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35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Best sport climbing book yet!, February 9, 2006
This review is from: Self-Coached Climber: The Guide to Movement, Training, Performance (Paperback)
This makes "Performance Rock Climbing" completely obsolete (great in it's day, way outdated now). And it blows "Training for Climbing" away with better content on movement training and a DVD that brings it all together. The authors have clearly put a lot of time and research into this book -- it's technical but very readable.
This is a must-have for anyone serious about hard rock. BUT it has zero content about nutrition or injury prevention and recovery; serious oversights that are covered best in "Climbing: Training for Peak Performance" (a great book but more for alpine climbers and weekend rock warriors). For example, it doesn't warn how easy it is to hurt an ACL doing a drop knee or even discuss an A2 pulley injury. And you really can't climb at your best if you aren't eating well. Despite these short-comings, Self-Coached Climber rocks!
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not a Substitute for experience BUT..., February 15, 2007
This review is from: Self-Coached Climber: The Guide to Movement, Training, Performance (Paperback)
Training to climb is very sport specific. That is..... there is ample evidence that cross training to climb is not useful. For example being able to do 100 pull ups is probably not going to enhance your climbing ability much. Perhaps the only exception to this rule once you reach a certain level of climbing, is "reading" to climb. I must stress that without a certain baseline climbing experience reading about HOW to climb is not going to help you . However, as you excel you will find yourself plateauing. This is when mentoring will be of greatest benefit. Most cannot afford to be mentored by an experienced climber so you do the next best thing....mentor by proxy...you read a book.
In this regard, this book is one of the best "mentors" around. It takes you from your current plateaued level of climbing into an exponential phase of improvement. The book explains climbing by looking at movement which is composed of space, time, force and balance, efficiency of movement and psychology of movement. After explaining these topics the author gives specific exercises to improve these aspects of climbing.
The author then integrates these concepts into a coherent training schedule by first identifying your current level of performance in actual climbing. He then spells out what you should be doing at that level of climbing to progress to the next level. I particularly appreciated this part of the book.
For example let's say your current level of climbing is 5.10. He gives you a detailed training schedule of how to improve your level of climbing to 5.11. He holds your hand telling you how to warm and for how long, what bouldering problems to do, what climbs to do and how to do them, how to train both aerobically and anaerobically. Detailed training is provided to the 5.13 level.
If you are beginner I would not recommend buying any books yet. Rather go out a climb. For an introduction on "how to climb" please see my listmania: " so you want to rock climb".
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Comprehensive Training for Climbers, January 27, 2008
This review is from: Self-Coached Climber: The Guide to Movement, Training, Performance (Paperback)
"The Self-Coached Climber" is an excellent training resource for climbers at just about any level. I bought the book recently and before even finishing reading it, I started seeing improvements in my technique from working on the exercises.
In contrast to other books like "How to Climb 5.12," SCC is highly detailed and specific in its approach to improving fundamentals like balance, center of gravity and movement skills. The book provides excellent exercises for particular skills, and these are illustrated with abundant photos and/or drawings that show how the exercise should be done. Additionally, videos on the accompanying DVD can clarify any confusion with the exercises. Finally, a detailed training plan is presented for developing the stamina, strength and technique needed to move up in the climbing grades.
I think it's worth noting that while this is billed as a "self-coached" training book, some of the exercises can't be done without a partner. In fact, working with an equally-motivated partner through the course of the book would probably be the ideal approach.
I believe "The Self-Coached Climber" is a perfect companion piece to Arno Ilgner's mental training book "The Rock Warrior's Way" for anyone wanting to become a better and more confident climber.
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