By Mike Anderson As I said in my last article (Spring, Sprain, Summer, Send?), I’m having somewhat of a “Cinderella Season”…with things just clicking despite some minor adversity. As I bragged in that post, I sent one of my “life list” routes, Grand ‘Ol Opry (5.14c) at the Monastery. It went faster than I expected, leaving me with just…
Throughout my first several years of systematic training, I believed the Strength Phase (in which hangboard training is the primary activity) was the most “important” phase. That is, I thought the quality of the Strength Phase was the key predictor of whether the upcoming season would be successful or not. If the phase was flat, I…
“ARC” is short for Aerobic Restoration & Capillarity training. This training method was first described in the legendary Performance Rock Climbing. If you are unfamiliar with ARC training, you can get the rundown here. Many climbing periodization plans call for massive amounts of this training; as much as 90+ minutes per workout, with several workouts…
Intensity is simply a matter of how much effort you put into a given training activity. In other words, how “hard” you are trying. You may already be performing the perfect training activity, but if the intensity is wrong, you won’t get the proper results. After observing many climbers in their natural habitat its clear…
At a certain point (the point where the cliffs start to overhang) climbing performance is all about strength to weight ratio. Most of what we focus on as climbers is the strength part. In some ways, that’s the easiest thing to do, because it requires action, whereas dieting, or whatever else we might have in…
The Rock Climber's Training Manual 