** » Sat May 02, 2009 3:42 am

nuttin subtle about it.....