From b5446eb910c2ed624ae47ad3f3cc3867b6b79e38 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: David Kerkeslager Date: Tue, 24 May 2022 21:48:43 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] A bunch of writing on climbing over a few days --- _index.md | 1 + climbing.md | 20 ++++++ concepts-from-weight-lifting.md | 110 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ elbow-tendinosis.md | 28 ++++++++ flexibility.md | 113 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ hangboarding.md | 101 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ projecting.md | 25 +++++++ 7 files changed, 398 insertions(+) create mode 100644 climbing.md create mode 100644 concepts-from-weight-lifting.md create mode 100644 elbow-tendinosis.md create mode 100644 flexibility.md create mode 100644 hangboarding.md create mode 100644 projecting.md diff --git a/_index.md b/_index.md index c52e437..01511e2 100644 --- a/_index.md +++ b/_index.md @@ -1,2 +1,3 @@ +* [Climbing](/p/climbing) * [Movies](/p/movies) * [Works in progress](/p/works-in-progress) diff --git a/climbing.md b/climbing.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d65c168 --- /dev/null +++ b/climbing.md @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@ +# Prehab/Rehab +It's worth noting that the distinction between training and prehab/rehab is +somewhat arbitrary. While the primary motivation for my exploration in these +areas has been injury rehabilitation and prevention, it's pretty clear that +strengthening these muscles does contribute to climbing in many cases. + +* [Elbow Tendinosis](elbow-tendinosis) +* [Shoulder Prehab](shoulder-prehab) + +# Training +* [Flexibility](flexibility) +* [Hangboarding](hangboarding) +* [Rings](gymnastics-rings) +* [Concepts from weight lifting](concepts-from-weight-lifting) + +# Tactics +* [Projecting](projecting) + +# Other +[DOMS](delayed-onset-muscle-soreness) diff --git a/concepts-from-weight-lifting.md b/concepts-from-weight-lifting.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e70c65c --- /dev/null +++ b/concepts-from-weight-lifting.md @@ -0,0 +1,110 @@ +Before I got into climbing, I used to lift weights, and I've carried over some +concepts from that experience into my climbing training. I'll attempt to summarize +some of that here. + +Lets start by defining some basic terms relevant to climbing: + +**power** The maximum force you can exert (how quickly can you do work). + +**strength** The ability to exert force. + +**endurance** The ability to continue to exert force. + +**power endurance** The ability to continue to exert maximum force. + +**isometric strength** The ability to exert force while not contracting or +lengthening a muscle. + +**contact strength** The ability to begin exerting isometric force quickly. + +These are basically the things we as climbers want from our muscles. + +# The force/duration spectrum + +Exertion exists on a spectrum. With the highest levels for force generated, +it's not possible to continue generating that force for long, so the duration +of exercises at this level of force is limited. As we decrease the level of +force generated, we can generate that force for longer periods of time. As a +very loose rule of thumb, we can guess where we are on the force/duration +spectrum by how many reps we're doing: + +1. 1-2 reps: power. +2. 3-5 reps: strength. +3. 6-8 reps: hypertrophy. +4. 9-20 reps: endurance. +5. >20 reps: cardio. + +However, the number of reps doesn't tell the whole story. There are some +exercises which are by nature ballistic: in these exercises, the force is +primarily generated for a brief period during the lift, and while there might +be some continued force after that, the weight is carried on primarily by +momentum. We can sometimes contrast these lifts to similar lifts that are slow +and controlled throughout the movement: + +* Deadlift or kettlebell swing: ballistic, good morning: slow and controlled. +* Pendlay row: ballistic, forward row (bar not touching ground): slow and controlled. +* Jerk: ballistic, overhead press: slow and controlled. +* Clean: ballistic, curl: slow and controlled. +* Box jump: ballistic, squat: slow and controlled. + +In the case of the box jump, we literally can't exert force after the initial +exertion because we're no longer in contact with the ground. In the other +ballistic motions, it's common to simply drop the weight after completing the +motion, because attempting to control the weight on its way down would +practically guarantee injury. This is worth reiterating: while people might +complain about the noise or sound the lunk alarm at certain gyms, with many +power lifts, *dropping the weight is the correct form*. It's possible, of course, +to deadlift and set it down in a slow and controlled