Last week I published a podcast interview with Mike Doyle, who recently sent his long-term project, Necessary Evil (5.14c) in the Virgin River Gorge, despite having a very full load at work and a pretty healthy social life.
People were impressed by a couple things about Mike Doyle:
1. That he can rock climb so hard AND be a “normal” guy who has other things to do in his life besides climb, and
2. That in our interview he told me he does deadhangs on his fingerboard with 178 pounds attached to his body. What?
His Strength Training Program
Anyway, in case you’re wondering about the fine details of his training, his entire strength training program, including his fingerboard sessions, are detailed in this Rock & Ice Magazine article from a while back.
In his own words from the article, here’s what you’ll find out…
Many people train to get stronger through power exercises such as campusing, system boards and bouldering. These exercises are great for teaching us how best and most effectively to use the existing strength that we have however, they do not create lasting changes in the makeup of our muscles. Power exercises improve the efficiency of the muscles and initially yield an improved climbing performance. Eventually, however, they lead to a plateau in performance when improving efficiency is not enough. Then, more strength is needed in order to improve as a climber.
This article targets climbers who have been climbing for a few years and who boulder regularly. These climbers will benefit most by incorporating strength-specific exercises into their training routines for six to eight weeks, one or two times a year. After completing this period of pure strength, spend a few weeks doing power and power-endurance exercises in order to reach your peak.
I love that he wrote out his whole program – it’s awesome and incredibly detailed – and I have a great deal of respect for Doyle. But I have to say that this is the kind of article that made me want to start TrainingBeta and partner with other people to create training programs that even an idiot like me could follow 😉 His article is FULL of information, but I need someone to tell me exactly what to do on a day-to-day basis. Otherwise I get confused and overwhelmed.
If you’re looking for something like that, check out our Bouldering Strength and Power program or our Power Endurance Program for strength and power endurance exercises laid out for you every day.
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