Strength
Are We Assessing the Right Things?
Tags: Assessment, ken klein, testing
by Ken Klein, NASM, PCC This past August we were winding down the Climb Strong training camp in Lander, WY and Steve Bechtel said something that really stuck with me. A participant asked about assessments and Steve replied that if we piled all of our physical assessment numbers together we probably wouldn’t be able…
Full Combination Strength
Tags: Explosiveness, Isometric, Power, Specific Strength
by Steve Bechtel Strength is fundamental to athletic performance. Many climbers get it, and they hit the weight room regularly. The problem with most weight training is that it only addresses one speed of movement, and most of us select bilateral exercises for most movements. By training in such a narrow path, we miss out…
Shifting Goals in Lockdown
Tags: at home, Goal Setting, Kathryn Perkinson, Strength
By Kathryn Perkinson We are not living in an alternate reality. This world– a global pandemic, quarantine, no access to climbing– is reality. If you stay stuck wishing for what was or hoping for what will be, you’ll certainly miss this opportunity and make yourself miserable. How will you fully accept our new normal and…
Melding Strength and Power
Tags: Finger Strength, Hangboard, Power, Steve Bechtel, Strength, Weight Training
by Steve Bechtel Too frequently, we try to over-categorize our training. Long-time athletes and coaches learned about training for climbing by reading about and practicing training that came from other sports. We all understood that strength and power and endurance were different entities, some of us going so far as to train all of these…
Weight Training: What it is and is not.
Tags: Strength Training, Weight Training
As humans, we all tend to use categories and observations about groups of things to understand the world.Puppies are cute. Fruits are sweet. Scarpa shoes are awesome. Categories. It gets dangerous. Women are crazy. People with dark skin are dangerous. Liberals are weak. We learn through our culture, our parents, our schools that individual observation…
Foundational Bouldering (or Why Being a Novice is a Good Thing)
Tags: Bouldering, Bouldering Training, Novice Training
One of the great blunders of training is over-complication. It goes like this: You get interested in getting better so you go to the gym a bit and you get a little stronger and you get psyched and so you read about training and you get inspired to try some more stuff and you keep…
Foundation Strength: What You Do All The Time
Tags: foundation, Planning, Strength
When people train, they generally fall into two categories: The ones who get in shape a month or two before “the season.” The ones who “train” all the time at about the same intensity. It’s likely the most effective program is in some sweet spot in between. We are learning that there are certain things…
Developing General Grip Strength
Tags: Finger Strength, finger training, Grip Strength, grip training
In the old days, training “specifically” for climbing was almost unheard of. You either just climbed or you were one of the few climbers who trained in the weight room and did some door jamb pull-ups. Over the years, things changed. As climbs got hard and more physically challenging we sought out ways to beat…
Integrated Strength
Tags: Finger Strength, foundation, Hangboard, integrated strength
Combining Hangboard and Weight Training for Maximum Climbing Strength Introduction Everything about training for climbing is complicated. It is an exercise in compromise – focus on power and you lose endurance, too much time getting your fingers strong, and your redpoint grade drops. Over the years, there have been many creative solutions proposed to…
Advances in Core Training
Tags: abs, Core Strength, Specific Strength
This is not the first article on “core” training I have written, but I felt the need to expand on the previous ones and to highlight what we are doing in our current programs. In general, the way we look at training the midsection has not changed, but over the past couple of years we’ve…
Variations on Integrated Strength
Tags: Circuits, Finger Strength, Hangboard, integrated strength, Strength Training
We’ve been training strength for a long time. For years, I struggled with just how to fit all the hangboard training, general strength training, and supporting exercises in a normal climber’s week. Many of us try to get by without the extra work, opting to just go climbing instead. A look at the big picture,…
Hangboard Training for Finger Strength – A Primer
Tags: Finger Strength, Full Crimp, Half Crimp, Hangboard, Hangboard Ladders, Open Hand, Strength, Training
By Steve Bechtel The hangboard is perhaps the best tool for developing finger strength in climbers. Unfortunately, it is too often “over-sold” by manufacturers as a one-stop training device for all climbing movement. When your desire is stronger fingers, let that be your goal; don’t be fooled into trying to get a pump or do…