Kimmo

a standard "periodization" program might fail entirely to get one as strong as they can be. and, strength is relative. strength is a HUGE issue for the person trying a route with moves that are hard for them, whether it's 5.9 or 5.14. climbing is a strength sport (along with other things).

dude, you asked from me for a sample routine that might get you, as a v4 climber, stronger. you can call this a mesocycle in a periodization program if you like, but i call it preparation to climb harder. btw, there is actually NO power work there, just strength, since most moves are done statically. there is no doubt that, beyond the fun i had climbing statically, this time of climbing helps my climbing to this day, so that's why i would recommend it to someone climbing at your level. are there other things you could do that would improve you? you betcha. almost anything that makes some sense and is done religiously and wisely for a solid chunk of time (at least two months) will improve you. mine was a small small slice from all the options, given because you asked. if it doesn't make sense, or you really don't like it, then don't do it, but if you want to improve, do SOMETHING. (but always work on finger strength, cuz that's the body/rock interface). in the end, of course aspects of "periodization" make sense, in certain situations. i'm just not a fan of adopting one religion and declaring it the end-all. that's just dumb, numb, blind idolatry! and my "program" for myself? power, strength, and stamina. with focus on what i'll be needing for a particular project.

depends on what you mean by stronger. i have no doubt that moon was and perhaps is stronger on certain types of moves. i seriously doubt ondra could campus 1 5 9 for example. he's a skinny kid who complains about being weak.

shoot, you know what happened? our tendons didn't know they were supposed to wait 4 years, cuz your articles hadn't come out yet.

you sir, are mad. one must follow proper training protocols, as spelled out in the proper training manuals. you seem to be on the verge of losing control or something.

i think research will show that tendons never strengthen, becoming the first body tissue that does not respond to stimulus. actually, you know i kid. everyone knows that tendons spend their time looking at the calendar, biding their time....just waiting for that magical moment when they, too, can be strong. (in 4 year's time.)

it only makes sense that the body would take 4 years to begin adapting to stresses. bodies are so smart that way. good night, rocky. sleep well.

Skeletal muscle adaptations and biomechanical properties of tendons in response to jump exercise in rabbits1 F. Gondret*,2, P. Hernandez, H. Rémignon and S. Combes * Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 1079 Systèmes d’Elevage Nutrition Animale et Humaine (SENAH), 35590 Saint Gilles, France; and Institute for Animal Science and Technology, Polytechnic University of Valencia, PO Box 22012, 46022 Valencia, Spain; and INRA, Université de Toulouse, UMR 1289, Tissus Animaux, Nutrition, Digestion, Ecosystème et Métabolisme (TANDEM), Chemin de Borde-Rouge, Auzeville, BP 52627, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan Cedex, France 2 Corresponding author: Florence.Gondret@rennes.inra.fr Pen housing has been proposed in rabbits as an alternative to standard-sized cages. Rabbits reared in pens show greater physical activity. This study investigated whether jump exercise could modify body composition, muscle biochemical and histological characteristics, and some meat quality traits, including the biomechanical properties of tendons. Male weaned rabbits of similar BW (793 ± 11 g) were either reared in giant collective cages and had to jump over obstacles to get food and water for 35 consecutive days (EXE), or confined in small isolated cages (SEDN). Rabbits were weighed weekly to determine ADG (n = 79 EXE; n = 46 SEDN) and ADFI (n = 9 cages in EXE; n = 46 cages in SEDN). At approximately 10 wk of age, rabbits were slaughtered in 2 series. After overnight chilling, carcasses in the first series (n = 30 EXE; n = 27 SEDN) were divided into fore, intermediate, and hind parts. Color and ultimate pH were recorded in the biceps femoris (BF) and LM. The Achilles tendon and patellar ligament were dissected from the legs and cooked. Muscles [semimembranosus proprius, semimembranosus accessorius (SMA), and BF] were harvested from the legs in a subset of animals from the second series (n = 10 in EXE; n = 9 in SEDN). Both ADG and ADFI were slightly reduced (P < 0.10) in EXE rabbits compared with SEDN rabbits. Exercised rabbits showed a greater (P = 0.01) proportion of hind parts than SEDN rabbits. Enzyme activities of 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase and citrate synthase, which play key roles in fatty acid oxidation and the terminal oxidative degradation of nutrients, respectively, were increased in the semimembranosus proprius, SMA (except citrate synthase), and BF muscles of EXE rabbits compared with SEDN rabbits. Only SMA exhibited a decreased (P = 0.05) activity of the glycolytic enzyme, lactate dehydrogenase, in EXE rabbits compared with SEDN animals. Total lipid content, mean diameter of perimysial adipocytes, and activities of core lipogenic enzymes in the SMA and BF muscles did not differ between EXE and SEDN rabbits. Meat color in BF was shifted toward greater a* (red; P = 0.001) and b* (yellow; P = 0.02) values in EXE rabbits compared with SEDN rabbits. Cooked Achilles tendon and patellar ligaments in the legs had greater stiffness (P 0.05) in EXE rabbits compared with SEDN rabbits. This experiment demonstrates that rabbit muscles turn to a more oxidative metabolic pattern in response to jump exercise. The quality of attachment of cooked meat to bone is also improved in active rabbits.

