Periodization & Hangboard loss between cycles

I'm working on getting a psuedo free-standing rig. The house is on the National Register of Historic Places, and aside from restrictions on what I can do, there are practical reasons...mainly that the shell walls are plaster over board-formed concrete (i.e. no wall studs!) and interior are plaster over hollow clay tile with "nailer" boards formed into the tile cvonstruction for attaching door/window trim. If I tried to nail to the ceiling joists, the plaster would crack like crazy and fall off in chunks.

But there is a sunroom off the master with exposed ceiling beams in a sloped ceiling. It's too sloped to just attach directly with an angled cut backer-board so my plan is to build a free-standing sort of frame that attaches to those beams at the top. Should let me trim down the design a little and be more stable than a full-on free standing job.

Mike Anderson wrote:..One arm hangs are impractical and unrealistic IMO, so you should rule those out right away..

Peter Beal wrote:..I find that working one-hand strength is key to handling hard moves..

Well I've messed around with it a bit (one arm hangs) and found them to be impractical.

I also don't really see the application unless you are frequently climbing extremely steep rock with terrible feet. In "most" rock climbing, you have 2 or 3 points of contact with the rock at any one time, so it's hard for me to envision scenarios where you require the strength to hold most of your body weight with one arm.

In training finger strength there are 3 ways to increase the difficulty of the exercise: increase rep duration and/or duty cycle, increase load, or decrease the hold size.

Similarly, as you progress in route climbing, routes can be made harder in corresonding ways: increased length/reduced frequency of rests, steeper, or smaller holds. (In addition, routes might get harder because of complexity of movements, holds further apart)

Considering those, think of how most climbers progress. When they are ready to progress to the next level, what changes about the route? Do they pick a route with the same size holds but 5-10 degrees steeper? If so, they should train with the same holds but more load. In reality, I don't think this option exists for most people.

Instead, I would argue that as people progress up to harder routes, they continue to climb at the same crags, so the routes will have similar angles, but the holds will get smaller and further apart (or facing the "wrong" way) and rests may become less frequent. If that is the case, it makes sense to move to smaller and smaller holds for fingerboard training as you improve as a climber.

Thanks Mike. That makes good sense.

i think one handed hangs can probably be beneficial, particularly for building strength (and maybe moreso) confidence for hard clips.

to me there are 2 drawbacks though - it is hard to program the timing and rests well (ie you can either do one hand at a time and time it well, or alternate hands which doesn't work that well). it can make it quite a bit more time consuming.

also, it is kind of a pain in the ass to keep your body from rotating. this is pretty hard on my shoulders.

Mike Anderson wrote: When they are ready to progress to the next level, what changes about the route? Do they pick a route with the same size holds but 5-10 degrees steeper? If so, they should train with the same holds but more load. In reality, I don't think this option exists for most people. Instead, I would argue that as people progress up to harder routes, they continue to climb at the same crags, so the routes will have similar angles, but the holds will get smaller and further apart (or facing the "wrong" way) and rests may become less frequent. If that is the case, it makes sense to move to smaller and smaller holds for fingerboard training as you improve as a climber.