Strong for Summer

Here is a novel idea...I am going to get in shape for the climbing season. I know what you are thinking..."don't we train all winter to get in shape for summer?". Well I am more stunneder than your typical climber. I train all winter to get in great climbing shape for March (ie Rock Fall). Then the routine falls to sh!t, summer comes and I try to get outside as much as possible. What ends up happening is that I develop (routes) on the weekend and stop climbing thru the week. I get as fit as the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

Well Leo is great at training people and I owe him a lot. I have learned from him and have done considerable research on training for climbing myself. I am going to start a training cycle to get in shape for the summer. I usually record my training sessions on an online webpage. I figure I can just put my workouts on my blog. If you are looking for a little structure to your climbing, this may help. I am going to do it more for myself than anything.

Where I am older (42) and a bit heavy for a rock climber (188 lbs at 5'9"), I really need to work on slimming down and improving my aerobic capacity. I am training for a Sprint Triathlon to cover that aspect. Ideally I will train 4 times per week for this. These work outs I will mark as Tri- WOD (Work Out of the Day).

The climbing workouts will be marked as Cl- WOD. The cycle will be a 3-2-1. Three weeks endurance, 2 weeks power and one week power-endurance. I will be training for climbing 3-4 times per week. Climbing will take priority over Tri training. My workout can be anywhere from 45 minutes up 3 hours. My rest days are usually when I am on call and if I have a bad night, I may miss two days in a row. Some days I may have two workouts.

A basic minimum would be 3 climbing work outs, two aerobic and two antagonistic workouts per week. Modify the workouts for yourself.

I will start posting about our development of stuff outdoors as soon as the weather permits.