I understand that "P90X" is a somewhat generic term that covers a number of exercise programs aimed at general fitness. I also have heard there are climbing specific workouts/programs that are offered. Is anyone familiar with the specifics that could summarize it for me, or point me toward some specific information?

I've had folks at the crag ask me about it, and I don't really know what to say.

I believe Steve Edwards was one of the folks involved in crafting the program, and he's a long-time climber and on Mtn Proj. Maybe shoot him an email.

I did P90x last year. I wanted a little boost to look more cut in my abdominal area. It certainly delivers results if you stick with it.

I did not follow the diet as my diet is already reasonably good. I do not eat out except for VERY occasional sashimi when I cannot find fish fresh enough. I make all my own meals, nothing processed, mostly vegetables.

It is not climbing specific by any means, and other than overall marginal weight loss and maybe a bit more muscle development, you will climb basically the same.

I think you will get a lot better at climbing by just climbing than by P90x.

If you can get a copy of DPM (Dead Point Magizine) it's a free climbing magazine, I get it at my gym. You could also go to the web site at www.dpmclimbing.com. The newest issue for March/April is the training issue. It has a really good article written by Steve Edwards where he lays out a P90X style program for climbing. Hope that helps.

I'm on round two of the P90X 90 day workout program. I definitely toned up several body parts during the first 90 days. But, my climbing went to hell during the program. I think my muscles were so fatigued from the workouts that I had nothing left for climbing.

The program calls for workouts 6 days a week for roughly 1.5 hours per day. 3 days of lifting weights and 3 days of cardio. Good program. I'm interested to see the article in dp mag.

By the time I finished my first round of P90X, bouldering to my max was fun. All the pull-ups are great prep.

Mike,
I'll bet if you just started doing P90X for your training, your redpoint max would reach 13a or b within a month or two...

SB

Mike:
I know P90x has a ton of pullups ect which would be awesome for climbing but if u want to shread lbs, strengthen core and improve leg strength for dynamic movements I would suggest Insanity its like P90x but 100% plyo's all body weight and for the first month its a short 35 min work out and progresses to 60 min. my .02 good luck!
-Jeff

I would suggest the TRX Trainer... Core yes, body weight movement (like climbing) yes, easy to transport yes, plus you can use it outside. I love the TRX and they even have extensions to the original for climbers called the talon grip so you can even improve your grip strength with various different finger combos. I really enjoy mine and have even taken a workshop provided by TRX.

Check it out at
fitnessanywhere.com

Its kind of expensive and being a climber you could pry make something extremely close out of webbing and small hardware for under 75 but the workout books and dvd are really great

I sub the pull days/excercises with my climbing. The diet is great and cardio is great....definitely get your hands on the latest DPM or go to their website to view the latest issue. Theres a great article on using the basis of the p90x, muscle confusion, and applying it to climbing specific workouts.

A dozen posts or so and we're still waiting for some specifics. Is this like the Gym Jones cult where you have to take a vow of secrecy or something?

if you are extremely fat and live on a desert island with no climbing, the P90X MIGHT help your climbing just by getting you into decent shape. if you already climb at a decent level, the P90X will probably do very little to help your climbing. if you are a pretty good climber and spend your training time actually doing something to help your climbing, adding the P90X will probably hurt your climbing by killing your recovery time and leading to overtraining injury.

i have to laugh at the notion that doing a bunch of pullups will be awesome for your climbing.

This guy uses P90X:

Mike Golic Submitted By: Monomaniac on Mar 30, 2011

I've read the article. I think his recommendations at the end are pretty spot on, but there aren't any specifics. It's easy to make the right recommendations when you don't give specifics, but still, I'll give credit where it's due. On the other hand, I disagree with some of his analysis in the early part of the article.

First, and this is a very common error, Gullich built and trained on the campus board long before he even saw Action Direct (see "Wolfgang Gullich: A Life in the Vertical"). The analysis that follows is problematic. Gullich was a poor competition climber because he didn't like competitions and was not a good onsight climber, it's not because his training was ineffective, which is an absurd point to make right after claiming that it helped him climb the world's hardest route. The larger point that Edlinger was a "free spirit" (comparable to Sharma) and Gullich was the training fiend is also absurd if you know anything about Gullich's life. It was exactly the opposite. Gullich was well known for having more interest in sipping coffee at a cafe than going climbing, and had long periods of low motivation where he didn't climb anything.

Steve later claims that hypertrophy should be avoided because you'll gain weight. I agree that hypertrophy in your legs and other areas would be counterproductive because they are very large muscles that don't need to be very strong to be effective for rock climbing. Making such a broad statement, however, is inappropriate. He says "If you increase your strength 10% and your weight 10% you will be decreasing your overall effectiveness at fighting gravity". First off, this doesn't make sense. Your performance would stay fixed, not decrease in this scenario. I think what he means to say is that you CAN'T increase your strength and weight equally only through hypertrophy. Muscle strength scales with the muscle cross sectional area, while muscle weight scales with it's volume. So, if you increased a muscle's strength 10%, it's area would increase 10%, so it's volume would increase 15%. SQRT(1.1)*1.1 = 1.15 --> 15% This is why big muscle-bound body builder dudes suck at climbing, and always will.

Even still, this is a poor argument to make in the context of climbing because the weak link for most climbers is the forearms, and they are such small muscles. Increasing the forearm mass by 15% would hardly be measurable, and certainly less than a few pounds, but increasing your crimp strength by 10% will have an enormous impact on your climbing.

Still it wasn't a bad article in the end, but it's aimed at pure novices, and clearly intended to be a "change of pace" from the typical training article. I have to say, it is one of the better magazine articles I've read on training, which unfortunately doesn't say much.

Get yourself a Shake Weight. Even if your climbing doesn"t improve, you'll hone other valuable skills.