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Hey Eric, I’ve been wondering…how do elite climbers make hard routes and boulder problems look easy? Is there a certain factor in their technique or fitness that allows them to pull through hard moves with a high level of gracefulness and efficiency despite the moves being really hard? And if so, what are some training techniques I can put to use? — Carter (Canada)
Hi Carter! There are a couple things going on. First, when you watch Adam Ondra climb a 5.14 with ease and incredible smoothness, it’s largely because 5.14 is easy for him! Adam’s top limit is 5.15c and if you watch him climb at his limit he’s screaming and working REALLY hard! It’s not easy looking (or graceful), but still he sure does climb with high efficiency and speed. Anyway, if I watched you climb 5.11b, I bet you’d make it look easy (given that your current climbing limit is 5.12c/d).
The other thing at play—and this is a big one for intermediate climbers—is that the majority of climbers burn far more energy than they need to in climbing a route. Common problems include overgripping holds, undue tightness in the antagonist muscles, holding breath more often than needed, and missing subtle opportunities for rest—combined, all of these things make movement inefficient and mechanical-looking. Thus, your goal must always be to climb as smoothly and as relaxed as possible, but when you hit a crux you must blast through it quickly–like Ondra!–so as to get back onto easier terrain (and a more relaxed state) as fast as possible. This is the winning formula—use it each time you climb, and you’ll be more graceful and efficient on hard routes!
Hi Eric, I have climbed of and on for 12 years and have two questions. I am 44 years of age have worked out my whole life and am strong for my height (5’10”) and weight (192lb). Do you think I would lose a lot of strength and power if I dropped to 168 lb in order to try to climb to my ultimate potential? I boulder around V8/V9 right now at my weight. Thank you and love all your books. –Pete (California)
Hi Pete, Your plan sounds good–the question is: How light can you get without starving yourself, getting weaker…and ultimately being miserable with the process? At age 44, your body might be near a “set point” of sorts, such that it could be quite difficult to drop more than 10 or so pounds. Of course, even dropping 10 pounds would make a huge difference on the rock as long as you aren’t losing grip strength or energy. Something else: If you do a lot of weight lifting, then changing that program and introducing some running might make a 20lb+ loss possible. I worked with a climber a few years ago that went from 210 to 170 by breaking up with his love of extensive weight training workouts and instead introducing some running. You’ll have to determine what’s sensible and possible for you. I hope my vague input is of some use! Let me know how it goes!
Hi Eric, I discovered climbing when I was 15, but never trained or climbed consistently (usually only twice a month). Off of this I have managed to reach V7 and 5.11d, before hitting an obvious plateau. I have always considered myself a competitive distance runner first and foremost, however, and so I have been hesitant to train for climbing specifically in fear of gaining too much muscle mass (thus, hurting my running). Recently I decided that I was going to train to be as good of a climber that I can be, while also maintaining my rigid running schedule (7 days a week, 14 workouts a week). I’m building a home wall so that I can dedicate about 4 hours a week to training. How can I train to maximize my climbing strength and power without gaining muscle mass? –Christian (California)
Hi Christian, Good to hear from you, and congrats on your successes in both running and climbing! You are at a point in your climbing (V7/5.11d) that specific training is necessary to advance into the higher grades—maximum grip strength, lock-off strength, pulling strength and power, and core strength are the key traits to train-up using your home wall and a fingerboard. Unlike your running, however, you must limit high-intensity climbing/training to just 3 days per week, along with an easier day of volume climbing (kind of a long-slow-distance day of climbing).
One problem is that physiological “interference” (relating to gene expression) between your running workouts and training for climbing. This is a very real issue. It would be best to do your climbing strength/power workouts on your speed running days—days with lowest running volume. It’s also important to have a minimum of 6 hours between your climbing and running workouts—this helps limit the “interference” effect.
Do this, and I suspect you’ll discover some significant gains in your climbing over the next season or two. Long-term, however, you will need to pick a sport if you want to take one activity to your genetic potential. There’s only so much gas in the tank (and mental energy) to dedicate to training and performance. That said, you can climb at a high level (especially as a roped climber) while running competitively. Hope this makes sense and helps you a bit.
Hi Eric! First of all, thank you for your fantastic work – your website has already helped me understand a lot about climbing and allowed to make some improvements. My question today is: Would it make sense to do static stretching during my rest days, assuming no other activity is being done that day? I’ve only recently started climbing 3 days a week with a proper program and I put a lot of focus into technique and local endurance but I couldn’t help but notice that I’ve got flexibility of a concrete block. Compared to my friends, my shoulders, hips and groin can’t stretch nearly as well as theirs’ and it all seems to be natural with them (we’re talking not being able to link my arms behind my back or touch my toes in a V-stretch). Would it be too much on my body to do some static stretches during rest days or should I stick to doing them as a part of my cool-down routine? –Jacob (Scotland)
Hello Jacob, Sure, you can do static stretching on rest days and also every night before bed (what we do here). Over the course of many weeks this should yield some improvement. Keep in mind, however, that flexibility is somewhat determined by genetics (joint design and tendon properties); so don’t expect to be doing splits anytime soon! That said, you can make some gains with daily stretching—just don’t do much (or any) before climbing/training, since its affects on the nervous system can take the edge of your max strength.