Expression of collagen and related growth factors in rat tendon and skeletal muscle in response to specific contraction types K. M. Heinemeier1, J. L. Olesen1, F. Haddad2, H. Langberg1, M. Kjaer1, K. M. Baldwin2 and P. Schjerling3,4 + Author Affiliations 1Institute of Sports Medicine, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark2Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA3Department of Molecular Muscle Biology, Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark4Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Corresponding author K. M. Heinemeier: Institute of Sports Medicine, Bispebjerg Hospital – Building 8, 1st floor, 23 Bispebjerg Bakke, DK-2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark. Email: katjaheinemeier@hotmail.com Abstract Acute exercise induces collagen synthesis in both tendon and muscle, indicating an adaptive response in the connective tissue of the muscle–tendon unit. However, the mechanisms of this adaptation, potentially involving collagen-inducing growth factors (such as transforming growth factor-β-1 (TGF-β-1)), as well as enzymes related to collagen processing, are not clear. Furthermore, possible differential effects of specific contraction types on collagen regulation have not been investigated. Female Sprague–Dawley rats were subjected to 4 days of concentric, eccentric or isometric training (n = 7–9 per group) of the medial gastrocnemius, by stimulation of the sciatic nerve. RNA was extracted from medial gastrocnemius and Achilles tendon tissue 24 h after the last training bout, and mRNA levels for collagens I and III, TGF-β-1, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), lysyl oxidase (LOX), metalloproteinases (MMP-2 and -9) and their inhibitors (TIMP-1 and 2) were measured by Northern blotting and/or real-time PCR. In tendon, expression of TGF-β-1 and collagens I and III (but not CTGF) increased in response to all types of training. Similarly, enzymes/factors involved in collagen processing were induced in tendon, especially LOX (up to 37-fold), which could indicate a loading-induced increase in cross-linking of tendon collagen. In skeletal muscle, a similar regulation of gene expression was observed, but in contrast to the tendon response, the effect of eccentric training was significantly greater than the effect of concentric training on the expression of several transcripts. In conclusion, the study supports an involvement of TGF-β-1 in loading-induced collagen synthesis in the muscle–tendon unit and importantly, it indicates that muscle tissue is more sensitive than tendon to the specific mechanical stimulus.

