Hi
I was just wondering what y'all perspective on the weighted climbing, training & campusing was? Does it have positive rewards or is it mostly dangerous to our tendons? Hope to see a response.
Mike Hall.

Adding weight to increase the load imposed on the body relates to the overload principle of DeLorme (1946) who stated that: 'To increase their size or functional ability, muscle fibres must be taxed towards their present capacity to respond'. The increased strain on both the connective (tendons/ligaments) and contractile tissue (muscle fibres) increases the potential for injury especially during ballistic activities such as campusing. An alternative method to increase the resistance would be to climb on steeper boards or routes this results in greater loads being placed on the upper body. Many climbers such as Malcolm Smith and Jerry Moffatt have used weighted exercises in their training to great effect but you should consider the relative standard of these climbers before they embarked on these specific programmes. If you still want to experiment with resistance training start with a light weight and try to climb controlled, as your body adapts to the new resistance increase the weight. Remember that you are imposing a great load than normal through your muscles so adjust your rest intervals and training sessions to enable your muscles to recover. The majority of climbing related injuries result from insufficient rest so listen to your body and be prepared to take extra rest days or even stop training with the extra weight.
Reference DeLorme, T.L. (1946). Restoration of muscle power by heavy-resistance exercises. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 27, 645-667.

Hey guys,
I'm a med. student/climber. Here's my question: What do you think about isotonic workouts (for fingers and forearms) vs. the traditional isometric workouts? E.g. instead of hanging from (small) holds, why not swing on them thus relying on dynamic movement of muscle units. NoaH Kaufman (LA).

The jury is still out on this one! Although dynamic tension has been shown to produce a greater increase in strength little is known about its effectiveness for improving finger strength. Controlling the amount of load applied during dynamic exercises such as that suggested by Noah would be hard if not impossible. This becomes a critical factor when the contractile components (muscle fibres) become fatigued placing a greater load on the connective tissue which increases the potential for injury. Isometric exercises have 'position specific effects' which may be more beneficial given that climbers tend to keep their fingers flexed at a set angle when hanging holds. If you wanted to experiment with both dynamic and isometric finger exercises a safer less aggressive method would be to perform, simple finger flexion's using a dumbbell as resistance. By varying the weight you can apply the overload principle and hopefully increase functional ability of those muscle fibres engaged during this type of exercise.