Stay-At-Home Climbing Training Routine: Day 14
Day 14 of a 28-day climbing-training routine for athletes looking to progress during self-isolation.
This past weekend we saw the official rescheduling of the Olympics as a result of the global pandemic. The Games shall now take place in July of 2021 and the athletes that have qualified will retain their qualification. Canadians across the country are facing progressively more stringent self-isolating mandates in an effort to combat the virus. Fortunately, this makes for increasing amounts of training time at home.
This “stay-at-home” routine was meant to last for 14 days at the beginning of the self-isolation period. As we come into our fourteenth day, it would seem as though self-isolation could continue for quite some time. As a result, we will continue releasing training routines in an effort to reduce the stress of boredom. These last two weeks we focused on power-endurance. We accomplished high repetition exercises that have made our biceps, triceps, traps, lats, deltoids, and abdominals stronger. There are smaller muscle groups that surely increased in strength as well, but these were the muscle groups we were able to target.
We took a double rest day between Day 11 and Day 14 so that we might recover before entering our power training. Over the course of the next week we will focus on power-training to get the absolute most out of the hypertrophic state our muscles are currently in. We will have a deload week beginning Monday of next week, in which we will reduce the stress and strive to recover before entering a new training cycle.
First, we must address the difference between power training and power-endurance/conditioning training. Power training can appear easier than conditioning due to the limited number of required repetitions. This is not the case. Though we are reducing the rep-count, we are increasing the effort we put into our form as well as our rest time between repetitions and sets. The goal of this sort of training is to produce perfect repetitions in which the maximum amount of “try-hard” is given to each rep. It is important that you try as hard as possible, excluding the possibility of injury, on each repetition.
Day 14:
Unlike the previous two-weeks there will be an order to this routine. It is important that this routine is done in this order.
Warm Up:
- Warming up will likely differ between people, but these are a few good warm ups.
- Shoulder rolls
- Rotations: hold arms out perpendicular to the length of your body. Your arms should be parallel to the floor. Begin by rotating your wrists clockwise while your arms are straight. Then increase the rotation from the shoulders, maintain g your straight arms. Steadily increase the radius of rotation until your arms are wind milling, then reverse the direction.
- Hang on a bar and retract and relax your shoulders
- Complete a number of pull ups that would warm you up but not tire you out
Agonist muscles:
Once your biceps and shoulders are fully warm, or so warm that you could pull as hard as you would want, begin off-set pull ups.
Offset pull ups:
Offsets are designed to help you build one-arm power. Though we accomplished thee over the course of our conditioning period, we will adjust them for maximum output. Hang a rope from your pull-up bar. Place your hand as low as you can on that rope. Either knot it, or tape the rope so that you know your maximum offset distance between days.
- Complete 4 sets of 3 repetitions on each arm
- Rest for two to five minutes between each set, even between arms
- Be careful of your wrists during this period.
- If you are already capable of completing a one-arm pull up, then strive to complete between 6 and 10 one-arm pull ups, a side, separated by two-minutes rest.
- Rest for two to five minutes between each set, even between arms
Lock-Offs:
Once your offsets are complete, rest for five-minutes and begin your lock-offs.
Try and hold a lock-off with one arm bent at 90-degrees. If this is too challenging, complete the exercise in a full lock-off on one arm. If this is too difficult, complete ten negatives.
- Negatives: Hold a full lock-off with two arms at the top of the bar. Let one arm go and try and resist gravity with the other arm. You will either hold the lock-off or slowly descend to a straight arm position. The goal of a negative is to increase the time it takes to descend.
- Complete ten one-arm negatives on each side
- Lock Offs:
- If you are able to complete the lock-off, then…
- Aim to hold lock for 10 seconds. 3 sets a side.
Antagonist Muscles:
Push-ups: High Intensity
Complete 5, 7, or 10 repetitions depending on your skill level per exercise. Once that is established…
Complete the following exercises three times in a row for a total of nine sets. Your total push-up count for the day will be either 45, 63, or 90 repetitions.
- elbows-back push-ups: complete 5-10 then rest 30 seconds
- diamond push-ups: complete 5-10 then rest 30 seconds
- archer push-ups: complete 5-10 then rest 30 seconds
Core:
For Day 14 we will maintain a fairly high level of repetitions in our core exercises. We will reduce this number slightly in an effort to perfect our form. On the leg-lifts especially, strive for perfect form. Remember, perfect form means no swing and straight legs.
Hanging leg-lifts:
Beginner: 10 sets of 5 repetitions: bring the legs up so that your body makes a 90-degree angle
Moderate: 10 sets of 5 repetitions: bring your feet to the bar
Expert: 10 sets of 10 repetitions: feet to bar
Cardio:
Run for 45 minutes at a moderate intensity.
Flexibility:
Hold each stretch for 15-30 seconds:
- Straddle Splits: This stretch is important to climbing as it increases a climber’s lateral flexibility for moves like stemming in a corner.
- Hamstring: keep your legs straight and bend down to your feet. Keep your back flat for an alternate version of this stretch.
- Hip-flexor: Flexible hip-flexors allow a climber to high-step.
- Quadricep: preventative against injury
- Triceps stretch: preventative against injury
- Shoulder stretch: increases mobility
- Calf stretch: increased heel-hooking mobility
Featured photo thanks to Andrew Conroy and @trainingbeta
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