Last winter, I was lucky enough to get to go to Hueco Tanks State Historic Site to go bouldering. Seattle winters are a brutal, gloomy time where you forget what it’s like to see the sun, so taking a vacation to some place warm and bright was an absolute must. Add to that the fact that our friend was assistant managing the Hueco Rock Ranch, and the appeal of world class bouldering and sunshine – so much sunshine! – was too much to pass up.
Our manager friend recommended a little training before arriving in Hueco. The problems can be very tricky, and require a lot of power. We listened to our buddy, and my partner and I did exactly that – a little bit of training.
At that point in time, my idea of “training” was basically just climbing until I was tired. I did a couple hang board sessions too, in the weeks leading up to the trip, and probably played a few more games of add-on than normal. This, in my mind was training.
Needless to say, I showed up to Hueco pretty unprepared. While the climbing was amazing, and I loved the area, I definitely wasn’t able to do all the problems I had gotten psyched on. Some of them, like T-Bone Shuffle, seemed doable – but my core strength, endurance, and even problem solving were too weak to really have a chance. Nonetheless, the trip got me stoked again on bouldering, and I started a list of everything I wanted to try again. I vowed to come back, and come back prepared.
Now, this year, I have the chance to go again. A group of badass women I climb with invited me on a trek to Hueco. Determined to actually “show up ” this year, I reached out to my Hueco Rock Ranch manager friend for tips on training.
His recommendation? The Power Company Climbing’s training, Boulder Better.
Boulder Better is 12 week program (full disclosure: I’m doing it in 9 weeks) that offers intermediate climbers achievable steps to climb harder. It focuses around three phases: Base Fitness, Power, and Power Endurance. Within each phase, you have three different workouts to be done 1 to 2 times per week, and a supplemental strength training. The program is ideally done leading up to a big trip, and involves two weeks of no climbing at the tail end to allow your muscles to rest, heal, and come back strong.
So far, I’ve been super impressed with Boulder Better. It gives me freedom to adjust the training to my schedule, while still being motivating enough to get me to the gym five days a week. Plus, it’s fun – the activities and exercises are engaging, interesting, and different for each of the three phase’s three workouts. I’d recommend it to anyone looking to up their bouldering game. And at just $20, it’s an awesome deal for a really in-depth training.
But if you’re not a boulderer, or you think you need something harder, The Power Company has a whole bunch of amazing workouts that you can check out. They even have an app, customizable trainings, and video analysis and Skype training.
Oh, and a killer podcast, if you didn’t know about that yet.
Check out Boulder Better and all the other stellar training information at The Power Company!
This post in not sponsored by The Power Company, or affiliated with them in anyway. They don’t even know I exist. I’m just a fan.
Mountain Attitude 