Training for a .12a send

There is a book called "How to climb 5.12" you could check that out. It is pretty good. I think you can climb 5.12 if you have a good lead head and just put a lot of time in the gym climbing in the winter and then get out on the rock and just lead, lead, lead. You can't be afraid to try harder stuff and fall.

slim wrote:i honestly think most core training is pretty silly. even when i climbed the occasional inversion OW i never trained core, and i have never felt like it has held my climbing back at all.

How else you going to look good with your shirt off and beanie on brah?

Dang. I never expected this much response. Thanks to everybody.

I think the general consensus is that I should be focusing on my technique and just getting more routes under my belt more than anything. I've definitely seen improvements from the awkward first couple months of trying to power through everything (believe me, it's painful just thinking of it now), but I've still got a LOT to learn. As for weight there's not much left to lose at 5'11", 145lb. I've been lighter, but that was when I was running 80 miles a week for cross country. If anything I could put on some muscle.

Also, to the couple of people who recommended Redneck Hero, that looks like one heck of a cool route. Even if I don't make it up that one I'll have to check out the area. It's sounding pretty likely that I'll be out in CO for the summer (score!). Can't wait to just get out there and climb.

No need to worry about me campusing or hang boarding in the near future, our gym doesn't have either, haha.

Oh, and I'll be sure to fit in some core training so I can send boulders beanied and shirtless.

Aleks Zebastian wrote:climbing friend, do not listen to 95% of this terrible advice in thread of internet. increse your outdoor climbing days to 3-5x per week, and do limited amounts of supplementary hangboarding if you are not getting quite worked from the climbing. Anything else like training "core" may bring you warm and happy feelings but is basically a waste of time for your sending.

Since it's the end of summer (for my sake), I figured I'd update you guys on how it went.  I climbed a ton in Colorado, probably averaging 3-5 days a week.  Of this, I ended up doing a lot more trad than I expected, which was a learning process but totally worth it.  I went from having one trad lead under my belt to being fairly confident on 5.9 leads.  I did a fair bit of sport, but not enough to effectively train for it.  That being said, towards the end of the summer I gave some harder 11's and a couple easy 12's a go on lead to see how they felt.  Boulder Canyon turned out to be my friend as the grades seemed relatively soft there.  I managed my hardest onsight, Strange Science there (5.11c), as well as a couple near onsights of other 11c's.  I tried three 5.12a's as well, two on lead.  First was Days of Future Passed, I made it up but struggled for a while locking in the beta on the crux.  I toproped another slabby 12a but struggled a lot on the whole thing.  Then I tried Empire of the Fenceless.  It only took me a few tries to get the crux, and I climbed the rest of the route clean.  I never got the chance to try it again, but I definitely feel a lot closer to climbing 5.12 than I used to (even if that was a soft 12).

In short, I didn't focus as much about upping my sport grade as I'd expected, I just went with whatever and had a blast.  I had an amazing summer, got on some amazing routes, and got a little stronger.  Someday I'll probably climb 5.12, but now I'm more concerned about just climbing for fun and letting the grades follow.

climbing friend,

it is quite good you had "fun," but remember, thej climbing it is about self-flagellation and starving and flogging yourself, sacrifice of friend, relationship, career, all other interest, hell bent on achieving next grade at all costs so you may pointlessly and continually and cyclically seek validation and identity from exterior source, and of course to be impressing yourself and the others.

If you lose the motivation to do this or evar are losing touch with what climbing is really about, just hide in the bushes nearby some boulder problem you have wired through countless ascent, wait for the peoplez to come and struggle on it, then casually come down and chuck a couple lap.

all your flash are belong to me

just follow your heart, that's what I do

may your flash be bold, your forearm refresh at crux

Another update.  Finally sent a 5.12!  I found the time to take a couple trips to Red Wing this fall, and  worked on Work Ethic (.12a).  The first trip a couple weeks ago I only had time for a quick lap on TR but I did all the moves fairly quickly and knew it was possible.  Yesterday I was back, so I gave it another shot on TR to remember the beta, and surprised myself by getting it clean.  It took me 4 lead burns after that but I finally put it together for a clean send!  Looking forward to trying a lot more 11+ to 12- projects in the future to become a little more solid at that level.  Thanks again for all your advice!

Nice work! It sounds like you are approaching your climbing and improvement with the right attitude. Keep getting out there, trying challenging things, and having fun with them, and the improvement will happen naturally. 

Kind of bittersweet to see Brian’s old posts in this thread...he really contributed a lot to the community.