Poor session endurance

I’ve noticed that I seem to have pretty poor endurance throughout a session. For example, on my first burn on a hard route, I might fall because I don’t know the beta, but I can pull some hard moves after working out the sequence. But by my third or fourth go, I find it hard to repeat the hardest moves, even if I hang right before them. I’m not getting pumped, I’m just… tired. I don’t even feel that exhausted, but I just can’t do the moves that are close to my limit anymore. It’s frustrating because it means that by the time I’ve figured out the moves on a hard-ish route, I don’t have the energy to actually send it and I have to come back another day.

What do I train to address this? Is this a power endurance problem? A strength problem? Am I just out of shape??

The secret to long session endurance is unfortunately doing long sessions with lots of burns. Also make sure you are consuming calories, since you are doing an endurance style session. You can probably fake it a little by pumping up the density of your shorter sessions.

This sounds pretty normal, to be honest, and is just the nature of trying hard sport climbing. 4 try-hard goes in a day on a limit sport climb is a lot.

You could likely improve your sessions with better tactics. Learn how to use less energy on your initial beta-burns. If your are intending this as a redpoint project, don't go to the death on your first go - bolt to bolt it trying at 70%. The goal is to learn the beta while saving some energy for a send go later in the day.

Also, probably eat more food during the climbing day.

Maybe the projecting psyche just isn't there, I used to burn out quick with partners that only wanted to project for the day. Sometimes it was fun but usually it was kinda a drag.

I'm wondering how much rest you are allowing yourself between burns. I know I have a tendency to push the pace a little too fast, especially when bouldering. Just because you have caught your breath doesn't mean your forearms have recovered, that takes a lot longer.

Also, how much recovery time between climbing sessions? You can't expect to go all-out every session either. Maybe once a week, if you're climbing all the time - say 1 in 3, or 1 in 4 sessions. The other sessions I would take more of a training approach. Fast-twitch muscle fibers take a long time to recover/repair, both within a session and in between sessions

A good warm-up is also important, hopefully you're not jumping on your project right off the bat. We used to talk about getting a "flash-pump". No doubt the result of an inadequate warm-up.

Once you begin projecting routes you have to adopt a different approach. It's not the same as going out and sending routes all day long.

What you are talking about is often referred to as "work capacity" and it is primarily a function of the aerobic energy system. You should train it by doing endurance training blocks but also focusing on long and/or many sessions aiming to increase your total volume over time. Even if you feel like the intensity of the training is not matching the hard moves of your project, remember that all recovery is aerobic. This broad aerobic base is how the pros train 5-6hrs 6 days a week, and a lot of them built it when they were children.

In the short term, to make most of what you have, sleep, food, and tactics are the answer as others have touched on.

Thanks for the tips everybody. I think projecting tactics in particular is definitely something I need to work on, but all the advice is helpful.

Israel R wrote:

You should train it by doing endurance training blocks but also focusing on long and/or many sessions aiming to increase your total volume over time. Even if you feel like the intensity of the training is not matching the hard moves of your project, remember that all recovery is aerobic.

What do you mean by "endurance training block"? Are you referring to lots of ARC training or something similar? And for long sessions to build endurance, what kind of difficulty level should I be aiming for? Max onsight level or well below that?

Jacob Brunette wrote:

What do you mean by "endurance training block"? Are you referring to lots of ARC training or something similar? And for long sessions to build endurance, what kind of difficulty level should I be aiming for? Max onsight level or well below that?

I left this kinda vague on purpose because it is really hard to be prescriptive without knowing more about your training history etc. Endurance is also a lot of things and if you've never trained it, it can be a lot to wrap your head around. I like Steve Bechtel's writings on the matter, and climb strong has a good number resources, as does lattice and others.

If you don't want to think too hard or do an actual periodized training plan, just adding ARC sessions on top of what you are already doing for climbing/training will help build up base endurance and work capacity without greatly increasing your risk of injury. As you add more volume, be hyper-aware about how your body and fingers are feeling; if you increase volume too fast or the intensity of the added volume is too high you increase injury risk.

If you want more specifics, we'll need to know more about you; what level you're at, experience with training, what you're already doing, etc.

I was inspired to ask this after having the same experience on several low-5.11 trad climbs. This is a difficulty where I can generally send with around 3-5 quality attempts, but I can't get those quality attempts in one session. Ideally, I'd like to be able to send these routes in a single session. Harder grades are definitely projects that require multiple sessions; this is a weird in-between difficulty, where it's not easy enough to onsight, but not hard enough that it feels worthwhile to come back to the crag for it (but maybe that's my ego talking and this actually is a grade I should be willing to come back for). 

In terms of training, I've done a lot of scattered training over the past few years, and one consistent periodized training block (roughly following a plan from the Rock Climber's Training Manual) about a year ago. Then I quit my job and climbed for a year with almost no consistent training plan. I feel like I saw good progress after the training block but I also saw good progress from climbing a lot. Now I'm working again and trying to get back into more of a consistent training rhythm, but struggling a little bit in figuring out how to structure it. I have access to a very small gym with a Kilter board and a hangboard but not much else, and a lot of outdoor rock. Recently I've mostly been climbing outdoors a lot, with a few scattered board sessions, which has been fun but hasn't really felt like a coherent training plan.

That Bechtel article was helpful, thanks for sharing. I think given my current situation and level, probably the best way to get some more of the endurance training is to tack on more easy cooldowns to the end of my cragging sessions, and keep going with the indoor board sessions to build more strength.

I think your last paragraph is a good start. TRS is also a great way to get endurance volume outside from a logistics perspective. Don't forget to focus on climbing well while doing volume. It's a great time to think a lot about pacing, flow, efficiency, and technique. 

The board sessions are also a good time to cultivate the try hard mentality.