Why Climbers Should Stop Icing Injuries | Viewer Questions
Hooper’s Beta Ep. 71
Viewer Questions Ep. 11
FUN FACT!
Pistol shriiiiimp!!! OK, so this tiny little creature is amazing. It’s called the Pistol shrimp because of their one larger claw. It can move or snap their claw so fast that it creates a bubble in water. When the bubble collapses due to the pressure of the water, it creates a “pullet” like effect that can immobilize or even kill small prey. It creates a noise of 218 dB which is louder than a bullet, and reportedly a temperature of greater than 4800 degrees centigrade which is similar to the surface temperature of the sun, albeit over a very small area. The “bullet” it creates has been measured at 80 kilopascals at a distance of 4 cm from the claw has been measured, with the water jet, aka, bullet, traveling at 25 m/sec. Wow :) Go pistol shrimp!
Viewer Questions
Viewer: Martin R
Question: I have a follow-up on the third question that's actually been bugging me for a while. My own experience is definitely that progress is relatively slow when you try to build strength, endurance and explosiveness at the same time, but I am always worried that if I decide to work endurance for a while (e.g. chasing unweighted reps rather than more added weight for pull-ups) my strength gains will diminish, after all, these are different energy systems I am working.
So, my question is this: do you know of any research or have personal experience how much strength (if any) you actually lose when switching to an endurance-oriented routine for, say, 6-8 weeks, and how much strength training one needs afterwards to return to the old level?
Video in Reference: Is LOCK-OFF STRENGTH really that important for climbers? (ASK A PT!)
Answer:
OK so to start, I’ll directly answer this by saying no, there isn’t any research that I know of about how much strength you actually lose when switching to an endurance-oriented routine. Personally, the drop off is not heavy, from my experience. Especially if you tailor your modifications in an appropriate way. But, I think this question is great and I want to add to the answer by giving a shift in perspectives. You're correct, it's quite hard to make improvement when you are working on 3 different systems. You will never become great at one, rather you’ll make slooooow progress in multiple realms. The perspective shift I want to introduce is this: think of the changes in training style as beneficial, and have it match your performance seasons. This is known as periodization of training. For example, do you have an "off season" for climbing where you live? This time could be your strength training period. You may not be projecting outdoors super hard, so you work on improving your overall strength. Then, when your outdoor climbing season begins... you go into a maintenance phase, which is where endurance training can be beneficial. Endurance training involves less force on the tissue, and rather promotes a ton of blood flow and vascularization of the tissue. Since you are trying super hard outdoors (creating lots of force), it's beneficial to have some endurance training as it is lower force and increased bloodflow which can help improve your healing. This would be better than doing strength training at that time as you may not be adequately healing in time to try hard outdoors again. You don't want to generate a ton of force with climbing, and a ton of force with training, necessarily. This is actually common in major sports. There is an offseason of recovery. A pre-season of strength, agility, motor skills, etc gains. And then a competitive season where they try to maintain their performance. They won't necessarily do as much strength training during the season because they want to maintain, not build at this time.
You can also look at your endurance slightly differently if you really want to prevent strength training loss. I mentioned earlier how you structure it makes a difference. So, this is anecdotal but this is a way that I prevent some of those losses. Say you can do 4 reps of a +70 pound pull up. This is definitely in the strength training realm as you are limited to those 4 repetitions. Now, say you are switching to endurance. Drop the weight down to, say, 20 pounds, and you may get 10+ reps. Now, this isn't perfect endurance training. Endurance training would be more in the 16+ rep range, but, you get the idea. You will maintain more strength that way while also building more endurance. You don’t have to just completely lose the added weight component, and this will help you maintain your strength better while working on endurance. You will also have less force on the tissue so less likely to overdo it and overwork the tissue, but you'll be generating ample blood flow and vascularization.
*phew* This was a long answer, hope it helps!
*small side note* in the future we will release a longer video about how to properly do periodized training schedules!
Viewer: Alberts Levics
Question: What's a cross-training session? Just a general body workout, or also includes some specific exercises for grip strength, for example?
Video in Reference: Here's how to Crimp without getting injured - Hooper's Beta Ep. 2
Answer: This is a great question! It’s such a general term it can be hard to know what someone means when they just say “cross-training”, so let’s expand!. Often, cross-training is only thought to involves antagonistic muscle groups, i.e. the opposing muscle groups that you normally don’t work with your sport. For climbing, this typically means pushing exercises since we pull all of the time. BUT, what isn’t always clear is that cross-training can also be working the agonistic muscle groups. For example: you may do some wrist extension training which you may think of as the antagonistic muscle (of course, it is the opposite muscle group to our heavily used wrist flexors), but really, we couldn't generate much of any force with our wrist and finger flexors without the wrist and finger extensors, so it's helping us, not acting against us as the term antagonist may imply. Cross training may also be a general body exercise, such as doing a deadlift to train tension in the posterior chain, or doing a bunch of core training to improve your core tension. Cross training should try to always improve your climbing and be functional towards the sport as the goal is to improve your climbing.
Viewer: Vincent Ton
Question: Would you suggest adding these into a shoulder workout to increase strength or doing these daily for mobility/warm up?
