Many climbers typically train for climbing by climbing harder and longer! This is a prescription for stagnation, or worse, injury. Let’s train smarter, not harder. The principles below will help you organize the way you train for climbing.

Climbing Strength and Conditioning (not necessarily in order of importance) -

Bouldering is the best training for climbing.
All good strength coaches know that participating in a sport is the best training for that sport. There are many isolated ways to train grip, core, shoulder strength – but they don’t fulfill the requirement of having gripped tension from your hands to your toes. Multiple joint movements improve your athletic performance by improving coordination and the ability to generate explosive force.

Train explosively.
As you progress through more difficult grades a stronger grip is required as well as a greater range of motion, and the ability to latch holds farther away. Athletes get stronger because of the improved ability of the nervous system to recruit motor units (a motor nerve and all the muscle fibers it recruits). As such it is best to use a progressive approach to pulling farther and farther. Doing 50 or 100 pull ups will not help you reach those holds farther than your reach allows (it doesn’t hurt your climbing; it’s just not the best use of your time and energy). Campus or systems wall training that stretches you progressively to farther and/or worse holds is a better way to maximize your sport strength. Climbers often ask me at Paradise Rock Gym, why do I have climbers train on a systems wall – why not just boulder harder problems? When a climber fails on a problem, I’m not sure if they read the sequence correctly or used improper technique. On a systems wall or campus board, I am able to isolate certain strength variables. It is currently the best way to progressively measure strength gains.

Keep yourself healthy.
Make time to do mobility and flexibility training. Nutritionally, inform yourself about the energy requirements for your sport. A bouldering problem rarely lasts longer than 20-30 seconds while some trad climbs can last all day. Hydration is also frequently an issue among athletes. Ensuring proper hydration is critical for success in any sport. Supplement your water intake with diluted sports drink to replenish sodium and other vital nutrients.

Avoid Injury.
From high steps to heel-hooks, flexibility is critical for every type of climbing. An informal survey of the climbers I train shows a high incidence of hamstring strains. With all the current controversy on the best way to attain flexibility, the most important measure is to have a consistent regimen. Work on “Prehabilitation” – strengthening common areas of injury and progressively working toward higher strength moves through a variety of training techniques.

Learn technique.
I have heard some climbers say, “that’ll come in time”. Don’t train your brain to make poor technical climbing habits. Practice doesn’t make perfect…perfect practice makes perfect, save yourself time and effort by getting a couple of lessons at one of the gyms or modestly asking someone at the local crag what a drop-knee is.

Get Mental.
There are many motivational techniques that help with progress; visualization, scaffolding/chunking or blocking, and positive self-talk are but a few. I generally categorize athletes into 2 groups: those who are motivated to achieve success and those who are motivated to avoid failure. Those who are motivated to avoid failure have a fear of appearing that they are unable to “step up to the plate”, and therefore don’t. Those who are motivated to achieve success step up no matter how silly they may appear as they are determined to succeed at some point. Their positive mindset feeds on itself.

Train the correct energy system.
The primary objective of your conditioning is to improve your capacity for your specific sport. To properly condition yourself, training must occur at the same intensity and duration that is used during bouldering in order to develop the predominant system. Problems or training should be followed by a prescribed rest interval. If you are training for the ABS or similar competitions, rest intervals should reflect the demands of the competition.

This should give you some ideas that you can incorporate into your climbing. I’m guessing that most of you who are reading this are the type of athlete who has more fun when they are performing at their expectation and continually improving.