[Discuss] What to Train — Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses in your climbing

I'd like to kick off discussion around an r/climbharder "checklist" — a guide to assessing the strengths and weaknesses in your climbing and using that to guide training.

The basic question is simply:

How do you assess your strengths and weaknesses, and how does that factor into your training?

Meta

I put off writing this for a few days because it became rather... complicated.

Apologies for the length of this post — I think there's some valuable stuff in here, even though it ultimately needs to be edited. That's where feedback/discussion comes in!

Knowledge Dump

To kick things off, I'd like to knowledge dump some of the things I care about when assessing myself.

• Start with the question, "Why did I fail?"
  • Optimal training is specific
  • Specific weaknesses are also easier to train
• Physical
  • Fingers
    • What is my maximum strength (MxS)? (10" max-weight hang on a 1/2-1 pad edge)
    • What is my strength-endurance (SE)? (7" repeaters, ~49" set duration)
    • Is SE:MxS at least 75%?
    • Is any grip particularly weak?
    • Is any finger particularly weak?
    • Can I comfortably make a fist?
    • Does anything hurt?
  • Wrists:
    • Does my wrist want to "pop" on wide slopers?
    • Any pain mantling?
  • Shoulders:
    • Do I have large, pain-free ROM?
    • Can I press overhead?
    • Any pain on gastons?
    • Pain transitioning from undercling to overhead?
  • Back:
    • How's my pull up strength? Pull up endurance?
    • How's my deadlift?
    • How's my barbell row?
    • Has my roof climbing kept pace with my lifts?
  • Biceps/Triceps:
    • Am I struggling holding underclings on steep terrain?
    • Do I struggle to maintain fixed elbow angle? [1]
  • Core [2]:
    • How's my front lever?
    • How're my core intervals?
    • Can I move legs independently of each other and my body?
    • Can I control swings?
    • Can I hold toe hooks?
    • Can I hold low feet, especially under a roof?
  • Hips:
    • How's my deadlift?
    • How's my pigeon pose?
    • Do high steps push me off the wall?
    • Are high heel-hooks/matches uncomfortable?
  • Misc:
    • Is my non-dominant side weaker? (It often is...)
• Technique/Style
  • What styles do I like or dislike? Why? [3] Consider:
    • Style: Static; tension; dynamic; compression
    • Holds: Pinches; crimpers; edges; textured vs. non-textured
    • Feet: Volumes; slopers; tiny edges; smooth holds
    • Terrain: Roof; prow; slab; vertical; arete; bulge; dihedral
  • What moves do I like or dislike? Why? Consider:
    • Flexibility: Hand-foot match; high step
    • Strength/Balance: Lock off; cross over/under; mantles
    • Tension/Balance: Drop knee; back step; flag/reverse flag
    • Footwork: Heel hooks; toe hooks; high steps; smears; drop knee; back step
    • Coordination: Deadpoints; dynos; barn door; drive-by; pogo; campusflag/reverse flag
  • What holds make me cringe? Consider:
    • Tiny crimpers
    • Wide — or thin — pinches
    • Fat slopers
    • "Nothing-there" feet
• Strategy:
  • Did I warm up enough?
  • Is my time better spent resting today?
  • Did I misread a sequence?
  • Could I have recovered from a misread? Did I have a "Plan B"?
  • Did I rest enough between attempts?
  • Did I rest too much between attempts? (E.g. for SE training)
• Mentality:
  • Am I afraid of falling? Is that fear legitimate?
  • Am I afraid of failing, especially in public?
  • Am I trying my hard enough?
  • Am I making excuses?
  • Am I avoiding giving a real send-go?

[1] I've found this to be a good question for just about anything strength-related. Climbing is all about transitioning between body positions, which implies certain joint angles and configurations. Think about what joints are involved, what muscles hold them in place, and go from there.

[1] "Core" strength is fundamentally about your ability to resist rotation (read: gravity/momentum) and maintain fixed body position on the wall. A very good test of core strength is maneuvering out of a roof with low feet and no heel hooks options.

Similarly, any position that forces you to move your legs independently of your body without moving your COG is a good test.

[3] This is another good guiding principle. You're probably good at the styles you like — that's a self-reinforcing feedback loop. But you stand to improve faster by focusing on styles you dislike, especially ones that disproportionally favor strength (like steep climbing) or technique (like slab climbing).

Styles and problems in the middle are, in my experience, much less useful for training. You can train strength, and you can train technique, but you can't effectively train both simultaneously (there is plenty of literature on this, and my experience bears it out).