Training For Rock Climbing

Climbing indoors or outdoors is a demanding physical activity that requires at least a minimum level of conditioning. A reasonably fit person can immediately enjoy his or her first experience climbing an easy route without any special training.

Fingers and forearms may initially tire quickly from gripping the handholds, but the fun makes up for it. "Contact strength" is the limiting factor for all rock climbers, whether new or experienced. As a person's interest in climbing develops, it is natural to progress to longer and harder climbs. The best way to accomplish this is by some sort of training regimen.

Training for climbing does not necessarily mean strict schedules and documented sessions. It can be as simple as some commonsense approaches to using the rock gym and creating a lifestyle that helps avoid injury and promotes gradual muscular strength gains.

In the past, climbers would get in shape for the climbing season by a training hike or two in the local hills, occasional pull-ups, and repeating the standard easy climbs at the crags. The existence of rock gyms have changed all that.

Now it is possible to train full-time specifically for climbing. Climbing is no longer constrained by seasons, it is a year-round sport.

Aerobic Training

Rock climbing is not a particularly demanding aerobic activity. Muscle failure in rock climbing is generally due to getting 'pumped,' the condition when forearm muscles fill with blood and retain lactic acid (a by-product of muscles working), then they cramp, swell, and refuse to operate.

However, a certain level of aerobic fitness is certainly recommended for a rock climber. The approaches and descents from many climbs can be long and strenuous.

It is not unusual to hike 2 or 3 miles steeply uphill to reach the base of a climb. Schlepping a heavy pack of gear, ropes, and water adds to the effort. Descents can be tedious, long walks or scrambles down difficult terrain. For reasons of both added enjoyment and safety, rock climbers need to be in decent aerobic shape.

A minimum aerobic program for climbers would involve a couple of half-hour sessions per week combined with weekend activities. Suggested exercises include 30 minutes of running, biking, fast walking, or any other activity that keeps the heart rate up.

On the weekends (if you are not out climbing), go mountaineering, hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, or something similar. Probably the best advice is to create a lifestyle that includes different levels of aerobic activity that become a part of the day-to-day routine.

If your rock-climbing goals include bigger and more remote climbs that require long and steep walks in, then by all means step up your aerobic training accordingly.

Increase the frequency and level of training runs or rides. Take advantage of every opportunity to simulate the aerobic activity that you are preparing for; that is, carrying a heavy pack up a steep hill. Yes, humping a pack up a hot trail can be boring and miserable work.

Learn to pace yourself, stay refueled with water and snacks, and recover with rest breaks, and perhaps you will find it is not that bad. You may even find it perversely enjoyable.

Weight Training

The use of free weights can dramatically improve climbing performance, especially if you have never trained with weights before. Weight training can be effective for strengthening climbing-specific muscles and developing other muscle groups that can help prevent injury.

For example, pull-ups were for years considered the primary training exercise for rock climbing. Climbers often did lots of pullups, and little else. The results were strong climbers, but also chronically sore elbows and shoulders from the repetitive and strenuous nature of the exercise. Balancing a climbingspecific movement like pull-ups with other exercises (for example, bench presses or pushups) helps build opposing muscles groups that can prevent overuse injuries.

It is essential that anyone new to weight training or considering adding a weighttraining regimen into his or her daily schedule gets more detailed and personalized information than can be offered here. There are many resources available, from books and periodicals to certified personal trainers at a local gym.

Needless to say, incorrect training techniques can do more harm than good. Remember, too, that it takes time to develop the awareness of your personal style, learn how your muscles respond to specific exercises, and find out what works best for you. Gains do not come overnight.

Suggested weight-training exercises to build a basic training program include lat (latissimus dorsi) pulls, bench presses, squats, biceps curls, overhead presses, chest flys, and triceps pushdowns. Exercises that do not require special equipment include pull-ups, dips, situps, and push-ups. Remember that some of these exercises (like pull-ups or dips) are very difficult and may require assistance to complete.

Periodization

A year-round training program ideally incorporates weight training, aerobic activities, climbing-specific exercises, and cross training. The quantity and intensity of training depends on the season. For example, winter is traditionally a time when rock climbers hit the gym to build a base of strength for the upcoming year with weight training.

As spring approaches, the mix becomes more climbing-specific as actual climbing begins. Summer is a time of maintenance with light training and running between climbs. Fall is sometimes a great season for a climbing road trip, so training becomes more climbing-specific to help reach a goal.

