MESO-Rx
Anabolic Steroids
Any climbers?
- Thread starter I6JQdr06
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clearheaded
Member
EPO and low doses of test is prob what if anything is used, like halfway between triathlon and long distance runners gear... ie lean small but strong with fast recovery. mass is the enemy. maybe uber low dose hgh for recovery. just a wild guess though judging by how the buddies look/train... mostly long distance and sort of modified cross fit.
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clearheaded
Member
lol fair enough..
Deskoze38192
Member
I was a rock climber for almost 20 years.
Trad (5.11d) and sport (5.13a)
Climbed 3-5 times a week. Always lived near a crag or mountains
Also climbed in a rock gym when bad weather or in the winter
Never used gear then
I’m a climber for trade also (not rock) but climbing has paid my bills for almost 30 years
Climbing and weight don’t mix, trust me lol
Any AAS that adds weight is not your friend even if adding strength. It has to be strength gains without added weight
Any AAS that weakens tendons also not good (Winstrol) comes to mind
Strong tendons is the key to climbing strength
My job is so much harder since I started using gear and gained 85 lbs of muscle
Trad (5.11d) and sport (5.13a)
Climbed 3-5 times a week. Always lived near a crag or mountains
Also climbed in a rock gym when bad weather or in the winter
Never used gear then
I’m a climber for trade also (not rock) but climbing has paid my bills for almost 30 years
Climbing and weight don’t mix, trust me lol
Any AAS that adds weight is not your friend even if adding strength. It has to be strength gains without added weight
Any AAS that weakens tendons also not good (Winstrol) comes to mind
Strong tendons is the key to climbing strength
My job is so much harder since I started using gear and gained 85 lbs of muscle
Deskoze38192
Member
Definitely agree with mass is the enemy
BigTomJ
Member
io used to climb regularly at around a v7-8 level. but that was when i was 50lbs lighter. I havent climbed in years, but boy do i miss it, but i simply cant do it at anywhere near the same level now that im heavier
Deskoze38192
Member
That’s awesome! V7-V8 is some hard bouldering
BigTomJ
Member
yeah i was lucky to have a good bouldering gym the next town over from mew that was only like 100$ for a year membership.
so i used to go climb on any of my rest days from the gym.
ended up climbing 2-4 sessions a week for a couple years. even still any of those v7-v8s would take me several sessions to work out
Deskoze38192
Member
Yeah at that grade it’s a puzzle for sure
That’s why you do good at bodybuilding…take everything to the extreme lol
I’m the same way
All or nothing
I used climb a lot at Rumney, Cathedral Ledge, Cannon cliff, Crow Hill and spent a few months a year in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Little Cottonwood Canyon, and Zion
Miss it for sure.
Life changes
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clearheaded
Member
1 time I managed 5;10 in the gym. only 5:9 trad and was a fluke. first time trad was windy 40km winds and spitting rain my climbing buddy was like give it a go its only 5:7 or 5:8 and u can do that... lol thought I was going to die smack into the overhang etc.. lets just say I let him fall an extra second belaying him when he was trying harder stuff... lol def not smart and I coulda injured him or myself but thats what being 20 something is I guess.
I climb at about V6. I’ve been dabbling with low doses of AAS for a couple of years. In that time I’ve gone from maybe 20% body fat down to 9.5% (measured by DEXA scan). However I’m exactly the same weight now, as I’ve replaced fat with muscle. I see this as a wasted opportunity to increase my power to weight ratio.
I wish I knew at the beginning of my journey what I know now. I’ve halved my TRT dose from what it used to be and any injectables on top (apart from maybe Masteron) are pointless because they just increase mass. I suspect though that Masteron isn’t great for the connective tissue.
I think i now understand that the way to successfully use AAS without suffering weight gain is to limit them to very short infrequent training blocks where a specific weakness is worked on. As for compounds, I suspect we’re talking anavar or halo but more work on this is needed before being anywhere near to confident in recommending them.
Progress will always be limited by the capacity of the finger tendons to handle the training load (I’ve learned that by repeatedly injuring my A2 pulleys), so PEDs can only help so much. The benefit is probably negligible for a climber in their 20s but I’m 50 and I climb fairly hard for my age, so it’s a little more worthwhile. The balance is very difficult to find though.
I wish I knew at the beginning of my journey what I know now. I’ve halved my TRT dose from what it used to be and any injectables on top (apart from maybe Masteron) are pointless because they just increase mass. I suspect though that Masteron isn’t great for the connective tissue.
I think i now understand that the way to successfully use AAS without suffering weight gain is to limit them to very short infrequent training blocks where a specific weakness is worked on. As for compounds, I suspect we’re talking anavar or halo but more work on this is needed before being anywhere near to confident in recommending them.
Progress will always be limited by the capacity of the finger tendons to handle the training load (I’ve learned that by repeatedly injuring my A2 pulleys), so PEDs can only help so much. The benefit is probably negligible for a climber in their 20s but I’m 50 and I climb fairly hard for my age, so it’s a little more worthwhile. The balance is very difficult to find though.
