Training for the Red on a 7 foot bouldering wall

A 5 min ARC training lap in the dojo. 
[please mute / ignore the audio]

I am training for the Red River Gorge on a very short bouldering wall.  At the tallest, the ceiling is between 5 and 7.5 feet.  What the wall lacks in height it makes up for with options for traversing.

Starting in August I have been climbing 3 days a week, and after this weekend (my 6th training day) I will have accumulated about 500 min on the wall.  After that I will have 4 more training days of endurance before I switch to strength training on the hangboard.

When training endurance or "base fitness" I normally stay on the wall for sets that last about 15 to 35 minutes, and rack up a total of 80 min per training day.  That is about all that my skin can handle with the heat and humidity of the South East Ohio summer.

The lap in the video illustrates one of the least steep routes through the room and takes advantage of rests where the ceiling is high enough to actually stand up.  Other times I do laps with big moves from big holds to work full body strength.  However, I already have good endurance on big holds and want to improve my endurance on smaller holds and less steep angles.  So I am trying to spend more time grabbing smaller holds, and resting on holds that are less than full hand jugs.

The Rock Climber's Training Manual advocates for endurance training on wall angles ranging between vertical and 30 degrees but I don't really have much terrain for that.  Hopefully, creative use of rests and using smaller holds than I had used in the past (i.e avoiding most of the jugs and using more 1st and 2nd pad holds) will offset the "too steep" limitation and help me complete some tall endurance routes at the Red this fall.

Running out of space. . .

(I thought I was)
Starting to run out of space for more holds.

Winter (2012/13) I added about 60 new holds (mostly homemade, or found at Lowes).  The good news about running out of space is that you don't need to get or make more holds for a while.  I suspect that I can fit in another 100-150 holds, mainly on the roof and around the edges of wall.  Here is what I added during that winter:

• White pvc pinches and handlebars with endcaps.   These giant holds are comfortable, cheap, and easy to make.   For pinches you just bolt a capped section of pvc to the wall (into the supports behind the plywood).  For jugs you include a spacer to allow full hand access.  You can either add sandpaper discs, or you can sand the surface to create a better grip.   In some cases I bolt into a t-nut on one end, in others I use lag screws for both ends.  Grey pinches without endcaps were generation #1, white with endcaps were generation #2.  

• Small pvc endcaps and T joints screwed directly to the wall  [about 35 cents each)
• These make fine generic feet for traverses and warm ups.
• Cutting footholds from strips of oak molding is cheaper, but requires more work.
• These you just pre-drill holes for the screws and then attach them to the wall

• Squarish wooden pinches made from double layers of 2X3s.  
• I glued and clamped two 4ft sections of 2X3s
• Made an angled cut to create 7 hold sized chunks
• Smoothed corners with a rasp and chisel
• Sanded with an orbital sander
• Countersunk screw-holes

• Wooden side-pull jugs
• Used left-over 6 X 3/4 pine slats, glued and clamped into staggered layers
• Attached angled molding on the ends
• Smoothed functional surfaces with orbital sander
• Need some detail shots, but the hold in question is the long wooden hold attached with several screws.  

• Mini jugs, made by modifying holds from Atomic (on sale seconds)
• Used hand saw to make incut edge