Physical Fitness Assessments Specific to Rock Climbers

slim wrote: sort of, but again it is easier just to let them drop and then swing them up, instead of hover and paste...

doesn't work with any small feet, it's less controlled so it's more likely your feet will just hit the hold and pop straight back off, it's also terrible for feet that are any amount of distance away from you.

reboot wrote: If it's a jug, but otherwise, some body control is required to place the foot back on precisely. The upper body part of front lever (which is harder for a lot of people) isn't that useful in this instance. I guess something like the "dragon flag" would be more applicable as that's less upper body strength limiting.

if the hand hold isn't very good (ie somewhat positive) and your feet cut, you are probably hosed anyway. if the feet are that bad, such that you have a really high likely hood of them blowing out (like the crappy blackened dish footholds at the gym), it is probably better not to even use your feet. when i watch folks at the do the V double digit routes, their feet are off the wall probably 90% of the time.

I can do middle finger mono front levers and I assure everyone they're next to useless for climbing strength

that guy named seb wrote: doesn't work with any small feet, it's less controlled so it's more likely your feet will just hit the hold and pop straight back off, it's also terrible for feet that are any amount of distance away from you.

this isn't what i have found. i did a small bouldering clinic with jason kehl and one good trick that he taught was pushing off the wall with his foot so he can hit the hold on the way back in (instead of hanging there desperately trying to statically stab the hold with his stretched out foot). at first it seemed counterintuitive, but after trying it a few times it actually works pretty well. why wouldn't it work with small feet? i agree with small non-positive feet (ie that you just can't "grab" with your foot), but small sharp feet just take practice.

slim wrote: if the hand hold isn't very good (ie somewhat positive) and your feet cut, you are probably hosed anyway. if the feet are that bad, such that you have a really high likely hood of them blowing out (like the crappy blackened dish footholds at the gym), it is probably better not to even use your feet. when i watch folks at the do the V double digit routes, their feet are off the wall probably 90% of the time.

I'm not claiming it has wide climbing application, but it's pretty critical for certain moves, which are pretty common in competition style problems (ex: leading a move w/ feet, which require 180 degree orientation switch). But to deny it doesn't have a place at all, well, that's going a bit too far.

Peter Beal wrote:I can do middle finger mono front levers and I assure everyone they're next to useless for climbing strength

i saw a picture of the mad cow doing pinky levers, so i assumed that they were a completely essential skill for climbing 14d. you really burst my bubble. thanks a lot peter....

reboot wrote: I'm not claiming it has wide climbing application, but it's pretty critical for certain moves, which are pretty common in competition style problems (ex: leading a move w/ feet, which require 180 degree orientation switch). But to deny it doesn't have a place at all, well, that's going a bit too far.

are you talking about dragon flag or front lever?

slim wrote: are you talking about dragon flag or front lever?

The core component of either... like I said, front lever require a lot of upper body strength that are are much less applicable to climbing, which is why I've started using ankle weights for my lever workout :)

does it really (and i mean really) take full on front lever ab strength? seems like training for walking in a 6 block parade by doing a marathon via lunges with a donkey over your shoulders. (and with ankle weights :)

Peter Beal wrote:I can do middle finger mono front levers and I assure everyone they're next to useless for climbing strength

The magic happens when you can mono ring fingers... j/k :) Those 2 are separate skills and the combination really doesn't tax either ability more.

slim wrote:does it really (and i mean really) take full on front lever ab strength? seems like training for walking in a 6 block parade by doing a marathon via lunges with a donkey over your shoulders. (and with ankle weights :)

Isn't it always a case of diminishing return? It's probably more useful (& easier) for shorter climbers like Sean McColl/Alex Megos than for Adam Ondra. I've seen plenty of world cup boulder problems where Sean walks away from his similar-height competition on the account of his core strength. On the other hand, world cup problems try not to be grip strength limiting (for its top competitors at least), while 95% of problems most people can't do tend to be.

I'm not sure how this "dragon" exercise improves your climbing?

