Campus boards—gently over-hanging, no-feet “ladders”—became popular after Wolfgang Güllich invented one to train for Action Directe. Now Alex Huber has intro¬duced the system wall to mainstream climb¬ers. The latest tool in the search for greater power, the system wall overhangs more than a campus board—generally at least 30 degrees—and utilizes the feet. Huber feels this configuration pro¬vides all the benefits of a campus board, all over your body. As he says, “One’s muscles extend all the way to the toes.”

Despite what you may think at first glance, the system wall is not designed just to make you stronger. Strength is more efficiently built with heavy re¬sistance training. In¬stead, the system wall is designed to teach and prepare your body to move with power. Many improvements gained on the system wall are neuromuscu¬lar, so the quality of your session is much more important than the quantity. A little work, done with con¬centration and a goal in mind, goes a long way.

To understand why the system wall works, you must first look at the relationship be¬tween power and strength. Which additional factors influence a climber’s power besides his or her maximum strength?

Perhaps the single most important addition¬al factor in the power formula is the nervous system’s role in coordinating movement. In examining any complex athletic movement, we find a high level of skill. The brain, work¬ing though the nervous system, controls the actions of the muscles that produce the main forces for movement (agonists), the muscles that are involved in stabilizing and coordi¬nating the movement (synergists), and those muscles that try to in¬hibit movement—the body’s self-protection mechanism (antago¬nists).

Changes in the ner¬vous system that op¬timize control over these complex move¬ments account for a large portion of the initial increase in performance for that specific movement. This is why working a given route or boul¬der problem is effec¬tive. Your muscles are not getting stronger in one day; your nervous system is getting more power to the rock by teaching your body how to perform specific movements more efficiently.

A climber must also activate certain “high-threshold” motor units (groups of muscle fibers that are more difficult to access) in or der to create maximal power. Most experts agree that the ability to access these units in¬creases with explosive training. In addition, a motor unit can “fire” at different rates. The faster the rate, the higher the force output of that unit. High-threshold units tend to have high “pulse rates,” thus creating great force relative to their size. As the link is developed between these high-threshold units and the nervous system, power can increase with¬out an increase in muscle size, a real benefit to climbers seeking an optimal strength-to-weight ratio. The system wall, through its demand for sudden bursts of power, can help train the nervous system to recruit high-thresh¬old fibers. And, because it forces you to use your feet, the system wall prepares the whole body to per¬form on rock by forcing the climber to maintain ten¬sion through¬out his body while train¬ing.

Just as you can develop maximum power on the wall, you can increase the speed at which you can reach it. Almost in¬stant activa¬tion of peak power is necessary to latch onto a small hold after a dynamic movement. It is generally believed that most of the adapta¬tions needed for this specialized movement are neuromuscular; if you drop repeatedly onto your fingers while training on a system wall, the nervous system learns how to de¬velop power quickly, because if the power doesn’t come, you fall off.

The body has many built-in mechanisms to protect itself from injury. Physical and ner¬vous system adaptations can push back the point at which these protections kick in, thus allowing the climber to access more of his or her peak power. The golgi tendon organ, for example, is a sort of emergency brake located between the tendon and muscle. If the golgi senses too much tension developing in the tendon, usually caused by a high demand on the attached muscle, it tells the muscle to quit before it becomes in¬jured. Theory has it that if you thicken the tendon through re¬peated explo¬sive loading, it will take more and more force to cause the tendon to de¬velop enough tension to shut down muscular contraction, thereby en¬abling you to access more of your mus¬cles’ power.

Another the¬ory, but much more contro¬versial, states that explosive or high-velocity movements cause muscle fibers to become activated out of order. Usually, a muscle activates the smaller, slow-twitch units first; it access¬es the larger, fast-twitch units as needed. Some believe that the muscle can learn to violate this rule when presented with a sud¬den large load, preferentially firing the fast-twitch units first.

It has also been suggested that, over time, the nervous system maximizes the efficiency of all the muscles involved (agonists, syner¬gists and antagonists) in a complex move¬ment. By preferentially recruiting the mus¬cles in the most efficient manner possible, including lessening the inhibiting action of the antagonists, more power can be focused in the final complex movement. The system wall may then work by slowly teaching the body to move powerfully with less inter¬muscular inhibition. And, by utilizing the feet, the system wall helps to strengthen the multitude of small stabilizing muscles in the torso and throughout the body, muscles that can often be the weak link in a climb¬er’s power.


Build it Yourself

You can build a simple system board in one afternoon for around $50. Use 3/4-inch plywood for the backing; a 4-foot by 8-foot piece costs about $20. Choose either 2x4s filed to round the edges, or lengths of banis¬ter wood to form the rungs. Space the rungs about six to eight inches apart from the top to the bottom of the board. You may wish to alternated larger and smaller rungs; large rungs should protrude 3/4 inch to 1 inch, and smaller ones should protrude about 1/2 inch.

Pre-drill holes for your drywall screws. Pre¬pare the screws by dipping them into very soapy water, and back them up with liquid nails. Place the wall at a 100-to 120-de¬gree angle. If you already have a wall at this angle in your home gym, you can skip the plywood-backing stage and place the rungs directly onto the wall.


Sample System Board Workouts

When adding the system wall to your training program, proceed with extreme caution. Any adaptation—be it in gross physiol¬ogy, the thickening of a tendon, or nervous system and inter¬muscular coordination—that allows the body to work closer to its limits creates a serious risk of injury. This (and other training regimens) can lead to tendonitis, tendon tears, muscle tears and arthritis. Warm up gradually, and increase difficulty incre¬mentally. Start with one session a week, and never exceed two. Always rest the day after a workout. Do your workouts fresh, and stop before you’re wiped out. Listen to your body!

Now that you know what you have to gain, get to it. Watch out, Alex.

Beginner (5.11+) Match hands on middle rung, and climb as you would a ladder, using larger rungs. Repeat five times maxi¬mum.

Intermediate Keeping your feet stationary, experiment with two- or three-rung jumps, moving one hand at a time. Mix smaller and larger rungs. Do laps to build power/endurance.

Advanced Keeping your feet stationary, as above, go for max¬imum distance and speed with your hands—try moving both at once. Try catching with three or even two fingers.

This article appeared previously in Rock & Ice issue 72. Reprinted with the author’s permission.