Last week we talked about the
Central Governor Model for explaining fatigue. With the Central Governor Model
the “brain acts as a central governor when exercising, limiting our ability to
push beyond perceived fatigue to ensure self-preservation.” Today I want to
share a couple techniques or training tools that allow us to push pass our
perceived point of fatigue. In order to
climb hard and become strong we need to push ourselves pass our perceived limit
and exit our comfort zones. First, we can train ourselves physically so that we
can go harder and further before we get the quit signals from our brain. Once we
get those signals we can use our will power to continue moving, even when it
becomes uncomfortable.
In the book Maximum Climbing by
Eric J. Horst he describes a few training tools to grow ourselves physically so
that we have a greater threshold for physical discomfort. I will provide a
summary of a couple of his techniques here. For more information members of the
team are welcome to borrow my copy of Maximum Climbing or refer to another book
by Horst called Training for Climbing. (There is also plenty of information to
be had on the Internet.)
Climbing Intervals:
One of the best ways to climb
intervals is using a pyramid scheme that Horst came up with himself. You start
by climbing for one minute, work on difficult terrain but do not burn out
before the minute is out. Then you will rest for one minute before your next
burn, which will last for two minutes, during this interval you can pause and
shake out on the rock, but do not spend a lot of time resting. You should be on
the wall for the full two minutes. Now take a two-minute rest, if you aren’t
feeling the burn, up the difficulty of the terrain. Once you are rested start a
three-minute climbing interval followed by a three-minute rest. You are
probably aching now, but you are not done, you need to do one last four-minute
burn before you call it quits. This training regime is nice because it is very
specific to climbing and mimics an environment where you are climbing fatigued.
This would prepare you for multi-pitch climbing or a long day of routes. If you are just looking to improve over-all aerobic
fitness and conditioning, you can also run intervals, which are discussed a
little below.
Running Intervals:
The most
basic form of running intervals is to simply alternate between intervals of
fast and slow speeds. The easiest place to set up this type of training up is
on a track. Chances are you local high school has one. Set out to run an
accumulative distance of two miles, alternating between fast and slow laps, on
a track this would be a total of eight laps. On your fast laps you should be
running at about 80 to 90 percent of your maximum speed. Jog the slow laps. If
at first you need to walk the slower laps that is fine, try and jog as much as
possible.
Another way
we can overcome our Central Governor is by pushing back. This is called Will
Power, or the control we exercise over ourselves. This is what we do when our
Central Governor start to send us quitting signals. Going, when we hurt is
difficult but it is the only way we get stronger. We have to make the decision and
then execute our resolution. Here are a couple tricks I use to keep myself going
when the going gets tough.
·
Set a timer. Chances are you can do anything for
some amount of time. Set your watch for one minute or set it for five and don’t
stop until that timer goes off. This can also be done with music, decide not to
stop until a song is over. Then take a break and repeat.
·
Pick a spot on the wall or on the mountain. Choose
a landmark and don’t stop moving until you reach it, whether it is a boulder on
the side of a trail or a hold on a climb, keep moving until you hit that point
and then rest. However, continue to be safe, if pushing to the next hold could
result in a dangerous fall don’t do it. The point is to overcome our Central
Governor not to injure ourselves.
·
This one is a little OCD of me, but count.
Decide that you will do five more moves or 50 more steps and count them. This
allows you to move forward and push through the pain. Also focusing on the
numbers helps distract your brain from you achy muscles.
Hopefully, this helps you and your training. I am happy to
answer questions that you might have on this material, I am not an expert but I
love sharing the knowledge I do have. I also love to learn from you; so if you
have time, share your thoughts in the comments below on the ways you train to
increase your strength and discomfort threshold. Also, what are you tricks for
increasing your will power or applying it? See you next week!
Climb On,
Kyli
"Willpower is essential to the accomplishment of anything worthwhile."
Brian Tracy
Image From: http://wallpaper-for-backgrounds.com/sports/rock-climbing-wallpaper-hd/
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