STRAIGHT ARM STRENGTH TRAINING

IF YOU’RE TRAINING SPECIFICALLY FOR HIGH ALTITUDE THEN THE VAST AMOUNT OF YOUR TIME AND EFFORT WILL BE GOING ON SUSTAINABLE ENDURANCE. EVEN THE MOST ELITE TRAINING SCHEDULES FOR ALPINISM VERY RARELY BREAK MORE THAN FIVE HOURS A WEEK DEVOTED TO UPPER BODY STRENGTH, WHICH MEANS EVERY MINUTE COUNTS AS BEING PRODUCTIVE.

WE HAVE LONG ADVOCATED RING, BAR AND MAT GYMNASTICS FOR A SOURCE OF STRENGTH TRAINING PROTOCOLS, SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY PRODUCE THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF STRENGTH-TO-BODY WEIGHT RATIOS, WHICH IS WHY THEY ARE OLYMPIC EVENTS. THESE DISCIPLINES ARE SUPERCOMPETITIVE AND THE FLAGSHIPS OF SEVERAL NATIONS, THUS GAINING LARGE BUDGETS AND LOTS OF SCIENCE AND DEVELOPMENT.

OBVIOUSLY IT TAKES MORE THAN FIVE HOURS A WEEK TO BECOME A COMPETITIVE GYMNAST, BUT THE BASICS OF RINGS, BAR AND MAT SEQUENCES ARE WITHIN NORMAL REACH, OFTEN CAST AS SIMPLY CALISTHENICS WHEN REMOVED FROM THE COMPETITION FORMALITY. IT IS WORTH NOTING THAT SOME EXERCISES SUCH AS FRONT LEVERS AND MUSCLE UPS ARE CONSIDERED VERY ADVANCED IN CLIMBING CIRCLES, BUT IN GYMNASTICS ARE CONSIDERED ENTRY LEVEL AND TRAINED BY CHILDREN.

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AMONG ALL THE FACTORS THAT MAKE GYMNASTIC TRAINING RELEVANT TO ALPINE CLIMBING IS THE SEPARATION OF BENT AND STRAIGHT ARM STRENGTH. ALMOST UNKNOWN TO THE NORMAL STRENGTH ADVOCATE, THIS IS A BASIC THAT ALL GYMNASTICS IS JUDGED ON BECAUSE IT DEMONSTRATES COMPLETE STRENGTH NOT BY THE SINGLE REP MAXIMUM, BUT BY THE ABILITY TO HOLD THE BODY ACROSS A SERIES OF VECTORS.

STRAIGHT ARM STRENGTH IS WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE – WHAT THE LIMBS CAN WITHSTAND WHEN STRAIGHT, WHICH MEANS NOT BEING RELIANT ON MUSCLE MASS. THIS IS VERY RELEVANT TO CLIMBING AS A WAY TO DEVELOP STRENGTH WITHOUT THE ISSUES OF INCREASED MASS, AND EXPLAINS ALL THOSE SKINNY ALPINISTS LIKE DOUG SCOTT AND ALEX LOWE WHO WEIGHED 75kg BUT WERE INHUMANELY STRONG.

WHERE BENT ARM STRENGTH IS BASED ON MAXIMUM MUSCLE CONTRACTION AND NEUROLOGICAL CONNECTION, STRAIGHT ARM STRENGTH IS IN THE TOLERANCE, ALIGNMENT AND CONNECTIVITY OF OTHER TISSUE LIKE TENDONS, LIGAMENTS AND MUSCLES HEADS. THESE ARE THE CABLES THAT PULL THE STRUCTURE OF THE BODY TOGETHER RATHER THAN ISOLATE IT TO A SINGLE GROUP, AND STRENGTH HERE IS REFERED TO THINGS LIKE ‘GIRDLES’, ‘CHAINS’, AND JOINTS.

THE APPLICATION TO CLIMBING IS OBVIOUS, BECAUSE CLIMBING IS ABOUT DYNAMIC BODY POSITIONS JUST LIKE GYMNASTICS IS. THE SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS TO HIGH ALTITUDE ARE EVEN MORE SO BECAUSE THESE TISSUES ARE LESS RELIANT ON BLOOD FLOW AND THEREFORE OXYGEN SUPPLY THAN MUSCLE. MUSCLES ARE OF COURSE ENGAGED, BUT IN CONCERT WITH THE TENDONS etc, THEREBY SHEDDING SOME OF THE OXYGEN DEMAND WHICH TRANSLATES TO EFFICIENCY.

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STRAIGHT ARM STRENGTH WILL ALREADY BE TRAINED TO SOME DEGREE BY ANYONE TRAINING STRENGTH, IN THE HANGS FROM BARS, RAISING THE BAR IN DEADLIFTS, OVERHEAD HOLDS AND THINGS LIKE PLANKS. IT’S JUST THAT THESE ARE USUALLY SECONDARY CONSIDERATIONS TRAINED VERY SIMPLISTICLY, WHICH BELIES THE BENEFITS FROM TRAINING STRAIGHT ARMS SPECIFICALLY IN WAYS THAT CONTRIBUTE MORE.

