Mammut Bus
Vertical-Life
Climb to Paris
POWERED BY Mammut Logo
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
meters to Paris
VERTICAL-LIFE STATS
0
Members
0
Total ascents
0
Ascents last 30 Days
0
Ascents last 24 hours
Dr 8a

How hard can I train?

Hi, I have only been climbing for only 5-6 weeks now and loving it very much so I tend to go quite hard and climb almost every day. right now I'm doing V4-V5 bouldering and in routes I'm up to 6b-6c. recently I have started to feel some sensitivity in the proximal and medial phalanges of the 3 middle fingers on my left (weaker) hand. I haven't lost any strength or have problems closing my fist (though it does feel a little cumbersome) and the pain does seem to disappear while i'm actually warmed up and climbing. but there's definitely a little pain and swelling after climbing and the next day if i squeeze my phalanges gently. seems like my left hand pulleys are getting inflamed... I really do not want to end up with a worse injury that would take me out of business for a long time as I love climbing so much but on the other hand i dont want to stop climbing and improving as I have set myself a target of getting to V8, 7b-7c in 6-8 months. Question is what is your advice? how hard can I safely train? should i take a break until the inflammation disappears or can i continue climbing as long as I tape my phalanges and avoid crimping too much? how many times a week would it be sensible to train? p.s. im 35 years old 183cm hight and weigh 70kg if that helps. Thanks for your help!
Congratulations on having found climbing :-) Great to hear about you enthusiasm. I'm sure the good doctor will give you an adequate answer to you question. In the meantime, here's my opinion: First, bouldering/sport climbing is an activity that puts a lot of stress on your tendons. And from what I have read, tendons take a lot longer to respond to hard training than your muscles do. So, in theory, your muscles will react fast and get stronger if you train hard - however, your tendons react a lot slower, their strenght do not increase with the same speed as your muscles. Therefore you run the risk of injury because your muscles are capable of putting more stress on your tendons than they can handle. I think this is what is happening to you right now. Now, what to do? I'm not a medical doctor, but I think you need to slow down and give your tendons a chance to recover. If I were you, I'd take 3 - 4 weeks off training completely and then start again in a controlled manner. When you start again, I would recommend a good warm up, climbing lots of really easy stuff for, say, 25 - 30 minutes. This should be on big, positive holds (i.e. jugs). Then, after warm up, do some harder climbs, but remember to listen to your body. Try to avoid crimps, as they put a lot of stress on your fingers. Generally, if it hurts, stop! Take your time and put some effort into training technique (foot placement, balance, flagging etc) - it will pay much faster than focusing on physical training. Finally, I'm impressed that you can climb 6b - 6c after a few weeks. I know climbers who have climbed for years and really train seriously, who are climbing 6c's. To go from 6c to 7b/7c in 6 - 8 months I consider impossible, and frankly I don't understand the rush? I'll be 38 next month, have just ticked my first 7a on rock last year and 7b in the gym - don't let age be the cause for panic - there is still time :-) All the best - and remember that the real answer should come from Dr. 8a
Yes, it is good you've found climbing, but you've also found that with climbing comes injuries.  Out of curiosity, what is is your athletic background? Are you climbing in the gym? I think the most important question is, when you climb v4-5, are you doing it smoothly? If you are climbing this hard  (which is oustanding for a newbie) are you  thugging your way through the problems, or  do you find your climbing to be delicate, light and planned out?  If not (this might not be what you want to hear) I suggest climbing as many v0-2/3 problems as you can, as smoothly as you can. Your technique will increase, and in a few months you may be climbing 4/5 as you did before, but now without the added stress. I tried this a few years back and now incorperate this for periods. It sounds to me like your mind says you can climb v5, but your body doesn't like it. Keep up the good.
oh and for god's sake, stop climbing every day, go 1 on 1 off, or 2 on one off, or 2 on 2 off, run a little in your off days, stretch, or do nothing at all, sit around feeling bored thinking about climbing, get your psyche up for the next day.
Thanks for your advice and encouragement guys :) I have actually been taking it easy this week as I really don't want to pop a finger pulley or get a tendon problem... and now, not having climbed since Monday my fingers have almost gone back to normal and the tenderness and pain is almost gone. I might go for some easy bouldering tomorrow but i'll definitely tape them and warm-up properly first and avoid crimpers. Also thanks for your kind words re getting to those grades fairly quickly but I don't think much of it actually... despite not having done any proper bouldering or routes climbing before 6 weeks ago, as a kid I used to be up trees and walls all the time and I guess that added with my body structure (slim and long) and enthusiasm I actually find it rather casual... Just been working hard in the past few weeks and its paid off... Regarding your question Taylor, yes i climb indoors (I live in London these days so we have some very cool venues here) I think that I climb my V4 problems fairly gracefully, I cant really brute-force problems anyway as I'm not a particularly athletic or strong dude (I have more of a skinny flexy build. and as for the V5's i have done I work them bit by bit before sending them in one go and there are plenty still which i have been unable to do... where I'm still a bit lame is overhangs where i just dont yet have the strength so not even done V4 or higher there yet. but In slabs and vertical I can go quite hard and even found my crimps on tiny holds can be very solid (although at risk to my tendons/pulleys apparently, so I'm taking it easy). The problem with your suggestion of just sticking to V0-V3 is that they are so easy and boring that it just gets a bit demotivating... i do tend to jump straight at the toughest problem I can find normally (obviously once I kinda warmed up ;-) and I find that working those really ups my climbing rapidly... How about taking a break from hard crimpy vertical V4-5 and going down to V2 but more overhangs with open hand grips to get that monkey strength and movement technique? maybe that should be the focus for the coming weeks...?
i've seen a lot of injuries in a gym (since i work in on) and whwat they say is true. watch the tendons! ppl seem to think that strength is all that matters, and i try to warn them. i once saw a guy go from v2 to v7 in one year, and i recomended that he be gentle on his hand so that they don't "POP" He is now recovering from a torn tendon in his ring finger, and will be out for months. It was not a strength issue, it was a lack of "tendon" strength issue that caught up with him. i agree that it would be good to spend more time on the easier overhanging problems for now, and give the crimping a bit of a rest. this way, u wull develope in ways that you said are lacking, and gain strength for the future. one last thing that may help: if you have finger pain after climbing, go home and alternate hot and cold on your hands. fill 2 buckets, one with ice water qand one with mildly hot water. try 2 minutes in cold/1min in hot. repete until the hot and cold buckets start feeling close to the same temp. i know it's time consuming, but it gets the blood flowing, and circulation increases healing.  
...eso si, se te van a hacer los codos o los dedos harina...
Hi Rashomon You have allready got some really good advice from the other guys answering your inquiery. The main points are 1. Tendons take quite a lot longer to grow stronger than muscles - this is why the steroid pumped guys manages to rip all kinds of tendons. 2 Inflammation = pain, swelling, redening and heat increase of an injured area are all cardinal symtoms and along with impaired function the body loudly tell you to cut back 3 Improvent in sport are all based on three foundations ; training , resting and eating I see too many people just remembering the training part with lots of injuries and poor progress (after a while) as a result So to put it all together you need to cut back, train more in progressive steps and listen to your body when it tells you it needs more rest. For the rehabilitate your tendons; foam ball squeezing and warming of the finger will get you started, antiinflammatory drugs do speed up the healing process but they also mask the pain signal so you are tempted to go too hard too soon Loook in the DR8a forum for more explicit advice on the rehab process Carpe diem Björn