One thing to keep in mind is the cadence in which you climb. Especially if you are repeating a climb four times in a row I certainly have a tendency to blast through the holds climbing as quickly as possible which may not translate as well to outdoor climbing. Slowing down and not rushing through a climb will have better applicability to route climbing.
If youve never done 4*4s first try 1) repeat a problem *2 2) repeat problem *3 3) repeat problem *4 Especially if you only have a steep home wall. And every go feels hard to you. I hurt myself attempting 4*4s
Gonna name-drop here and admit I stood back while Sean Bailey campused a V9 while he was doing 4x4s. He politely gasked beforehand and needless to say I gestured him to help himself :)
My most loved power endurance training: take a wall and start with the most right or left route. Climb it till the top and climb the next route next to it down. The next to that gets climbed up and so on. When you're pretty done you turn back and climb it all backwards. So all routes get climbed ideally one time up and one time down. After one round you rest 5 to 10min and start again. My best score is something about 9 Routes on a 3.8m wall with a range from 4a to 6a+ and two sets.
I do this all the time; I warm up on the easiest route and get it wired, then do the session. Also good to allow shake outs on jugs, most indoor climbers neglect this, which is a major factor in long outdoor routes. Heck Ondra practices kneebar shakeouts!
would you recommend instead of jumping off, just downclimb the boulder? Therefore you wouldn't have the small breaks inbetween. So do 2 up 2 down instead 4x4? Or do you think the downclimb limits the grade of the boulder too much (this would be my concern, as downclimbing feels so much harder)?
4x4 is really know within cardio and running. But can it be translated into climbing in the same way to? Like doing 4 mins constantly on a spraywall trying to get pumped out of your mind, and then a 4 (or two) minutes rest before going again? Would it give better or worse results?
One trick to remove the dropping off rest, is to downclimb. This works great for vert or gently overhanging, but not as well for roofs, where the difficulty of downclimbing would limit how hard you'd be able to upclimb in your 4x4s.
Yeah from my experience it’s also best to be done as a separate session. Eventually some stretching/core/antagonist training afterwards (something different than climbing-specific stuff)
Agree with the other comments here. Some well conditioned athletes will do more but most should start with this exercise as a dedicated session and might add some S&C afterwards.
Good question and something we can add to the list for video ideas 🙂. I can already suggest that there is no 'best' way but lots of options that will vary in appropriateness depending on your training history and goals.
What level of difficulty is recommended for 4x4? Easy, hard, or limit? (Assuming all are below "projecting" range.) And, would you recommend downclimbing, or dropping?
A well rehearsed boulder at your flash level is usually good, maybe one grade below flash. My highest flash is v7 and I do v5-v6 for 4x4s and maybe a spicy 4 if it's a good one.
@@AdamCulp YW. 4x4 is an excellent drill, but be careful of your overall fatigue and recovery as 4x4s are one of the most fatigue generating drills along with limit bouldering imo.
How about downclimbing boulders to not have the ‘rest’ in between goes? You get some negatives in and might have to reduce to 2 or 3 by 4. Or do the negatives kick you out off the specificity?
Great point! Downclimbing is certainly an option. I like to downclimb at least a few moves so I don't take so many big falls (good point about the knees/back). There are benefits to both options. Downclimbing will limit the gap, but might also be less specific. In my experience if the 4x4s are at a good intensity I can rarely reverse all of the moves (deadpoints etc.). Especially on a board e.g. Kilter. So they end up being easier or on larger holds on the way down. It feels a lot like hard-easy-hard-easy. You still can get a great session for power endurance but the consistency of movement practice feels less like an actual climbing performance IMO. If you want to avoid the gap that allows recovery I think there are better sessions/options like routes/circuits (still good movement practice) or foot-on campus laddering (very basic but very targeted). For this reason I think it's fine to take the rest OR downclimb but also change up the sessions used.
This session is intended to be on a boulder wall. But you could do something similar on a lead/autobelay wall. However the session would shift from being a relatively intense power endurance session to an aerobic capacity session.
You're looking at around 5-10 minutes. You want to be quite well recovered between sets. Rest can vary depending on the length of boulders and your ability to recover quickly. If you need longer, take it.
