In climbing, many of us fall when fatigue begins to set in – lactic acid in the forearms tend to cloud rationale thinking, footwork become sloppy, body position is sacrificed, and this is where most failure happens. This means it is not as important what you can climb when you are fresh, but what can you climb when you are tired.
Getting Uncomfortable – I feel a few simple things can help improve with longer climbing sessions and on-wall recovery.
1. Increase the number of consecutive moves you climb in a row. Instead of climbing a problem and dropping off, down climb an easy problem (or use any holds available), and climb up another problem. There are two main ways to structure this- you can start with making your hardest climbing first when you are the most fresh, AND/OR pick your problems so your hardest climbing is at the end. The latter is my preference as I have to climb as efficiently as possible early to have enough juice to finish.
At first, I would focus on the endurance aspect of this. Don’t worry about using an extra foothold or jug to relieve the difficulty IF your problems are harder than anticipated. I would structure doing 2-3 circuits in a row, with a set rest time between each circuit (your rest time should NOT allow full recovery)
2. Bring the Cardio. Another trick I like to use for getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is increasing heart rate during your rest. During a 4-5 minute rest, I like to spend the middle minutes doing a basic exercise that does not wear out my climbing muscles. This can be:
- Jump Rope
- Burpees
- Holding plank position
You can do this for 2-3 minutes straight, OR do this on a cycle of 40 seconds on/20 seconds off. I like to have the first and last minute of your rest as designated time to have water and either remove or put my climbing shoes back on.
Good Luck – This is a toughie.
