All Day Training Regimen?

I'm in between jobs and have essentially every hour of the week to train. Have a gym membership and don't know many partners available to get out on weekdays, so I've mostly been bouldering, lifting, cardio and doing yoga. Anyone have any suggestions how best to spend these days? Profile is pretty accurate of my climbing abilities/pushing grade.

Current schedule-
Yoga 9-10
Boulder 10-12
Yoga 12-1
Boulder 1-3
Lift/cardio 3-5 or 6ish

You should have lunch.

I'm 6 months into my rest and recovery schedule

An assertion I've seen a lot of places is that climbing with poor technique (say, when you're tired at the end of a long session or if you've already burned a lot of matches on a hard workout earlier in the day) results in sloppy form, and that sloppy form can be self - reinforcing. I'd think hard about how you organize multiple sessions in a day to make sure you aren't spending a bunch of time trying to climb hard while fatigued (eg do the climbing first most of the time).

If you really have a lot of time, then consider trying to program a midday nap into your schedule if you want to be doing two or more workouts a day. This can do wonders for your recovery and performance during the second workout.

Finally, unless you've been doing a large amount of volume already, it's unrealistic to think you could go from say X hours of working out a week to 2X - 3X just at the drop of a hat. Trying to do that is a recipe for injury, getting burned out, etc. Regardless of sport, most experienced coaches would counsel you that real gains come from consistent and steady increases over long periods of time (with spells of rest in there of course).

If you haven't self - educated about training (two common books with different approaches are Rock Climbers Training Manual and Training for the new Alpinism), I'd start there.

If you're the type that doesn't wanna read up about it and doesn't have a training structure background from doing other sports, then just do you what you want and have fun but be careful.

Greg and Jared, thanks for the feedback.

Greg, given my current schedule, when and how long would you work in the rest and recovery periods? Can yoga be considered part of that? I know many people that do yoga for the recovery, but to be completely honest, I can't say I've ever really done an all-out training regime that detailed out things like rest and recovery periods, so the concept is fairly foreign to me.

Jared, I have been climbing/training fairly regularly and am really trying to ease into the whole full-time training thing. I try and get a lot of wall time on easier problems to improve endurance, and attempt to down climb most of those routes too. I'd say I only boulder at my limit for maybe an hour or so, so flailing around with poor form doesn't seem to be an issue just yet. I recently purchased The Rock Climber's Training Manual, and have read through the first couple chapters. I'll wait till I've completed it but it seems like it's geared towards those with limited time to climb/train by suggesting the most efficient and effective workouts, which gives me a lot of great ideas, but not too much in the way of a full-time training regimen. I'll investigate in the other book though.

Worth it just for the workouts

patagonia.com/us/product/tr…

quality not quantity

all day training 'probably' isn't great - world class athlete on gear don't do that.

Check out this book amazon.com/Out-Climbers-Mak…

it has a different approach on how to train, rather than doing anything and everything in hopes something sticks it shows patterns climbers fall into that you can avoid for better results.

really cool info in there for sure

or check out this book, the be-all end-all guide to training.

rockclimberstrainingmanual.…

If you wanted to make a pro climber in a lab this is the guide you would use

Hunter McPherson wrote:I'm in between jobs and have essentially every hour of the week

Why aren't you spending this time climbing outside? You live in the Front Range and it is early summer. There is a ton of climbing in-season, and a ton of climbing partners available. Don't know weekday partners? Find some. There are lots of schoolteachers hanging around, I'm sure, who would be available to climb midweek. Or get a minitrax and go TR soloing. Or boulder outside. There are too many opprotunities to count. A summer devoted to climbing outside as much as possible will do way more for your climbing than spending 8 hours a day giving yourself elbow tendonitis in the gym.

Even better, get in the car and go on a roadtrip. Is anything keeping you in Denver? Why not pack up for a few weeks and go somewhere with great climbing? Tensleep, Rifle, Squamish... You can find climbing partners at all those places.

GDavis wrote:or check out this book, the be-all end-all guide to training. rockclimberstrainingmanual.… If you wanted to make a pro climber in a lab this is the guide you would use

The problem there is that the RCTM approach is designed to be ultra-efficient with time. Their focus is short-duration, high-intensity training for the busy 9-5'er with a family. Lots of rest (48-72 hours) in between workouts is an essential component. Trying to add more volume to thier program, thereby removing crucial rest, will sink the ship.

Top pro's training for the World Cup (like Sean McColl) only train ~20 hours per week, or less. You likely cannot handle as much training as he can, so you should go less. Training all day, every day is simple not a good idea. Rest is key.

Training is great when you need to be efficient with limited time. Outdoor climbing is a better choice when you have unlimted time.

