Power Endurance Training
Many years ago, just as with strength training, I hated spending time at the wall repeating problems and routes for power endurance training. If you are like I was back then, you could be missing a trick!
Here the old adage of the British trad climber to ‘climb more and you will get better, no need for any of that plastic holds and training stuff!’ did kind of work. By climbing more they certainly improved their endurance and to a certain extent their power endurance as well. However 99% of them never pushed much beyond their top on-sight grade and therefore never really impacted on power endurance! Once again the process was slow and the majority stalled at their on-sight level forever. The evidence is all around us. Just watch a video of a Shaun McColl or Alex Megos training session. They didn’t get where they are just by climbing!
So what is Power Endurance? It is a term for what exists between the strength needed for bouldering and the endurance needed for route climbing. Power endurance is really an awful misrepresentation of what we are describing and training. The better terminology would be Strength Endurance. Strength Endurance definition is ‘the ability to create continued muscular tension for extended periods without a decrease in efficiency’. Which does rather sound like what we are trying to achieve!
I strongly believe that the best way to train for power (strength) endurance is through interval training. Interval training is a system where repetitions of hard effort are broken by short periods of rest. By breaking up the intense effort with short rests we condition the body to accept inadequate recovery very often encountered when route climbing. Basically we are looking to improve performance over longer periods of hard moves whilst working at a lower level of fatigue.
The obvious interval training exercises here are; 4 x 4s (4 problems repeated 4 times each with short 3 minute rests in between each set, then repeated); Double Dips (climb a route twice with the only rest being to lower off, then repeat); Recovery Intervals (climb a problem or route that has two or three good rest holds at these holds take a 30 second shake out, at the top down climb doing the same, step off and take a short rest before repeating); Feet on Campus Laddering (with feet on some holds, from the bottom rung campus up as far as you can reach and down again, repeat until you are about to fall off, take a short rest and repeat.
Any power (strength) endurance based exercise on boulders should have a medium number of reps of four or six per set and on routes of two or three per set. When you can do the five sets simply go to a smaller hold size, add weight or step up the angle!
If you remember from our article Focus On – Strength Training, the problem is that if you are not careful you end up just practicing and not improving! Try adding specific power endurance exercises towards the last third of your session, such as 4 x 4s and double dips and you will see some major results. Also, at least once per week put in a pure weights, a pure gym or a yoga session.
And don’t forget to work the antagonist muscles (the ones that work in the opposite way to the ones you mainly use). If these become imbalanced a loss of strength can occur and worse, injury. So an example is to work the biceps with weights to strengthen them against the triceps used in climbing.
Another major addition to your climbing power endurance training is yoga. Many people underestimate the power of using yoga in power endurance training as it looks rather simple and easy. It is neither, just try a full on two hour yoga session to see if you can power into the moves for the whole session! But whatever you do attend a yoga teacher that teaches you to master the poses and series, rather than just takes your money to copy them!
And if you were wondering. When I added power endurance to my strength training, weight, gym and yoga, I went from mid F6 to mid F7s routes and from V3 to V6 boulders in 6 months. I stepped back for a while to consolidate my number of routes and boulders pyramid and went again, this time pushing into F8 and V9!
Give it a go and it will work for you, but remember to be specific. If you want some further advice then contact us through the button below to arrange a coaching session.
Please be aware that the above article applies to adults and not youngsters. Also that you must stop immediately if you feel any pain and consult a medical practitioner.
