The British Bouldering Team continued their pre-season training when they met on the weekend of the 6th and 7th November. The Team started a new phase of their periodised training plan which involves improving Maximum Strength.

As outlined by the Teams Sports Scientist Dominic White this is important because, “The development of maximal strength needs a foundation phase which prepares the body for the high intensity workloads typically experienced during maximal strength training. So as part of a periodised training programme it is important to have a maximal strength phase after a hypertrophy/conditioning phase and prior to a power phase. This is primarily due to power being the product of strength and speed so that power output has the potential to be greater if maximal strength improves.”

On Saturday the Team met at the Foundry in Sheffield. The morning session involved Team members working in groups of 4 and attempting 5 hard boulder problems (women font 6c-7b+, men font 7b+-7c+). Each group had 20 minutes per problem, with an emphasis on climbing the problem statically and without the use of egyptians or twist locks.

The afternoon session involved the Team completing a Maximum Strength based circuit involving:

· Campus Board

· Finger Board

· Assisted 1 Arm pull ups

· Front Leavers

· Dips

· Training Board

On completion of the circuit the Team were introduced to Craig Antcliff of Five Finger Thing who will be sponsoring the Team by providing competition clothing, training tops and T shirts.

Sunday involved a very similar session at City Bloc in Leeds, where the Team completed another set of 5 boulder problems in the morning and another strength based circuit in the afternoon involving:

· Training Board

· Bar Bell Roll Outs

· Hand Stand Press Ups

· Overhead Squats

The Team also received a workshop from the Teams Sports Scientist on the benefits of Recovery Methods including:

· Active Recovery Methods

· Cold Water Immersion 

As Dominic outlined, “To recover from training or competition it is beneficial to utilise strategies that facilitate the physiological recovery process. Many studies have investigated this area and findings suggest that some form of active recovery (light intensity aerobic activity) when compared to passive recovery (resting) speeds up the recovery process (i.e. significantly greater reductions in Blood Lactate levels). This can be especially important when competing as the rest periods between climbing bouts are very short so any technique to improve recovery could potentially improve subsequent climbing performance.”

Dominic also conducted some blood lactate testing and will be feeding back the results in a future Team Training session.

The British Bouldering Team would like to thank Neil Bentley of the Foundry in Sheffield and Ben Meeks and Martin Smith at City Bloc, Leeds for allowing the Team to use their facilities. Your continued support is greatly appreciated.

Nick Clement

British Bouldering Team Manager

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