TRAINING FOR AEROBIC AND ANAEROBIC FITNESS

By MATT MCCORMICK

Over the last 4-5 weeks I’ve been following a plan to prepare for a week-long trip to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. For those of you unfamiliar with the Red, the climbing is most often characterized by monstrous endurance and resistance routes.

Jonathan Siegrist on his recent sendfest in the Red

Climbers who perform at a high level in the Red possess an amazing balance of aerobic and anaerobic fitness. Below I share a quick explanation of the difference between aerobic and anaerobic as well as sharing the plan I’ve been following for the past several weeks. We’ll see how it goes!

A quick explanation of aerobic and anaerobic energy production…

Aerobic: This is the body’s most efficient energy production mode and can be sustained indefinitely because the body is able to use oxygen in the energy production process. The body can only sustain aerobic energy production at steady, sub-maximal levels of exertion. Ie. A route that you don’t get pumped on at all and that has no moves that are difficult for you. Another great example is going for a long steady run.

Anaerobic: At a certain level of exertion (this is different for each person and called the anaerobic threshold) each person’s body will no longer be able to supply the necessary energy using the aerobic system. At this point the body begin to supply energy using the anaerobic system which does not utilize oxygen and can only be sustained for 1-3 minutes. Anaerobic energy production is inefficient in producing long-term energy because of the build up of lactic acid that it produces. This lactic acid buildup seriously inhibits muscle function and results in that all too familiar pump. The anaerobic system is good at producing energy for short bursts of high intensity exertion. Ie. A crux on a route or a boulder problem. Climbers can train to increase their body’s ability to function well with a high build-up of lactic acid. This is called anaerobic endurance.

Here’s the catch! In climbing, unless you specialize in one-move-wonders, you need to train both systems.

Climbing, more than most sports, is extremely complex and difficult to categorize. Over the course of a route or long boulder problem, a climber will draw energy from a both aerobic and anaerobic systems. Moving through cruxes at their limit the climber will utilize the anaerobic system for energy and then at rests and through easier sections the climber can recover because his energy is being drawn from the efficiency of the aerobic system.

Check out this video of Sharma on Pachamama in Spain. The routes Sharma is doing, you know are amazing performances of anaerobic endurance.

The Red River Plan

The plan I followed over the last several weeks focused on building anaerobic endurance as well as building finger strength, power, and aerobic endurance. Here it is…

Day 1

Hangboard – (Absolute finger strength): Why this for the Red you might ask? Think of the V13 boulderer who goes to the Red and onsights 5.13+ in the Madness Cave. He may not have the best aerobic endurance but the moves are not hard for him and the holds feel easy to hang onto.

Pick 4 grips on the hangboard. Train your weaknesses!

Perform 3 sets on each of the four grips. You’ll need a stopwatch right in front of you for this. One set = Seven 7 second hangs with 3 seconds of rest between each hang. Rest 1 minute and repeat 3 sets for each grip. Rest  2 minutes between each grip. If you can complete One set without dropping off the board, increase the weight 2-5 lbs. For the sake of your tendon pulleys, use an open grip rather than full closed crimp grip.

Open Grip

Closed (full crimp) grip

Traverse into Boulder Problems x 5:

Create a 30+ move traverse at sub-maximal level (ie. if you boulder V7 create a V4 crux or cruxes in the traverse split up by rests). Have the traverse end at the start of a boulder problem slightly below your max (For the V7 boulderer V5/V5+ would be perfect). The goal is to recover on some good holds before the final boulder problem. Crush the boulder problem and then rest 1 minute before repeating or repeating into another problem. Do this 5 times.

Cool Down: Aerobic Recovery Capillary (ARC)

15-20 minutes of traversing. The goal here is to stay in the Aerobic zone (just slightly below your anaerobic threshold) for the entire 20 minutes. You’ll be able to tell this by staying just below the point where you’re getting really pumped but still at a level where your getting fatigued. Kind of like going for a long run or bike ride. This exercise will increase your local endurance as well as build more capillary density in the forearm muscles. Capillaries move nutrients to and from the muscle and help speed recovery.

Core: Complete 15 minutes of core exercises of your choice.

Day 2:

Campus Board: (Power)

Ladders and Touches

Perform one ladder up and down. Rest 1 minute and then perform one set of touches doing 2-3 touches with each arm without stepping off the board.

Here’s a great site with some video of these 2 exercises:

http://www.nicros.com/archive/archive15.cfm

Repeat this 4 times.

Boulder Pyramid: This is an excellent anaerobic endurance exercise!

Pick 6 boulder problems and arrange them in a pyramid as below.

