Athlete • Speaker • Guide 
Athlete • Speaker • Guide Date: 24th May 2010
Then I finally read something that actually makes sense, like Dave MacLeod’s training blog. I’m sure Dave and I could find something to argue about in terms of climbing performance, but it might take a while. Here’s a quote I like from the same blog about moving fast (one component of climbing well under duress):
Posted in: Blog
His book is excellent on this topic:
http://www.mountainsandwater.com/2010/02/9-out-of-10-climbers-make-same-mistakes.html
OTOH I would argue that climbing better also means climbing injury-free. Many climb-only training regimens are recipes for overuse (microtrauma), muscle imbalances, and performance plateaus from overtraining. Guys like you and Dave who are smart enough to understand all of that are the exception. I am a proponent of resistance training for supplementing, not replacing, climbing in a well considered program tailored to the individual. That last point is why I don't recommend generic programs like Crossfit. And stay away from those damned kipping pullups…climbers abuse their joints enough already!
Hi Clyde, thanks for the thoughts, got me thinking early in the morning, unusual. I'd argue that neither Dave nor myself are smart enough to totally avoid injury–we've both done ourselves plenty of harm! Ambition, meet tendons…
But, and maybe I misunderstand your point, I have to question the theory that "supplemental" resistance training will help with microtrauma (why would more training help with an overuse injury?).
Why would more supplemental resistance training help with overtraining from climbing? Plateaus? Why not just change the form of climbing training?
I've also never found any supporting information for the great "muscle imbalance" theory of climbing. It's an ingrained "fact" that is propagated and propagated, but where did it come from? Maybe it comes out of the PT world, but very, very few injuries I've seen over the years came from "muscle imbalances." Usually they come from trying to climb too hard on too small an amount of actual climbing, or a weight-trained climber pulling really hard on tendons that haven't been built up to the load.
If climbing does lead to muscle imbalances then surely the way to correct that is to do a program that doesn't look anything like climbing? Crossfit fits that bill to me… It's not perfect, but I think it hits my relative weaknesses pretty well.
I'm frustrated with kipping pullups as I tweaked my shoulder doing 'em, but other people seem to have no problems. I'm also not doing complicated lifts or motions for time anymore, that didn't work out so hot for me.
By supplemental, I'm referring to areas that tend to be underused in climbing. For example the chest–sport climbers tend to have a hunch back from being overdeveloped there but it also affects the shoulder socket. And triceps–hard to say for sure but a lot of elbow issues likely are associated with imbalances as well as overuse of the pull muscles. And hamstrings–heel hooks and drop knees are rough on the ACL and meniscus.
Breaking plateaus is tough. Climbing tends to be so upper body and pull oriented that lower body and push are still ignored even when you mix up your climbing. Sometimes working other areas, and aerobic conditioning, can help. Lots of variables of course. YMMV.
Another value of resistance training is getting back in the game faster after an injury. And staying uninjured. After shoulder surgery, I wanted to be active again and never have to repeat that pain! Pretty sure that climbing alone would not have been sufficient for strengthening my shoulders.
A lot of Crossfit blindly targets the same muscles we already use a lot climbing. Fine for firefighters, not so fine for climbers. The over-macho attitude can also be a detriment as well as a motivator. Better to be more focused and smarter with limited training time IMHO. For most people, fears of overbulking are related to poor understanding and training inappropriately.
Cheers
Hi Clyde, thanks for your thoughts, you've obviously thought a lot about this!
For a fit climber the "climbing" exercises in Crossfit aren't going to be an issue or stimulate much new climbing-oriented growth. For an unfit climber CF will stimulate the big pull muscles as well as about every other muscle, but likely won't make the user a better climber as CF does nothing for skills and very little for grip strength, which is the single most important strength for a climber to have. But if opposing musculature is important than CF will supply that for sure!
As for the climber's "hunch," I'm sort of at a loss as to what muscles in a climbers back are pulling the shoulders forward. If I were guessing (and I'm not a sports doc!) it would seem a "hunch" would come from relatively weak rhomboids combined with over-developed pecs (if the cause of it all is musculature). Todd Skinner had to do a lot of work on his rhomboids back in the day 'cause his pecs over-powered 'em…
I do think training for strong range of motion after injuries is important (your shoulder for instance), absolutely, I do it too. But nothing I've witnessed in years of climbing has led me to believe that climbing produces "unbalances" that lead to predictable injuries. If that were the case then we'd all be doing the exercises to prevent the injuries we could expect.
To me the "unbalanced" argument has no basis in reality, it's one of those arguments like, "Doing bicep curls will make you climb better." No evidence at all for it that I've seen. There is a lot of evidence for injuries and unbalances coming from TRAINING for climbing through weight room work, pullup bars, etc… But that's another topic. We're apes really, go climbing, it will work out…
Again, yes for injuries or specific situations (I do some specific shoulder exercises for mixed climbing to get my shoulders stronger for example), but I'm just not seeing the need for additional training for technical rock climbing, especially not to correct "imbalances" unless those balances are clearly diagnosable. Most people never get strong enough at climbing to worry about being imbalanced at all (physically, bunch of whackos mentally).
I also have never understood the whole "muscle imbalance" mantra that is repeated so often. It really doesn't make sense, and couple that with the fact that I've never ever heard a sensible explanation for the imbalance theory makes me think it's a buncha malarkey.
But, I do think that smart and relevant weight-lifting can help a climber. Patxi is a great example of this. Climbing is in its infancy, so I'd be hard-pressed to make any definitive generalized conclusions about specific training approaches.
"Ambition, meet tendons" made me laugh harder than I have in a while. I totally want to put it on a sticker for my water bottle. Anyway, considering that I'm resorting to the Internet to cope with climbing withdrawal (damn you, tendonitis), that laugh was very much appreciated. Thank you!
On the muscle imbalance issue.
I struggled with this one for a while until I looked closer at the anatomy. The lats attach to the anterior (front) of the humerus (upper arm bone), this combined with the regular internal rotation of the shoulder caused by typical twisting climbing moves means that the shoulder can become very imbalanced in climbers.
By pulling the shoulder forward and down (internally rotating the shoulder) the biceps tendon can become impinged, and biceps tendonitis is a regular complaint in climbers.
The regular advice to do pushups (to balance the pulling) actually makes things worse – as you just get more internal rotation of the shoulder.
A better solution is to do lots of external rotation work (with bands or cable machines) and LOTS of strengthening of the rhomboids – ring rows at different angles are great for this.
I'm more than happy to hear your thoughts on what I've written. Please note that all comments will be moderated before publishing. Thank you for joining the conversation.
