RRC Archives

I got into a discussion with a guy at Miguel's the other day (say hi to Winston for me) about using creatine as part of a training regimine for climbing. This particular guy swore by it and I started thinking about maybe about using it myself. I've got one of those body types that is great for running marathons and endless aerobic activity, but the strength exercises are much more difficult. The biochemistry behind creatine seems to make sense, but I'm wondering how many people out there use or have used it and how it affected their climbing? Would I need to use it along with a weight training regimine? For the kinesiology people, is climbing considered more of an aerobic instead of a strength exercise?

I used it once before. It causes your muscle cells to retain more water than normal so you get puffier and heavier. That completely outweighs the benefits of the supposed extra endurance you gain from it. Then I ended up getting really sick from it so that did it for me.

Seems if you want to improve, and don't mind the chemicals, epo would be the drug of choice for route climbers.

Personally, red bull is my drug of choice.

Wes

EPO, while only available by prescription, would increase hematocrit. But fatigue during climbing comes from blockage of blood flow to muscles during contractions. I'm not sure increased crit would actually help much.

I thought it would allow a much faster recovery as well. Like during a margional rest.

Wes

Interesting. It might, but I wonder if total blood flow would be more important than just numbers of red blood cells to help clear out lactic acid.

Well, if anyone has a few thousand to spend, I would be glad to test to see if it helps on 5.11s...

Wes

Creatine worked really well for me while I was lifting. I got strong and put on some good muscle mass. The initial weight was indeed water as SCIN said, but it later translates to muscle mass as you are able to lift heavier weight for more reps. Oh, it gives you a killer pump too, so I sure as hell wouldn't use it for climbing. If you were having trouble with your power and wanted to train then yeah, it might help out, but I wouldn't use it while climbing routes.

Mj

I use bee pollen, honey, and royal jelly for recovery, endurance, strength, healing. Nothing beats a balanced diet, good rest, and a training cycle though. Creatine also affects the whole body, including the legs and climbers don't need anymore weight in their legs. Weight training is also non-specific to climbing; it wouldn't transfer to the wall at all. Certain light weight lifting exercises can help prevent injury though. Training For Rock Climbing book has a lot of good information on training mental, technical and strength/endurance for climbing.

n0ir wrote: Nothing beats a balanced diet, good rest, and a training cycle though.

I second that.

Marathonmedic: Why don't you climb more and stop schmoozing with the ladies?