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Author

Personal Trainer

Gravity

13-Feb-2011
3:02:36 PM

Hi all

I'm searching for a personal trainer that can help me with some personal goals. I want to start camera flying (skydiving) but I have found that I am too light (67kg) and need to wear lead weights to keep up with others. But, I don't want to put the weight on in a way that will be detrimental to my climbing. For example, the advice I have gotten thus far is to drink 8 beers a day and eat nothing but maccas.

Does anyone know a personal trainer that is also a rockclimber? Or just a personal trainer that has the capacity to design a program to meet these goals? I have searched google, called different trainers, spoken to trainers in the gym etc. I just thought I would put this out on chockstone in case anyone knows someone that would be perfect, if that's possible,

Cheers all

G.


dimpet

13-Feb-2011
3:12:58 PM

I know a couple of personal trainers that are climbers. What area do you live in?
I will forward this post to them for you.

rightarmbad

13-Feb-2011
3:14:13 PM

What's wrong with wearing weights?
Bets of both worlds.

Gravity

13-Feb-2011
3:16:27 PM

On 13/02/2011 dimpet wrote:
>I know a couple of personal trainers that are climbers. What area do you
>live in?
>I will forward this post to them for you.

Thanks mate, I'm in Bentleigh (VIC), but work in CBD, so I'm flexible re locations.

Gravity

13-Feb-2011
3:19:33 PM

On 13/02/2011 rightarmbad wrote:
>What's wrong with wearing weights?
>Bets of both worlds.

I see your point, but I figured I could improve my strength for climbing and put on the extra weight too if I do it properly. Best of both worlds without the hassle of strapping on lead. I have lots of time before I will be able to actually fly with a camera, so I might as well put in the work now while I'm getting my jump numbers up. Thanks for the replies all.


wallwombat

13-Feb-2011
6:02:45 PM

Putting on weight will not make you climb better. Wear the weights.


nmonteith

13-Feb-2011
6:06:16 PM

I would kill to still weigh 65kg.

Gravity

13-Feb-2011
6:21:55 PM

On 13/02/2011 wallwombat wrote:
>Putting on weight will not make you climb better. Wear the weights.

Interested to know why you say that? I figured as long as the weight is lean muscle it can only improve my climbing, albeit only marginally. Remember, my goal is not to become a better climber by putting on muscle, I just want to put on 5-7kg without negatively impacting my climbing....I figured as long as the weight is (lean)muscle, the extra body mass will be countered and not put me back to climbing nice juggy routes...not that there is anything wrong with that...

egosan

13-Feb-2011
7:13:09 PM

The strength of a muscle is roughly proportional to its cross sectional area. That is a square. The weight of a muscle is proportional to its volume. That is a cube. Building lean muscle mass will only decrease your power to weight ratio. Wear the lead. f--- all those beefy dudes, you will live longer than them anyway.


wallwombat

13-Feb-2011
7:26:20 PM

Do what yo want. It's your body.

However, I am yet to hear anyone ever say putting on weight help them climb better.

Gravity

13-Feb-2011
7:27:08 PM

On 13/02/2011 egosan wrote:
>The strength of a muscle is roughly proportional to its cross sectional
>area. That is a square. The weight of a muscle is proportional to its
>volume. That is a cube. Building lean muscle mass will only decrease your
>power to weight ratio. Wear the lead. f--- all those beefy dudes, you
>will live longer than them anyway.

Thanks. That's a really good reply. I guess I don't understand the 'power to weight ratio' equation of what I am trying to do, which is why I was seeking a rockclimbing trainer rather than an average personal trainer that gets you to bulk up with high weight, low reps and protein powder etc. The consensus seems to be building that I should just get over it and wear the weights though. Maybe I'm being too precious about all this...

hipdos

13-Feb-2011
8:16:31 PM

Just put on 5-7 kg in your forearms and you should be sweet. Have a look at Fred Nicole's forearms, they are like Christmas hams, and he climbs V15.

Wendy

13-Feb-2011
8:29:16 PM

Think of 7 kg as 10% of your body weight. That's a lot of weight to put on. Some years ago i put on about 10% of my body weight in a mixture of french cheese, trudging up glaciers with heavy packs and a bit of useful climbing muscle. Whilst I didn't really loose any grades because of it, i did suddenly suffer a whole bunch of overuse injuries. You could say that was just discovering my 30s, but I suspect it was that I was still climbing hard with the bonus weight on board. The bit that was french cheese gradually disappeared, but i'd put on so much climbing muscle hauling that weight up climbs that I'll probably never see the other side of 50kg again. Is the extra muscle really helping me more than the previous lighter weight? I don't think so. And I still have the overuse injuries. Long winded way of saying what everyone else is - just carry the weights.


BoulderBaby

13-Feb-2011
9:48:24 PM

On 13/02/2011 Wendy wrote:
. Long
>winded way of saying what everyone else is - just carry the weights.

Agreed - The lighter you are, the better for climbing.

Gravity

13-Feb-2011
10:01:04 PM

All good points, and I didn't think about the overuse injury side of things so thanks for that. In lieu of putting on 2.5kg on each forearm and getting the Christmas ham look, I think I need to reconsider my approach. Thanks for all the replies, I'd still be interested to hear from any personal trainers that have a view on this. Cheers.

rightarmbad

13-Feb-2011
10:06:00 PM

Holds don't get bigger as you get heavier.
They can only support so much weight before the rubber deforms and lets go.

Lighter the better, simple as that.

Gravity

13-Feb-2011
10:15:14 PM

On 13/02/2011 rightarmbad wrote:
>Holds don't get bigger as you get heavier.
>They can only support so much weight before the rubber deforms and lets
>go.
>
>Lighter the better, simple as that.

Haha, yeah it was only a matter of time before someone posted something like that...but, yep, point taken, lighter the better.

rockotter

13-Feb-2011
10:15:16 PM

Stay light, you just improve your chances of injury getting bigger and the holds small people use just go to show, light is right!


ajfclark

13-Feb-2011
10:27:20 PM

The closest thing to a PT for climbing I can think of is Dave MacLeod. He's pretty consistently saying that lighter is better. He keep a climbing specific training blog here: http://onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.com/

Here's an article reviewing a book dealing with weight: http://onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.com/2010/12/review-racing-weight.html

Gravity

13-Feb-2011
10:37:07 PM

On 13/02/2011 ajfclark wrote:
>The closest thing to a PT for climbing I can think of is Dave MacLeod.
> He's pretty consistently saying that lighter is better. He keep a climbing
>specific training blog here: http://onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.com/
>
>Here's an article reviewing a book dealing with weight: http://onlineclimbingcoach.blogsp
>t.com/2010/12/review-racing-weight.html

Thanks ajfclark, some really good info there.

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