Rough guide to training for rock climbing This is obviously a massive subject; this article is a quick canter through the most important aspects for climbers. Physical Training Our bodies are not well set up for rock climbing. We are really designed to move ourselves using our big and strong lower limbs. So, to climb well we have to play to our strengths (using technique to generate force with our feet where possible) and work our weaknesses. Our big weaknesses are the tiny muscles in our forearms which flex our fingers and the muscles which stabilise or move our shoulders and arms. There are many ways to train these muscles to prepare us for our desired climbs. Which activities you choose must depend on your individual circumstances. Thankfully, there are some quite simple set rules our bodies follow with respect to physical adaptations to training. This means we can home in on roughly the best types of things to do just by following the principles. If you do follow (all of) them, you really can’t go wrong – its inevitable that you will improve! Deciding priorities One of the great challenges in planning some physical training for climbing is how to set your priorities. It is very difficult to be objective about yourself and 99% of us don’t use coach to accurately analyse our weaknesses for us. It’s really important not to think of your performance limitations purely in terms of the physical symptoms you feel. When you fall off a route, climbers often blame lack of finger strength or endurance. It could be either of those, but there are many other causes besides. Maybe your technique was poor so you had to use more force than was necessary? Even if that was the case, you just feel that the holds were too small and you blame finger strength. Maybe you climbed too slowly because either you hadn’t read the route from the ground or you were hesitant through lack of confidence? Yet you still might blame lack of endurance just because you inevitably feel pumped. Understand that the causes of your limitations and the symptoms you feel when you run up against them may not be the same thing! Often, asking your climbing partner how they think you did can reveal some more objective insights into your weaknesses. Another way is to watch a very good climber climb the same route. If they climbed it like you did, yet you failed, then maybe you can say it was lack of strength or fitness. In this way you can avoid wasting your time. If you don’t pay attention to technique and tactics you could end up working hard on endurance for a decade but still failing to realise the improvements you could have had in 6 months if you had perfected good tactics. In summary, think hard about what the real limitations are, then work hard to sort them out. The working hard part will always be easier than the thinking part. Don’t lose sight of the big picture; all the aspects discussed above interact to make you the climber you are. The most important aspect should always be having fun.
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