Questions:

[John Frieh]

I only have an hour a day 3x a week to train… what is the best way to spend that hour? How should I split up the week? 2 runs and a rock gym session? All rock gym sessions?

 

I can only afford a rock gym membership… what can/should I do on my own to train for alpine climbing that doesn’t require fancy equipment?

 

Is an hour on a stair master 3x a week enough for Rainier next spring? Should I wear a backpack when I do it?

 

Pullups: on a hang board? Kipping? Dead hang? On my ice tools? Weighted? Fast? Slow? How often? What is best for me?

 

What is more important: grip/finger strength or pullup/power strength?

 

How do I train/strengthen body tension? How much does stretching factor in?

 

What is the right mix of training and "practice" - or skill/technique work in the rock gym?

 

Stretching? What should I do? Does it help?

 

How does a front squat help my climbing? Or a dead lift? What lifts will hurt/hinder my climbing?

 

Can I get stronger without gaining weight? Can I get stronger and also lose weight?

 

What should I eat in the hills? During the week? Post recovery?

 

Single rope? Twins? Doubles? Tag line?

 

Clothing? Day trip vs Overnight?

 

I live 6 hours from reliable ice climbing… 12 hours most of the winter. What can I do to be ready to climb ice once it gets here instead of spending half my trips trying to get back to the level I was leading last winter?

 

Cam or tricams? Pins? How many slings? Screamers? Vertical or horizontal? Mono? Dual?

 

What do pro climbers do to train? I heard all Colin Haley does is run sprints up hills…?

 

Answers: Join Ron Shaul of Mountain Athlete and Christian Santilices of Exum Mountain Guides for answers to these and any other questions you might have this Jan 24th and 25th in Portland Oregon.

 

PM me if you have any questions. This seminar is a deal!

[Dane]

$200 for 4 hrs?

 

Or

 

$500 for two days?

[John Frieh]

Yes and yes. Having attended a few of these I would highly recommend the later but there are those among us who arent interested in xfit/hybrid fitness hence the option to just attend one.

 

If it isnt obvious 500 is a screaming deal... similar seminar would cost you 1800 @ gym jones!

[kevino]

At first I was like, John you seem to have the answers to those questions pretty well nailed down I thought.

 

Dane, where'd you get the prices from?

 

Anyone wanna attend for me and tell me what to do? $500 is quite unrealistic for me to spend on a seminar. Guess I'll just stick to what I read in books.

[Kimmo]

I can only afford a rock gym membership… what can/should I do on my own to train for alpine climbing that doesn’t require fancy equipment?

 

if you can barely afford a gym membership, i think there are wayyyy better ways to spend your hard-earned cash than some seminar.

 

 

This seminar is a deal!

 

hehe, quite the sales-pitch. what cut are you getting?

 

i think first of all, the questions listed above can be researched and learned about through questions on forums where peeps actually climb hard (read some climber's web-sites that outline their workouts, and read lotso books; good info out there), and really, the silliness of some of the questions above make me wonder about the (pricey) seminar's legitimacy.

 

just my modest opinion!

 

[John Frieh]

Though I can understand how you might get the impression that I am getting a cut I can assure you (and Rob will confirm) I am not. I am merely sharing the info here because I have seen what Rob's programming methodology has done for my climbing and feel that some of the other climbers here might also be interested in it.

 

WRT to the questions I created those as examples of some of the material that will be covered at the seminar. Those aren’t my personal questions rather my best guess at some of the questions floating around here on cc.

 

I agree to an extent that the above questions can be researched however most climbers that outline their daily workouts are also sponsored and/or have much much more time to devote to training than most of us here.

 

I hope this post clears things up.

 

John Frieh

 

[Kimmo]

Though I can understand how you might get the impression that I am getting a cut I can assure you (and Rob will confirm) I am not. I am merely sharing the info here because I have seen what Rob's programming methodology has done for my climbing and feel that some of the other climbers here might also be interested in it.

 

WRT to the questions I created those as examples of some of the material that will be covered at the seminar. Those aren’t my personal questions rather my best guess at some of the questions floating around here on cc.