V3,V3+,V4,V4+,V5,V5+,V4+,V4,V3+,V3

Complete this pyramid 4 times moving between problems as quickly as possible. Rest 2 minutes between completing each pyramid.

Cool Down: Aerobic Recovery Capillary (ARC) (See above)

Core: Complete 15 minutes of core exercises of your choice.

Rest Day: Think about doing some aerobic exercise for 30-60 minutes. This will accelerate recovery and help build general aerobic fitness.

Day 3:

Repeat Day 1…

TRAINING STRONGER

Matt on Zabba (5.13a)

My name is Matt McCormick and I am a teacher, climber, guide, and trainer from Burlington, VT. My climbing career started at the BRG while growing up in nearby Sudbury, MA. and quickly spread to locations all over the world.

With a degree in Physical Education, I’ve focused my knowledge of exercise physiology on my own training for climbing and have seen some tremendous gains. I offer personalized coaching and training consultations through my site at mattmccormickclimbing.blogspot.com. Check it out! Feel free to email me with any questions or feedback at matty.mccormick@gmail.com.

This is the first in a series of blog entries on my training ideas and concepts. I hope that you can take a bit of each entry and apply it toward your own climbing goals. My goal is to present an overarching concept each week and then give some examples of exercises and workouts to apply that concept in your training.

I will be offering a series of training workshops at the BRG in the near future that will go into greater detail and provide a hands on opportunity to learn more ideas on how to improve your own climbing fitness. These will include a personalized training plan that I will write and email to each participant after the workshop based on their goals, ability, and motivation. Keep your eye out for these workshops!

This first entry provides THE foundation for effective training and is an important starting point for future entries.

Principles of Training

When planning workouts for athletes, exercise physiologists form their plan based around a set of core principles referred to as the Principles of Training. Here they are… When reading these, think about what you do to try and improve your climbing fitness and whether or not it meets these principles. Below each principle I’ve briefly outlined how this applies to climbing-specific training.

Overload: In order to see gains in muscular strength, endurance and any component of

fitness for that matter this principle must be applied. Our bodies are

extremely adaptive will adapt to the demands placed on them. Only if we load muscles to a a point not previously encountered will they gain strength, endurance, and or power.

Do you purposefully keep track of your progress by writing down your workouts or at least keeping mental note and then increasing the intensity in following workouts? Do you find ways to specifically overload certain muscle groups, movements, grips,  and fitness components such as power or strength?

Progression: While it is crucial to overload the muscles in order to see the gains we

strive for, it is equally important to follow a logical and planned progression

of resistance. Effective training is not reactive but pre-planned and

thoughtful.

The closest that most climbers come to meeting this principle is that they try harder and harder routes and problems in the gym and outside. This is most often done in a rather haphazard manner rather than being pre-planned. Many climbers do not build a solid foundation of routes at say a V5 level before spending infinite sessions projecting V7. Additionally logically pre-planning your workout and sticking to that plan is at the core of this principle.

Specificity: It is important to realize that fitness for climbing should be viewed as several different components that must be targeted specifically in order to be improved. I’ll go into each of these in greater detail in a later post but the major components are strength, endurance, power, and anaerobic endurance. Exercises must be specifically chosen to target the components which you want to improve.

Do you plan your workouts with specific exercises to target specific things such as crimp strength, power, anaerobic endurance? In order to practice this principle you must have a pre-set goal for each session and pick specific exercises to target that goal.

Individuality: Each individual has unique and ever-changing needs and goals in their

training. It is crucial to honestly assess your needs fitness wise and set goals in

line with those needs. It is also key to keep in mind that some exercises that may

work great for one person will not work well for you. This is something I always

keep in mind when coaching and training.

Be flexible to try a variety of methods of training as long as they meet the above principles. Honestly assess your strengths and weaknesses and target those weaknesses. If a certain method of training does not work well for you, be willing to try something else!

Lastly… Keep these three in mind to pull together your overall plan.

Frequency: How often do you come into the gym or hit the crag? How many days a week do you have available to train?

Intensity: In weight lifting intensity is judged by the weight. In climbing it is vastly more complex (more on this in the future…) Intensity can be judged by difficulty of moves, # of moves, rest time between burns, number of problems/routes climbed, and a variety of other ways which I’ll discuss in the future.

Time: How much time will you spend during each session training. Some people spend several hours in the gym accomplishing the same amount that could be accomplished in  one hour. Are you making the best use of time?

These principles are the foundation of any effective training plan. I encourage you to take the time to reflect on them and whether or not you’re applying them to your own goals!

Next I’ll be talking about aerobic strength vs. anaerobic strength and will share the training I’ve been doing for an upcoming trip to the Red River Gorge…