I have done ring finger mono levers as well

Pretty much the same value i.e. none

instagram.com/p/qNELVnpbbc/

Sport-specific physical assessments have to adequately address at least two broad things:

1) The motor requirements of the activity
2) The fuel substrate requirements of the activity
(Also I would add there should also be the psychological requirements of the activity which does in fact affect physical performance)

This article also beautifully states:

● knowledge of the specific parameters relevant to performance
in the specific sport or discipline,
● tests that fully cover the sport-specific parameters and
that allow for the classification of test results, and
● training methods and exercises that fulfill the standard
criteria for the specific means of training

Tests need to be objective, reliable, and validated. (I doubt this exists to any legitimate degree for climbing; not that it can't, just that it doesn't.) Areas that are frequently assessed as predictive for sport include aerobic and anaerobic endurance, flexibility, body composition, agility, balance, muscular endurance, muscular strength, power, speed, reaction time, coordination. These typically represent COMPONENTS of skill and the energy systems taxed. So thinking of measuring things that quantify strength, endurance, etc. would be measuring energy system capability. Measuring flexibility or coordination would be more along the lines of assessing components of motor skills. An example could be creating a test which measures accuracy in hitting a climbing hold (a single move on the wall that is standardized for all groups in the resulting score/rank, plus it would have to be tested to show validity in predicting some level of skill).

That said, many assessments might differ to some degree based on the type of climber you want to assess. Similar to how you don't measure running ability on a single scale (you consider the type of runner and measure what is important).

This article doesn't examine how to physically assess climbers' abilities to benchmark skill progression, but it does look at a few descriptive metrics of climbers.
tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.…

This article in general discusses how to create a needs analysis for sport training.
ncsf.org/enew/articles/arti…

I didn't answer your question; maybe I helped guide the way to finding an answer though. . .

SKA wrote:OK . . . Training is hard, takes a lot of time, and I find it difficult to show growth solely based on climbing ability. I am an older climber 45 and trying to get strong again. In my early climbing years I just climbed - a lot. Now that I am older, I need to train to stay injury free. It seems to be more motivational and measurable to show growth via strength assessments. It makes me feel that all these hours of training are paying off. I know there are a handful of climbers out there that can climb 5.13 that can’t do a single pull up, even though hard to believe. So I know it is not a way to measure ones climber ability, but there is a correlation with a climber’s general fitness and climbing level. Has anyone come across physical fitness assessments specific to rock climbers? I have not found much out there maybe for a reason? There has been a lot of studies, but they generally use proprietary equipment and extensive tests. The closest I have come across is the The Alpinist Fitness Assessment from Outside magazine, but this is more specific to alpine climbing and the Know Thyself: A climbing self-assessment from Steve Maisch Training. Some people, take extensive data and graph their results, but it seems very time consuming and I have barley enough time to train myself. Has anyone come across other general fitness tests more for climbers? This is my initial thoughts on "measurable" areas: • Pull ups (max vs weighted) • Dead Hang (Time vs Weighted) • 90 degree Lock off (Time vs Weighted) • Pinch Strength (Time vs Weighted) • Push-ups (in 1 minute) • Dips (in 1 minute) • Sit-ups (in 1 minute) • Campus reach for height, I would have to build something. • Jumping for height, I would also have to build something. What are your thoughts?

No cardio? Unless you are bouldering, cardio is not insignificant, especially if you're doing a long, sustained multi-pitch climb and you need to move fast. I see a whole lot of people huffing and puffing at rest stances. Add a two mile run in there. Also, I would extend the push-up and sit-up time to however many you can do sequentially without stopping. By limiting yourself to one minute, it's possible for the time to become the limiting factor and not the fitness. This used to be a problem in military PT tests which is why the DoN now allows for two minutes.

To get wider overview of your climbing abilities you can do tests from https://test4climbing.com but you will have to analyze the results by yourself.

Well this has come a long way, since this post. As someone who has worked with lattice in the past I would highly recommend them. Though I do feel to really get your moneys worth you need to be assessed on the lattice board but as an assessor I can't really say it with certainty, when I was talking to Austin Howell (RIP) he highly rated the remote assessment.