I'm always a bit confused by the terms 'set' and 'repetition', and the rest between them (perhaps I'm a bit stupid :) ). So what is the aim here... let's say I'm doing boulder 1, 2, 3 and 4. I did all 4 boulders after eachother once, what's next? No resting and doing it again (repeat 3 times), or getting a good rest and doing it again (repeat that, including the good rest, 3 times). and as usual, thanks for the video. They're a great help
Personally, I think it's a mistake to put your harder boulders at the beginning of the set. When I do that, it's really born out of ego (you get to say "I train 4x4s with v-whatever in the set") and laziness (it requires much less perseverance to do the hard boulder when you're not pumped). I also think it causes you to lose out on learning how to climbing harder moves when gassed and with an elevated heart rate. IME, much less learning happens when you stack the hard boulders up front.
Really depends on your rationale for using repeaters at the end of the session? It is very unlikely we would program these at the end of a session, especially after a really exhausting session like 4x4s.
@@LatticeTraining Thanks for your reply. I'm not very experienced with training plans and struggle to find the right volume/ intensity for workout sessions. Would a 4x4 or a repeater ptorocol with prior warm up already be enough for one session?
@@nicokastunowicz6477 It depends on your training history. But for most a good warm-up (may include some hangboarding) and a 4x4 session will be enough. Usually our fingers tire before our bigger muscles so you can finish the sessions with some accessory S&C work if you want to do more training.
Think you’re missing the real reason why to train a 4x4. It’s to train you’re muscles to get better at the recuperation rest part in between reps and sets. Therefor a rest of 15 to 30 seconds is important between each rep and a 4 minute rest inbetween sets. You can also do it without resting between reps but that’s a whole other training goal.
@@LatticeTrainingthe rest time between sets and reps is needed for you’re muscles to get the wrong byproducts out of them. And to train you’re muscles at getting better at this.
Ok I think we are on the same page ☺️. In this video we suggest no or limited rest between reps but also that this can vary depending on interpretation, we don't claim to have invented the session 😝. The short rest interval is a good critique of the session. I think 30s is on the longer end for what most people will be familiar with and we are just trying to present back what we think most people will have done or know about the session. We agree rest is important but also that rate of energy expenditure is important for developing anaerobic power. So a 5-10s rest between reps might be a good middle ground to keep the intensity high but also not draw out the set longer and make it more like a bouldering interval session.
@@LatticeTrainingI see you see this as a power endurance training but I use a 4x4 to train my muscular recuperation system. Giving only 5 secs of oxygen to my muscles is not gone do anything and would be a complete different goal. They are both valid training goals but different.
@@karlderdelinckx yeah totally. For recovery capacity I would also add ARC training in the mix because of how linked PCr regeneration is to oxygen delivery. This also helps with buffering rates.
Power-endurance?! In the context of bouldering, this is clearly endurance training. No need to make silly combination of words just to make it sound more interesting.
Thanks Stefan. This term is a colloquialism is the UK. We use it because it will be recognisable to a large part of our audience. Similar terms in the climbing community you'll hear, with a simialr meaning, are; resistance training (not as in weightlifting) & strength-endurance training. Both mean aerobic power training.
One thing to keep in mind is the cadence in which you climb. Especially if you are repeating a climb four times in a row I certainly have a tendency to blast through the holds climbing as quickly as possible which may not translate as well to outdoor climbing. Slowing down and not rushing through a climb will have better applicability to route climbing.
Yes! Great point!
On my home wall, I use a 4-6 sec timer. Forces a decent pace
what I like to do is do the 4x4 as 2 back to back climbs on the same route or 2 adjacent routes and downclimb each time. never come off the wall then.
If youve never done 4*4s first try
1) repeat a problem *2
2) repeat problem *3
3) repeat problem *4
Especially if you only have a steep home wall. And every go feels hard to you.
I hurt myself attempting 4*4s
Gonna name-drop here and admit I stood back while Sean Bailey campused a V9 while he was doing 4x4s. He politely gasked beforehand and needless to say I gestured him to help himself :)
Haha amazing!
Thanks for the variations here, very good ideas. I need to incorporate this into my schedule once a week.
