Campusing
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| The fingerboard I've always used. The original one that lived in my parent's house for many years! Pulley system which is still in use in Sheffield :) Let me know if you want to know how I use the pulley..... |
I'm wondering where to go with my training for the winter right now. I had originally said I was going to focus on campusing, with the recognition that I have puny weak shoulders (especially after watching some of the guys at the Works one night). I was of the belief that it would help me with some power problems.
But then, I met one of the guys who could comfortably static 1-4-8 just letting go on the bigger holds. I was ticking problems that he wasn't near on while in Font. So, now it's got me thinking about how useful campusing actually is? Don't get me wrong there's a basic level that is really useful, but like on a fingerboard, is none of it particularly useful unless it's on the smallest rungs? (the guy I mentioned above was doing this on the largest rungs on the campus board). Is it like fingerboarding, that hanging from the smallest rung (10-12mm) really the only place that you see gains - that all the other multitude of holds on a fingerboard are really just window dressing?
Weirdly, I've noticed that I can 1-3-5 on the smallest rungs, which is only slightly less than what I can do on the bigger ones - i.e. I can pretty much throw almost the same distance regardless of hold size. Yes, that means I can't do 1-4-7 right now......but does it really matter. At one point, I was doing 1-3-5 on two-fingers and easily up and own on monos 1-2-3-4-5......is this more useful?
as you can see there's a lot of questions to be answered above - all thoughts welcome :)
Good points... i'm considering building my own campus board at the minute and was wondering what to focus on too. I think your ability on the smaller rungs is more important than ability to power up the big rungs. 1-3-5 on the smalls is harder and more useful than 1-4-7 on the bigs but at the end of the day they're all useful tricks. I'm gonna aim to build a decent base on the boring 1-2-3-4 etc.. with an aim of 1-4-7 on the smalls by next summer. Don't know where to start with the front and back pairs in isolation so will be looking to you for some pointers in that direction... your pocket power would be very useful!!
ReplyDeleteI thought this was interesting http://upskillclimbing.blogspot.com/2010/02/why-you-shouldnt-build-campus-board.html
ReplyDeleteI have read it in other training books too so it is not just one guy with a grudge.
as I have the "performance rock climbing" book open from commenting on trish post ill quote from it here too ... because I am in no way qualified to say much. "high recruitment can be a dangerous advantage, however. On the one hand the ability to recruit more fibers can get you through single powerful moves. On the other, it gives you the potential to consume (and thus deplete) muscle energy much faster than a person with poor recruitment"
interesting, I thought
It's definitely an interesting point to consider - nice reply Simon.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely getting more out of just powerful, dynamic, bouldering than I feel I've ever gotten from a campus board.
Having said that, if you can't boulder, I definitely think there's something in being able to pull/campus between two small holds. Perhaps, all is needed if y ou decide to campus is a few rungs, and make them small?
as for the energy efficiency point (recruiting too much for individual moves), my engineering brain can see the logic in this (e.g. if you're just commuting to work, you don't need a Ferrari that is drinking petrol - you need the energy sipper) but does it work the same way in muscle groups? I always aim for max efficiency anyway so need someone strong to give me the other perspective!
Greetings frm Oz.
ReplyDeleteI've pondered the campus question too. Check out this post on ukb:
http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,16022.0.html
I have to admit, having seen big improvements on the woody, I'm still erring towards thinking campussing is a gimmick. I can't see that it does anything for fingers or lock offs that you can't do better on a fingerboard, or anything for contact strength or power that you can't do better on a woody.
If you are looking for ways to boost your training, have you tried footless problems on a 45 deg woody? I experimented with this format:
Normal problem (5-8 moves)
1 min rest
Footless problem (3-5 moves)
1 min rest
Normal problem
etc...
- Starting with easier problems, both footless and normal, and working up to problems I had to put a fair amount of effort into, but generally still manage.
Seemed to make a difference to me. Took a while to get the fitness up, but I've gradually increased the difficulty of the problems in my routine, and now I'm warming up on problems I used to find desperate.
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Re your point about only needing a few rungs with small holds. I used to use my fingerboard in this way - I'd start with one hand on the small bottom hold (rounded 1cm edge) and one hand pinching the doorframe as low as I could hold. Then pull through to hit the top hold (size of a small campus rung, would have been better if it was smaller). I did laps, with the moving hand next dropping down to the doorframe pinch then throwing up once more to the top hold. Repeat till failure (not many laps!)
This setup would have been better if the top hold was higher, ie. 1-3-5 spacing, and smaller. Starting bottom hand on a pinch was good though - it meant I had to use power rather than the campus mantel-bottom-hand technique.
nice post Robin, been meaning to reply to this for ages.
ReplyDeleteYour idea over campusing off the doorframe pinch sounds pretty gnarly - I'll have to try it out :)