Congratulations to the winner of this free plan.

The aim of this post is to go over the plan

writing process that I did so that everyone can learn a bit about how we make our plans here
at lattice!

Athlete Overview

Here is a brief overview of the athlete to give you all a bit of context as to why I have
designed their plan in such a way. This athlete has been climbing for 4 year, with their
primary focus being on indoor sport climbing. They typically climb 2 to 4 times a week and
also complete a mix of cardio, yoga/mobility & weight training. They are available to train 10
hours a week and are used to exercising in one way or another 6 days a week. The only
climbing specific training (e.g. fingerboarding) that they have completed, in addition to going
climbing, was during lockdown. So their training history indicated that they are used to
training at a high volume, even if it’s not climbing specific. The athlete is looking to push their
sport climbing grade indoors and was wanting to prioritise whatever the testing highlighted
as a priority. Their mini assessment showed that their finger strength, power endurance and
pulling strength were most in need of work with their flexibility being very well developed.

Fingerboard Section

Seeing as this athlete’s finger strength is a weakness of theirs, and they are not a regular
fingerboard user, I decided that it was best to initially start with the density hangs session to
build up the strength and robustness of their tendons as well as introduce them to
fingerboarding. After the initial mesocycle of this I changed the session to the max hangs
session at 85% and then 90% to gradually increase the intensity and look towards
developing the max strength that their fingers are able to produce. As the athlete hasn’t been
doing regular fingerboarding I kept these sessions to no more than 1 session a week as this
will be likely enough to lead to adaptations whilst keeping the injury and fatigue risk low.
Alongside their fingerboard session I have also included wrist curls at the start of the plan
and finger curls later on in the plan. Both these sessions will look to increase the size and
strength of the muscles in the forearm that are responsible for flexion of the wrist and
fingers, which we typically use when climbing.

Strength and Power

This athlete is looking to push their indoor sport climbing grade and therefore in the strength
and power section I have decided to mainly focus on building strength in their bouldering
sessions. Increasing strength will help make all the moves feel easier and will reduce the
energy demand to complete each move, which will leave more in the tank for the rest of the
route. I have therefore decided to start the plan off with the pyramids session to help build
session fitness. After this I have included the strength intervals session so that they can
translate the session fitness into completing multiple hard moves in a session. Towards the
end of the plan I have Included the style triad session to help the athlete maximise their
recruitment whilst climbing.

Energy Systems

Seeing as power endurance was a weakness, an improvement in the athletes' aerobic and
anaerobic abilities would likely lead to an improvement in their sport climbing performance.
To start off with, we are looking to build the aerobic base and anaerobic capacity. For the
athletes aerobic sessions I have started off with the low intensity varied ARC session before
moving to the 50-50 session to help them get used to not building up fatigue in easier
sections of climbing before entering harder sections of the route.

For the anaerobic sessions I choose the 6 in 6 session to help build the ability to repeatedly
complete hard moves whilst also fatigued. I then switched out this session for the linked
boulders session so that the athlete is able to increase the number of moves that they are
able to complete close to their limit before powering out.

Towards the end of the plan I have dropped out the aerobic and anaerobic capacity sessions
for the fatiguing aerobic power work that takes place in the route pyramid session. This
session will build upon the base fitness that was created in the previous week's training and
get them used to the feeling of being really pumped!

Volume

As this athlete is used to climbing 2 - 4 times a week I have kept their climbing sessions
within this window so that they are not overly fatigued from session to session so that the
quality will remain high. Towards the end of the plan I have included more open sessions for
the athlete to be trying more routes and they can base the intensity of these sessions on
their energy levels. They may find that they are not able to complete as much cardio as they
had done previously, but if they are wanting to prioritise their climbing performance then this
may be something that takes the hit.

Conditioning section
This athletes pulling strength could do with being developed and for that reason the
conditioning session will mainly focus on increasing upper body strength and then prolonging
that strength to help them perform on routes. To start off the plan the focus will mainly be on
increasing shoulder stability to help develop a solid base upon which to generate strength.
This will be done with the scapular conditioning and stabiliser conditioning sessions. We will
then move onto building strength in weighted pull ups before looking to prolong that strength
by reducing the intensity and rest whilst keeping the volume high in the on the minute
session. I have also included press ups, shoulder press and low rows to complement the
pulling exercises to leave the arms and shoulders feeling strong in several ranges of motion.
For the core sessions we will be looking to develop the strength endurance in floor core
exercises to give the upper body a break to help reduce the risk of over training in that area.
The core sessions will help with maintaining body tension whilst on route. This will help
reduce the intensity of the moves as well as increase the number of positions that they are
able to rest in whilst on the route. As this athlete already has a high level of flexibility, I have
looked to maintain this without taking too much time away from other training sessions. This
also allows them the opportunity to complete their self directed yoga if they feel they have
sufficient energy levels.

So that’s about it from me. I hope you found this useful and have a better understanding of
what you may want to do in your own training.