For most climbers, training for rock climbing means doing lots of climbing. In many ways, this is the best approach, because nothing trains you for the real thing like the real thing. Outdoor rock climbing can be used as a vehicle for training, except that it rarely offers consistency. Weather can be poor, the climbing can he too easy or too hard, and too many factors are uncontrollable.

Indoor climbing, in a gym or on a home wall, has changed that by providing a controlled environment. Now a climber can plan exactly when and how a climbing-specific workout will occur. The result is that it is easier than ever to quickly learn how to climb well and get fiendishly strong.

The downside is that it is also possible to overdo it way too quickly, and suffer chronic overuse injuries. To be effective and smart in a gym or other controlled climbing environment, approach the experience with a plan. Start with a warm-up, then focus on endurance or difficult climbing such as trying a hard redpoint.

Warming Up

Warming up is the crucial first step. For a climber, the most important muscles to warm up are those in the forearms that control the all-important finger strength. Jumping right onto a difficult climb with cold fingers and arms generally results in a "flash pump." This is the phenomenon of an almost instantaneous swell and cramp that turns the forearms into useless chunks of pumped-out muscle.

This can happen in a ridiculously short period of time, and can leave a climber unable to even tie shoelaces-for hours. Warm up your arms by gradually massaging your forearms and flexing wrists and fingers. Then start with very easy climbing.

Gradually load your arms by climbing first on lower-angled terrain, then progressing to steeper and steeper walls. Also, start with large handholds and slowly move to smaller crimpers as you warm up. At the first hint of a pump, step off the wall and rest.

A good warm-up for most experienced climbers is simply to climb a couple of routes that are easy and straightforward. Repeating climbs that you have done several times before also helps because you know what to expect and will not be gripped by the fear of the unknown.

The other sure way to get a flash pump is to start the gym session on a climb that is scary, because that leads to gripping way too tightly and climbing slowly. The warm-up period should last 10 to 15 minutes, or until you are feeling warm and loose, and all ,jitters have been worked out.

Traversing: One of the very best ways to warm up in a gym is by traversing. Traversing is climbing sideways across the wall. Most gyms allow climbers to traverse below a line that is 8 feet or so above the ground. That way the climber is never high off the deck, maybe a foot or so at the most, so ropes are not required. Traversing is a great activity for climbing in the gym by yourself.

Good traversing technique has the climber moving with the hips parallel to the wall, shuffling hands and feet in one direction or the other. Try to stay on the inside edges of your feet. Try not to cross hands or feet. Imagine Spiderman moving sideways across the wall, hips in close to the wall and moving slowly and smoothly.

Climbing Training

What is next, now that you are all good and warmed up? Go climbing! For most climbers, a session at the gym consists of moving about the gym, climbing different routes. Top-roping, leading, and bouldering - some will he easy, some hard, and you climb until you are too tired to hang on any longer.

This in itself is great training. As the great rock climber and visionary Tony Yaniro once said, "Never pass up the opportunity to get pumped!" You will improve following this routine!

At some point, however, it is beneficial to apply some method to the rock-climbing training experience. Loosely borrowing from other sports, we can organize specific training for rock climbing around three concepts: endurance, strength or difficulty, and technique.

Endurance Training

Climbing endurance is the ability to hang on and climb for long periods of time. Endurance is not the same as strength. Strength equates with the ability to pull hard moves, such as long reaches, off small holds on an overhanging wall.

Endurance is long-term muscle strength and is a great base from which to build strength. Endurance is developed by high repetition and low resistance (lots of easy climbing).

In a rock gym, this means nonstop climbing generally using big handholds. Technical difficulty should be low and finger fatigue from crimping small holds should not be the limiting factor. The goal is the deep tissue all-out pump created by highmileage climbing.

If you are alone and bouldering, then traversing about and linking walls together without resting on the ground is a great endurance exercise. Shoot for 30 minutes of continuous climbing. Practice good technique; hang straight on arms, use your feet, chalk up frequently, milk rest positions and stems.

Climb up, down, left, and right and be creative about different routes and moves. Start with lowerangle walls and move onto overhanging terrain as endurance builds. Remember to try to use large handholds that naturally accommodate an open grip. Too much crimping on small holds leads to sore fingers, not pumped arms.

Think in terms of laps to practice endurance climbing on a top-rope or lead. Pick a difficulty level well within your limit. Remember that the goal is to climb continuously for several laps, so you do not want to be limited by technical difficulty. Try for five laps in a row. On a top-rope, for example, climb to the top, have your belayer lower you down, and without touching the ground, start back up again. Repeat until pumped.

