Strength training

[juliet]

I'm increasingly aware when climbing that one of the things causing me difficulty is that I don't have much upper body strength.

This was particularly brought home today, at the Arch, when I read the instructions about how to use their thing-above-a-doorframe-you-hang-on. "Hang with your arms slightly bent for 5 seconds", it said. I couldn't pull myself up sufficiently to do this. (I don't do quite as badly as this when actually climbing; but I've never been able to, say, do a pull-up.)

Will this just improve as I carry on climbing (she asks hopefully; to be fair, it has improved already), or should I be doing something more specific? Any suggestions? Things I can do at home would be good (if I pull myself up on the doorframe, will I hurt the doorframe?) as currently it is just too hideously embarrassing to try anything like that in public.

At least my legs are OK (lots of cycling!).

Comments

[cofax7]

Climbing often definitely helps. Also pull-ups. If you can, you could install a hang-bar in a doorway in your home; some of them don't even need to be screwed into the frame. And you could do pull-ups on those.

But to be fair, I've climbed for twenty-something years without ever having a lot of upper-body strength. My hands and forearms get stronger if I'm climbing a lot, but mostly I just finesse stuff. Technique over strength.

[juliet]

I'm trying to get down a couple of times a week at the moment -- depends on other commitments. (I am tempted to get membership at the bouldering-only place that's closer to me, then I might go more often b/c it would be feasible to just stop by for 30 min. hm.)

The mightiness of technique should obviously be my secret weapon ;)

[rydra_wong]

First off -- it's widely advised that until you've been climbing for a good year or two, you don't try using a fingerboard (let alone a campus board, which is the one with the rungs).

Tendons take much longer than muscles do to strengthen, so if you try doing specific finger work before that, you can easily end up tweaking the tendons in your fingers and/or elbows (actually, fingerboard stuff can tweak them really easily at any stage, if you're not careful). This is unpleasant and tedious.

Will this just improve as I carry on climbing

Yup! It's awesome. You'll get so much stronger just from climbing, it's amazing.

If my experience is anything to go by, it won't hurt to try some pull-ups at home if you fancy it and if you've got something you can pull up on (Mistressing the pull-up is a good guide), but it's not essential. I managed to do my first pull-up just because of doing a lot of climbing, with only a very occasional attempt to work on it -- I just realized one day that I could do one. And then one day I could do three in a row.

(And now I can't because of having been off for five months, and that makes me woeful and sullen, but hopefully they'll come back quite fast.)

if I pull myself up on the doorframe, will I hurt the doorframe?

Depends on the doorframe *g* (ETA: seriously. A hefty lintel that seems to be part of the structure: ideal! Doorframe where you're not sure whether it's just a bit of plaster or wood glued on: probably not such a good idea. Especially if you're renting.)

FWIW, IMHO: in a weird way, lack of upper body strength intially is a huge advantage (speaking as someone who started with none).

It's pretty much a cliche in books on climbing technique that women tend to learn much faster than men, because men (particularly young athletic men) will start off trying to haul themselves up with wall with their arms because they can, and so it takes them a while to realize that it's actually incredibly inefficient and start learning some technique. Whereas women tend not to have that kind of upper body strength initially, so we have to learn to climb intelligently right from the start. This makes us mighty.

One of the really, really fun things about being a female climber (especially a geeky un-sporty female climber) is the times you get to use sneakiness and flexibility to completely burn off the young athletic guys.

(For reference: I climbed my first V4 before I did my first pull-up.)

So, I'd say go for working on your technique now (and ogle the fingerboards from a safe distance and ponder which one you're going to buy when you get to that stage; that's what I'm doing *g*).

[cofax7]

Whereas women tend not to have that kind of upper body strength initially, so we have to learn to climb intelligently right from the start. This makes us mighty.

Yes, what she said. *g*

[rydra_wong]

I'm sure it's gender stereotyping to some extent; I imagine that scrawny/non-athletic guys also tend to learn technique fast.

But the people who go on hauling themselves up by their arms are invariably male *g*.

[juliet]

Thanks for the warning! The bit of it I was using was the jug-bit, so minimal finger strain, but I shall avoid doing anything more finger-ish.

It's pretty much a cliche in books on climbing technique that women tend to learn much faster than men

Mm, this is something that my instructor on the brief course I did commented on. She was a fairly small woman, and the other person on the course was a reasonably hefty chap, & she was at pains to point out to me that actually I was in a more advantageous position than I might think :)

Also, hurrah for the mightiness!

One of the really, really fun things about being a female climber (especially a geeky un-sporty female climber) is the times you get to use sneakiness and flexibility to completely burn off the young athletic guys.

Actually I did this a little bit today, and it was very pleasing! There were a couple of young athletic chaps who were doing better on some problems than I was because they had more brute strength, but there was another couple that they both struggled with but I'd worked out a neater solution to :)

I am trying consciously to improve my technique -- focussing on accurate footwork at the moment, and trying to think more consciously about how I use my centre of gravity. (Recommendations/suggestions welcome!)

(For reference: I climbed my first V4 before I did my first pull-up.)

That is a very reassuring thing to know! Also: very awesome :)

[rydra_wong]

Recommendations/suggestions welcome!

I've been thinking about doing a write-up of the book and the DVD from which I learned 90% of everything I know about technique, if that'd be of any interest ...

[juliet]

Very much so, yes please!

I have "The Self-Coached Climber", which I'm reading in dribs & drabs & finding v useful.

[rydra_wong]

That's one of them *g*. The other is the Neil Gresham masterclass DVD.

[rydra_wong]

Belated thought -- if you fancy doing a bit of strength work at home:

As well as the pull-ups, one thing that's often recommended is to do a bit of work on the muscles that are antagonists to the ones you use in climbing; this balances things out and reduces the risk of overuse injuries.

The basic principle is to do stuff that works the "push" muscles of the arms and shoulders, e.g. push-ups and shoulder presses.

(Then there's more specific antagonist stuff to fix elbow tendonitis, but it's better to skip this by not getting the tendonitis in the first place.)