Training at home: Training Boards

Hello there?.. I'm back from the land of coffee and pizza. What a trip it was, some major ascents by Tom Randall and Pete Whitaker. Tom finally sent Green Spit after a 4 year battle of training and repeatedly telling his wife that he's back off to Italy (Kim you deserve major points and a medal). Pete and I gave our all but were denied the glory by an unbelievably precise hand jam match, that if put in 3mm wrong will spit you off as if you weren't even trying. However there were some consolation prizes, 5 new routes by Tom and Pete of all grades. The best however has to be Gloves of War an E6 6c that Pete sent, saying as he rounded the lip "I feel sick", Tom followed him and left me on the belay ledge gathering my thoughts for a while.

During this time my mind toiled with this next Blog (dramatic I know, I was on a ledge feeling all Jo Simpson-like). I had in mind before I set off,  telling you all about how to use some training systems at home, finger boards and other such like and to warn you of over training and its consequences. Well in light of our recent appearance at Cliff Hanger, a major success thanks to all the support and help, and apologies to Tasha for embarrassing her with an impromptu crack climbing lesson.

With solitude of the lonely belay ledge I began to think of new ways to increase my performance on desperate roof off-widths, as I had failed dismally on this one, and how I could inform you of this in keeping with my pre-determined next Blog. Well this is what I have come up with. I have looked into training at home in the most inexpensive way as possible, including strapping a piece of wood to a step ladder and my garage roof (with an old mobile phone for a stop watch) to create a semi-effective pull up bar.

However I have come to the conclusion that it is not possible to get effective training without the correct equipment. You wouldn't expect a 100m sprinter to train on an 80m track know would you. This is first and foremost a problem for us Brits, as our Euro-wad friends across the water have the weather to train on the rock pretty much year round. We however have floods in July. Also as climbing is becoming more popular, it is becoming more expensive to climb at local walls (no dig intended it's just a fact, they run a business and want to make money, simple). I also know that to get your weekly quota in can cost a small fortune.

Right, now for the training stuff. I have tried it all, leaning ladders up against walls, dead hangs on door frames and campusing around on trees (2nd accent of the tree campus is eagerly awaited). But it is all no substitute for a training board. Now I'm plugging the company and our products again I know, but we are a business and we want to make money too! However this is not just for selling boards, it's to let you know how to set your home training system up, yes that's your board your training bars and weights along with the core area.

For this Blog, let's look at training boards. Our freestanding walls are ideal training boards for home use (see Climbing Solutions walls), typically you will need about an 8ft x 8ft training board. You may be asking yourself "how the hell do you set up a circuit on an 8ft board least of all grade it?" Well try this for instance, use a narrow rail for foot holds (a dado rail will do) and bolt 40 holds on the board (different sizes and shapes etc). You then set your self a target, say 20 moves. Start from a predetermined point (say, hold no. 1) then pick out a sequence of 20 hand movements, marking the holds as you go, around the board. Make sure they don't require any complicated footwork to perform.

Now attempt to do this sequence in one go, this should give you a pump, however if your name is Steve McClure then you might want to start at 40 movements. From here the possibilities are endless. You can create a points system to give your circuits a grade, e.g. each hold carries points depending on how hard it is to hold. The more points, the hire the grade. Doing double and triple reps of the circuit in one go will create a mega pump without your muscle memory getting used to dead hanging your campus rung.

That covers one way to use a training board. A second way I would recommend is systems training. Great for that specific move training and being able to dead point moves at will. Set 2 parallel (vertical) lines of holds that are symmetrical and roughly 2-3ft apart - e.g. 2 crimps, 2 slopers, 2 pinches, and 2 pockets. You can put as many as you like just as long as they are symmetrical. Now invent a move that you want to improve (e.g. crimp to pocket). Start on the crimps and move with your left hand to the pocket, then swap and go with your right hand to the pocket.This training will equalise the effect on both sides of the body, therefore not causing an imbalance which is bad and can lead to injury. Systems training can be changed to suit the projects you are working on, simulating moves and strengthening both sides of your body so you get fewer weak spots in your overall climbing performance.

Until next time my puppies

Squiff