Strength Training

One of the most gratifying aspects of climbing is the feeling of accomplishing harder climbs. This means that you are getting stronger, and it feels good. Strength is built by low repetitions and high resistance. In a climbing setting, then, this means attempting difficult climbs in a measured manner with long rests between burns. After a good warm-up, try climbs a little, or even way, above your comfort level.

The goal is not usually to flash the route; redpointing is the more common objective. This refers to successfully climbing a route after previous attempts. Although redpointing generally refers to a style of lead climbing, the concept of working sections of a route and then linking them together also works well for top-roping or bouldering.

Difficult bouldering is also a great strength workout. A bouldering problem can he as short as a couple of moves, but success on those few moves can be both gratifying and beneficial in terms of strength gain. With each attempt at a move, not only is strength being used and built, but much subtle technique is also incorporated that is memorized into movement patterns for the next attempt. Linking a couple of hard moves requires concentration, power, and good technique.

Work a hard route on a rope by "hangdogging." Although once used as a derogatory label, hangdogging is a legitimate technique for building strength.

Climb till you fall, hang on the rope and rest, and try it again. Remember, the goal is not to hang on the rope, but to use the rope as a tool to allow you to build the strength and knowledge of a hard route so you can ultimately link all the moves together.

Climbers refer to the routes that they are working on as "projects." Not everyone enjoys the project mentality; some climbers like to climb new things and do not like to fall. That is fine, too. But if you want to improve, you are probably going to fall.

Technique Training

There is no question that indoor climbing is the most effective medium for learning many basic climbing techniques. The modular holds and controlled environment found in a rock gym are ideal for simulating exact situations to train for and to memorize climbing positions and movement.

The complexities of climbing technique can be broken down into some fundamental and universal moves that can he practiced with repetition and consistency indoors.

Techniques for resting, weight transfer, body positioning, and movement are ideally suited for indoor training. There are, however, limitations to indoor climbing. The subtle nature of real rock is impossible to economically duplicate indoors, so many techniques such as crack climbing and friction climbing still require an outdoor apprenticeship.

Using the indoor walls with the intent of training for outdoor climbing can be very effective if some important differences between the two types of climbing are recognized.

One major difference between indoor and outdoor climbing is that indoor climbing terrain is generally easier to "read." In other words, the handholds and footholds indoors are obvious and easy to see; they protrude clearly from the wall. The top of the climb is clear.

There is no mystery about where you are going and how much strength you need to conserve to get you there. Rarely while climbing indoors does one have to stop midroute and deal with equipment or protection problems. It is easy and common to climb indoors by literally taking a deep breath at the bottom of the wall and climbing in an all-out effort to reach the top.

Outdoor climbing is quite often the opposite. Hand- and footholds are difficult to see because they blend in with the rock. Sometimes it takes patience and poise to sort out the right holds. Outdoor routes can be long and devious. The climber must carefully pace his or her strength output.

And outdoor climbing, especially multipitch traditional routes, requires that the climber is able to handle protection equipment and ropes with one hand, often while hanging from the other hand in the most precarious perches. All of these outdoor climbing demands mean that the climber must be in balance, relaxed, and efficient.

Rock Gym Training

Following are several technique drills and positions that can he practiced indoors with the intent of developing these types of outdoor climbing skills.

The Rest Position. This is a fundamental position for both indoor and outdoor climbing. It is important to incorporate this position into a part of any indoor climbing workout. With one hand holding onto a good handhold, hang from that, straight arm. Keep your legs straight and relaxed.

Ideally, your feet are on footholds at the same level as each other, so the body forms a stable tripod on the wall with three points of contact. The key to this position is keeping your hips pressed into the wall and your back slightly arched.

To relax, drop the hand that is not on the hold and shake it out or chalk up. Train yourself to instinctively sag into a rest position every time you can while climbing in the gym. Not only does it help rest the nonholding arm (which is critical!), but it creates a habit that will be crucial to the outdoor transition.

Remember that besides the need to rest and conserve strength, outdoor climbing demands many tasks, especially working with gear, to be performed with one hand. When you are climbing outdoors, assume the rest position when placing or removing protection. The rest position should become automatic whenever you reach a good handhold or jug.

Around the Clock. This is an excellent drill to learn basic weight transfer and balance. Locate four good holds-two handholds and two footholds-in a square configuration about shoulder-width apart, with the handholds at about eye level. The handholds should be comfortable to reach. With both hands and both feet on their respective holds, move your body around in a circle.