THE CLASSIC STRAIGHT ARM DISCIPLINES ARE THE LEVERS, PLANCHES AND FLAGS, ALL EXERCISES THAT SHOWCASE THIS SORT OF STRENGTH ACROSS EVERY PLANE AND TYPE OF ISOMETRIC CONTRACTION. EACH EXERCISE ALSO SHIFTS NOT JUST THE WORK OF THE ARMS BUT ALSO THE CONNECTION TO THE TORSO, WITH THINGS LIKE HUMAN FLAGS AND L-SITS CONNECTING ALL THE WAY TO THE PELVIS AND FLEXORS – FUNDAMENTALLY RELATED TO ALPINISM AND CLIMBING STEEP STUFF WITH A PACK.

LEVERS, HOLDS etc DEMAND THE STRENGTH OF THE ORGANISM, NOT JUST THE LIMB, AND INCLUDE CONDITIONING OF THE JOINTS AND STRUCTURE BEYOND WHAT SECONDARY ATTENTION WILL PROVIDE. THE PROOF IS EASILY OBSERVABLE IN ANY STILL RINGS GYMNASTICS EVENT, WHERE ATHLETES MAINTAIN THEIR BODYWEIGHT AT ANGLES AND ORIENTATIONS FAR BEYOND WHAT ANYONE WHO HAS ONLY TRAINED BENT ARM MUSCULAR STRENGTH CAN DO. YES, SOMEONE WHO IS CURLING OR PRESSING HALF THEIR BODY WEIGHT MAY BE ABLE TO HOLD A GIVEN POSITION FOR A WHILE, BUT TO SYNCHRONIZE SEVERAL POSITIONS ACROSS SEVERAL PLANES VIA DYNAMIC TRANSITIONS – SOMETHING MUCH CLOSER TO CLIMBING – USES A LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT YOU WON’T GET FROM PLANKS AND TOOL HANGS.

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THE CLIMBING TRAINING RESOURCES ABOUT ARE LARGELY SILENT ON THIS ASPECT, VAGUELY INCLUDING IT IN THINKS LIKE PLANKS ALL THE WHILE FOCUSING ON BENT ARM, MUSCULAR STRENGTH. LIKE THE GOOD GYMNAST, THE GOOD ALPINIST TRAINS BOTH, BUT IF ALL YOU KNOW IS WHAT YOU SEE ON THE BIG NAME WEBSITES YOU’D BE EXCUSED FOR NOT KNOWING AN ENTIRE BRANCH OF RELEVANT STRENGTH EXISTS.

SPECIFIC GYNMASTICS AND CALISTHENICS SOURCES HAVE HUGE AMOUNTS OF INFORMATION SO WE WON’T COVER IT HERE, SAVE TO SAY TO AVOID THE USUAL GLOSSY NON-SPECIFIC JUNK SITES THAT SAY NOTHING OTHER THAN HOW RIPPED, STACKED OR SHREDDED YOU WILL APPARENTLY LOOK IN TWO WEEKS. GOOD SOURCES WILL ENTAIL READING AND PROBABLY THE ADVICE OF A COACH, BUT THE BASICS ARE STRAIGHTFORWARD ENOUGH TO GET THINGS IN MOTION WITH LITTLE OR NO GEAR.

THE NORMAL ALPINIST WITH MAYBE 3 X 1hr STRENGTH SESSIONS A WEEK, WILL DEVELOP MORE STRUCTURAL, TISSUE, AND ALIGNMENT STRENGTH BY DEVOTING HALF THAT TO STRAIGHT ARM EXERCISES. THE ALPINISTS PREFERENCE IS PROBABLY FOR EXERCISES THAT HANG, WITH OTHERS USING THE STABILITY ISSUES OF RINGS, BECAUSE THESE CLOSER MIMIC THE STRESSES OF CLIMBING AND OVERLAP THE MOST WITH BENT ARM EXERCISES LIKE PULLUPS.

THE END GOAL IS TO DEVELOP A BODY BETTER ADAPTED TO CLINGING TO MOUNTAINS, WHICH IS MIX OF POWERFUL MOVES AND PROLONGED HANGING ON. CLIMBING OF ALL FORMS IS GETTING MORE GYMNASTIC, AS CLIMBERS FIND NEW STRENGTHS TO EXPLOIT, AND WE DON’T DOUBT GIVEN TIME THAT STRAIGHT ARM STRENGTH WILL BE THE NEXT TREND.

STRAIGHT ARM TRAINING COMBINES WELL WITH THE BULK ENDURANCE TRAINING DEDICATED CLIMBERS DO, BY SHARING THE MUSCULAR LOAD AND REDUCING THE CHANCE OF OVERTRAINING MUSCLE GROUPS. THE SPIKES OF LACTIC ACID FROM HARD MUSCULAR SESSIONS THAT NEED TO BE REBALANCED BY THE TIME AN ENDURANCE SESSION COMES AROUND ARE REDUCED, WITH THE INCREASED BLOODFLOW OF LOW INTENSITY ENDURANCE BEING BENEFICIAL FOR THE RECOVERY OF LOW-BLOODFLOW TISSUE.