Comments on: What’s the ROI ?

By: Katie

Katie — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:57:59 +0000

I wonder if it’s going to strain his back whilst doing these exercises.

By: Björn

Björn — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:30:09 +0000

My father tried to convince me to do karate when I was a little kid. And he told me about those training methods. Maybe it works for those karate-kungfu bro´s.
If u use the rice-training just tell if it works or not.

By: Wolf

Wolf — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:10:46 +0000

I would eat the rice and climb with the energy i get out of it That bucket doesnt looks like fun for me.

By: Laurel

Laurel — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:44:59 +0000

All I need to know about ancient martial arts I learned from Drunken Master: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080179/

By: sockhands

sockhands — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:01:17 +0000

i didn’t listen with sound, but my understanding is that this is an ancient martial arts technique that begins with rice, moves on to sand, then finishes with iron pellets or something like that. or maybe sand is the hardest?

in any event, i wonder if a master at this technique could just smash holds straight-fingered and create positive depressions.

finger-chiseling climbs is my true dream.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:40:51 +0000

I don’t know how much the rice bucket can help with finger strength, but my physical therapist put me on a similar routine to cure tendonitis in my wrists and forearms, incurred from a combination of work and climbing. Worked like a charm

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:02:31 +0000

I think Dave Macleod has written about this on his training blog.

I’ve used a rice bucket (and RICE–ha ha) when recovering from finger injuries; obviously, I was a lot less aggressive about it. It worked really well; I was able to stimulate blood flow to the injured area(s) which seemed to make my recovery quicker than it had been in the past. As a training tool: I’m sure that it doesn’t hurt, and it probably would promote better recovery and overall joint/tissue health. After all, as climbers, how often do we train the muscles that open our hands and offer balance/stability to those overworked muscles that we use to hold on?

By: rp

rp — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:19:30 +0000

reminds me of when bruce lee first gets to the secret island in “enter the dragon”

By: molony

molony — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:22:56 +0000

We actually used to do this same thing on my high school wrestling team. I’ve tried it to train for climbing, and like you mentioned, it just isn’t specific enough to really produce any gains in the areas climbers really need. I will say, however, that I’ve found rice bucket workouts nearly invaluable for recovering from/preventing wrist, finger, forearm, and elbow injuries. Something about getting the blood flowing without being too high impact.

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:26:33 +0000

Yep, might help. Yep, probably worth a try.
Can I think of more enjoyable exercises to do then play with bowl rice? Yep.

And on a serious note, this seems to more endurance based. The only real strength aspect seems to come from the ‘popping’ of the rice. Which, if this the case (I should try it before I judge) I can think of better exercises to focus on actual strength. From there I would also argue for most of the climbing population simply climbing would be a better endurance exercise.