Rock Climbing, Lifting, and Running

[GoSharks]

I work out at a climbing gym and many many good climbers there would completely disagree with you. That is, like every single sport, the main way you get better at the sport is by doing it a lot. Obviously doing lots of climbing is the best way to become a better climber, just like playing lots of football makes you a better football player, playing lots of hockey makes you a better hockey player and so on. However, to say that all other training is not worth his time is a bunch of rubbish. Yes, technique is almost always the primary need in a sport, but you would also benefit enormously from being stronger, having more power, more endurance, better agility and so on. This is why regardless of sport, virtually all athletes do cross training. You can only climb so many hours a day and days per week (especially if you are limited by the time it takes tendons to adapt), so rest of the time can be well spent by improving all aspects of fitness. Many climbers at my gym do Crossfit precisely because it makes them better climbers. It in no way is a substitute for the hours they have to spend on the wall, but all else being equal, the more fit athlete is always the better athlete.

Firstly, I am well aware that top climbers cross train. For example, James Litz, who has put up a V15 first ascent, adds a bunch of lifting to his gym climbing regimen. In addition, he occasionally wears a weight vest while climbing. (As a side note, I've worn his before and with it on, it makes you feel super fatigued, even though you are totally fresh). But this guy is at the top of the pyramid, and what he does to improve/maintain his climbing isn't going to be the same as somebody who is comparably a newbie.

Please understand that I was specifically directing my advice to Gamingphreek, who is an roughly a beginning to intermediate climber and that I stand by everything that I said. Note that I was never negative towards any cardio exercise and even encouraged him to do it on his off days.

You do CF at Planet Granite Sunnyvale don't you? I'm no Mike Abell, or Joel, or Jeremy (V10+ climbers), but on any given night, I'm one of the top tier climbers at PG Sunnyvale. Out of the people that I typically work problems with, I haven't heard of much talk about lifting unless they were recovering from injury, save one guy who is/was a CF instructor.

I will throw in that doing sit-up/crunches/v-ups is not unheard of among the climbers that I know.

By just climbing and biking for training, I've climbed 5.13a and have done V8s in under 45 minutes, on real rock. I feel that I have a good understanding of what it takes to become "good" at climbing, especially when it comes to moving through 10s and into 11s.

 

[brikis98]

You do CF at Planet Granite Sunnyvale don't you?

Yep.

Note that I was never negative towards any cardio exercise and even encouraged him to do it on his off days.

Endurance/stamina training is a big part of Crossfit and the way CF does it tends to be more effective for the real world than what many people do for "cardio" (slow jog/bike/elliptical).

I will throw in that doing sit-up/crunches/v-ups is not unheard of among the climbers that I know.

To me, this suggests that while you clearly have a great understanding of climbing, your (or the climbers you are referring to) understanding of exercise/physiology is not nearly as good. Doing a few sit-ups here and there and the like isn't going to have any real effect on performance in much of anything. Developing good midline stabilization - what some people refer to as "core" training - is actually much more effectively accomplished by lifting heavy things (squat, deadlift, press, etc). Balancing 400lbs on your back while you squat builds a much stronger core than 15 crunches.

In general though, I don't understand how you can deny the usefulness of some parts of fitness that seem directly relevant to climbing: for example, CF includes a lot of gymnastics and bodyweight movements that develop tremendous body control, coordination, kinesthetic sense & balance. Are those ever important for climbing? There are also numerous high rep workouts that help muscular endurance, full ROM barbell exercises develop flexibility, and the metcons improve stamina. Or does none of that matter? There are tons of strength & conditioning programs targeted at climbers and PG offers some climbing power/endurance classes as well. Are these all a scam?

It's worth mentioning, btw, that Crossfit is not the only option and perhaps for climbers, not even the best option. I merely use it as an example to show that doing activities other than climbing can still help your climbing. That is, improving your overall fitness will almost always help any athletic endeavor. Having said that, if improving your performance at some sport is the goal, then practicing that sport as much as possible is still unquestionably the priority. Fitness training should never come at the expense of your sport, but rather be a supplement to it.

By just climbing and biking for training, I've climbed 5.13a and have done V8s in under 45 minutes, on real rock. I feel that I have a good understanding of what it takes to become "good" at climbing, especially when it comes to moving through 10s and into 11s.

I'm in no way questioning your accomplishments or climbing abilities, but I have a very hard time believing that you wouldn't be an even better climber if you were stronger, had more stamina, more endurance, etc.

 

[GoSharks]

brikis98, I don't disagree with any of what you have said. However, I still believe that for a climber of Gamingphreek's level, it is too early in his climbing progression to really start doing non-climbing workouts.

Any climber would be better if they had more strength, stamina, endurance, etc, but for myself, I'm happy enough at where I'm currently climbing such that my desire to supplement my climbing with an actual training program, that takes time away from other fun activities, is near zero.

 

[Koing]

brikis98, I don't disagree with any of what you have said. However, I still believe that for a climber of Gamingphreek's level, it is too early in his climbing progression to really start doing non-climbing workouts.

Any climber would be better if they had more strength, stamina, endurance, etc, but for myself, I'm happy enough at where I'm currently climbing such that my desire to supplement my climbing with an actual training program, that takes time away from other fun activities, is near zero.

The OP wanted to see how to climb and do some LIFTING.

The exercises I mention would have taken care of the lifting phase for him. It would have been infinitely better then the bicep curls, skull crushers etc he was planning to do.

Yes climbing 3x a week would be better for the person. No one is disagreeing here. I just gave suggestions for him that were better then what he had in mind.

Koing

 

[GoSharks]

The OP wanted to see how to climb and do some LIFTING.

Climbing is my top priority in this instance. Baseball season is over so I don't need to worry about arm strength or anything right now.

Well I don't plan on doing a bulking program or anything. However, I was thinking that some high rep low resistance lifts might help a little bit.

-Kevin

I gave my advice about how to best improve Gamingphreek's top priority. It is up to him to determine if he wants to lift.

 

[Deeko]

Climbing is his top priority but its clearly not his only priority. He indicated he wants to lift and do cardio, and he mentioned that he plays various sports as well. Cutting out the other training and focusing on climbing will, in all likelihood, give him the most improvement in climbing...at the expense of all other levels of fitness.

Fortunately for the OP, while it might not be completely optimal for climbing, there are ways to set up a schedule to do both.

 

[Koing]

Climbing is his top priority but its clearly not his only priority. He indicated he wants to lift and do cardio, and he mentioned that he plays various sports as well. Cutting out the other training and focusing on climbing will, in all likelihood, give him the most improvement in climbing...at the expense of all other levels of fitness.

Fortunately for the OP, while it might not be completely optimal for climbing, there are ways to set up a schedule to do both.

:thumbsup;

You can climb 2-3x a week and lift 2-3x a week you schedule and implement it correctly.

Start off by climbing 1-2x a week with one lifting session. Every month add another session. It takes the time to adjust or you will fall to bits.

You can't go from training 2-3x a week to 5-6x a week pounding every week like that. Thats a HUGE increase in training.

Koing