My most loved power endurance training: take a wall and start with the most right or left route. Climb it till the top and climb the next route next to it down. The next to that gets climbed up and so on. When you're pretty done you turn back and climb it all backwards. So all routes get climbed ideally one time up and one time down. After one round you rest 5 to 10min and start again.
My best score is something about 9 Routes on a 3.8m wall with a range from 4a to 6a+ and two sets.
Cool story? This works ok if there are a bunch of boulders/problems of somewhat similar grade near each other. Also routes are sport climbing. Ur bad
Could always down climb (if possible) to the start holds to eliminate the small rest you get before hopping back onto the wall for the next rep
I do this all the time; I warm up on the easiest route and get it wired, then do the session. Also good to allow shake outs on jugs, most indoor climbers neglect this, which is a major factor in long outdoor routes. Heck Ondra practices kneebar shakeouts!
Why isn’t it on the crimpd app?
Thanks for the video!
would you recommend instead of jumping off, just downclimb the boulder? Therefore you wouldn't have the small breaks inbetween. So do 2 up 2 down instead 4x4?
Or do you think the downclimb limits the grade of the boulder too much (this would be my concern, as downclimbing feels so much harder)?
4x4 is really know within cardio and running. But can it be translated into climbing in the same way to? Like doing 4 mins constantly on a spraywall trying to get pumped out of your mind, and then a 4 (or two) minutes rest before going again? Would it give better or worse results?
One trick to remove the dropping off rest, is to downclimb. This works great for vert or gently overhanging, but not as well for roofs, where the difficulty of downclimbing would limit how hard you'd be able to upclimb in your 4x4s.
I do this as well but I reckon it's legit to downclimb on random holds. As long as you're keeping the tension up it should be fine
When should this be done - start or end of a bouldering session or a dedicated training session? Thanks!
in my experience, if you give it your all - start fresh and go home afterwards. I couldn't grab one more hold after I was finished :D
Yeah from my experience it’s also best to be done as a separate session. Eventually some stretching/core/antagonist training afterwards (something different than climbing-specific stuff)
Agree with the other comments here. Some well conditioned athletes will do more but most should start with this exercise as a dedicated session and might add some S&C afterwards.
@@LatticeTraining what is S&C?
@@sanderwerelds364 stands for Strength & Conditioning. Generally used to refer to gym based work outside of actual sports/skill practice.
What's the best way to train power endurance on a lead wall?
Good question and something we can add to the list for video ideas 🙂. I can already suggest that there is no 'best' way but lots of options that will vary in appropriateness depending on your training history and goals.
Why isn't the 4x4 in the Crimpd app?
We don't own the Crimpd App. Just involved in the set up but now we have our own App.
What level of difficulty is recommended for 4x4? Easy, hard, or limit? (Assuming all are below "projecting" range.) And, would you recommend downclimbing, or dropping?
A well rehearsed boulder at your flash level is usually good, maybe one grade below flash. My highest flash is v7 and I do v5-v6 for 4x4s and maybe a spicy 4 if it's a good one.
@@ryanweeks287 Thanks
@@AdamCulp YW. 4x4 is an excellent drill, but be careful of your overall fatigue and recovery as 4x4s are one of the most fatigue generating drills along with limit bouldering imo.
How about downclimbing boulders to not have the ‘rest’ in between goes? You get some negatives in and might have to reduce to 2 or 3 by 4. Or do the negatives kick you out off the specificity?
Had the same thought / questions!
+1, mainly because I'm not a fan of jumping down for my back/knees
Makes sense and you also can adjust the downclimbing intensity/difficulty depending on what your project/goal is 🙂 Generally it’s a good idea 💪
Great point! Downclimbing is certainly an option. I like to downclimb at least a few moves so I don't take so many big falls (good point about the knees/back). There are benefits to both options. Downclimbing will limit the gap, but might also be less specific. In my experience if the 4x4s are at a good intensity I can rarely reverse all of the moves (deadpoints etc.). Especially on a board e.g. Kilter. So they end up being easier or on larger holds on the way down. It feels a lot like hard-easy-hard-easy. You still can get a great session for power endurance but the consistency of movement practice feels less like an actual climbing performance IMO. If you want to avoid the gap that allows recovery I think there are better sessions/options like routes/circuits (still good movement practice) or foot-on campus laddering (very basic but very targeted). For this reason I think it's fine to take the rest OR downclimb but also change up the sessions used.
