Endurance Training

It would be interesting to see how much EPO would benefit climbers.

kenr wrote: How about Olympic weight-lifting? since it has strength, technique, and dynamic "power". Ken

Olympic weight-lifting is not really comparable to climbing at all - it lacks complexity and variety of motion. You want a sport were build-up in the engram library is primary and strength gains are secondary.

If anything, climbing would be more comparable to wrestling, gymnastics or maybe figure skating. Movement-oriented sports. Most of the training for these athletes is doing something skill-oriented, not just focusing on conditioning. So "climb more" is right (also, "climb smart") unless you are pulling grades at the top of your genetic potential. My personal view is that one should only start working on conditioning once his/her technique is near-perfect.

I am finding that I prefer linear cycling (working on multiple skills/aspects in a single week) with block-emphasis on stuff that I either need for my next project or generally lack. For instance, I am working on a specific trad route at the Gunks now, so I concentrate on power-endurance and "staying" power so I can place pro off bad holds. I also found that if I omit a session of hard bouldering (preferably outside) from my workout week, I start losing power/strength very quickly.

Dustin Drake wrote:It would be interesting to see how much EPO would benefit climbers.

I assume you mean increasing Red Blood Cell / hematocrit concentration in the blood -- so that the climber's blood could carry more oxygen to the muscles.

first the Warning: increased RBC concentration in a climber's blood normally also raises the risk of dangerous embolisms / blood clots. There are ways to reduce this risk, but have to ask yourself, Why you'd want to get into all that.

My non-expert guesses:

A) Seems rather likely that increased RBC helps a climber go faster with long alpine climbs and on hiking/scrambling approaches to climbs. But with modern headlamps, often the same benefit could be achieved just by waking up earlier in the morning.

B) Not much benefit climbing a single pitch with only one or two hard moves at the climber's single-move limit, with the remainder far below limit. Because hard climbing moves depend on engaging muscle fibers (FG Fast Glycolitive / Type II) that use mainly anaerobic process -- don't need oxygen. Blood flow to the muscles is still important, for carrying away waste products and bringing more fuel for future hard moves, but RBC doesn't help with that.

C) Might help on a pitch that's all somewhat below the climber's single-move limit, but very sustained. Especially if the climber's training has emphasized development of SO Slow Oxidative / Type I muscle fibers -- which can exploit the extra oxygen for further endurance. (Note that if you train that way, expect to pay a price on single hard-move limit).

D) Resting. While (some) bicycle racers and cross-country ski racers raise their RBC / hematocrit concentration in order to increase their speed ... I'll guess that the biggest benefit of increased RBC for most climbers might be to allow going slower -- take longer rests between moves, or hang on longer while searching for the next good hold or combination -- or while "shaking out" the other arm to increase blood flow.
Because isometric static use of muscles is normally aerobic, so would benefit from blood that carries more oxygen -- especially if the climber's training emphasized SO / Type I fibers (with the price noted above).

A tricky subject -- Hope my guesses will stimulate some folks with real expert knowledge / experience to correct me.

Ken