Many researchers study the mechanical characteristics of mammalian tendons [3-8] and have yielded insight into the baseline elastic and viscoelastic properties in both animals and humans. Typical elastic tendon properties are characterized by Young's modulus and stiffness. Young's modulus is classically defined as the modulus of elasticity (E) of a material calculated by the rate of change of stress with strain and is an intrinsic property. Stiffness is the resistance of an elastic body to deformation by an applied force, typically defined by the ratio of change in tensile force with change in length of the material, thus an extrinsic property. Repetitive mechanical loading can predispose tendons to injury with damage initiation occurring in the extracellular matrix [9-11]. The accumulation of micro-damage in tendons tends to degrade their mechanical properties, and may ultimately lead to failure. However, tendons can adapt to mechanical usage as evidenced by increases in stiffness and the Young's modulus after strength training or a combination of resistance and stretch training that were commensurate with muscle strength and size gains in humans [3,12] and in animals [10]. Also, tendon stiffness and ultimate strength have also increased in response to endurance training [6,13]. Viidik examined the response of rabbit tibialis anterior and Achilles tendon to 40 weeks of treadmill exposure and reported an increased stiffness of 10% in both tendons [13]. Nielsen et al. [14] also studied the effects of 18 months of treadmill training on rat limb muscle tendons and found that exercise had no effect on the biomechanical properties of the tibialis anterior tendon. Simonsen et al. [6] investigated whether tendon would respond differently to resistance or endurance training regimens in rats. Their results indicated that strength training did not result in increases in ultimate strength; however, swim-trained rats did have tendons with significantly higher ultimate strength than age-matched controls. The authors suggested that tendon may respond more favorably to the number of cycles of loading rather than the magnitude of loading [6]. This was supported by findings from Buchanan and Marsh where treadmill exposure for 8–12 weeks was found to increase tendon stiffness in the Achilles tendon of guinea fowl [10]. This result was reinforced in humans where long distance runners exhibited significant increases of approximately 20% in vastus lateralis stiffness compared to control subjects [15]. However, exposure to stretch training alone did not increase stiffness in human tendons [16]. As we age, it is not surprising that tendon properties such as stiffness and Young's modulus can change along with other physiological changes [7,17,18]. There is an increase in tendon strength up to a certain age, where tendon properties then start to degrade [19]. In fact, investigators found that the strength of 23 month-old rat tail tendons was higher than those from 5 month-old rats [19]. In another study, Nielsen and colleagues found that aging rendered the rat tibialis anterior tendons stiffer and reduced the strain to failure [14]. In contrast to the findings by Viidik et al. and Nielsen et al., Simonsen and colleagues found that aging reduced the ultimate failure force and yield point in rat Achilles tendon [6]. However, tendons in aging subjects have been shown to be highly responsive to training. Specifically, resistance training increases stiffness and Young's modulus [7,8,17,18,20], and decreases hysteresis [18] in older humans. These results in humans were supported by studies conducted in rats [21]. Also, Simonsen found that swim training counteracted the negative influence of aging on Achilles tendon strength [6]. In contrast, chronic running exercise did not benefit the musculo-tendon unit in aged runners [22]. Stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) exercise effectively introduces resistance exercise to skeletal muscle [23] via reciprocal concentric and eccentric muscle actions which are physiologically representative of natural muscle function used in common activities such as locomotion, and in athletic and occupational environments [24,25]. Additionally, SSCs also produce muscle injury due to the eccentric component of the loading cycles [26-30], which provides an improved physiologically relevant exposure model over the traditional eccentric-only injury model [24,31]. Recently, a chronic exposure (14 exposures) of repetitive SSCs was shown to produce skeletal muscle hypertrophy and significant muscle performance gains in young rats (12 weeks age) while inducing substantial performance deficits and a lack of muscle hypertrophy in old rats (30 months age) after 4.5 weeks of exposure [23]. This study showed that muscles from aging rats did not tolerate exposure to repetitive mechanical loading that is beneficial in their younger counterparts. Thus, it would be interesting to investigate whether tendon from aging rats also does not tolerate this repetitive loading protocol that resulted in muscle maladaptation. To date, there is little known about the effects of resistance exercise and ageing on tendon mechanical properties. The resistance training paradigms studied in humans [7] and animals [21] thus far have resulted in improvements in both muscle and tendon; however, the biomechanical loading was not controlled or recorded during the exposures. In addition, the results from previous studies are not equivocal. Thus, it is important to study tendon response to a chronic exposure of repetitive maximal SSCs, shown to produce muscle maladaptation in aged animals, where the biomechanical loading signature is controlled, and muscle response is recorded in real-time. The purpose of this study is to determine if aging affects the ability of tendon to respond to repetitive high-force mechanical exposures. This inquiry will help determine if tendon adaptation is coupled with skeletal muscle response. We hypothesize that tendons from old rats not exposed to repetitive loading will have lower stiffness, Young's modulus, and total strain at failure than their younger counterparts. In addition, we hypothesize that exposure to repetitive mechanical loading will increase the stiffness, Young's modulus, and strain at failure in both old and young tendons.