Deskoze38192
Member
That sounds like a very reasonable and sensible approach
That’s exactly right that your tendons are the limiting factor
I would be worried of any AAS that could compromise their integrity
Hangboard work everyday pockets, crimps
Bouldering is all in the foot placement, balance and body positioning but that finger strength is often a limiting factor after the puzzle has been worked out
I think finger strength allows you to spend less time working out the intricacies of movement. It’s a short cut. But it also opens up more possibilities.
One thing that a combination of AAS and the correct training has really helped with is my rotator cuff. I’m super strong at shouldery moves as I’ve been able to train that without tendon integrity being such a limiting factor. My weighted pull-ups and dumbbell rows are both probably at a V11 standard but there’s many more aspects to climbing V11 than back and shoulder strength.
One thing that a combination of AAS and the correct training has really helped with is my rotator cuff. I’m super strong at shouldery moves as I’ve been able to train that without tendon integrity being such a limiting factor. My weighted pull-ups and dumbbell rows are both probably at a V11 standard but there’s many more aspects to climbing V11 than back and shoulder strength.
Deskoze38192
Member
Yeah that’s exactly right
Sometimes strength makes up for technical faults but sometimes the technique is there but the strength at that particular time or angle is the weakness
Being able to climb v6 at 50 is highly impressive.
My rock climbing ended at 38, started at 18.
I got to climb with some older legands pretty regularly like Steve Arsenallt and I watched Henry Barber breeze up a 5.10 with a gut lol. It’s really in the skill more than anything.
Watched Chris Sharma work out routes at Rumney. Unreal skill and strength
KonsciousKing
New Member
I got into AAS before i started climbing. I had a couple years lifting under my belt so i was relatively strong going in. But after a certain point gym strength doesn’t translate well to wall strength.
Right now i keep everything low dose if i run anything besides my trt. I honestly just love the overall feeling of running certain AAS. I’ve transitioned more into to climbing now, id say im a strong v6 dabbling in certain v7s depending on the climb. But i attribute that to changing my focus from adding mass to becoming a more well rounded climber, e.g, Actually practicing technique and learning how to push with the legs and not just muscling my way through everything. Training my fingers so my tendons don't give out on my me, ya know things like that.
Like some have said, i do think they can have a place when used right but i think climbings a bit too intricate in a sense where taking any large amount of anything would help you progress. Climbings a journey where putting in the time and work will get you further than any AAS would
Right now i keep everything low dose if i run anything besides my trt. I honestly just love the overall feeling of running certain AAS. I’ve transitioned more into to climbing now, id say im a strong v6 dabbling in certain v7s depending on the climb. But i attribute that to changing my focus from adding mass to becoming a more well rounded climber, e.g, Actually practicing technique and learning how to push with the legs and not just muscling my way through everything. Training my fingers so my tendons don't give out on my me, ya know things like that.
Like some have said, i do think they can have a place when used right but i think climbings a bit too intricate in a sense where taking any large amount of anything would help you progress. Climbings a journey where putting in the time and work will get you further than any AAS would
I think that the strength which helps you on the wall is very specific to certain muscles (infrasplinatus, teres major, flexor digitorum profundus). The issue is with the exception of possibly fingerboarding or the current trend of no-hang protocols, there’s no resistance exercise you can really do which isolates the beneficial muscles to such an extent that you don’t incur collateral hypertophy in the larger muscle groups.
I’ve been fairly focussed in my training and I’m still carrying multiple kilograms of unnecessary muscle in my pecs, delts, and lats. It’s frustrating.
KonsciousKing
New Member
Honestly next year when I’m not busting my ass working, i want to cut some weight and focus on more climbing specific training. My instinct is always push weight so i train climbing for a bit then end up back hitting the weights or i try to do both and i burn myself out.
I noticed even when i do train specifically for climbing i never really lose my strength but when its the other way around i start to lose a bit of finger strength or any little bit of progress I’ve made climbing wise
I use cable machines a lot. External rotations in all planes, face pulls, lateral raises, D2 flexion, straight arm pull-downs. Then with dumbbells: prone W to I (with really light weights), finger curls, dumbbell rows. That in addition to finger boarding and climbing. Campussing is absolutely the best trainjng tool we have but for me it’s too injury prone.
Oh and my secret best ever compound exercise - pull ups on the 35° sloper on the beastmaker hangboard. It’ll hit every single muscle you need for climbing and nothing you don’t. My rhomboids and oblique muscles ache the next day so I suppose that’s the weak point in my shoulder stability chain. You can try it on the 45° sloper if you want but that’s insanely hard.
Oh and my secret best ever compound exercise - pull ups on the 35° sloper on the beastmaker hangboard. It’ll hit every single muscle you need for climbing and nothing you don’t. My rhomboids and oblique muscles ache the next day so I suppose that’s the weak point in my shoulder stability chain. You can try it on the 45° sloper if you want but that’s insanely hard.
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KonsciousKing
New Member
Ill face to give the d2 flexion and the prone w to i. I’ve started to incorporate a lot more finger curls and external and internal rotations. I got a hangboard so i some finger training while at home.
The sloper pull ups sound like a good one. I haven’t even tried hanging on those yet. My favorite training is just doing routes on the tension board.
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