Training
E-Stim Might Make You Weaker
Tags: E-Stim, Endurance, Recovery, Training
By Steve Bechtel I am as excited about the next big thing in training as the next guy. When Electronic Muscle Stimulation (E-Stim) came on the scene, I could almost feel my forearms getting stronger just thinking about it. It was a great idea for climbers; a way to train the forearm muscles when you…
Progress
Tags: Cragging, Planning, Programming, Redpoint Pyramids, Training
By Steve Bechtel It happens every year at a hundred different climbing areas. There is a glimmer of talent, a hint of drive, and a motivated climber is born. He cruises up through the grades, doing several 5.10 and 5.11 routes with his friends, he makes progress, and then he starts to pull ahead. Finally,…
How Hard Do You Try?
Tags: Habits, Intensity, Motivation, Pain, Planning, Quality Training, Training
By Steve Bechtel Why is it that some people just keep getting better while the rest of us are stuck? Further, why can I follow the same program as another climber and watch him rack up the grades while I still fail at the same level year after year? As hard as it is to…
Change
Tags: Change, Habits, Planning, Quality Training
by Steve Bechtel This site is filled with our best training ideas and advice. There are dozens of books on systems for improving your climbing. You could watch quality training videos online for a whole day and get ten lifetimes worth of good advice. So why do so few climbers reach their goals each year?…
Three Mistakes You Might Be Making in the Gym
Tags: Assessment, Intensity, Progress, Quality Training, Specificity, Training, Weight Management
By Steve Bechtel Training is all about progress. Unless you just love to train (I’d rather watch Deadwood), you’d better be seeing some results for the hours you spend flogging yourself. What we see in most climbers, though, is really just slight decreases in fitness throughout the year, and then an occasional return to a…
Pre-Climb Rituals
Tags: Planning, Rituals, Stretching, Training, Warm-Ups
By Steve Bechtel I like to go to competitions. I like them for many different reasons, but mostly it is to watch people as they prepare to compete. See, the vast majority of pre-event activity is nothing like the way we prepare for training. At bouldering competitions, we see all kinds of craziness, and pre-climb…
Direction
Tags: Planning, Principles, Quality Training, Training
By Steve Bechtel Once the fever to train sets in, awareness of one’s body becomes paramount. Buying into the excitement and perhaps difficulty of this or that training fad, an athlete can actually change direction and drift further from his goal by training harder. Unfortunately, in the world of difficult climbing, simply working hard does…
Get Out of Your Rut
Tags: Change, Habits, Quality Training, Supercompensation
By Steve Bechtel Do you remember back when you used to get better at climbing? Month after month you could climb harder routes, you could feel yourself get better at jamming, at lock-offs, at edging, and it felt like the sky was the limit. Now you know that the limit is right about 12a, and…
Brick Programming
Tags: Density Training, General Training, Periodization, Planning, Power Endurance, Program Design, Tactics
By Steve Bechtel Going bouldering is not training. If you’re one of the lucky few, you can hit the gym a couple of nights a week and continue to get strong, avoid injury, and enjoy the sport. Most of us, though, will reach a plateau where progress is no longer possible on the “whatever” plan,…
Organizing Your Cragging Program
Tags: Cragging, Planning, Program Design, Project Climbing, Pyramids, Redpoint Pyramids, Redpointing, Tactics
by Steve Bechtel Training is more popular than it’s ever been in the sport of climbing, and it warms my heart to see people actually training in the gym rather than just hitting another bouldering session. The word is out that a focused attention to improvement really works. At the crags, though, it’s another matter:…
Extensive Endurance On Home Wall?
Tags: ARC, Extensive Endurance, home wall training, Intervals
Currently the only means of plastic tugging I have is my 6 foot wide 45 degree home wall. I’m curious as to how you’d recommend approaching training extensive endurance with only a steep woody and some hanging implements. I’ve got jugs to rup my greasy fingers on but at the angle I’m working with its…
I am a boulderer. How do I apply Logical Progression to my training?
Tags: Bouldering Training, logical progression, nonlinear bouldering
The Logical Progression program was written with route climbers in mind, but it can be applied to any sport. For bouldering, I’d suggest backing off a bit on the energy system work, and increase the strength and power facets of the training. Instead of training like this: STRENGTH > POWER > STRENGTH ENDURANCE You might…