What about repeating the same route with the autobelay?
This session is intended to be on a boulder wall. But you could do something similar on a lead/autobelay wall. However the session would shift from being a relatively intense power endurance session to an aerobic capacity session.
How much time to rest between sets?
You're looking at around 5-10 minutes. You want to be quite well recovered between sets. Rest can vary depending on the length of boulders and your ability to recover quickly. If you need longer, take it.
I'm always a bit confused by the terms 'set' and 'repetition', and the rest between them (perhaps I'm a bit stupid :) ). So what is the aim here... let's say I'm doing boulder 1, 2, 3 and 4. I did all 4 boulders after eachother once, what's next? No resting and doing it again (repeat 3 times), or getting a good rest and doing it again (repeat that, including the good rest, 3 times).
and as usual, thanks for the video. They're a great help
1234 rest 1234 rest etc.
@@seanacoleman thanks m8
Personally, I think it's a mistake to put your harder boulders at the beginning of the set. When I do that, it's really born out of ego (you get to say "I train 4x4s with v-whatever in the set") and laziness (it requires much less perseverance to do the hard boulder when you're not pumped). I also think it causes you to lose out on learning how to climbing harder moves when gassed and with an elevated heart rate. IME, much less learning happens when you stack the hard boulders up front.
After a 4X4 session, would you finish off the session with some repeaters?
Really depends on your rationale for using repeaters at the end of the session? It is very unlikely we would program these at the end of a session, especially after a really exhausting session like 4x4s.
@@LatticeTraining Thanks for your reply. I'm not very experienced with training plans and struggle to find the right volume/ intensity for workout sessions. Would a 4x4 or a repeater ptorocol with prior warm up already be enough for one session?
@@nicokastunowicz6477 It depends on your training history. But for most a good warm-up (may include some hangboarding) and a 4x4 session will be enough. Usually our fingers tire before our bigger muscles so you can finish the sessions with some accessory S&C work if you want to do more training.
@@LatticeTraining Great, thank you! :)
Can I like this more than once?
Another trick is to climb a longer roped route at the grade
I Willy like to take the same boulder for 4 repetition, becouce you clould also train your technic by repeting and perfecting the same move
Think you’re missing the real reason why to train a 4x4. It’s to train you’re muscles to get better at the recuperation rest part in between reps and sets. Therefor a rest of 15 to 30 seconds is important between each rep and a 4 minute rest inbetween sets. You can also do it without resting between reps but that’s a whole other training goal.
Not sure we are on the same page with this one. Do you mean resting between sets or resting between reps?
@@LatticeTrainingthe rest time between sets and reps is needed for you’re muscles to get the wrong byproducts out of them. And to train you’re muscles at getting better at this.
Ok I think we are on the same page ☺️. In this video we suggest no or limited rest between reps but also that this can vary depending on interpretation, we don't claim to have invented the session 😝. The short rest interval is a good critique of the session. I think 30s is on the longer end for what most people will be familiar with and we are just trying to present back what we think most people will have done or know about the session. We agree rest is important but also that rate of energy expenditure is important for developing anaerobic power. So a 5-10s rest between reps might be a good middle ground to keep the intensity high but also not draw out the set longer and make it more like a bouldering interval session.
@@LatticeTrainingI see you see this as a power endurance training but I use a 4x4 to train my muscular recuperation system. Giving only 5 secs of oxygen to my muscles is not gone do anything and would be a complete different goal. They are both valid training goals but different.
@@karlderdelinckx yeah totally. For recovery capacity I would also add ARC training in the mix because of how linked PCr regeneration is to oxygen delivery. This also helps with buffering rates.
Power-endurance?! In the context of bouldering, this is clearly endurance training. No need to make silly combination of words just to make it sound more interesting.
Thanks Stefan. This term is a colloquialism is the UK. We use it because it will be recognisable to a large part of our audience. Similar terms in the climbing community you'll hear, with a simialr meaning, are; resistance training (not as in weightlifting) & strength-endurance training. Both mean aerobic power training.