I’m finally somewhere with a climbing gym available to me and I want to take full advantage of that. I’ve already done a few climbs and I’ve found my biggest weakness is in my arms and my grip.
Now I’m also training for powerlifting. I don’t have any planned competitions but I’ll look seriously into that when i can squat 4 plates/side or deadlift 5plates/side. To do this i’m doing a modified 5/3/1 split. I swapped back squat for front squat and deadlift for a pl style squat (I deadlift light after the squats to practice good form). I did this because my squat is more than 100lbs behind my dead.
I figured I would try to make this happen by doing 3 of the 5/3/1 wo’s a week and climb twice a week. I figured I should cut out extra grip work for dl’ing and vertical pulling in the weight wo’s (not replace it with anything so i don’t impede recovery). I think it might be a good idea because the climbing will take care of that…?
I’ll do the climbing the day after bench day (consists of horizontal pushing/pulling and triceps) and the day right after the military presses on that day (do just the military press, no accessory). After climb session one, immediately do high rep biceps and grip work with weights. After climb session 2, do high rep shoulder and grip work.
bench day
horizontal pulling/pushing+triceps
climb day
grip work w/weights and biceps after climbing
rest
front squat day
quad dominant assisance+abs
military press day
just the 5/3/1 mil. press
climb day
shoulders+grip after climbing
rest
pl back squat day
posterior chain assistance+abs
rest or repeat cycle (posterior chain day can be taxing, sometimes I’m up to a session the next day, sometimes not)
repeat cycle if not rested well enough the day before
Is this retarded or does anyone think it could work…?
Recovery and getting in weight training frequently enough to raise strength are my main concerns.
LIfts
bench-265
squat-350
dead-455
weight-180 (training for comp in the 181’s)
height-5’10"
I used to climb and lift. It really took its tool on my recovery. I used to get alot of shoulder and wrist pain too. Eventually I just moved away from climbing, except every now and then.
FYI, your grip is fine for climbing. Your technique sucks. I say that because technique will always win over grip strength…look at all the tiny little girls that can out climb you! I say that because I’ve been down that road before.
Climbing routes can be wicked GPP. I was never so lean as I was when I was climbing a lot.
I’ve done the climbing and lifting thing too. It would really destroy my forearms, so I’d separate climbing and deadlifting or heavy rows as much as possible.
Oh and those tiny little girls? They’re pulling 47 lbs up the wall…those bitches.
Climbing is a great way to add some creativity to your training. I’m not an a very good climber by any means, and being 5’6" 200+ isn’t exactly a great build for climbing, but I love doing it.
Given that my technique sort of sucks and I tend to muscle my way out of tough spots, climbing for me is a great upper back work out. I think you are the right track to using it to help your training.
As it has already been said, climbing will take a lot out of you. Experiment and figure out just how much you can do and still recover fast enough to be ready to lift on your next training day. Find somewhere to do some real outdoor climbing if you can. Indoor walls are cool, but nothing beats real rock.
[quote]redroast wrote:
I used to climb and lift. It really took its tool on my recovery. I used to get alot of shoulder and wrist pain too. Eventually I just moved away from climbing, except every now and then.
FYI, your grip is fine for climbing. Your technique sucks. I say that because technique will always win over grip strength…look at all the tiny little girls that can out climb you! I say that because I’ve been down that road before.
Climbing routes can be wicked GPP. I was never so lean as I was when I was climbing a lot.[/quote]
Ditto, except grip is super-important, and will become much better, and help in your lifts.
I run 5/3/1 and climb every week. I’m around 6’2, 230, and on 5/3/1 I last hit 495 x 5 on deads. I run 5/3/1 as written with respect to the man lifts and most of my assistance. Except at the very beginning of climbing, grip strength has not been an issue for me.
My weekly schedule is : OHP/Saturday, DL/Sunday, BP/Tuesday, SQ/Weds, climbing on Friday. This seems to work well for me. My legs are still a little sore from squatting, but I have a full range of motion. My grip strength actually feels improved on Sunday when compared to not climbing on Fridays.
With regards to the climbing, you probably already use chalk. If you don’t, start. If you’re going to climb with any kind of frequency, get your own shoes. They’re almost always better than the gyms shoes, with a thicker/harder sole. This will allow you to rest more weight on your feet on more types of holds. If you’re just starting, work on staying closer to the wall to reduce stress to your hands / arms. Making sure your hips and legs are flexible will help you far more than you’d first think.
I bought a pair of Five Tens about a year ago, and really like them. They were the most comfortable of the shoes I tried on. If you do go the route of buying your own shoes, find an outdoor store that has knowledgeable people to help you pick out a pair. I had no clue what to expect (my first climbing shoes), and the staff really helped me pick out the right pair.
Thanks for all the tips. As far as the shoes are concerned, I’ll stick with the shoes the gym provides until i get good enough to really utilize higher quality ones. I used to teach scouts how to climb and I was pretty good at it too (teaching and climbing). But now that I’m 25lbs heavier than i was then and lack the overall conditioning I had then too I’m really looking pretty terrible on the wall lol. I know that’ll change in time though. Again, thanks for the help. (there’s also some real climber chick cuties there too
I’ll be interested to see how that schedule works out. I’ve been climbing for several years and just started lifting in November to try and help with some muscle imbalances and nagging problems. I’ve been doing what is more or less a starting strength program three days a week and a rehab/single leg workout once a week. The last few weeks I’ve been too wiped out to climb during the week, so the only climbing I’ve done is outside on weekends.
Starting out climbing, I wouldn’t worry about trying to do extra exercises at the end of a climbing session. If you climb in a gym for a few hours you’ll probably end the day barely able to untie the rope. But it’s all good fun so I hope you like it!
I used to climb every week until I crossed the 265# mark… then it was just too brutal… even the Anasazi shoes I was using ( really stiff soled shoes for edging, but worked great to help support my fat ass) gave out after that weight and I went from climbing 5.10 + runs to barely able to make it through 5.7-5.8 …
I can still climb cracks and jams really well ( around 300# and I usually just go goof off and boulder while the wife seriously climbs), but size 14 shoes and 300# body weight make it hard to do most of the really tough stuff any more…
the only thing to really take in to account is that you will need to warm up a lot more to loosen up before climbing…
