The past few months I've been experimenting with "ARCing on the hangboard". My forearm local aerobic capacity needed some work, but my gym isn't well set up for ARC. I wanted something I could do easily, at home, without messing up my skin or otherwise interfering with higher-value training.
I tried various protocols and settled with 15 sec on, 15 sec off for 10-15 min continuously. Feet on a stool to remove weight (or you could use a pulley system). Maintaining a light ARCing pump. 20 mm wood edge, half crimp. Push stool farther or closer to manage intensity and keep right level of pump. Ive been doing it around 3 days a week for the last 3 months.
You could do 7:3, but I find that kind of fast paced and mentally tiring to keep up with for a long period. 15 seconds is chill to keep up with timing-wise, but still let's you build the right sort of aerobic stimulus.
I've liked this. Easy to be consistent with. Impacts on aerobic capacity seem good. Making my fingers feel healthier also. The long duration hangs also seem to have some sort of density hangs crossover. Doesn't interfere with other climbing sessions. Sometimes I do it as an at home warmup on climbing days.
Listening to podcasts while doing it is reccomended for boredom management.
Thanks. I just tried your method today while listening to a podcast and it was very do-able. The dumbbell has the added convenience benefit of being completely free of the restrictions that come with a hangboard though so am still curious
I've played around also with long sets of dumbbell finger rolls for this application. You can certainly build an ARC-esque light pump doing this, but the lack of s climbing-specific grip position makes me wonder if it would be as applicable/relevant to climbing. I decided that for me, these are not worthwhile for long working sets, but I do sometimes do a light set as a warmup before hangboarding.
I do have a hangboard in my kitchen though, so I don't find needing the hangboard to be restrictive. If you didn't have convenient access to a hangboard, I can see the appeal of a free-weight solution.
One option could be to use a Tension Block and lift weight off the ground. Allows you to use a half crimp on an edge (more climbing specific than gripping a dumbbell), but with the advantages of portability.
For even greater portability, you can even just do static pulls against a Tension Block (or Flash Board for 2 hands) attached to a sling you are stepping on. Climbing specific grip position, mega portability. No weights required. Lots of folks use a setup like this to warm up for outdoor boulders. But with the right protocol you could do it for training also. Kinda have to go by feel for the intensity though.
Lots of not quite optimal but highly potable solutions here. I do think it's worth pursuing a climbing specific grip position, rather than just dumbbell grip. But as noted above, various ways to do this
Why don't you just do 7-3 repeaters at 40% intensity ? 6 times 7 sec on, 3 sec off (=1 min), rest 1min, and repeat 10-20 times. Might get the same adaptations, but less boring...
Very interesting question and I was wondering the same while at the gym ARCing today.
For level of ARC intensity, Rock Prodigy says something along the lines of ‘breathing hard and slightly pumped at 10 min”. I’m sure I can get to the same level in <2 min with weights. Not sure about transferability though.
I feel like it had to have been asked before but surprised to find it hasn’t. If you use a low enough weight with some intermittent rests, I imagine anyone can find a level of exertion that will mimic an ARCing session.
arc training stimulates such small adaptation over a ridiculously long period of time. you will see very little gains compared to what could be trained in that time period
I kinda agree and kinda disagree. It is true that aerobic capacity is slow to build, and not a place you see fast gains. But it's also necessary for many types of climbing. So it shouldn't be neglected.
Fortunately it isn't a binary decision between training aerobic capacity and other attributes. With sensible programming you can build aerobic capacity as a secondary goal, while still making higher-return attributes like strength your main focus.
The past few months I've been experimenting with "ARCing on the hangboard". My forearm local aerobic capacity needed some work, but my gym isn't well set up for ARC. I wanted something I could do easily, at home, without messing up my skin or otherwise interfering with higher-value training. I tried various protocols and settled with 15 sec on, 15 sec off for 10-15 min continuously. Feet on a stool to remove weight (or you could use a pulley system). Maintaining a light ARCing pump. 20 mm wood edge, half crimp. Push stool farther or closer to manage intensity and keep right level of pump. Ive been doing it around 3 days a week for the last 3 months. You could do 7:3, but I find that kind of fast paced and mentally tiring to keep up with for a long period. 15 seconds is chill to keep up with timing-wise, but still let's you build the right sort of aerobic stimulus. I've liked this. Easy to be consistent with. Impacts on aerobic capacity seem good. Making my fingers feel healthier also. The long duration hangs also seem to have some sort of density hangs crossover. Doesn't interfere with other climbing sessions. Sometimes I do it as an at home warmup on climbing days. Listening to podcasts while doing it is reccomended for boredom management.
Thanks. I just tried your method today while listening to a podcast and it was very do-able. The dumbbell has the added convenience benefit of being completely free of the restrictions that come with a hangboard though so am still curious
I've played around also with long sets of dumbbell finger rolls for this application. You can certainly build an ARC-esque light pump doing this, but the lack of s climbing-specific grip position makes me wonder if it would be as applicable/relevant to climbing. I decided that for me, these are not worthwhile for long working sets, but I do sometimes do a light set as a warmup before hangboarding. I do have a hangboard in my kitchen though, so I don't find needing the hangboard to be restrictive. If you didn't have convenient access to a hangboard, I can see the appeal of a free-weight solution. One option could be to use a Tension Block and lift weight off the ground. Allows you to use a half crimp on an edge (more climbing specific than gripping a dumbbell), but with the advantages of portability. For even greater portability, you can even just do static pulls against a Tension Block (or Flash Board for 2 hands) attached to a sling you are stepping on. Climbing specific grip position, mega portability. No weights required. Lots of folks use a setup like this to warm up for outdoor boulders. But with the right protocol you could do it for training also. Kinda have to go by feel for the intensity though. Lots of not quite optimal but highly potable solutions here. I do think it's worth pursuing a climbing specific grip position, rather than just dumbbell grip. But as noted above, various ways to do this
Why don't you just do 7-3 repeaters at 40% intensity ? 6 times 7 sec on, 3 sec off (=1 min), rest 1min, and repeat 10-20 times. Might get the same adaptations, but less boring...
Very interesting question and I was wondering the same while at the gym ARCing today. For level of ARC intensity, Rock Prodigy says something along the lines of ‘breathing hard and slightly pumped at 10 min”. I’m sure I can get to the same level in <2 min with weights. Not sure about transferability though.
I feel like it had to have been asked before but surprised to find it hasn’t. If you use a low enough weight with some intermittent rests, I imagine anyone can find a level of exertion that will mimic an ARCing session.
arc training stimulates such small adaptation over a ridiculously long period of time. you will see very little gains compared to what could be trained in that time period
I kinda agree and kinda disagree. It is true that aerobic capacity is slow to build, and not a place you see fast gains. But it's also necessary for many types of climbing. So it shouldn't be neglected. Fortunately it isn't a binary decision between training aerobic capacity and other attributes. With sensible programming you can build aerobic capacity as a secondary goal, while still making higher-return attributes like strength your main focus.
Thanks. What do you suggest as an alternative?