Langberg et al.[17] have found that the human peritendinous Achilles tendon tissue reacts with a reduced collagen synthesis immediately after exercise, followed by a dramatic increase in subsequent days.[17] However, the changes occurring immediately after strength training observed in the present study cannot be explained by metabolic effects. It is interesting to speculate over how the acute response to training involving increased tendon volume (and increased cross-sectional area) at exercise affects the biomechanics of the tendon. In terms of force transfer, a thick tendon may be advantageous, as there would be a decrease of the average force per area, thereby lessening the potential risk for injury. However, this may only be adequate if the water retaining capacity of the noncollagenous matrix contributes to the mechanical properties. Further, fluid may act as a lubricant at the endotenon, thereby reducing the intratendinous shear forces

and one last thing (whew, hard work here): if allayou haters check my first post, i said "if your body can handle it" and "experiment". Damn. it's not like i was saying to go out and start effin yourself up and ignoring your body.

aw man, i can't just be ignorin' ya when you got so much to say and i'm so lonely! but yeah, it matters how hard you climb, sure. would i go to some poor dude livin in the gutter for financial advice? well maybe actually, he might have some really good advice, come to think of it. so i guess it doesn't matter that much that you only climb 5.9, but it does matter that you act like you are such an expert, making claims about how EVERYONE will blow their tendons if they go hard all the time (false), and how tendons don't START to strengthen until 4 years down the road (false), and how i make claims that one move defines the difficulty of all boulder problems (false) etc etc etc. get the picture? probably not.... and as far as explaining how my "theory" is bunk, you might have "explained" it to yourself, but hell, i don't think you even know what my theory is. do you? hmmm i think you're having that reading comprehension problem again, cuz you ain't making any sense. "because many (in fact most) boulder problems have one crux move that rock climbing must therefor be one repetitive motion that all climbers must learn." you seem to make things up about what i'm saying, my friend. what on earth are you talking about? Can take up to 4 years? and what, then it magically stops? and before the 4 years, no strengthening occured? dude, just start pasting your articles directly here, cuz something's getting lost in translation yo. earlier you said it was impossible to climb hard all the time. hmmm. now it seems you think one can. hmmmmm. it's your use of absolutes that is so silly, rocky. and one last thing (again): tendons are strong. way strong. think of what they do on a regular basis in your body. think, man.

well heck. and all i wish for you is the best. but i hope you aren't right. been pretty good about avoiding injuries, even though this last year is the first year in my life that i've really climbed and trained hard pretty close to full time: multiple days in a row, monos, campusing, one arms, intense stuff and quite a bit of it. i'd like to keep that going!

Except that you are wrong again. Just because you crux out on one move in a route or problem does not mean that all climbing (as your language suggests) boils down to one move. you see that "many" word up there? see it? i know it's kinda hard to figure out what words mean sometimes, but that one isn't cryptic, it's pretty straight-forward: "numerous" is a good synonym. and yes, once you get out and do a little climbing, you'll come across boulder problems which have their difficulty defined by one move. ONE move. yes, one, less than "numerous", but more than "none", which in this case is "one". ok, back to "ignore" with ya.

but before i ignore you completely, let me again tell you what a fool you are: most climbers i started climbing with, myself included, simply went out and climbed as hard as we friggin could EVERY TIME WE CLIMBED. YO FOOL, DO YOU HEAR THIS? i didn't read any effin theory, or damn training books, or follow nutrition guidelines or gym jones nonsense or "periodization", or "tendon development theory". shit, we climbed cuz WE LOVED IT. EVERY FRIGGIN DAY UNTIL OUR FINGERS THREATENED TO FALL OFF. and i got decent at it, onsiting up to 12b back in the late '80's, after a couple of years of climbing. no great feat, but ok for the time. occasional injuries of course, happens with climbing, but all ok. so please just stop with your nonsense. go back to your theory, go back to your v3 world, but just stop pretending you know it all, cuz you don't know poopydoop. ok you are now on ignore.

hey rocky joe, i have no interest in corresponding with you. you're a blow-hard who climbs what, v3?, and you think you're an expert. i don't have time for that. seriously. you and john frieh can go effin blow each other and trade notes on scripture, and in the mean-time, you are the first person in all my years here that i will put on "ignore". congratulations. effin 4 years for tendons to begin to strengthen. fool.