Bill Kirby wrote:Worth it just for the workouts patagonia.com/us/product/tr…

I agree this book has some excellent core and strength workouts. Great resource

GDavis wrote:quality not quantity

+1

Hunter McPherson wrote: ...given my current schedule, when and how long would you work in the rest and recovery periods? Can yoga be considered part of that?

Depends on the style of yoga. If you're trying hard and sweating, you're probably not recovering. If you're lying around and stretching, getting the blood flowing but not working, then yes. It's sometimes a fuzzy gray area, but I'd aim for 30% of maximum effort to be considered "recovery" (source?).

JCM wrote: Why aren't you spending this time climbing outside?

This. Believe me, I'm 100% sold on training. But if my time was unlimited, I'd be structuring in a lot more outdoors climbing into my schedule. I.e. working pumpy redpoints for PE, outdoors limit bouldering on actual boulder problems, etc. Unless you're Ondra, no sense in training like Ondra. Go have some fun!

Hey guys remember, it costs money to travel. A road trip might not be in the cards for the unemployed.

Bill Kirby wrote:Hey guys remember, it costs money to travel. A road trip might not be in the cards for the unemployed.

It also costs money to stay in Denver. I find that I consistently spend less money (by a huge margin) when on the road as compared to living in the city.

Best case scenario: Sublet your apartment for the summer (easy to do in a hot rental market like Denver), freeze your gym membership, drive to a not-too-distant climbing destination (to save gas), find a spot to camp for free, and minimize extraneous expenses. Congratulations, you vastly reduced your monthly spending by going climbing.

Even if you don't take this all-out option, I find that going away for a few days or a week on a climbing trip can still be less expensive than staying in town, since it gets you away from the incidental expenses that inevitably arise in the city. Again, limiting driving and finding free camping is key.

Or just do day trips to local areas. The only expense is gas, but this can be minimized by carpooling and going to nearby areas like Clear Creek, and also much of the gas cost could be offset by freezing the gym membership. And quit drinking beer- saves money and helps your climbing.

I love climbing outside. Indoors not so much. In an unfortunate stroke of bad luck, my car died around the same time my job ended, and without going into detail, will most likely be out another month or two. Logistically, the gym just makes more sense.

Contrary to others, I say quantity, quantity, quantity.

If your profile is true (as you say it is), then I say climb a bunch of 5.6 trad climbs, swinging leads. Then a ton of 5.7 trad climbs. Then a bunch of 5.8 trad climbs. Etc. Etc. Mileage is all-important. At those grades, you can climb all day long. Several days in a row.

Seems like you are plenty strong (can climb 11d!) but not super solid on trad (can only lead 5.6). You'll become super smooth, confident, and your strength will invariably increase if you bump up your mileage.

your profile:
Trad: Leads 5.6 Follows 5.10a
Sport: Leads 5.11a Follows 5.11d
Boulders: V4

Have no rack. Presumed leading trad route difficulty based on following/cleaning, but I've never actually led a trad climb that didn't have pro in it already. Profile is accurate, except I'd probably follow a 10.d and I just sent my first V5 yesterday!

JohnnyG wrote:Contrary to others, I say quantity, quantity, quantity.

Well, I guess we're mixing apples and oranges now. For outdoor mileage, where the goal is to improve skills (gear placement, footwork, crack technique, breathing), then yes, quantity is great. So long as you're not practicing bad technique.

However, for physical training (the original intent of this post I think), with the goal being to drive physiological changes to your body, I still advocate for quality over quantity.

Hunter, if getting out is limited by not having a car, I'd first decide what you're trying to improve. If skill is most important, than yes, take JohnnyG's advice and get out as much as you can manage by begging for rides, etc. If you want to take this opportunity to get stronger and more powerful, then I'd look at no more than 3-4 gym sessions per week at most, going high intensity for a couple of hours. There is way too much written on this by people with way more knowledge and experience than me, so I'd refer to their books, which you have!

You're living in Denver, so Movement?

If it were me, and I was near there and unemployed I would climb the steep wall 3 days a week. You'll need a partner.

The steep wall has bigger holds so it taxes your big muscles more and you'll have less chance of tweaking something.

I'd ride a bike some of the other days.

Yoga whenever, it's no big deal.

You'll get strong and have enough endurance to learn some technique once you finally get to climb outdoors again.

If you hurt, skip your climbing workout.

With unlimited time it's also pretty feasible to fix almost whatever is wrong with your car. Wear gloves, protect those knuckles.

Since I mostly sport climb, I would say my main goal is feeling extremely solid on 10s and having more confidence getting on 11s

"Since I mostly sport climb, I would say my main goal is feeling extremely solid on 10s and having more confidence getting on 11s"

better update your profile bro