manner, and this is a valid +exercise, but critically, it's a *strength* exercise, not a *power* exercise. +A slow, controlled motion can build strength, but it simply cannot build the +ability to exert that strength *all at once*. It also doesn't build the +coordination necessary to contract large muscle groups in sequence quickly. +There's some translation between strength and power, but maximal power can only +be reached by training power directly. + +Power exercises are rarely worth doing in sets of more than 5. Coordination +breaks down and you're risking injury. If you can do more reps of a power +exercise, it's probably better to do more weight instead. + +The next thing that jumps out about this spectrum is *hypertrophy*. What's that? +Hypertrophy is muscle volume. This is something body builders care about, but +for climbing, it's actually a *downside*; muscle size is loosely correlated with +some of the properties we want, but maximal muscles size focuses in on the +outlier, a muscle which is disproportionately large in relation to the power, +strength, and endurance it can give us. This size comes with a big downside: +weight. As such, you'd think climbers wouldn't ever want to work in the 6-8 rep +range, but it turns out that range can be useful for working power endurance. +More on that later. + +Cardio isn't directly climbing related, but it's not a bad thing. First of all, +it's healthy. And while it may not directly contribute to climbing, it can +help avoid fatigue: good cardio means that you may arrive at your climb less +tired from the approach hike. As long as you're not burning nutrients necessary +for climbing on your cardio, cardio is mostly a good thing. + +All this is to come back to the elephant in the room: strength. Even without +training power or endurance, strength translates well into power and endurance. + +There's some effects to power training which are not achieved by strength +training, such as building different energy systems and fast twitch muscles, +but often power is a matter of coordinating the strength that is already there +so that muscles fire in sequence, rather than building some new property of the +muscles. Coordination can be trained more quickly than muscle adaptation; +strong muscles can be made powerful easily. + +Likewise, strength translates well to endurance. +A study I saw (TODO: find that study again) said something like that if you +are operating at 20% of your max effort, you don't fatigue significantly over +repetitions; if you're 5 times as strong as you need to be, you don't need +endurance. And while it's often unrealistic to be 5 times as strong as you need +to be to perform a climbing move, there's some evidence (TODO: look that up too, +I think it's from Eric Hörst) which shows that endurance can be trained quickly: +while strength for a climb might take many training cycles over years, it's +possible for someone with the required strength to train endurance to near-maximal +potential with a two week training period before their intended performance +period. + +All this gives us a focus: while we'll spend some time training power and +endurance, our primary focus is strength: as we near a performance goal, +we can test and fill in gaps in our power and endurance as needed if we +have the requisite strength. diff --git a/elbow-tendinosis.md b/elbow-tendinosis.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..520d556 --- /dev/null +++ b/elbow-tendinosis.md @@ -0,0 +1,28 @@ +Dr. Julian Sanders wrote [Dodgy Elbows](http://drjuliansaunders.com/dodgy-elbows/) +and [Dodgy Elbows Revisited](http://drjuliansaunders.com/ask-dr-j-issue-223-dodgy-elbows-revisited/) +which cover elbow tendinosis in greater detail and scope than I am willing +or even qualified to do here. + +To summarize very briefly, the pain is caused by +muscles which, while they connect and hurt in the elbow, are actually controlling +the wrist and hand, so we primarily fix this with exercises of flexion, +pronation, and supination of the wrist (TODO: add pictures). Extension may +also cause pain but is primarily a computer RSI injury, not a climbing injury; +however, working this as training rather than prehab may contribute to climbing. + +The program focuses on lengthening the muscle under load, which forces the +tendon to adapt, while *not* contracting the muscle under load, which forces +the *muscle* to adapt; the goal is to rebalance the tendon so that the muscle +is no longer too strong for the tendon. + +These exercises can be done twice a day, with 2 sets of 20 reps each. + +It's worth noting that strengthening these muscles is a worthwhile pursuit +as well, but with the goal of building grip strength/stability rather than +preventing or rehabbing tendinosis. + +A final note: in rehabbing my shoulder and then getting back into adding weight to +pull-ups, I ran into an imbalance which the dodgy elbows program was unable to +correct, which was causing pain in the inside of my elbow. After a lot of trial +and error, I finally was able to correct this with skullcrushers, which indicates +that this was probably caused by weak triceps. diff --git a/flexibility.md b/flexibility.