Do not move your hands or feet, just your body. Move left, up, right, and down. Feel how shifting your weight to one side or the other changes your balance. Note that when you are in the upper position, your arm is "locked off," and in the lower position it is possible to assume a rest position off a straight arm.

This is a good way to warm up and stretch to begin a climbing session. Variations to this exercise include flagging. Try flagging out by reaching up and right with the right hand while lifting the left foot off its foothold. The left foot works as a counterweight so that you can lean and reach farther with the right hand. In this position, only the left hand and the right foot have contact with the wall.

Also try flagging in. Shift all your weight to the left foot and cross the right leg behind the left leg as a counterweight. This will balance you so that you can reach with the right hand to a hold up and over the left hand. The only two points of contact at this point are the left hand and the left foot.

Five Moving Parts. There are five parts that move when you climb: two hands, two feet, and one body. As you climb (preferably on an easy wall bristling with many good holds), concentrate on moving each part of your body separately and distinctly from the others.

When reaching for a handhold, move nothing but that hand. The same goes for moving a foot. Try to freeze the rest of your body as you move a foot up to a hold. The key to these moves is in shifting your body weight as a separate move in a manner that keeps you in balance. This can be tricky. Learn to tune in to the subtle balance changes that occur as you shift your weight to one side or the other.

An example of the Five Moving Parts exercise is the following. Step up to a high foothold with the right foot. To accomplish this move, all of your weight is on the left foot. With the right foot established on the hold, shift the body weight to the right foot, rocking onto that hold. Now all weight is on the right foot, freeing the left foot to be moved up to a higher hold. This is the "crunch" position.

Both legs are now under you and in a position to raise you, primarily with the leg muscles. Now raise your body up and hold it in place by locking off one arm. The other arm now reaches high for the next hold, placing you in the rest position, ready to relax and analyze the moves that lie ahead.

The weight-shifting skills learned in this drill directly apply to outdoor climbing. Climbing in a gym creates a tendency to climb in a style wherein you move almost dynamically to the next hold. This is natural because you can so easily see the hold and determine whether it is good or not. Climbing this way, the climber flows toward the holds and is committed to reaching and sticking to the hold. Real rock is generally not so easy to read.

You must be in balance as you feel about, searching for a potential hold. Remember that it is often prudent to test the quality of a real rock hold with a quick tap before committing to use it. Testing a hold is impossible unless you are in control of your movement.

Good balance is especially critical while a climber is placing or removing protection. This exercise also illustrates how the legs can be incorporated more effectively during upward progression. The body is kept low, hanging on straight arms in the rest position as the legs are set underneath to powerfully raise the body. Learning how to propel yourself upward by pushing with the legs instead of pulling with the arms is a fundamental building-block of good technique.

Backstepping. This exercise is especially useful for sport climbers. When the angle of the climbing surface begins to overhang, it becomes more efficient to climb on the outside edges of the feet with the hips almost perpendicular to the wall.

This is because it draws the center of gravity in closer to the wall, allowing more weight to be distributed to the feet, and encouraging a longer and more balanced reach. This is called �backstepping," and the best way to learn it is by drilling the movement repetitively on an overhanging, juggy route. Backstepping refers both to a way of specifically using a foothold and a way of moving upward.

Beginning with both hands on a starting hold, backstep - that is, place the outside edge of the left foot on a foothold ideally straight below the starting handholds. Shift weight onto the left foot and allow the right foot to swing forward (or flag) as a counterweight. Lock off with the right arm and reach up with the left hand to a hold.

If this is done correctly, you will feel locked into place because of the balance generated by the backstep. To drill this move, continue climbing upward by rotating your body counterclockwise while hanging from the left arm until you can backstep with the right foot on an appropriate foothold. Do this rotation using as many intermediate footholds as necessary.

Now counterweight with the left leg and reach with the right arm to the next hold. Note that a good long reach should put you in a position to get a rest. Continue climbing in this manner, twisting back and forth, locking your hips into the wall and making long, balanced reaches to the next hold.

This motion is a bit unnatural at first for many climbers, but repeated practice will make it second nature when you are at the crag.

