For all of these exercises, use climbing specific exercises (pull muscles and core muscles), as well as antagonist exercises (Push muscles).

Stamina Training

Stamina is what you need to climb long routes without getting overly fatigued. This differs from anaerobic endurance. Stamina revolves around your overall endurance to continue climbing, including aerobically and muscularly. Anaerobic Endurance means training your body to rid your muscles of lactic acid, which is particularly helpful on hard routes/problems.

To increase your stamina using a typical fitness gym, you should use weights for all your exercise that allow you to do 3 sets of 12 reps each, with a 1 minute break between sets.

Power/Strength Training

To increase your power and strength training, it is important that you use weights that allow you to do 3 sets of 6 reps max. YOU DO NOT WANT TO USE WEIGHTS THAT ARE ANY HEAVIER, or else you will bulk up and this will not help your climbing.

Anaerobic Endurance

To increase your anaerobic endurance, use weights that allow you to do 3 sets of 10 reps. In between sets, only take a 15 second rest.

Short and sweet! I hope it helps some of you out!

Interval training is exactly what it sounds like….you run with intervals of fast and slow paced running. Here is a beginner workout, and advanced workout for you to try:

Beginner Running Interval Training for Climbing:

1. Plan on running for 30 minutes
2. Start out with a 3 minute jog/slow run to warm up
3. At 3 minutes, run hard for 30 seconds
4. Jog for 1.5 minutes
5. Run hard for 30 seconds
6. Jog for 1.5 minutes
7. Continue to repeat that pattern until you get to 3 minutes away from your finish time, where you will finish with a 3 minute jog.

Advanced Running Interval Training for Climbing

1. Plan on running for 1 hour
2. Start out with a 3 minute warm up
3. Run hard (90% maximum heart rate), but not sprinting, for 8 Minutes.
4. Jog for 3 minutes
5. Repeat that pattern until 3 minutes from finish time and finish with a 3 minute jog.

Give it a try! Not only will it help with lactic acid removal, but it will make you lose weight quickly too…which is the #1 hindrance to climbing performance!

Flexibility: Yoga

Strength-Building Asana Sequence for Climbers:

1) Down Dog

2) Warrior I — press the palms together and take the gaze upwards 5 breaths.

3) Release the arms behind the back, interlace the fingers, lean back, and touch the hands to the back thigh. Lower body remains in Warrior I position here. 5 breaths.

4) Keep the arms and legs as they are, just lean foward and extend the heart out over the front knee. 5 breaths.

5. Keep the legs as they are, release the arms, and then extend the arms forward as if you are reaching out to someone. 5 breaths.

6. Lean into the front leg and slowly stand up right into Warrior III. 10 breaths. Remember to keep this pose active! Extend back through the heel; extend forward through the finger tips. Keep raising that back leg and don’t let anything sag.

7. “Airplane” the arms to the side, and then “barrel roll” into Half-Moon Pose. 10 deep Ujjayi breaths. You may even try to take the bottom hand off the ground and extend that arm forward.

8. Very slowly, lower back into Extended Side-Angle Stretch. The landing here should be light and controlled. Hold Side-Angle for 10 breaths. Again, keep this pose super active. Extend forward through the top arm, and cut the back foot sharply into the mat. Imagine a line of energy extending from the back heel all the way throught he tips of the forward fingers.

9. Now here comes the fun part. 5 rounds of Extended Side-Angle Stretch into Half-Moon, and back again, holding each pose for 2 deep breaths. Remember to move between the poses with lightness and control.

10. End up in Half-Moon. “Barrel roll” back into Warrior III. Just 5 breaths this time.

11. Bring the hands to the floor and come into Standing Split. Hold for 10 breaths. Try to take both hands to the ankle so that your leg is doing all the work in holding you up.

11. From Standing Split, either press up directly into a Handstand or kick up into a Handstand. Alternatively, just come straight back into Chaturanga.

12. Vinyasa. Repeat on the other side.

(this was adapted from the Yoga for Rock Climbing Blog)

Power/Strength Exercise

One Arm Traverses and One Arm Lunges

1. Find a section of the climbing wall that would enable you to do a long traverse, on reasonably large holds.
2. Climb up onto the wall, tucking one arm behind your back
3. Traverse only using one arm and moving your feet.
4. Repeat for the other arm
5. Take a 2 minute rest, and do 2 more traverses for each arm.
6. Now find a spot where you can hang from one arm (feet on the wall too), and the lung up and grab a higher hold. This would be like a one arm dyno. Your goal is to do 12 of these in a row with each arm, take a 2 minute rest, and do 2 more sets for each arm.

Anaerobic Endurance

Steep Wall Lockoffs

1. Find a steep section of the climbing wall (preferably a bouldering area) that would allow you to put your feet on holds, and have your hands either on one large hold, or 2 holds next to each other
2. Find a hold higher up the steep wall that is at your maximum reach
3. Pull up into the holds your hands are on, and reach high with one arm to touch the hold that you chose at maximum reach. Do not grab it, just touch it and hold for 2 seconds. You other arm should be in a lock-off position
4. Lower back down, repeat immediately, for 20-50 reps
5. Do the same for the other arm, take a 3 minute rest, and do 2 more sets.

I hope you all benefited from these 3 exercises! Let me know if you have any questions. Also, check out Eric Horst’s Training for Climbing blog, where much of this was adapted from.

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.

• 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.