When it comes to training endurance for long sport routes, one of the most effective strategies is performing power endurance circuits with set rest times.  This kind of high end or advanced endurance training is highly effective as it mimics moving difficult sections of climbing between rest positions on a route.  Additionally, because the circuit is set and the rest time is calculated it is easy to measure improvement and increase the difficulty as your power endurance improves.

Two of the biggest proponents of this kind of power endurance training are the Anderson Brothers.  However, when Mark Anderson was training for his eventual red point of Shadowboxing 9a/5.14d he found some shortcomings in this kind of training and was forced to change up his training strategy to improve his endurance for the route.

In this article, Mark Anderson shares his advanced endurance training techniques and outlines exactly how he changed up his training to match the specific demands of Shadowboxing.  He even shares the results of all the PE workouts he did so you can see exactly how he progressed his training to ensure continued improvement.

“I knew from reviewing terabytes of video of myself on the route that I would need to be able to endure 150 to 180 seconds Time-Under-Tension (TUT), just to climb between rest stances, where I would need to be able to recover, and then sprint another 100+ seconds of consecutive pumpy moves, and so on. To climb all the difficulties without a hang would take 250+ seconds of just climbing, plus many minutes of taxing shaking at rest stances. Clearly hammering more and more 100-second laps on my trusty Green Traverse wasn’t working, and I think the lack of continuous TUT was the reason.” – Mark Anderson

Advanced Endurance Training Strategy:

The key for Mark in changing up his endurance training was ensuring that he was spending enough Time-Under-Tension (TUT).  As he describes above, he realized that he would need to be able to sustain 150 to 180 seconds TUT.  Because of this he knew that his standard circuit that lasted 100 seconds TUT wasn’t going to cut it.

To make sure he was in the 150 to 180 second TUT range, Mark added a short down climb to his standard circuit so that he could seamlessly link into a second lap.

While the exact amount of TUT need was specific to Mark’s goal of sending Shadowboxing, we can all learn from his process.  Is your training tailored to your specific goals?  If not, be honest with yourself and change it up.  There’s no reason to improve at training if it isn’t going to help you reach your goals.

Click through below to read more about Mark’s advanced endurance training, and remember while his exact workouts might not be what you are looking for we can all learn from his process of tailoring his training to his specific goals.

Full Article: Mark Anderson Advanced Endurance Training

(photo courtesy of rockclimberstrainingmanual.com

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• How To Do The Power Endurance Program Without Routes