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75f0ca2 --- /dev/null +++ b/flexibility.md @@ -0,0 +1,113 @@ +My flexibility training for climbing has primarily focused on two areas: groin +(side splits) and hamstring. + +I've seen really fast gains from *strength-at-range* training, which basically +attempts to strengthen the muscle at the limit of its range of motion. The +reasoning I've heard for why this is effective is twofold: + +1. Your central nervous system will hold you back from stretching beyond where it + feels strong to prevent you from hurting yourself, so *strength* is somewhat + surprising limiter on flexibility. I should note that this is effectively + hearsay: while I've heard this from a few reputable sources, I'm not aware + of any scientific way of proving this. +2. It doesn't matter for your climbing if you're able to get your foot into a + certain position if you're then unable to pull from that position. This is + analogous to problems with out-of-context finger strength, where you + may be able to grip a hold but not move off it, because the arm system as a + whole is unable to maintain strength while changing position. + +Because strength at range exercises stress the muscle as it lengthens, they are +particularly likely to cause delayed onset muscle soreness. You can see +[DOMS](delayed-onset-muscle-soreness) for more information, but the takeaway is +to start with low weights, and do a light version of the workout a day or two +after; the chemical reactions which cause DOMS also have a preventive effect +which treats existing DOMS and prevent further DOMS. + +# Side Splits +A key here for me has been understanding a particular gotcha of the side splits. +There's a bony protrusion on the outside of the femur, and when toes are forward +and pelvis vertical, splitting the legs causes this bony protrusion on the femur +to run into the pelvis long before you reach the full range of motion of the +muscles. Before I knew this I ran up against this for a while, seeing no progress +in my side split and even causing a bit of pain which would cause me to stop +stretching at times. + +The solution to this is to bring the pelvis into a right angle with the femur, +which puts the bony protrusion behind the femur. There are two ways to do this: + +1. Point the toes and knees out instead of forward. It's really the knees that + are connected to the femur, but the knee is not a ball joint so if you don't + align the knee with the foot you're going to have problems. +2. You can also tilt the top of the pelvis forward. Note that this doesn't + necessarily entail tilting the entire upper body forward. + +There are three exercises which I use: + +1. **Butterfly** which hits the muscles of the groin which are most active + when the knee is bent (TODO: get the names of the muscles and maybe some + pictures?). With your butt against a wall, place dumbbells (starting at + around 10lbs or 5kg) on your knees in butterfly position. Extend to your + range for 3 seconds relaxed, then flex the muscle, bringing the weight + up just a tiny bit, for 3 seconds. Do this for 2 sets of 20 reps each. + + Progressing this exercise is a bit tough: raising the weight is easy but + I've quickly gotten to the point that my knees are resting on the ground + while not fully extended. Elevating by sitting on a 45lb barbell plate + has allowed my to drop my knees further, but now my shins are running into + the plate and I'm haven't found a good narrower surface to sit on. I'm + not too worried about it at the moment because I can still progress + strength without progressing range (higher dumbbell weights), and this isn't + the position which is most relevant to climbing. + +2. **Wide squats** This hits all the muscles of the groin in a position which + is somewhat relevant to climbing. You can "heel-toe" your feet out to get + a rough measure of width, then holding a dumbbell (starting at 10lbs or 5kg) + squat down as far as you can, remembering to tilt the pelvis to avoid the + femur colliding with the pelvis. When your femurs are horizontal, you can + go wider. Hold for 3 seconds at the bottom of each squat, and do 2 sets of + 20 reps each. + +3. **Unsupported splits** Hits the muscles of the groin which are active with + straight knee. With the body upright-ish, spread the legs straight to a + position with a light stretch: you