Training endurance seems pretty simple. Just climb until you are pumped silly and repeat right?
While this approach can definitely work, how can you be sure you are actually reaching your maximum pump level? Did you fall because you truly couldn’t hold on anymore or did you fall because you messed up your foot sequence or got scared?
To help you explore the true depths of endurance, here’s an excerpt from Margarita Martinez’s TrainingBeta Podcast in which she talks about how she uses a Maxi Pull for training endurance, and how she used this tool to help her climb her first 5.13d at age 58.
Give it a read and then check out the full episode and transcript.
Margarita Martinez on Training Endurance:
Margarita Martinez: So training wise, I’m a true, true believer of the Maxi Pull
Neely Quinn: The what?
Margarita Martinez: The Maxi Pull.
Neely Quinn: Maxi Pull? What does that mean?
Margarita Martinez: So back then in the early 90s, there was a climbing board company that made a board called the Maxi Pull. The Maxi Pull is this pvc pipe covered in skate tape, on an angle, that you can hang on and stay on the Maxi Pull for a long time. There are different work outs you can do, and as a matter of fact, if you want for people to see it, if you go to my Facebook page and you go to one of the albums at the bottom, there is an album dedicated with measurements with what the Maxi Pull is. The reason why the company didn’t survive is because it was very easy for anyone to reproduce for about 15 bucks. The company didn’t last, and mine is actually homemade too. Tony had one, and I just copied his, because it was just so easy to reproduce.
What you do on the Maxi Pull, is you learn what your maximum pump is. If you don’t know what your very highest amount of pump, your brain will get in the way. The reason for it, is because you start thinking “Oh am I too pumped to clip?”. You need to know- everybody should know what the maximum amount of pump is, how does it feel, what is the danger that your body feels at that point. You hang on this board, and you hang 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off, for five minutes. So you’re doing 45 on, 15 off, 45 on, 15 off. You wait 5 minutes, you repeat it again, you wait 5 minutes, and you repeat it again. Most people need to start with 30 seconds, they don’t need to start at 45. It’s really hard to start at 45. But I’m not sure, because I’m not a doctor or anything like that, so I’m not sure if my body has learned to work with the lactic acid, or whether I learned how to recover better, but it worked.
Neely Quinn: Why do you feel like the- I’m looking at a picture of it right now, and it’s definitely really slopey. Why do you feel like that’s better than any other hangboard and doing it on edges?
Margarita Martinez: I do still do edges, because it’s not going to get you power, it’s not going to get you finger power, it’s just going to maximize everything that you have. If you have strong fingers, it will just maximize it. You get to use all your fingers, and when you’re hanging on it, you feel like your hands sometimes are receiving weights in between the top part of the finger to another part of the finger, trying to learn how to rest on that. It’s a weird feeling- I wish I could tell you. It’s a weird feeling. But it should be close enough to the floor that when you let go it’s because you have already tried to go to your happy place- little tears should be coming out of your eyes, and that’s when you finally let go. I’ve worked with people- I had a friend of mine that was trying this 13d and couldn’t do it, falling falling falling. I said “Step off of it for just a second, keep working your power at home on your board, and come to my house, hang on the Maxi Pull”. He did that for three weeks and sent it on the first go the next time he went.
Full Episode and Transcript: TBP 073 :: Margarita Martinez on Climbing Her First 13d at Age 58
(photo courtesy Edwin Teran | @edwinteran)
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