My Lattice Board Climbing Assessment

On March 22, 2018 Tom Randall from Lattice Coaching assessed and analyzed my climbing.  I have always been curious of the Lattice Training particularly after Tom Randall and Ollie Torr’s last interview on Training Beta.  If you haven't listened to it yet, make sure you check it out.

A few weeks ago my buddy, Brian, told me Tom and Ollie were coming to Denver and I signed up for an assessment that night. They installed a temporary Lattice Board up at Movement Denver and offered assessments. Tom and Ollie were awesome; gave great feedback during the session and catered it toward my needs. It was a great experience.

TBP 091 :: Tom Randall and Ollie Torr on How Their Training Research Can Help Us

Date: 3-22-18 Name: Dan Cornell Location: Movement Denver Height (cm): 173 Weight (kg): 71 (159lb) Current climbing grades: 7b+ route onsight, 8a route redpoint; V8 flashed, V10 worked Climbing Goals: Consistent Progression

Discussion of Results

Movement, Pace, and Style
From observing you climbing, I noticed that you are a “square-on” dominant climber and whilst you’re able to move into a “twisting” style of climbing when forced, it doesn’t fit as your default mode of movement. This can have a number of repercussions for your climbing – one being that square-on/open climbers often have lower levels of movement efficiency (especially for route climbing) and two, that your shoulder function may only suit square climbing positions.

When we tested your gaston and shoulder-dependent moves in the drills we (not surprisingly) saw a good level of performance and what we would consider sufficient for your level of climbing. Your twisting movements, however, indicated some lack of mobility in the hips and shoulders and could use some focused attention. Typically, this would take the format of a stretching (and range of mobility) routine 3-4 times a week and regular drill practice on a system board. For your pacing, at about one move every 2.9 seconds, it is a bit slower than what we’ve found to be the maximally efficient pace of 1 move per 2 seconds on the Lattice Board. This will have a significant effect on long boulder problems or on flash attempts as you’ll need to be fitter and stronger than your contemporaries who’ll be climbing faster!

Finger Strength
You scored 93.7% body weight hung with the left hand and 90.5% on the right. This sets you just a few percentage points back from the benchmark from your reported max grade of V10. We can currently say that finger strength is not a major factor holding you back from more V10s, but could be considered as something to focus on going forward…

In order to pursue your goal of becoming a more solid V10 climber and then breaking into V11, I would suggest some fingerboard training to bring your strength up to around 96% body weight. Whilst this is not a number that has to be achieve “to the dot” it’s certainly a gold standard and one that would assure you a much higher chance of achieving the next grade.

In our experience, we see gains of 3-5% per year as very achievable with an effective training program that compliments your climbing. You should look to carry out a combination of maximal “recruitment” style training and complimentary “hypertrophy” repeater style hangs.

Aerobic Function
From the testing, your aerobic function/efficiency is a little below what we would expect for an experienced climber, but not such a huge problem once we take into account that you’re a boulder specialist (the demands on the aerobic system are much lower!).
On this assessment, your second rep on the lactate curve was 78% of your max moves (see below). Whilst it is more crucial for route climbers to achieve high levels of aerobic fitness, boulderers should have a robust aerobic function in order to better handle anaerobic metabolic stress, be able to try hard throughout a climbing day, recover better between climbing/training sessions and raise the base from which further strength/power training is built. I would conclude that this is not a major area of concern but certainly a period of 6-12 months of work in this area would yield results.

• Note that pacing scores above are during interval testing and not on initial observation

Anaerobic Function
Your anaerobic function scored at 26%. This level is more indicative of an energy system profile suited to short and powerful routes than boulders and therefore you would look to carry out more training in this area. We would want to see 30+% for this part of the profiling score and whilst it does take quite some time to achieve changes, it does respond well to consistent training!

Strength Endurance / Power Endurance
Your max moves score of 46 moves on a 27.5 degree board indicates a sufficient level of power endurance (aerobic efficiency) for bouldering. If in the future your goals change to also improving on routes, especially those with long and sustained crux sections, this aspect of your profile will need some improvement. However, for bouldering I would more suggest to place this aspect on the side for now and favor the base fitness that can be gained from low end, easy aerobic work similar to ARC training.

Functional Movement
In terms of muscle function, I saw that the flexibility around the hips was a significant area that needed improvement. This could be sorted with an extended period of time on a focused stretching program that included mobility work 3+ times a week for the better part of a year.  In addition, I noticed some lack of shoulder engagement as you did the one-arm hangs on the fingerboard and on the bar. If you continue to climb at V10 and wish to pursue V11, this is worth giving attention to!
Your trunk stability was exceptional however, and your lever lifts/leg raises were more than sufficient for the difficulty of climbing you engage in. Very pleased with this!

Summary details:

Profile Attribute	Expectation for V11	Reality	Training Priority
Finger Strength	96%	91-94%	Moderate
FS Difference	0-3% between LH/RH	3%	Low
Lactate Curve	Moderate to fast decay rate	Fast	Moderate
Anaerobic Capacity	30+%	26%	High
Aerobic Efficiency	30-60	37	Low

If I was to rank the order of elements of your profile to work on it would be:
1. Anaerobic function/capacity
2. Finger strength
3. Shoulder strength and conditioning
4. Low end endurance/recovery capacity

Lots of potential and plenty of hard work ahead for you!

#latticetraining #Lattice Climbing Masters #ClimbingMasters

Campus Comp at The Spot!

Another great night of climbing . . . My daughter and I went to the Campus Comp at The Spot up in Boulder – Super Fun!  They had 20 campus only bouldering problems.  These old bones had to fight my way up all the way to the end.  Last year they had stopwatches at each climb and you needed to write down your best crushing time; this meant you ended up doing each problem a few times.  Now this year, they set it up differently and it was simple, straight forward, and in my opinion a lot more fun.  You basically had to climb as many problems as possible.   I was able to climb the first 17 out of 20 problems and I was totally psyched, particularly on 17. 

Problem 18 was a super reach to big sloping marshmallow or it was a dyno.  I did not have enough power for the big throw and I totally suck at dynos, let alone campus dynos.  I felt 19 was more obtainable, but by the end I was wasted.  And once again it was a big throw off a foothold on a sloper to a good rail and then a HUGE throw to the top.  Maybe I could have pulled it off if I was a bit fresher??? 

I almost decked hard on 17, the beginning was a cake walk, but the finish was on a down sloping rail, impossible to match.  You basically had to launch off it as soon as you matched.  My first attempt did not go well, I tried to go static, not good.  You were basically launching yourself as you were falling; I don’t know how I caught it, but I did.  It was super fun to get 17 . . .

The comp was not about winning or your score, it was just about having fun.  It was a BLAST!

May We Always Be Crazy!!!

~Cornell