Peter_Puget

There are several private gyms in the Seattle area. As far as I know none are open "communities." Rather they are owned by small groups of friends who would most likely want to keep the "community" far away. At least one has been around continuously since the early 90's.

It certainly sounds like this was beyond terrible customer service but maybe the new owner has learned something from the whole fiasco. I imagine learning to run a shop, hiring staff and all that come with it would be a bit difficult. I’m not defending the shop’s reported behavior but I am hoping that it’s merely a bump in the road. I'd love to continue having a good shop in Leavenworth.

Mark is one of the few from cc.com that I am not surprised to run into no matter where I am.

RuMr – In the US =>Go hike the Muir Trail with the Family - no wait little one may be too little. Hike part of the Muir trail and hang out in Meadows and then Tahoe. Rent a cabin at Echoe Lake for a month or two.

So you have had no epics....great.....how about stories from Beacon. Boner - My story is shown in bold.

Although I've climbed at Beacon many times I have yet to have an epic - I must be missing out on the Beacon experience. (I've had a lot of Epics just none at Beacon.) The first time I climbed there I ended up climbing Blown Out in a snow storm. It's really no further than Squamish or Wa Pass from Seattle. You guys are going to start a southward stampede. Hey what's this doing in the Oregon section?

Pub Club: a component of a well designed training program

What I said was that any workout mimiking a "climbing pump" is not the best for developing strength. Unless you are bouldering, a climbing pump is predominately an endurance phenomenon. Doing finger rolls with failure at 50 ( picked because Dmuja uses 50 for push-ups) reps is not as effective for building strength as fewer reps w/ more weight. Same goes with 25. BTW finger rolls with a lot of weight (240+) are hard to do with proper form. I think that going to failure is the most important factor. In the 5 to 15 rep range my own take is fewer reps and fewer sets is fine for building strength and makes recovery easier. On lat pull down I use to like to do the following: 1 set of six Rest 3min 1 RM Rest 3 min 1 set to (six max) at a higher weight than first set Rest 1 RM rest 3 min 1 set to (six max) at a higher weight than third set Rest 3 min 1 RM It takes awhile to get the weights right but in general the 1 RM should be of increasing weight.

You’re precious. Those looking to build grip strength I say go follow all of T's very specific advice,but please whatever you are do don't use a a hangboard or incorporate bouldering pyramids into your workouts!

Ya you've got me I have never worked out and never climbed much more than Tiger Mountain. Your strength increased 100% in three months that's amazing! I would of course be interested in just where I claimed: "that high reps produce the greatest increase in muscle size and low reps do not." While your looking for it think about who is the asshat. Anyway there is nothing bad in working out with weights I am just saying that if you are looking to improve climbing grip strength given the advice here the smart money is on Sexy's suggestion. Also as I wrote in my first post: Depending on how hard you are climbing and your personal strengths and weaknesses specific grip training may not be the most advantageous place to concentrate your efforts.

RE: lactic acid burn and barbell curls If you are doing it to failure (RM = Rep Max, ie, you can't do any more), and doing multiple sets with short rests, and you're not cheating on the intensity, (ie, speed and correct form), you not only will be training for strength, endurance, AND power, simultaneously, but you will feel the pump as well. And this necessarily will push up your lactic acid threshold or at the very least build you a tolerance for pain in addition to making you stronger. You can argue about it if you want but after a set or 3 -even at high weight/low RepMax if thats your cup of tea- it will be the "pump" that brings you to failure or RM. After lifting/ training for more than 30 years I can tell you that some of this stuff is silly nonsensical bs in the real world that doesnt apply to actual performance. You want to get stronger? have more power? more endurance? Then lift heavy, lift fast/intense, and lift as many reps as it takes to get you to failure (and yes it will produce the "burn" or "pump") its as simple as that. Just choose a weight that both tests you and yet does not get you injured - thats the big real world task and balancing act that any kind of "strength trainer" needs to accomplish. Few do though, very few. BTW, I completely disagree that body builders arnt strength trainers! They use strength to help get them to their goals as do climbers as do football players as do any number of other athletes. I bow to your vast experience but do suggest that you compare the workout strategies of cometitive power lifters with competitive body builders.

I bow to your vast experience! I do note that three months is a short time. How has this impacted your actual climbing? How many grades have you improved?

Tvark - I am sure you have trained with competitive athletes and beaten them at their own game. I did do a quick google search and picked a link (semi-random)on the first page of the results. Here is what I found: I am sure that many supporting and conflicting studies could be found. In any event my comments were directed towards the lactic acid burn and barbell finger curls comment. I believe that if you are getting a climbing type burn while performing this excercise you are not doing it in a manner that will maximise strength gain.

Downfall - This is a pretty good book but I found it not very useful for climbing. Although I do use several exercises from it. I know several other cc.comers have this book and my guess is they have come to the same conclusion. In general the excercises are not climbing specific enough. Dmuja - With regard to the "pump" body builders are not strength trainers.

I wanted to go rock climbing but that soon turned into icey Scottish gully wacking! The only way to be safe is to throw your crampons out!

This is a fun exercise but if you’re getting a “pump” your workout isn’t optimized for increasing strength. I have done these as part of a general conditioning plan. Just make your own with wood blocks. With a little effort you can make a really great board. Climbing hard won’t be nearly as effective as finger board training at developing strength. Depending on how hard you are climbing and your personal strengths and weaknesses specific grip training may not be the most advantageous place to concentrate your efforts. Once your back in the gym, try bouldering pyramids if you want to mix climbing with strength training.

Just a warning if you try to extend the season by going to Smith: I ran into this guy last time I was there!

Where is it?

I think I was illustrating why Peter’s Principal is valid.

How can summarizing what you wrote be an ad hominem attack?

Watch out or the facts might catch up and spoil the plot: Less than half of those in the top 1% in 1996 were still in the top 1 % in 2005

CBS - I prepared a short summary of your posts on this thread.

Whatch you talkin' about Willis! Baseball is America!