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No 186, June 15, 1999
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Rock Craft | Sport Climbing | Destinations | Training
Recommended Reading | Gear | Higher Education | Ratings

Think like an athlete

For the first half of my climbing career, I never seriously considered training. Running, triathlons, and rowing taught me a lot about how to improve strength and fitness, but climbing was simply my excuse to mess around outdoors. Then I started pushing myself on bolt-protected routes, and soon discovered I would enjoy them a lot more if I got myself into sport-climbing shape.

All the time I spent learning to train for those other sports has carried over nicely. General principles that all athletes use to improve their strength and stamina also apply to sport climbing. Extended low-intensity workouts improve endurance, and short bursts of high-intensity effort improve power. Also remember that sport-specific training is almost always best. That means laps on easy climbs will work better than trying to improve your endurance by doing high-repetition weight lifting. You might gain finger strength on a hangboard, but if you build it by bouldering, your technique will improve too.

The following are the elements of a good climbing-specific
training regimen:

Warm-up. There is room for personal preference here. Teenage climbers often dispense with warm-ups entirely, but most adult climbers believe in doing low-intensity climbing, combined with light stretching, for at least 15 minutes before any intense efforts. Don't do too much though — more athletes hurt themselves when they are over-fatigued than when they are "under-warmed."

Endurance training. If you find that your climbing performance drops off
after just a few routes, you need to do some endurance work. These extended, low-intensity efforts will also help prepare you for long pitches where the crux has more to do with fighting off a pump than with pulling hard moves. A sport route usually takes between three and 10 minutes to climb, so staying on the rock or climbing wall for two or three times longer at a stretch will help expand your endurance. Bouldering and long traverses are the standard fare for these types of workouts. With practice, several endurance burns can be done in one session.

Stamina training with intervals. These workouts simulate the intensity of your hardest climbs. Typically, you'll repeat one difficult route of about 20 moves several times, resting for as long as it takes to do the route between "laps." You can tweak the training effect by varying the length of the route and rest times. Routes with more moves will result in stamina gains, while shorter efforts will help build your power. Similarly, shorter rests between burns will limit the intensity of each lap, again resulting in stamina gains, while long rests allow for more intense power training.

Interval training can dramatically enhance your ability to work at or near your limit. It's tricky to get the combination of duration, intensity, and rest time just right. (see Training No. 177 for more advice).

Power training. If you can climb moderate routes all day, but one hard crux stops you cold, you need to increase your power. Bouldering is the most sport-specific form of power training. Try problems of between three and 10 hand movements. Long rests between attempts are key — power training requires your best efforts. Other training methods include campus-boarding, working on hangboards, and system training. You can also work a very difficult route in sections, which might eventually earn you a nice redpoint, and build your power at the same time!

Cool-down. Again, this is a personal choice, but concluding hard efforts with a few minutes of gentle climbing and stretching may help your muscles flush out waste products and thus speed recovery.

These various training efforts will benefit your climbing in different ways.
But when should you attempt each type of workout? Power training is best done after a rest day or two. Endurance training is a good follow-up if you
plan to climb two days in a row. Like power training, intense (short route) interval training is very demanding, and should also be done when you
are well rested, but if you are doing easier (longer) intervals, you may be able to do them on successive training days. A sample training week might look like this:

Sunday: rest. Monday: boulder for power. Tuesday: endurance laps. Wednesday: rest. Thursday: intervals. Friday: rest. Saturday: boulder for power.

Always remember that rest days are when your body recovers and grows stronger, so if you skip them you can expect your performance to drop off.

Finally, try emphasizing different types of workouts for four to six weeks at a time, organizing your training year into "cycles." These should build in intensity, starting with the focus on endurance work, moving on to more interval training, and concluding with a period where short, intense efforts form the bulk of your training. Toward the end of this final stage you should "peak." Now is the time to plan a climbing trip or send a specific route.

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Rock Craft | Sport Climbing | Destinations | Training
Recommended Reading | Gear | Higher Education | Ratings

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