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Stay-At-Home Climbing Training Routine: Day 15

Day 15 of a 28-day climbing-training routine for athletes looking to progress during self-isolation.

After yesterday, our power reserves should feel relatively low. To avoid over-stressing ourselves, we will increase the repetitions of our pulling exercises while decreasing the stress loads on each joint involved in the one-arm pulling process.

Day 15:

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 warm enough that you could pull as hard as you would want, begin lock-offs.

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.

Archer pull-ups:

Offsets are designed to help you build one-arm power, though they tend to increase the strain on your elbows. As a result, Day 15 will be defined by lower stress exercises that still seek to isolate our one-arm pulling power. This is to say that we will look to isolate the bicep, lat, and scapular muscles. Today we will increase reps as we reduce strain.

  • Beginner: 20 repetitions over as many sets as required
  • Intermediate: 60 repetitions in 10 sets
  • Expert: 70 repetitions in 7 sets

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 15 we will reduce the number of repetitions in our core exercises and increase the number of exercises. On the leg-lifts especially, strive for perfect form. Remember, perfect form means no swing and straight legs.

Hanging leg-lifts:

Beginner: 5 sets of 5 repetitions: bring the legs up so that your body makes a 90-degree angle

Moderate: 5 sets of 5 repetitions: bring your feet to the bar

Expert: 5 sets of 10 repetitions: feet to bar

The 5-minute Core Destroyer:

  • One minute each of the following exercises:
    • Plank
    • big kicks
    • swimmer kicks
    •  V-Sit
    • big kicks
      • There is no rest between each exercise, instead rest at the conclusion of all five exercises. Then rest for five minutes and repeat the series twice more.

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

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These definitely are strange times and it's not easy to deal with the whole situation. We all are used to just go out, meet friends at the crag, at the gym, in restaurants and bars. Staying at home is not exactly one of my strengths, especially because I haven't got such a home wall like in the picture or like some of us do. However we all have to realize that minimizing our direct contact to people is right now one of the most important things to contain the Corona virus. Please everyone respect those rules and guidelines to avoid worsening the situation and to prevent even stricter rules. Stay in contact with people through that mobile device you are staring at right now. Give your moms a call. They will appreciate it. Work out at home. Get yourselves some fingerboards, hang up a pull-up bar, do yoga, learn how to do a handstand. Try to make an egg stand. I'm sure you'll get creative to make good use of your time. #stayhome #stayhealthy #staystrong #wirbleibenzuhause • @patagonia_climb @redbullgermany @goretexeu @tenayaclimbing @cafekraft_nuernberg @dmm_wales @sterlingrope @frictionlabs @fazabrushes #stylefirst #carrotsforpower Pic @ken_etzel (the one and only. Enjoy your quarantine time in the Sierra buddy) ?

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Featured photo by Imogen Horrocks (@imogenclimbs)

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