 

I agree to an extent that the above questions can be researched however most climbers that outline their daily workouts are also sponsored and/or have much much more time to devote to training than most of us here.

 

I hope this post clears things up.

 

John Frieh

 

yeah what you say is fair enough (although there wasn't anything to "clear" up).

 

i can't argue that outside structure won't help one's training program; many top climbers in europe and elsewhere have had or do have coaching. my amusement was provided by your eager claims of "rad deal!" pontifications, that's all.

 

most climbers that outline their daily workouts are also sponsored and/or have much much more time to devote to training than most of us here.

 

i think this statement is simply wrong, even if i pretended to understand its relevance to the guru seminars you are cheerleading for.

 

but regardless, i'm sure peeps would get something out of shelling a few hundred bucks to some feller who'll tell 'em what to do; i'm just saying these same peeps can talk to good climbers (maybe even on a forum such as this!) and read certain books, and get the same or better results (when combined with some motivation and discipline). it also reaaalllly depends on what the person's goals are, too.

 

again, my reaction has simply been as much towards the sales-pitch as anything else. i'm sure these dudes teaching are swell guys (who are they anyways and what have they done?) who have useful info.

 

cool on your psych and improvements, btw.

 

 

 

[Hendershot]

I for one am glad they updated their site so I can reserve my spot. Gym Jones raised their prices, a semminar used to be $1500. It's a bonus that the Mtn athlete weekend program includes the Light & fast semminar.

 

After acheiving full gearwhore status, I realized that best tool I can refine is myself. Sure you could have the latest, greatest and lightest gear, but then it just boils down to physical & mental limits.

[crackers]

... (who are they anyways and what have they done?)

...

 

Just my $0.02 here...

 

Who cares what they've done? I'd care what athletes coached by them have done; I've been coached by some of the best athletes in a particular discipline and by some of the best coaches. My experience leads me to conclude that the best coaches are very rarely the best athletes.

 

In terms of the knowledge set that the MtnAthlete crew has to offer, a number of the guys that I work with pretty closely have had a great deal of extremely positive things to say about Rob's knowledge base as a trainer, working out at his gym, and by extension public events like this seminar. Those guys include Kelly Cordes and Steve House.

 

I took the seminar back in September, and I would highly recommend it.

 

YMMV. What counts is getting out. Which is why I'm so bitchy right now: my staff is ice climbing, and I'm stuck here working...

[John Frieh]

Are you a better climber than you were last year? Have you plateaued in your climbing ability?

 

Does your fitness limit your climbing ability? How do you know?

 

Would you like to see first hand how the Exum Mountain Guides and the Teton Mountaineering staff train and learn how to you can follow the same program on your own without having to spend a bunch of money on fitness equipment?

 

If you wanted to climb the nose in a day this summer but only had 6 hours a week to train could you do it? Would you know how to split that 6 hours up?

 

Mountain Athlete Seminar January 24/25 in Portland. A IFMGA/UIAGM Mountain Guide will be covering all your equipment/nutrition/speed tactics questions + one of the best sport specific strength and conditioning coaches in the business will be covering all his findings from coaching top athletes at his gym in Jackson... what worked, what didnt, what the results were, etc etc

 

Feel free to PM me with any questions... hope to see some of you there!

[kevbone]

See Rocky 4. He trained outside in the snow and with no equipment. He did not PAY anything to carry logs around and do pull-ups. He won the fight.

 

The point is……go running outside….its free.

 

[Kimmo]

... (who are they anyways and what have they done?)

...

 

Just my $0.02 here...

 

Who cares what they've done? I'd care what athletes coached by them have done;

 

fair enough. so i would ask then what people coached by them have done.

 

i think that's a critical piece of information, along with the coach's credentials, if one is seriously considering shelling out the bucks that these "seminars" cost!

 

plus, again, judging by the pseudo-questions posed by johnfrieh, one would be much better off spending their money on some very basic training books for oh, say, 20 bucks each.

 

and, wouldn't it be nice if he offered the answers to these questions, instead of using them as teasers to get people to go to an expensive seminar?

 

 

some great (free) online training info for rock climbing:

 

www.moonclimbing.com

 

www.davemacleod.com

 

 

both these free sources are very good climbers indeed, and their training advice is excellent.

