Strength-Endurance Training
Strength-endurance is the capacity to withstand fatigue while expending strength over a long period of time. The essential condition for effective strength-endurance training is that as much work as possible should be done against greater resistance than is normally encountered in the conditions specific to the sport. It consists largely of special exercise based on the moves specific to the sport in question but designed to make the basic conditions (in this case, a low to medium level of overload) more difficult.
A distinction is made between general and local endurance. The latter is more important for climbers, since one of the fundamental aims of training for rock climbing is to increase the local endurance of the finger flexor muscles (this muscle group is located wholly in the forearm), without which climbing in the upper performance range would be impossible.
The method outlined below is a tried and tested way of improving a climber's power endurance; it is illustrated by taking the example of the pull-up:
Beginners should hang from a bar using a standard grip and with the hands extended a good way beyond the shoulders. The exercise begins with a number of pull-ups (80 per cent of the highest number previously achieved). On the last pull-up, the climber holds his position at the top of the pull for about eight seconds. He then lowers his body but without fully extending his arms and holds that position for a further 8 seconds (training in will power!). He follows this with another pull-up, after which he lets himself down slowly. After a break of about two minutes, the exercise is repeated.
Advance climbers should already be beginning to pay special attention to training their finger flexors. Finger or hang boards have proved themselves as the best piece of equipment for this purpose. Having evolved from wooden bars into moulded plastic devices designed for practicing various forms of pull-up, they have now developed further into large and very versatile pieces of equipment. A hang board suitable for improving the strength of the finger flexors should provide holds of various shapes and degrees of steepness.
Athletes training for competition do strength-endurance training based on the same principle, although with additional workloads. The additional load should be high enough for about twelve repetitions to be sufficient for fatigue to set in, while holding a position for about six to eight seconds should cause complete exhaustion. Despite this, the let-down should be as slow as possible.