can spread the toes to avoid the + femurs colliding with the pelvis, but for balance purposes it may be + beneficial to tilt the pelvis forward a bit and keep the toes pointed partly + forward. Then, importantly, don't support your hips with your arms: keep + your hands away from your hips, legs, and lower torso. Instead, support + your weight with the muscles of the groin. + + You should aim for a width where you can hold the position for about 45 + seconds: if you're able to hold it for 60 seconds, you can go wider, + if you're only able to hold for less than 30 seconds, you should ease off + a bit. Do this twice. + + Tracking progress isn't strictly necessary unless you believe you are + hitting a plateau and want to verify this. You can track progress by + taking photos and measuring angles, or measuring foot width on the ground + with tape. However, if you just go to the end of your range and hold there, + you'll probably find holding this challenging. + + It's also not necessary to add weight to this, because as your feet + go wider, your muscles are at a greater biomechanical disadvantage due to + the lever physics. It's quite common for an increase in range to greatly + decrease how long you can hold the position, as the strength required + increases greatly with even a small increase in range. + +# Hamstring +A peculiarity of the hamstring is that it's difficult to isolate since it works +in conjunction with the entire posterior chain. The glutes and calf can loosen +as you stretch the hamstring, causing you to have to increase the intensity +of the stretch midway through, so it's beneficial to stretch these muscles before +you stretch the hamstring. It may also be beneficial to stretch the distal hip +flexors (pigeon pose) and/or the groin for similar reasons. + +I've been doing offset-leg good mornings to work these, however I'm not as happy +with the results. I've experimented with good mornings on one leg with the other +ankle tucked above the knee; these seem only slightly more effective and have balance +issues. I'd like to experiment with nordic leg curls but these require a barbell. + +# Opposing muscles +It's worth noting that while the groin and the hamstring do the lengthening and +then pulling at that range, the opposing muscles (distal hip flexors and psoas, +respectively) have to be strong enough to get the leg into position. To work +these I occaasionally do fire hydrants and standing forward leg lifts. diff --git a/hangboarding.md b/hangboarding.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bbd3d0c --- /dev/null +++ b/hangboarding.md @@ -0,0 +1,101 @@ +# Density hangs +Density hangs are primarily a beginner routine. Beginners can start on a large hold, +one they can hold comfortably (but not a jug), and hang as long as they can. +Once you can hang for 60 seconds, you can progress to a smaller hold. + +# Effort pulls +Using one hand on a 20mm edge, pull down for 10 seconds. Using one hand will +preclude the possibility of lifting off the ground for most people, but +if you can lift your body in this way, add weight until that's no longer +possible. The idea is to let your body and feel regulate effort. This is good +for rehab and/or prehab of finger injuries, and can be done more frequently +than other routines. + +# Repeaters +Repeaters are focused on endurance by doing multiple hangs in quick succession. +Using a 7-on, 3-off timing for 7 reps is common. + +I don't like adding weight to repeaters, for a few reasons: + +1. With density hangs or max hangs, if you mess up a hang, you can just + rest a bit and try for time or weight again. However, because timing + is more important for repeaters, this doesn't work for repeaters. + Faffing about with adding weights increases the chances of having some + swaying, mis-timing, or just bad setup that messes up a hang. +2. Hanging on different holds has benefits for repeaters because volume + is high for repeaters. This high volume lends itself to repetitive + stress injuries, so varying the holds helps with this. + +To keep things simple, I find it easiest to follow a guided routine: +the Beastmaker app works well for this. It's not perfect, but none of the +problems really make it hard to use. + +I prefer to do repeaters after a session: this can make my measurment of +progress less accurate, but it doesn't detract from the endurance benefits. + +# Max hangs +Max hangs simply hanging with as much added weight as possible, to 3-5 +hangs, each 5-10 seconds long. Longer rests are ideal here: 5 minutes +is a very reasonable minimum. A 20mm edge is fairly standard. + +I primarily train half crimp and three finger drag. Half crimp translates +well to full crimp and avoids some of the injury potential of full crimp. +But half crimp translates