Training With a Partner

If you have a training partner at the gym, the possibilities for interesting training are limited only by your imagination. Strength, endurance, and balance can all be improved by training with your partner. Here are a few ideas:

Pick a route well within your abilities and do laps, each time eliminating a key hold.
Climb blindfolded, with your belayer giving verbal directions to each hold-this is really good for developing balance and learning body positioning.
Do "Simon Says" traverses, with your partner pointing out each hold-you will find yourself in some bizarre positions but do not worry, you can get even when it is your partner's turn to traverse!
Have a competition to get "no hands" rests - you will be amazed at where you can drop your hands when you practice.
Have a dynamic move competition-warm up, do not use crimpers, and be careful not to risk injury while you build confidence.
Climb easy routes one-handed, with your partner calling out the handholds.
Climb a route using just side pulls, underclings, et cetera, with your partner calling out the handholds.
Climb a route making every move a highstep, or never using a handhold above your shoulder, et cetera, then have your partner try the route using the same hold sequence.

You get the idea; have fun, try new things, make the gym a fun place to train!

Indoor Moves

To help make the transition to the outdoors smoother, it helps to use the indoor environment to practice some of the skills that will be needed outside.

Jamming. If the wall has any cracks-even if they are not very good simulations of outdoor cracks- practice jamming on them. Indoor cracks usually are not the most popular routes in the gym, which means there probably will not be a line! To make the most of any crack try:

making as many jams as possible
making as few jams as possible
making every foothold a jam (this is hard to do when good footholds abound on either side!)
downclimbing the crack
liebacking all the way up and down

Smearing. Another skill that is rarely perfected indoors is smearing- pasting your feet on the wall when there is no obvious hold. Most indoor walls are so littered with holds that footholds are automatic. Try your favorite route without using any of the bolted holds. You may be surprised at how many tiny features on the surface of the wall make good smears.

Stemming. Inside corners offer great opportunities to improve your stemming.

Fingerboard Training

Fingerboards are also very effective tools for developing climbing-specific upper-body strength, especially the contact strength of fingers and forearms. They are constructed of molded resin or wood and have handholds of various sizes.

Mounted above a doorway or set away from a wall, a fingerboard is one of the best training tools other than a climbing wall. Fingerboards are not for novices; a base of strength built by a season of easy climbing and bouldering is recommended before launching into a fingerboard training session. Always warm up thoroughly before beginning a fingerboard session.

A couple of tips for proper use of fingerboards: Many of the exercises involve static hangs off certain handholds. When performing a hang, keep the elbows and shoulders slightly flexed so that the body is supported by the muscles in the arms. Do not hang in a dead hang with your weight supported by fully extended shoulders and elbows. A dead hang is very stressful on the joints and connections in the shoulders and elbows.

Try not to crimp on small holds. A crimp hold hyperextends the joints of the fingers. Crimping provides a superstrong lock onto a small hold, but repetitive use of this type of hold in a training environment can overtax the joints and lead to sore, swollen, and stiff fingers. Use an open grip instead.

This is not an easy hold to master, especially on smaller holds. The best way to build open grip strength is on sloping handholds. Start with large slopers, gradually moving onto smaller and smaller holds over the course of a training season.

Note that at this level, proper training technique differs from good climbing technique. For example, the rest position used while climbing has the climber relaxing all the body weight on a straight arm. This position rests the arm muscles by relying on the bones and skeletal system to bear the brunt of the body weight.

Using that position for repetitive and lengthy fingerboard training could potentially lead to injury. Remember that training is not climbing. The point of training is to efficiently and safely exhaust and rebuild climbing-specific strength.

As with training on a climbing wall, fingerboard training can be broken into the two categories of endurance and strength training. Endurance exercises on a fingerboard consist typically of longer timed hangs on larger holds. For example, start by timing yourself for your maximum hang time on the largest holds on the board.

Rest a couple of minutes, and repeat your maximum hang. See how many times you can repeat this cycle of maximum hangs and rests. Move to sloping holds or smaller edges (but do not crimp!) to increase the challenge. Try the "20/20" exercise: hang for 20 seconds, then rest for 20 seconds. Repeat ten times.

Power workouts demand maximum effort for a short duration. Longer rests between sets may be necessary. Time yourself for maximum hang time on progressively smaller holds. If hang time exceeds 10 seconds, then move to a smaller hold. Include pull-ups in a fingerboard routine.

To build strength on a fingerboard, the size of the hold should only allow five pull-ups at most. If you can do more, move to smaller holds. More strength can be developed by adding resistance. Hang weights in 2-pound increments from your chalk-bag belt and repeat your usual routine. It will be a lot harder, and is an excellent illustration of the importance of climbing with as little weight on your body as possible!