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Adidas/July 2021/
7 minute read

Rock Climbing Workouts On and Off the Wall

Building strength is crucial to preventing injury and improving as a climber. Add these rock climbing exercises to your training to feel the difference on the wall.

Climbing Training: Beginning the Journey

Whether you’re new to the rock wall or you’re a seasoned climber looking to gain strength, you’ve got to start on the ground. Climbing coach Aman Anderson walks us through a set of rock climbing exercises that every level of climber can benefit from by adding to their training routines to build strength, reduce risk of injury, and develop confidence to conquer each new crag. 
 
Anderson has been rock climbing for 13 years, and has a host of achievements under his belt. With a background in health and product design, he developed a tool that has been a game-changer in improving finger strength and reducing injuries in the rock climbing community. Today, the Grippul is used all over the world as a method of finger training. Anderson now has a full climbing product line designed to aid climbing workouts, and coaches his youth and professional teams at his gym, Beast Fingers Climbing, in Denver, Colorado. The gym features rock walls, boulder routes, weights and training equipment for off-wall strength and conditioning, which Anderson argues is a vital first step for new climbers: 
 
“Typically, new climbers tend to get injured a lot because they use climbing as a means to get stronger. There’s nothing wrong with it, however, it’s an uncontrolled environment that can sometimes put you in positions that could make you more susceptible to injury,” said Anderson.
 
For new climbers, it’s important to focus on slowly developing your strength in key areas to avoid injuries. Anderson notes that typically for beginners, “there are weaknesses in the upper body, in the shoulders, the arms, and lock-offs, like being able to keep the body close to the wall.” These are areas that you can train with rock climbing exercises using weights and movements on the ground that help prep your body for positions you’ll encounter on the wall. Anderson showed us six rock climbing workouts to strengthen your body off the wall, as well as a couple of climbing exercises you can do on the wall.

As with any new training program, start slow and with reasonable weight for your fitness level to help avoid risk of injury — something that’s pretty common in the climbing world. “These workouts are designed to create a controlled environment that allows the climber to develop upper body and lower body strength,” explained Anderson. “As they get stronger with it over a span of weeks or months, then they can progressively load the exercise to create more resistance and more challenge, which will directly correlate to their climbing ability.” 
 

ROCK CLIMBING WORKOUTS: TIME TO GET STRONG

If you don’t have access to a gym with the equipment listed, there are still ways to do these rock climbing workouts at home. “To the new climbers who are trying to improve their game, a lot of these workouts they can do at home. For example, a bench press you need a gym, but there are alternatives like pushups. There’s ways to push your training with what you have,” said Anderson. Take these workouts with you wherever you train by downloading the PDF at the bottom of the article and saving it to your phone.
 

Finger Training

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Equipment: A 20 mm edge or a Grippul, and a weight
Reps: 3 sets, 7 reps, at least 2 to 3 times a week with a reasonable weight
Targeted muscles: Strengthens your fingers and hands
How to do it:
  1. Attach a Grippul or a 20mm edge piece to a weight.
  2. Squat over the weight, holding the Grippul with one hand. Stand up, pulling the weight with you, and holding for 3 seconds before squatting down to rest the weight on the ground. 
  3. Repeat this movement.
 

Hammer Curl

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Equipment: A set of dumbbells
Reps: 3 sets, 7 reps each side
Targeted muscles: Anterior forearm and bicep
How to do it:
  1. Holding a dumbbell in each hand, curl one at a time across your chest, keeping your elbow pinned at your side to isolate your bicep.
  2. Lower your hand and repeat the movement on the other arm. 
 

Bench Press

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Equipment: A barbell, weight plates, and a bench
Reps: 3 sets, 7 reps
Targeted muscles: This targets your chest, shoulders and triceps
How to do it:
  1. Lay on the bench with your shoulders in line under the bar. Grab the bar in a wide grip and breath deeply to prepare.
  2. Lift the bar off the rack, lower it to your chest and lift it back up. Repeat this movement, and when finished with the set, place the bar on the rack to rest. 
 
 

Wide Pull-Ups 

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Equipment: A pull-up bar, and a resistance band for modification
Reps: 3 sets, 7 reps
Targeted muscles: Back muscles and shoulders
How to do it:
  1. Grab the bar in a wide position and pull up, reaching the bar with your chin before lowering down.
  2. For a modification, wrap a resistance band around the bar and place your feet in it to assist your bodyweight as you pull up.
 

McGill Big 3

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Equipment: A mat to lay on
Reps: 3 circuits, 10 reps each
Targeted muscles: Entire core
 

Curl Up

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  1. Lay on your back with one knee bent and your foot flat on the floor. Place your hands under your lower back for support. Engage your core and curl your head and shoulders up, holding for a couple seconds before lowering down. This counts as one rep. Switch legs halfway through.
 

Side Plank

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  1. Lay on your side with your elbow directly below your shoulder. Engage your core and lift your hips off the ground, forming a straight diagonal line from your head to your toes. Hold this position for five seconds before lowering your hips down. This counts as one rep. Switch sides halfway through.
 

Bird-Dog 

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  1. Begin on your hands and knees with your spine and neck in a neutral position. Lift your left leg and your right arm, engaging your core and your glutes. Hold this position for a few seconds before lowering down. This counts as one rep. Switch sides halfway through.
 

Wall Sits

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Equipment: A wall
Reps: 3 sets, 7 reps, holding each wall sit for 5 to 10 seconds
Targeted muscles: Quads and hamstrings, as well as flexibility of ankles
How to do it:
  1. With your back flat against a sturdy wall, lower down so your legs are at a 90˚ angle, as if you’re sitting in an invisible chair.
  2. Hold this position for 5 to 10 seconds before raising up. For more of a challenge, hold this position for up to a minute.
 

ON THE WALL WORKOUTS

 

Toe Taps

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Equipment: A rock wall
Reps: 3 sets, 8 reps
Targeted muscles: This improves lateral core strength, specifically targeting the obliques
How to do it:
  1. Grab two holds on the wall and cross your right leg over to tap the left side of the wall, reaching as far as you can. 
  2. Return to the middle and cross your left leg over to tap the right side of the wall. Engage your core, and this is a great arm workout too!
 

Isometric Hold

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Equipment: A rock wall
Reps: Hold each position for 5 to 10 seconds
Targeted muscles: This strengthens all the muscles you need to hold a position on the wall.
How to do it:
  1. With four points of contact on the wall, hold the position for 5 to 10 seconds. Try different positions to train different muscles and improve your strength as you maintain a position on the wall.
 

Making it to the Top

Remember to be patient and stick with these workouts to improve your rock climbing and see the results. Climbing is as much physical as it is mental, and it gets tough when gravity is your biggest enemy. 
 
As a coach, Anderson sees climbers get frustrated or caught up in the grind of competitions, and he reminds them of where their passion all started: “One of the best things I like to tell climbers is to never forget why they fell in love with the sport. Everyone has different reasons why they chose rock climbing and at the base of that, love for the sport should always be the driving motivation,” said Anderson. For him, it was the community that kept bringing him back to the wall. “I think for me why I fell in love with the sport was when I started to meet people that were involved in the sport of climbing. Whether it’s outside or inside, I just sensed this community of people cared about the Earth and cared about each other, and I thought that was pretty cool.”
 
Take these workouts with you to the gym by downloading the PDF below and saving it to your phone.
 
Take these instructions with you by downloading this printable PDF
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