to improve your bouldering then? oi vei. so many options. how much time/desire do you have to put into it? 3 hrs a week? 5? 10? are you light and lean right now? body fat below 15%? can you do 10 good pull-ups off a 2 cm edge? if you are above 15% bf, then dropping 10 pounds (or more) might be all it takes to go up a number or two on the v scale, but this is probably the hardest option! my favorite thing ever that helped my gym climbing and was super fun to boot was static climbing. at first i picked problems that were relatively easy for me, and did them statically. completely statically. that means the only thing that would move when reaching for the next hold was the hand doing the reaching. and my reach would be controlled, always; meaning i could hold my body in that position in control while my hand reached. what's so fun and practical about this is that it teaches body awareness, core control and strength, optimal pre-move body positioning, mindfulness, lock off strength, toe hooks, heel hooks, , creativity, and is low injury risk. i think i started doing this on v1's and v2's an dthen moved up, and after a few months of two or three times a week for an hour or two at a time, was staticing v7's and maybe a v8 or two. it's so fun too! it was especially fun when stoned, although my speed went to silly sloth slow and people made fun of me....the control aspect was key though: i NEVER let myself cheat. if i couldn't do the move statically, i'd work just that move til i either got it, or moved to a different problem. for me personally, this period of "training" changed my climbing. the strength improvement and the awareness of movement were the biggest things. (but mainly it was fun!) oh and i did these mainly on the steeper walls. fingerboarding was a big factor in improvement at one point (and continues to be). my fingerboard was pretty simple: some plywood with 3/4", 1/2", and 1/4" edges. tons of good routines on line and in books, but i'd warm up well, maybe 10 or 15 minutes of slowly increasing intensity hangs, then start. i think at first i simply worked up to being able to hang the 3/4" for a minute and a half. maybe it took 2 weeks, maybe 3. i'd just start hanging til i fell off! rest a few minutes, repeat. 10 times. that'd be the workout. two or three times a week. semi crimp position. then moved to 1/2", started doing the same thing. can't remember the length of hang i worked to here. i think i had to crimp this, and the 1/4". then started adding weight so i could only hang the 1/2 for 5 secs. do once, rest a couple minutes, repeat. 10 15 times. workout done. then assorted stuff on the 1/4". get creative. at first this'll kick your ass and more climbing on these days will be hard to do, but you get used to them. again, i got big improevements, but: mainly it was fun! i think if you did the finger workout 2 or 3 times a week, and the static 3 times a week, you'd absolutely notice a big improvement in two or three months. sample schedule: Mon static climbing, 1 hour in evening, ~15 to 20 climbs. fingerboarding after, 3/4" edge. 5 hangs to failure. tues rest wednesday same as monday thursday rest friday same as monday rest weekend 2nd week, same as first, except hang to failure 10 times i think this might be a good place to start, and see if you are recovering well and staying relatively fresh. maybe it's too much, or not nearly enough. if you can, start doing more climbing per session, and add a saturday hangboard session. if anything hurts, rest it quickly before it becomes a problem. some aches are just part of the territory, but always better safe than sorry. whew. ok i'd love to hear if you end up doing this stuff, and the progress you make. 3 weeks to start noticing improvements, 3 months to really notice big jumps. but mainly, i'd hope you have fun with these.

another point: depending on the climb of course, but climbing can be broken down into some basic movements; get strong at these, and climbing is much easier. so in a sense, training is developing the strength to pull a somewhat limited repertoire of specific movements, making every climb somewhat rehearsed (finger strength being the most rehearsed algorithm, if you will). then there's the whole business of red-pointing, which takes rehearsal to a gymnastics level....

sorry, didn't see this. the above holds true in given situations, but is certainly not a hard and fast rule, applicable to all climbing situations. many boulder problems boil down to one single move that overshadows the others in difficulty. if you can't do that single move, you can't do the problem. heck, i can show you routes like that, where the grade is entirely based upon 5 seconds of effort. plus, peak strength development increases one's stamina (in some situations): if i only train one arms, by the time i can do one, you know i'll be able to do 20 two arm pull-ups without ever having done one. same principle applies to climbing, methinks.

sorry my bad. only homer i know. whether or not your post was serious, my response was. trying to outline some form of generic "improvement" program without knowing the goals of the individual is kinda tuff.

for who? Homer. stop eating so many donuts, and get new writers for the show. then we'll talk.

what seems to be the problem here, jon?