By Steve Bechtel
There are really only a couple of things that are totally essential to progress in sport. They are effort and consistency. Sure, you need some basic skills, and feedback, and whatnot, but these things come more naturally if we are continuing to show up for training.
When it comes to method, there are many flavors of training that will get you the results you’re looking for. Do you like spending most of your time on the Kilter? Great. Big fan of hangboarding? Great. Live in a van and climb most days? OK.
But how do we continue to show up, to be consistent within our own constraints? We have to do the training, whether we feel great or not that day. We need to do the training over a long period of time, whether we are still motivated or not, and we have to remember that the better we get the harder it is to see noticeable improvements.
A lot of what I do as a coach is to try to find ways to get a climber to keep pursuing a specific adaptation rather than just doing the same stuff they like to do all the time. I’ll be the first to admit that my biggest strength as a climber is overhanging jug hauling where footwork is almost non-existent and fighting the pump is the hardest part of my day…which is pretty easy if you do it regularly. So when it comes to defaults in training, my first inclination is to build even more forearm endurance, and not worry too much about all that other stuff.
Not sure where to begin?
We have training plans available for any level athlete!
And this is why I started building what became the “3-Deep” table. It’s really just an if-then rubric I put in place for days when I can’t quite muster that go-hard motivation, or if I am legitimately tired. The crazy thing is that despite years of training and coaching, I rarely get to optimum motivation at all and end up doing spur-of-the-moment changes to my workouts, which always leave me feeling frustrated with myself.
The process for using this table is:
- Show up for planned training, no matter what.
- Assess readiness to train by working through a general warm-up and then specific movement preparation, followed by lighter-than-working-loads in your planned exercises.
- Adjust the volume and intensity based on how you feel at the end of the warm-up, using the table.
Yes, I know, you already make adjustments. I’m simply advocating that you own and plan for the modifications. The important thing in this model is that you have a clear structure for training if your ideal session can’t happen. This is then tracked over the course of the training month, and you make adjustments based on your performance. Way too often, we see athletes over-program training, do less in the gym than they mapped out in the program, and then deal with the consequences, both physical and emotional.
If we constantly “fall short” in our training, we get the feedback that we failed, that we’re weak, that we don’t deserve high performance…or worse. What I find to be the best outcome of a 3-Deep table is that you get an objective view of what kind of training you are actually doing, and it helps us make real adjustments.
If I end up adjusting several sessions downward each training cycle, it’s clear that my body is not up to the tasks that my brain creates. With this information, I can go back to planning and set up a more realistic program.
Another consequence of bad programming is “junk training.” This is where many of us end up when we simply try to hold to a given schedule, and downgrade our training on the fly as we fatigue in a session. For example, we might have planned a 2-hour session, but come into the gym sore and lacking power. Instead of reducing the load or the duration of the session, we simply start bouldering, and as we fail to execute at our limit, we drop the grade, flail on easy problems, and maybe even finish the session with circuits to failure (at a level far below where we might normally perform well).
What we want are successful sessions. If I am sore and powerless, I can still create an effective session by making a conscious decision to reduce its intensity. This is where the 3-Deep idea comes into play.
For every single session, you should have a specific if-then framework in mind in the event that you arrive at the session either prepared and recovered or if you arrive there tired.
| INCREASED INTENSITY: DO PROBLEMS OR SETS AT HIGHER GRADES / LOADS THAN PLANNED. | INCREASED DURATION AND INTENSITY: LONGER WORKOUT, LONGER DURATION. | |
| REDUCED DURATION: PULL BACK ON # OF SETS / PROBLEMS BY 1/3 | PLANNED TRAINING SESSION (DURATION AND INTENSITY NORMAL) | INCREASED DURATION: INCREASE SETS/ PROBLEMS BY 1/3 |
| REDUCED DURATION AND INTENSITY: DROP TIME BY ⅓ AND INTENSITY BY 10-20% | DECREASED INTENSITY: DROP DIFFICULTY OF PROBLEMS, OR LOAD OF WEIGHTS BY ~10-20% |
There are two factors to pay attention to when assessing how ready you are for training. These will both start to show up in the warm-up, and once you see either, you’ll want to make a planned adjustment.
The first is fatigue. I’m not talking about the tiredness you feel from not getting enough sleep, but rather that “stuck in molasses” feeling of sluggishness you get when you’re still recovering from the last session. If you are fatigued, you should reduce the duration of the session, moving to the left on the chart above. This is normally a ⅓ reduction, and I prefer to take this off all sets/problems planned rather than just cutting a section of the session altogether.
The second is that feeling of “powered down,” or not feeling “snappy.” In these cases, you might be able to complete an entire session, but you will do better with a reduced intensity. For the most part, powered down feelings tell us that we are down on power. Jokes aside, I find that the workouts can still be completed, but with a reduction in load or intensity of 10-20%.
Understandably, these are not ideal for developing power. If we did a full-intensity workout in this state, we’d simply increase injury chances and increase the needed recovery time. What we will get instead is an increase in capacity, and a reinforcement of the training habit.
In short, we look at our chart, move down if we’re low on power, and move left if we are fatigued.
And If I’m Feeling Amazing?
If I am feeling amazing, I can increase either the duration or intensity to match my energy. When “all systems are go” and I feel the best I have in forever (usually one in 10 workouts). I’ll generally try for personal bests in the weightroom or on the board. I’ll also consider going a bit longer if my sessions call for a more endurance-oriented approach. For example, if I am doing Extensive Endurance circuits, a really fresh day will lead me to increase volume by about ⅓. If I am training strength, I might try for heavier loads than before, or even add an additional set of key exercises.
Looking at the chart above, you would move up to the next workout above, or right to the next workout.
In Practice
I want to show you a real-world example. This same process should be present for each of your planned sessions for the coming training phase.
On Wednesdays, you go to the gym and boulder for 90 minutes after your warm-up. You generally get around 25 problems done, and most are in the V4 to V6 range.
If the Warm-Up period shows you’re not ready for hard bouldering:
The FATIGUE reduction plan would be to back off to around 60 minutes of climbing and to maintain the same grades. This is probably 15-18 problems after warm-up.
The LOW POWER reduction is to maintain the duration, but to back the grades off to be V4/V5 max.
The FULL reduction would be to do a short (30-60 minute) session at no harder than V4.
If you are feeling awesome after the warm-up:
The HIGH POWER increase would see you do the normal duration session, but stick to mostly V6 problems, and maybe test out V7 or 8.
The HIGH CAPACITY increase would see you go for more like two to two-and-a-half hours in the gym, rather than your normal 90 minutes.
The COMBINED HARD session would be a mix of both. This would be a rare session.
In Conclusion
Optimizing overload is not easy. Your current fitness, outside stresses, schedule, nutrition, and recovery all play big roles in how well you can train, and how well you can adapt to that training. By having a clear understanding of what you can do today, in this session, you get a much better picture of realistic training.
If you can slide the scale and have a well thought out plan for those changes, you can rest assured your progress will continue, and you won’t beat yourself up so bad when you have to make changes to the sessions.
ABOUT STEVE BECHTEL
Steve is the founder of Climb Strong, and is proud to be the worst coach on the Climb Strong team. A climber for nearly 40 years, he has traveled the globe bouldering, sport climbing, and doing first ascents of some of the world's biggest walls.
He lives in Lander, Wyoming, with his wife Ellen, and children Sam and Anabel.
Tags: Motivation, Planning, Steve Bechtel, Training