Video in Reference: Best External Rotator Exercises for Climbers (in 25 Levels of Difficulty)
Answer:
Awesome question! It can be both, or all! I personally do the bilateral external rotation "no money" with my warm up every time I climb, and often time just with my shoulder workouts to get them nice and worked up. I incorporate the face pulls, single arm external rotation @ 90 deg abduction, and single arm external rotation @ neutral into my weekly training for shoulder stability. Helps my shoulders get strong, stay healthy, and prevents injuries. I will also do the “no money” exercise without weight if I have been sitting at the computer for longer periods of time to help prevent the bad rounding of the shoulders and kyphotic or slumped position. So they have multiple uses across the board! Thanks Vince.
Viewer: Ben
Question: Hi, I love the content your posting, This channel has so much great info. For me, about a week from now I strained my A2 pulley projecting. I've watched your videos on finger injuries and the day after the injury I could do 15lb on farmer crimps with little pain to no. So I felt pretty far ahead and proceeded to climb on the injury with H tape a few days after. It has felt pretty good but I'm scared to do any crimpy climbs. I'm 19 yrs old, super healthy. I'm wondering how long you might guess before I can return back to hardcore hang board and campus board training, or how I could know when I'm ready for that. Thanks! :)
Video in Reference: Ask Me Anything! Climbing injuries and training questions with Dr. Jason Hooper, DPT
Answer: Hi Ben, thanks for the great question and your comment! The level of the strain is what will really determine the time you are out, and being just on the internet that can be hard to determine. It could be a few short weeks, or a max of 12-16 weeks. At your age, being super healthy (which to me includes getting 8+ hours of sleep daily ;) ) you could be just looking at short 2-3 weeks. The reason I wanted to include this question, though, is that it brings up an important topic: learning to allow your body to heal at an appropriate rate and to be patient. If you rush the process, you may just end up setting yourself back. This is one of those times where you ask yourself "what's the rush?" Do you have a climbing competition coming up? Is it the last possible day of your climbing season? Or are you just rushing because you want to climb? Not rushing back after an injury like this can actually SAVE you time, as you will reduce the likelihood of any setbacks. Keep progressing yourself at a safe pace and keep in mind that it may be a few short weeks, but be prepared for it to take slightly longer if that's what it desires. Injuries are like glueing two pieces of paper together. If you try and check to see if the glue dried too early, sometimes you have to start over and wait longer. Let it heal at a good pace and keep using the information in our videos as a guide along the way!
Viewer: erónimo B
Question: Are those levels of difficulty? Some middle level exercises seem harder than the upper level ones. Some are just different kinds of exercises or variations of the same, with no clear winner for "harde" exercise. Also the difficulty of bands and weighted exercises is subjective (depends on the weight and ressistance of the band.
Great video regardless. Keep up the great work!
Video in Reference: Best External Rotator Exercises for Climbers (in 25 Levels of Difficulty)
Answer: Very true and good question! Honestly, the hardest part about this video and the levels was the incorporation of weights versus bands. a 50 pound prone angel would be impossible for me! Whereas if I used the lightest band out there, all the band stuff would feel like moving air. In this video, one of the big components was organizing it in a manner not only in terms of muscular difficulty, but also in terms of the motor control involved. It's easier to perform a Prone W than it is a standing W because of motor control issues. Some people may get a lot of upper trapezius compensations in the standing exercise whereas they don't prone. So, I tried to organize it based on these two main factors: 1) perceived level of difficulty and 2) motor control required.
Also, to me, the clear winner is the face pull with overhead press :) I loooove this exercise because you get bilateral external rotation @ 90 degrees of abduction, WITH lower trap activation. This is great strength training of two vital muscle groups and it is more functional for climbing. Win Win.
Viewer: Michael Lim
Question: Any thoughts on icing fingers? Penguin fingers thingys
Video in Reference: Why your FINGER INJURY WON'T HEAL and HOW TO FIX IT -- Hint: Pain is good
Answer:
So, this question is a bit tougher for me, because I tend to go away from a lot of the common held beliefs and practices. People tend to ice everything down and think it’s great for the body. I see icing as having a purpose, but a much smaller role. The main purpose for me is to help maintain performance, especially if you're a professional athlete / climber during a long season of performance. Professional athletes use ice all the time to help manage their inflammation and keep performing at high levels during their season.
The reason I say I tend to go away from common held beliefs and practices is because I actually do not prefer icing for most athletes. I don't love it simply because you are reducing a natural process of the body: inflammation. Inflammation gets a bad rap, when really... it's there for a reason. When you do a great exercise and feel sore, a lot of that soreness is inflammation. That process is there to help heal and repair your body. Why do you want to stop that? In fact, if you're just covering up your aches and pains with icing you may be doing yourself an injustice. Inflammation is there to help heal the body so why do I want to slow that down?
If you're dependent on penguin fingers to climb then you may be pushing your body too far. You may not be affording yourself enough time to heal and recover between climbs. But, again, if this is your job and you're a professional athlete, it is common practice in order to maintain performance because you don’t want to have high levels of inflammation all the time.
That is the second role of icing, to manage inflammation. A bit of inflammation is good, but of course, a huge, swollen joint or a large amount of swelling at an ankle from an acute injury definitely may benefit from ice. So, to answer your very short question: icing has its role, but be smart about it and think about how it may best serve you rather than just using it all the time.
Disclaimer:
As always, exercises are to be performed assuming your own risk and should not be done if you feel you are at risk for injury. See a medical professional if you have concerns before starting new exercises.
Written and Presented by Jason Hooper, PT, DPT, OCS, SCS, CAFS
IG: @hoopersbetaofficial
Filming and Editing by Emile Modesitt
www.emilemodesitt.com
IG: @emile166