poorly to three finger drag for me. + +I find it's not a bad idea to do these before a climbing session. It's +unusual for a climbing session to work my hands as much as the max hangs, +so it doesn't often interfere with my climbing, and usually leaves me +well-warmed up. I can hangboard after max climbing if the max climbing +was on slopers, since these barely work my fingers. + +I don't like training primarily on edges less than 20mm, because the hangs +become more condition dependent. It's worth training smaller edges occasionally +to ensure that the strength gained from heavier hangs on larger holds does +translate to the smaller holds, but in general I find that this doesn't have +to be done often for the strength to translate. + +# Injury potential +What follows is a rant. + +There's no evidence whatsoever that hangboarding has a higher potential +for injury than climbing itself. Hangboarding is far more controlled than climbing. + +Yes, you can hangboard with poor form and get injured: it's much easier to climb +with poor form and get injured because climbing form is far more complex and +hard to assess, and involves a lot more ballistic and harder-to-control movements. + +Yes, you can hangboard too much or too hard and get injured: it's much +easier to climb too much or too hard and get injured because you can't easily +put numbers on how hard you're climbing (no, grades don't help with this). + +There's a strong argument that beginners shouldn't hangboard, but that has +nothing to do with injury. The fact is that beginners will likely see the +fastest gains in climbing ability from climbing, and learning climbing +movement. + +However, there are a lot of cases where climbing isn't an option, and hangboarding +is an option. I have a hangboard in my home: I can hangboard at home but +I can't climb at home. Similarly, early in my climbing career, I injured my +ankle, and was unable to climb, but I was able to hangboard. In such situations, +hangboarding may make it possible to continue to progress your climbing +when it's not actually possible to climb. + +And further, the adaptations caused by static loads such as hangboarding actually +*prevent* injury. Hangboarding is literally one of the most effective ways to +rehabilitate an injured finger. + +I get hate for this opinion, and invariably that hatemail is a litany +of anecdotes which don't have any information about what form the people were +hangboarding with, how often, or at what intensity, which just goes to show +that people didn't read what is written above. Literally the entire point of +hangboarding is that you can measure it to ensure progress and avoid injurty, so +if you aren't measuring it, then yes, you should not be hangboarding. + +There's one special case of the above, which is the person who *did* measure +and then ignored the measurements, went too hard, and got injured. This should +not be seen as a refutation of the idea that the entire point of hangboarding +is that you can measure it to ensure progress *and avoid injury*. If you've +done nothing to avoid the avoidable, that doesn't change the fact that it was +avoidable. + +End of rant. diff --git a/projecting.md b/projecting.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a20f01f --- /dev/null +++ b/projecting.md @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +Credit goes to Louis Parkinson in +[this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo_7o5SOEOQ) for this advice +(paraphrased to my understanding): + +When projecting, don't treat attempts as if they are worthless, because they +aren't. They have a cost. They cost skin, energy, time, motivation, and +potentially the patience of spotters/belayers, and all of these are in limited +supply. So recognize the value of each attempt and spend them wisely: *only* +make quality attempts. Toward that end, two rules: + +1. Exactly 5 attempts. Fewer than that, and you're maybe giving up too soon, +but more than that, and you're achieving diminishing returns. +2. Don't just jump back on after a failed attempt. Don't get back on until you +can answer the questions a) What did I do which caused me to fail? And b) what +will I do this time instead? + +A few notes: +* "Attempts" is a bit ambiguous. If it's redpoint attempts on a long trad +pitch, you probably have fewer than 5 quality attempts in a session. If it's +working out beta for a short sequence and you have 6 beta ideas, it probably +makes sense to try all 6 betas rather than rigidly stopping at 5. Use your +brain, observe yourself, and be aware of the point where the return-on-investment +for an attempt begins to decrease. I think the point of the number 5 is to +bring to light that this number is significantly lower than is intuitive to +most people. -- 2.20.1