Brick Programming

By Steve Bechtel

Going bouldering is not training. If you’re one of the lucky few, you can hit the gym a couple of nights a week and continue to get strong, avoid injury, and enjoy the sport. Most of us, though, will reach a plateau where progress is no longer possible on the “whatever” plan, and will have to set up a honest-to-God “training” plan. Sure, you can still boulder, but you’ll have to start paying attention and quit just doing the shit you’ve already mastered.

It pisses me off when someone does a couple of workouts and calls it training. “Working out” is to training as aid climbing is to free climbing – it’s not even in the same league. There are myriad ways to organize a training plan, and there are good examples in published climbing training books, and in some magazine articles.

See, the structure of traditional periodization is flawed in two major ways when it comes to most of us: 1. It’s too restrictive to fit into a normal life schedule, especially for adults. 2. Athletes on traditional plans focus specifically on one aspect of training for 4-8 weeks at a time, developing that quality drastically. At the same time, though, the other qualities, critical to overall climbing performance, decline.

Many strength coaches have therefore modified the traditional plan to avoid these pitfalls. Kraemer and Fleck are real advocates of Nonlinear Periodization, where each successive workout focuses on a different athletic quality. Westside Barbell’s powerlifters like Conjugate Programming that addresses several qualities within the framework of a specific workout. This type of plan is similar to “undulating” models, where an athlete will do an exercise at several levels of intensity and volume within the same workout. Phew.

Bottom line is that it’s not impossible to maintain/improve most of your fitness qualities all at once, it’s just really hard. I designed this “Brick Programming” model for myself, when my first child was an infant and I couldn’t count on regular training days. I organized the training into 30 min sections of time, and inserted as many “bricks” as I could into a given training session. Some workouts consist of just one brick, some are five bricks – it just depends on how much training time is available. This plan allows for a lot of leeway when it comes to getting some training in, but lacks in ability to really develop specific qualities. Instead, I see this more as a maintenance or in-season plan.

The Bricks:

• Hangboard / Mobility (HB)- I do max strength / recruitment work for this block, usually 4-8 seconds of work with about 45 seconds to a minute between hangs. Instead of updating my Facebook status between hangs, I try to stay focused on climbing by doing mobility and flexibility work. This adds up to over 15 minutes of stretching in a session. Usually I’ll get 8 sets in 3 different positions on the hangboard.
• Bouldering (BO) – These sessions are aimed at developing specific climbing power. I like to be alone for these – the group atmosphere interferes with training more often than it helps. I try for 5-7 problems in 30 minutes, all as close to my max as possible. Try using several different walls and problems – the “cave” feature in most gyms is usually the most popular/least useful training area.
• Density (DT) – A density session is built around trying to pack in as many problems of mid-difficulty as possible in a given time. During a 30 minute session, I’ll try to get 20+ problems done. This is a great anaerobic / strength-endurance workout. Consider substituting this type of session in for your 4x4s when you start climbing more sustained routes. Again, choose your problems for variety and specificity.
• Traverse to Problem (T2P) – in these blocks, I like to climb 15-20 moves into an existing problem that is very close to my limit. This is great route simulation for a guy stuck in a bouldering gym. The idea is to come into the problem pretty “hot” so you have to deal with a bit of fatigue as you start. This is one step less intense than a density block, a hybrid of endurance and recovery training.
• Recovery Intervals (RI) – These are good to do using a traverse or a couple of pretty easy, yet fatiguing, problems. The idea is to climb about 90-120 seconds, then catch a rest at a decent stance that allows for a slight de-pump. Rest for 45-60 seconds, then hit it again. I’ll either do two 12 minutes sessions separated by 5 minutes or go for one long 20-30 minute burn. Medium-sized, rounded holds are harder to cope with than edges in these sessions.

The Program:

This is a 4 week sample. We are planning on allowing for 4-6 hours of training per week, plus one climbing day at the crag. All workouts are assumed to have a 20-30 minute warm-up beforehand. This warm-up is not included in the total training time.

Week 1 – 4 hours

Session 1: (1 hour) BO / HB

Session 2: (1.5 hours) T2P / DT / RI

Session 3: (30 minutes) HB

Session 4: (1 hour) BO / DT

Session 5: Climbing @ crag

Week 2 – 5 hours

Session 1: (1.5 hour) BO / HB / DT

Session 2: (1.5 hours) T2P / RI / BO

Session 3: (30 minutes) HB

Session 4: (1.5 hour) DT / T2P / RI

Session 5: Climbing @ crag

Week 3 – 5.5 hours

Session 1: (1 hour) BO / HB

Session 2: (1.5 hours) T2P / DT / RI

Session 3: (1.5 hours) HB / BO / DT

Session 4: (1.5 hours) T2P / RI / BO

Session 5: Climbing @ crag

Week 4 – 4.5 hours

Session 1: (1 hour)  HB / DT

Session 2: (1.5 hours) T2P / RI / BO

Session 3: (30 minutes) HB

Session 4: (1.5 hours) BO / DT / T2P

Session 5: Climbing @ crag

As I said above, the beauty of this session is its flexibility. Simply switch between the bricks you most feel you need on the days you feel like doing them. When you start to feel the need for more complex and organized training, it’s time to switch programs.