 

 

and crackers, can you share exactly what was the best information you got from the seminar, and how did it help you?

 

 

 

 

[Ade]

See Rocky 4. He trained outside in the snow and with no equipment. He did not PAY anything to carry logs around and do pull-ups. He won the fight.

 

The point is……go running outside….its free.

 

That works... but only up to a point. Since taking up a more structured CrossFit based training approach I've gotten stronger and my rock climbing and alpine climbing has improved. Dispite holding down a "real" job and getting older.

 

Ade

[DirtyHarry]

You sound like a fucking infomercial John. Do you sell Mary Kay products too?

[DirtyHarry]

Layton's book is free online also:

 

http://cid-c92f297f6497041f.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public

[Kimmo]

http://www.mikedoyle.ca/climbing/traininglinks.shtml

 

more good free training stuff, from a semi-local.

 

 

i didn't understand layton's "must do's", such as taping the fingers for campusing (never done that or seen it done!) and other modes of training; i think you wanna strengthen your fingers without tape aid. only time i've ever taped is when skin pain warrants it.

 

another comment regards his time off between training days. i think this is highly subjective, depending on the fitness of the climber. there's the idea of getting in shape to train, and when that is accomplished, one can do many forms of training multiple days in a row. i'd say though that for the beginner to intermediate climber, his ideas are pretty good, if not too geared towards weights. good work!

[Ishmael]

 

i didn't understand layton's "must do's", such as taping the fingers for campusing (never done that or seen it done!) and other modes of training; i think you wanna strengthen your fingers without tape aid. only time i've ever taped is when skin pain warrants it.

 

tape is aid.

[kevino]

Kimmo, the tape is to prevent injury to the knuckles joints on the finger, which are not made to continually under go the serious stress that is put on them by campusing. Prevent injury in training so when you get to the real thing you are healthy and strong.

 

Something like that, but I have been known to be wrong and this isn't my book.

[Dane]

"another comment regards his time off between training days. i think this is highly subjective, depending on the fitness of the climber."

 

It isn't subjective.

Getting stronger depends on getting the right amount of rest. You don't get stronger while you are working. You get stronger while you are resting. Your recovery time depends on the level of work and your ability to recover from that particular level.

 

 

[eric8]

"another comment regards his time off between training days. i think this is highly subjective, depending on the fitness of the climber."

 

It isn't subjective.

Getting stronger depends on getting the right amount of rest. You don't get stronger while you are working. You get stronger while you are resting. Your recovery time depends on the level of work and your ability to recover from that particular level.

 

 

I think you two are saying the same thing.

[Kimmo]

Getting stronger depends on getting the right amount of rest. You don't get stronger while you are working. You get stronger while you are resting. Your recovery time depends on the level of work and your ability to recover from that particular level.

 

 

which means it's subjective.

 

everyone varies in their recovery needs. i've heard of some peeps campusing 5 days in a row.

 

which again means it's subjective.

 

 

with the tape, it's firstly somewhat controversial whether or not tape really supports the pulleys; secondly, my point is that you'd want to expose all structures to the training stimulus in order for them to strengthen. even if taping did work, it would artificially support the pulleys, disallowing proper training stimulus for strength gains.

my opinion obviously, and yes there are differing thoughts on this.

[John Frieh]

Micah Dash

 

Seminar in Bozeman this May

[RuMR]

"No, this kind of training won’t necessarily make you a better climber, you need to climb to do that, but what it will do is make you hard to kill in the alpine."

 

I think what Kimmo is saying, and campusing/finger power issues, are a little different than some knock off of a military style training program...

 

ie. if you want to climb V12, listen to what Kimmo is saying...if you want to hump a 60lb pack up denali, well that's different...

Edited April 21, 2009 by RuMR

[Luddite]

Details?

[John Frieh]

Details?

 

May 16-17th 2009 in Bozeman Montana. Specifics here and here.

 

If you have additional questions dont hesitate to shoot Rob an email or me a PM. I've been to 2 Mtn Athlete seminars as well as a Gym Jones seminar and will likely attend this one also.