Folks who ARC as a component of training - grade relative to onsight / redpoint ability?

For those of you who use ARC sessions as a piece of your training, how does the difficulty level you sustain during the ARC interval compare to, say, your redpoint or onsight ability? I'm still feeling out how to get the intensity right - seems like I'm doing ARC at 5.8-5.9 and redpointing 5.10c-d (ratings are in the same gym so reasonably comparable). My redpoint sessions are generally continuous toprope on autobelays (not upleading and downleading). Feels about right, but other data points would be appreciated.

It took me a dozen or more sessions to get dialed in, but now that I've been doing it for 6+ months, my typical ARC session lasts 30 minutes and most of that time is spent on 5.9 territory, with occasional forays into mid-hard 10's when I want to bump against my threshold for aerobic performance.

If you're not already doing so, you'll get more out of your sessions if you don't limit yourself to set routes. For example, I'll find an auto-belay that gives me access to an 8, a 10a, and a 10d and then I will use all of the holds to get the most out of the session.

In the gym, my OS level is around 11a and my RP level around 12a, a bit higher if I'm on top-rope.

Your in the right range. My wife leads around 10+/11- redpoint, 5.9+/10- onsight and ARC's at 5.8/5.9.

Ditto for Jason's post - mixing and matching routes to maintain the right intensity and avoid dying of boredom seems vital to me.

Just finishing up my first 12 week training program (my buddy and I were following the training schema laid out in the Anderson bros. book) and I had a couple ARCing related questions. Are you down-climbing every single time? If so what grade (compared to the grade you climbed up)? In the book they mentioned down climbing as one of the drills you can do while ARCing to work on your footwork among other things, but wasn't sure if we should be doing it all the time. I'd certainly be able to ARC at a bit of a higher level if I had a few seconds of pure rest between each burn.

Typically for our ARC sessions we were down-climbing each time, about 1-2 grades below what we climbed up. Towards the end of our ARC cycle, we would climb up 9's-10a's and down-climb 8's-9's on a flat to slightly overhanging wall (top roping or autobelay for the most part). Obviously if the only wall available was severely overhanging, the grades would go down a bit. Now our lead onsight ability is around 10d/11a, redpoint 11b/11c.

I'm not sure if I'm putting too much thought into the specific grades and should just be focusing on the time/using appropriate holds for my ability (regardless of the grade).

Appreciate any thoughts or feedback

You will always downclimb easier routes than you upclimb simply because of technique and practice. Try to narrow the gap between them as much as possible to keep a constant and even load on the forearms.
For a data point, when I could 20min. ARC at 12a/b I could onsight 13a and redpoint 14a
Up 12a/b, down 11a/b

Brendan N. (grayhghost) wrote:You will always downclimb easier routes than you upclimb simply because of technique and practice. Try to narrow the gap between them as much as possible to keep a constant and even load on the forearms. For a data point, when I could 20min. ARC at 12a/b I could onsight 13a and redpoint 14a Up 12a/b, down 11a/b

This isn't necessarily true, though I see the point you're trying to make. Sometimes, I will ARC by moving up on relatively easy terrain (5.8-9 for me) and then downclimb only on harder terrain (10's). That way, I'm getting an ARC session in and it's forcing me to improve my technique (footwork).

What I would give to be able to ARC on 12a terrain.

But in answer to the last question, yes you should be downclimbing since the goal is to stay on the wall for at least 20+ minutes. You're not going to accomplish that by not downclimbing, unless you climb really, really slow. Remember, there are no rules and you don't have to stick to a certain "route" so use whatever feet and hands are available to you, to meet your goal (a good, sustainable pump).