I’ve spent a decent amount of time writing about training for climbing. However, it always involves giving new ways of training in the climbing gym and/or at the cliff. Well, what if you don’t have a climbing gym near you, and/or you don’t have a cliff nearby? I thought it would be helpful to give you all some advice on how to train for climbing in a typical fitness gym. Below you will find ways to use weights to train for stamina, power/strength, and anaerobic endurance. Of course, climbing is always the best training, but weight training when climbing isn’t possible is of utmost importance (this is in addition to antagonist push muscle training that every climber should be doing 2 times per week). Read the rest of this entry »

My weekly training schedule usually consists of 3-4 days climbing and training at the climbing gym, and 3-4 days of aerobic workouts (usually running). However, as I sit here this morning reviewing my calendar, I realize that this is one of those weeks where I will have no time at all to go to the climbing gym. But I do have time to run, and there are some great forms of running that actually translate directly into improved climbing performance. Interval Training is the best way to run to train for climbing. This is because interval training trains your body to remove lactic acid from your muscles faster and more efficiently. Lactic acid is what gives you that “Pumped” feeling when climbing. Training your body to remove the lactic acid faster will improve your climbing anaerobic endurance!

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We’ve had great response from people who have signed up for our “10 Free Climbing Training Tips” guide, so I thought I’d share a bit more on some specific workouts for people to try. I of course realize that not everyone has the time or opportunity to spend 4 or even 3 sessions at the climbing gym each week, so I wanted to provide you with a quick workout that includes a flexibility exercise, a power and strength exercise, and an anaerobic endurance excercise. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a great idea for at home anaerobic endurance training:

Fingerboard Moving Hangs:

1. You will need a hangboard/fingerboard mounted above a doorway. Rock Rings will work too.
2. Prop your feet up somehow…you’ll want to have your body at an angle…like you are climbing an overhanging route
3. Hang from the fingerboard and change hand positions every 2 seconds for 5 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes and do 2 more sets.
4. This will build great anaerobic endurance.

One of the most effective means of training stamina is to perform exercises that do the following:

• Increase Capillary Size
• Increase the Body’s Ability to Remove Lactic Acid from Muscles
• Build aerobic endurance
• Keep off excess body weight

Other than being intentional in sport-specific training (more details on that next week), training with running intervals accomplishes ALL of the above objectives.

Running Intervals

1. Choose a running route that will give you some elevation change (hills)
2. In the beginning, start with 30 minute sessions 4 times per week, eventually turning 2 of those sessions into 1.25 hour sessions. The goal is to really push yourself, so if you start in week 1 with 30 minute sessions, by the end of week 3 you should be pushing yourself to 1 hour sessions, and then 1.25 hour sessions by the end of week 4.
3. Start out your run with a 3 minute jog. Then run hard (at 90 percent of your max) for 5 minutes. Then back to a 3 minute jog, then 5 minutes hard, etc. Repeat this pattern for the duration of your run, allowing for a 5 minute jogging cool down at the end.
4. If you do this for a 10 week period, you will notice incredible climbing performance improvement, as well as increased all around health!

You can read more about this and other running ideas at the Running Blog posting on VO2 Max and Intervals.