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Hi Eric, I am for the most part a boulderer, and I live in Japan. I’m 29 years old, 185cm tall, and walk around at about 80kg, making me almost twice the size of a Japanese climber. I have a lot of power, I can do a 1-5-9 on the campus board, and I have a plus 8cm ape index. When I started climbing 3 years ago I used this to my advantage and in 2 years went from V0 to V9, and can constantly do almost any style of V6-7 in one session, but I feel I have hit a plateau…and it seems my large body size and weight is holding me back. How do you suggest I progress? –Ben (Japan via Colorado)
Hi Ben, Your genetics (mesomorph physique) is both a blessing and a curse—favoring power development (good) at the expense of a high body mass. To a large degree you are stuck with what you have, however, there’s always some room to modify things given the right training program. Doing some running might help you drop 5kg…which would make a big difference. I’ve worked with a number of muscular climbers (including a former national class powerlifter weighing 90+kg) and most have success dropping some muscle mass by running 3 to 4 days per week. Begin with 3km and build to 5 or 6 km per run. Also, try to lean down your diet (remove empty calories and alcohol) and keep your protein intake moderate (1g/kg bodyweight). This strategy doesn’t work for everyone, but I’d try running 4 days per week for a month and see what happens. Keep your climbing-specific training the same throughout. Let me know how it goes. Good luck!
Hello Eric! I have read your articles about youth climbing training with great interest. My daughter (age 9) started climbing last fall and has competed in both bouldering and SCS comps this year. She seems to learn quickly and actually placed in one of the local comps, and she loves to climb. I want to support her and help her continue to love climbing, and also help her get better at it, because I fear if she continues to be middle of the pack or lower, she will not want to continue with it. She seems to be getting discouraged. She does team practices two nights a week for 3 hours, she and I climb for 2 hours on another evening, and she has a private lesson for an hour on Fridays. The coach says she needs to work on pull strength, so we have her doing inverted rows, and he gave us a couple of fingerboard routines to follow twice a week to help make her hands and fingers stronger. Any other recommendations? Is there a good way to teach her to read routes and figure out the beta faster/better? Thanks in advance for any advice. –Valerie (Texas)
Valerie, Sounds like you’re on the right track—climbing is a skill sport, so regular climbing (and good coaching) is critical for development. I would limit climbing to 3 or 4 days per week (kids need to be kids) and, importantly, have her do nearly equal amounts of roped climbing and bouldering. Doing extra pull-up training is great, but be very careful with the fingerboard and campus board…which become dangerous tools if used incorrectly during the growth spurt (usually age 10 – 14 in girls). Anyway, I don’t have any secrets to share—again, coaching is the wild card (as is natural talent) that discriminates youth climbers.
Hopefully you can foster her love for climbing, so she stays with it long-term—such a great sport! That said, my kids also play a second sport…which I personally think is important and helpful to provide a break from climbing (avoid burnout) and develop other movement patterns, muscles, and motor skills. I believe there’s a synergy in doing two sports throughout the school years…and it will develop a more balanced (physically and mentally) young adult. Hope this helps! Best wishes to your daughter!
Hey Eric, I am a full-time route setter (4 days a week) and a full-time climber. When I was first adjusting to being a setter I would boulder outside on two of my days off as well as get out after 1 setting day, leaving me with one full rest day a week. I began to see great gains in my overall strength and fitness by just climbing compared to my usual mix of training and climbing. But being as obsessed with training thanks to my strong background in weight lifting, I thought (hey!) maybe I can add in campus, hang board, and weight training in addition to just climbing. Well needless to say this approach has left me tired and close to injury over the past few months. I have studied, read, and tested many theories and ideas for an optimal approach to my climbing training, but need some solid direction for continual, injury free, improvement as a year round outdoor climber. –Tyler (Colorado)
Hi Taylor, It’s tough to give you highly detailed advice via email—and without working with you in person—but here are a few bullet points for you:
Rule #1 is to stay uninjured! Many enthusiastic climbers end up injured…too much climbing/training and too little rest. So think about what “junk training” you can eliminate—invest your time into effective training and climbing…and get rid of the crap that just created fatigue and stress.
What are your goals? Hard boulders, hard roped routes, both? The “best” training program for each is very different. The “just bouldering” approach will work (somewhat) for the former, but you do need to do some longer boulders and routes, too, if you are going to do well on boulders/routes that take more than 20 or 30 seconds to climb. My new book, 3rd edition of Training for Climbing, reveals the powerful concept of “energy system training”. Check it out!
Doing a modest amount of weight training and aerobic activity (running, etc.) can be beneficial; but it must be just the right amount and not conflict with the desired adaptations of your climbing-specific training.
Consider doing two, 20-minute antagonist/stabilizer training sessions per week (mandatory!) Work your rotator cuff, push muscles, and scapular stabilizers (often overlooked)—very important for keeping shoulders healthy when bouldering hard, campus training, and such.
Hope this helps!
Hi Eric! Climbing has recently become the truest passion I have ever known. After graduating high school, I took a gap year to save money for college and ended up working at a rock gym. I have been able to see massive improvements in my climbing over the past several months (pushing my redpoint from .11a in October to .12d in May), but I fear this is only because I have virtually unlimited climbing time at the gym. This fall, as my gap year draws to a close and I begin life as a college student, I know that soon I will be balancing work, college, and climbing, and will have to greatly reduce my climbing time. Right now I do not train much other than doing the occasional shoulders/core exercises–I spend most of my climbing time simply projecting. What training would you recommend I implement to climb less but retain this level of progress? –Andrew (Pennsylvania)
Hi Andrew, Congrats on the huge improvements! The good news is that your climbing technique won’t drop off, even if you have to cut your climbing time in ½ or 1/3 as you return to college. You will likely lose a little endurance if you cut from 20 days per month to, say, 10. Looking ahead, you’re training gains will come from building a higher level of strength—this is a many month—and year!—endeavor! Climbers like Sharma, who keep improving year after year (20 years and counting), do so because they take their strength up a notch each season. Doing this not only opens up new moves (more powerful), but with a short period of dedicated endurance training (say one month) you can really climb hard on longer roped routes as well, assuming you get on a rope once or twice per week to stay in that grove.
Anyway, I suggest you get on a good hangboard program this Fall and Winter—and a small amount of Campus Training, too, as long as you followthrough with antagonist/stabilizer training (for your rotator cuff and scapular stabilizers). Check out the new edition (3rd) of my Training for Climbing–it details several very effective hangboard programs as well as tons of other exercises for getting stronger and staying uninjured as you push into the 5.13s! Go luck in school…and on the rock!