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Improving your climbing technique is the best way to move up to higher grades. However, most people can only climb 3-4 days a weeks at most, but want to stay active the rest of the week. If you want to stay active and get stronger for climbing than these are the exercises for you.
Best Training Exercises Climbers
Almost all bouldering gyms include more than just rock climbing walls: yoga, weights, cables, and cardio are all commonly found in climbing gyms. The average person can only climb 3 days of the week without risking fascia injuries or overstrain. This leaves several other days for other types of fitness and exercise routines, but how could those be optimized for bouldering? Learn these exercises for climbers to accelerate muscle growth in the areas you use the most when climbing.
CONTENT
Lower Body
Calf Raises
Hip Thrusts
Leg Extensions
Hip Abductor / Adductor
Pistol Squat
Upper Body
Pull Ups
Underhand Rows
TYIs
Farmer Carries
Zottman Curls
Core Stability
Plank
V-Ups
Leg Lifts
Conclusion
Lower Body Exercises for Climbers
The lower body is the foundation of all movements. Strong legs are essential for holding our body up and pushing yourself up the wall.
Calf Raises
Your calfs serve two primary purposes when climbing. On slabs, they help you to support your weight on foot chips and stretch for the next handhold. In overhang climbing, they create horizontal tension between you and the wall so there is less focus on downward pressures of gravity. Training this muscle group with any variation of calf raise will help to ensure strong foot placement on even the smallest hold.
Hip Thrust / Glute Bridge
One of the most important techniques with climbing is to keep your hips close to the wall. Hip thrusts and glute bridges both practice pressing your pelvis up and towards the wall. This is especially important in overhangs where you need to keep tension in your hips to prevent them from dragging down your entire body.
Leg Extensions
Leg extensions target the quadriceps. Your quads are one of the biggest muscles in your legs that extend your legs and create tension between you and the wall. Leg extensions or any other quad targeting activity will strengthen the lower body. Training the quads can be especially useful for quick, explosive movements like dynamos.
Hips Abductor / Adductors
The hip abductor and adductor muscles control the lateral motion of the leg. If you have difficulty wedging into corners or creating tension between wide footholds, this exercise should help these movements feel easier. They can be done via machine or more likely, using resistance bands around the knees and performing a crab walk, keeping constant tension on the band between your legs.
Pistol Squats
Pistol squats are an incredibly dynamic exercise that will hep improve your strength and stability on the wall. The actual squat promotes strength, the one-footed exercise improves balance in micro movements, and as you progress to deeper pistol squats, the flexibility of your hips and legs will train a wider range of motion. If a pistol squat is too difficult, learn the exercise progressively. First, standing on one leg, sink all the way down in a slow, controlled movement. Mix this with doing pistol squats onto a block or a bench. As this gets easier, progress into full pistol squats with your other heel still on the ground. Soon, you will have the strength to perform a full pistol squat and potentially continue to more complex variations.
Upper Body Exercises for Climbers
Upper body strength is also an important part of climbing for obvious reasons. Your upper body is what primarily controls movements and effort as you climb up the wall. Incorporating a day to increase upper body strength will do more than just improve aesthetics.
Pull ups
The most obvious one is of course pull ups. They are a dynamic exercise that works the arms, back, core, and grip strength. If pull ups are too difficult, try assisted pull ups. If your gym doesn't have a machine for this, resistance bands can be tied for the same effect. Pull ups can also be done in different variations to target different movements: chin ups, pull ups, muscle ups, archer pull ups, and crimp ups. Each variation adds a unique level of difficulty and will take time to learn and develop.
Underhand Rows
Rows are a type of back exercise that will help your overall upper body strength. I specifically recommend taking an underhand grip for barbell or cable rows because it mirrors the muscular contraction of an undercling hold. It also targets the forearm muscles responsible for closing your fists. This also works as a counter exercise to traditional pull ups meaning they can be done together for a well-rounded back workout.
TYIs
TYIs are some of the best ways to build back strength in some overlooked muscle groups. They are especially good for keeping your body close to the wall when your arms are fully outstretched. The exercise uses RTX bands. Hold one handle in each hand with arms fully outstretched. Step your feet in so that you are leaning away from the wall. The closer your feet are to the wall, the harder the exercise. First, move your arms straight out to the side making a 'T' with your body. Next, drop your arms to the original position and then extend them out and slightly overhead to form a 'Y'. Finally, return to the original position and then pull arms directly overhead in an 'I' shape. Repeat this series of 3 for however many repetitions you are able to.
Farmer Carries
Farmer carries are one of the classic exercises for forearm strength and stamina. Holding weights that are fairly heavy, pace back and forth while focusing on just holding the weight. This can be done with any variation of weight, dumbbells, plates, and more. Forearm and grip strength is imperative to climbing, and farmer carries can help strengthen these areas when you are not actively/consistently climbing.
Zottman Curls
Zottman curls are a special kind of curl that incorporates regular bicep curls with reverse curls. This is good for bicep strength when climbing, and more importantly rotational forearm strength. Zottman curls can improve your ability to grip the wall at various angles and move fluidly from one position to the next. Try incorporating this exercise into your routine and watch your grip strength's versatility improve.
Core Stability Exercises for Climbers
Your core stability is one of the most important elements of climbing. It makes it possible to not only scale walls, but keep your entire body suspended above the ground in overhangs. The core ties all the other muscle groups together and makes it possible to hold otherwise impossible positions.
Plank
A classic plank is another great way to strengthen the core. Holding it as long as possible trains both the body and the mind. If this feel difficult at first, start with several short sets or planks with your knees down. It is however important to have proper form: a straight back, a tucked pelvis, and shoulders aligned over elbows. It can also help to intentionally tighten your abdominals for a better feel.
V-Ups
V-ups are another great exercise for core strength. Especially for pulling your legs up onto the wall when climbing overhangs. They are easy to learn, require only a mat, and help your lower abdominal control. The important thing to remember with V-ups is that you are trying to make the motion slow and controlled.
Leg Lifts
Finally, the best exercise for you to build core stability is the leg lift. These can be done on designated stands with forearm support or on a pull up bar. Hold your body in a controlled position, and while keeping the upper body still, lift your legs to hip height so your body is in an "L" shape. When letting your legs drop, make the descent slow so you are continuing to work the muscles instead of letting gravity pull them down and making your upper body swing. Try mixing up this exercise by adding periodic holds at the peak of tension. If these become too easy, you can try adding a dumbbell or kettlebell to your feet for added resistance. Leg lifts have been proven as the best exercise for core strength, development, and growth. Add this exercise to the end of every single workout and watch your progress accelerate.
CONCLUSION
Rock climbing is a great way to change up your workout routine. It provides a unique challenge to use muscles in a different way than traditional workouts. Climbing also helps you learn how to move efficiently and solve routes that feel like puzzles. For those looking to try something new, rock climbing is a great way to keep fit while adding a refreshing twist to your training. For experienced climbers, incorporating these workouts is a great way to see improvement in your ability and even bump up a grade. Try these exercises for climbers and see their effects for yourself!
If you have another exercise you like for climbing, leave a comment or contact us to maybe get a special feature.
For more climbing tips, check out our 'beginner's guide to climbing' here.
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