I know when I feel light and strong, my head's in a better place to work projects.
Maybe for me it's a feeling rather than the physical attribute of 'being light' that makes me a better boulderer. But I know that if I feel sluggish, or if I feel like I've had a lot to eat, I won't send anything.
I was told that some international climbing teams have implemented minimum BMI measurement so their teams can't starve themselves and so they keep their climbers healthy.
Various climbers have said they don't think weight effects bouldering as a discipline of climbing. They've said that weight really only effects sport climbers.
Recently I got down to 55kgs which was tough and even tougher to maintain.
So that was obviously not my ideal bouldering weight, because I was constantly hungry and couldn't focus during training.
Currently I'm happy at 57kgs. I feel strong and I feel like I'm in shape, but I have heard different climbers say that it's power:weight ratio that you have to get right.
I'd love to hear what people think or if anyone has any hard facts on the subject.
Mostly, great boulderers are, from what I can see, just naturally gifted freaks - and I wonder how much some have to think about weight, due to their fingers being so strong and their feet being so sure.
Weight is something I think of a lot, but I don't know a lot of facts about weight versus bouldering.
How does one effect the other?
Am I the only one who thinks about it?
I completely understand being concerned about weight. If you feel moves are too difficult getting lighter seems like an easy and quick alternative to putting the time into getting stronger especially when you consider that in climbing the most important strenght gains happen in the hands and fingers but the tendon tissue there is also one of the slowest tissues in the body to react adaptively to a regular training load. IT TAKES TIME! However just look at the top boulderers and you have your answer. Alex Puccio and Leah Crane... they don´t have an excessively low BMI but both can boulder V11 and harder. It´s power you need. I´d guess that like me your problem is going to be long levers making your power output lower than a shorter stocky powerhouse. Just acknowledge it as a weakness, train for it and accept the advantage you have with reach.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice Dave! My height and build has always meant a lack of power in every sport I've trained in. In gymnastics I had no speed to tumble and in trampolining I had no power in my legs to jump high enough...
ReplyDeleteMy reach is something I do dearly love!
I suppose bouldering is my sport now, and I love it, so I want to get it right from the word go... The power to weight ratio is something I think about a lot - I'm beginning to think that if I put as much thought into improving my technique as I do into what I eat and strength training my bouldering would rocket in quality...
Lots to think about... Lots of training to do!!
Nice post Trish :)
ReplyDeleteDave hits many of my own thoughts, but I also know that it's easy to use weight as an excuse so don't worry too much about a few kilos most of the time - you can easily lose that close to a goal send if you have to and you'll also get a couple of % top-up in strength also just by doing so!
For me, my weight goes up and down by about 3-5kg regularly and I never really notice a difference..... And yes, since you asked most/many climbers are conscious of their weight - the trick is not to get obsessed about it as if you under-eat in the wrong way, you can just can't train or re-grow muscle/tendon/etc. I definitely subscribe to the eat-tons-of-food-and-offset-it-with-tons-of-training methology! As a side note on the weight issue, many of the stronger climbers from the previous 10/20 or so years that went down the never-eating methology have ended up with various physical damage and I guess some of it is from not looking after themselves?
On a side note, one of the girls in the top-3 of the lead comp has put on a stone in weight over the summer and still was hiking it so it's not as relevant if you get the power training right as Dave said :)
As you also said in the previous post as well though, it's not always about strength - great technique can overcome a lot of supposed weaknesses. I'm not as strong as Al, but I'm more focused in my technique so can keep up with usually (usually!).
If you want to get strong, get crushing finger strength (tons of crimp and pocket problems on a wall if so - worked for me at least!) and spend lots of time on big powerful, throwy moves (topped up with lots of movement-type-skills problems also) to get the shoulders working (what I lacked for years).
Lots of climbers are concerned about weight, especially when you hear stuff about Stevie Haston living on 700 calories a day to do a 9a, or Tim Emmet's "glycogen dumping" to climb E10. But theres always the flip side. Chris Sharma is no featherweight, I think I remember hearing somewhere that he weighs about 12 stone. Fred Nicole is certainly no waif. And have you ever heard of John Dunne? Though thats a whole different kettle of fish. Anyway.... I'm no great shakes compared to Neal or Dave, but from my experience the way to get better is through improved movement skills, greater finger strength, and more power (in that order). Weight loss is an unsustainable shortcut which have can damaging effects. Personally I don't think about my weight too much other than the odd weigh in (usually around 68kg), and I don't think dieting will ever be on the cards given a certain fondness for a pint and a pizza :-P
ReplyDeleteReally interesting to read everyone's thoughts...
ReplyDeleteWasn't so psyched to maintain 55kgs but definitely excited about improving technique and working on my finger strength...
Winter training... Bring it on!!