Bouldering Training
The Full Tilt Bouldering Plan
Tags: Advanced Training, Bouldering Training, full tilt, Intermediate Training, Strength Training
I wrote the Full Tilt Redpoint Plan for myself a decade ago. I had little kids, was super busy at the gym, and wanted to get the most out of my sport climbing with the limited time I had. Since then, we’ve programmed dozens of variations to this plan for climbers seeking all kinds of…
Cycled Strength/Power 20D – 8 Week Bouldering Performance Plan
Tags: 8 week plans, Bouldering Training, cycled plans, Power, Strength
This training plan is a 3-day-per-week plan that features two 4-week blocks of training. For sake of simplicity, we will call phase 1 the Strength phase and phase 2 the Power phase, although both phases feature a mixture of both. This plan differs from previous versions in both the volume of training and in the…
Not Dark Yet
Tags: Aging, Bouldering Training, General Training, integrated strength, Mobility, Steve Bechtel
by Steve Bechtel There is a certain profundity to aging that gnaws at us, and the bites seem to get bigger at the decade marks. Twenty meant moving forward, freedom, and driving my own life. Thirty felt like I should have already sorted out most of the stuff I was working hard to sort out,…
Cycled Strength/Power 19D – 8 Week Bouldering Performance Plan
Tags: 8 week plans, Bouldering Training, cycled plans, Power, Strength
This training plan is a 3-day-per-week plan that features two 4-week blocks of training. For sake of simplicity, we will call phase 1 the Strength phase and phase 2 the Power phase, although both phases feature a mixture of both. The aim of this plan is to improve overall bouldering performance. This can then be…
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…
Total Body Power – 6 Weeks – Cycled Volume
Tags: Bouldering Training, Campus, Explosiveness, Power
Power training is a harsh mistress, and can destroy you as easily as it can build you up. High loads and high speed make for ample opportunities to make mistakes, and we tend to overdo it in these workouts…especially when we’re jumping from hold to hold. This training plan is built with two firm goals…
The World’s Simplest Hangboard Plan
Tags: Bouldering Training, Finger Strength, Hangboard
TOOLS TIME CYCLE LENGTH 1 medium-sized edge + additional weight as needed 6 minutes after warm-up 8 sessions As if complicating things made them somehow more effective. If you have not been training at all, the most effective solution is to start easy. On the flip-side, if you are bogged down by timing and…
Logical Progression for Bouldering
Tags: Bouldering Training, logical progression, nonlinear bouldering
The Logical Progression book details a surprisingly effective program of nonlinear training for rock climbers. The program is simple, flexible, and enjoyable…and follows a simple series of workouts. In general, athletes are asked to do an Integrated Strength workout, followed by a hard bouldering session, followed by a session designed to increase their endurance. Although…
Limit Bouldering Definition
Tags: Bouldering Training, Limit Bouldering
I’m trying to make sense of what, exactly, “limit bouldering” actually is. According to your plans, limit problems should require a handful of tries to complete, but according to the Anderson brothers, limit boulders should actually take a handful of months (if not longer). Obviously that means you could go several/many training blocks without actually…
Breaking Free of the 7-Day Week
Tags: Bouldering Training, General Training, Indoor Climbing, Planning, Program Design, Tactics
By Steve Bechtel The structure of time, of the calendar, and of months is incredibly useful in society, but is often more a problem than a solution for athletes. Even though we live on a 24-hour schedule, and most of us work or go to school for five days followed by two days off, our…
Concentrated Loading
Tags: Advanced Training, Bouldering Training, Concentrated Loading, General Training, Planning, Program Design, Tactics
by Steve Bechtel It doesn’t really matter what I write. It seems that within two hours of putting an article up, I get a “yeah, but…” email explaining how whatever I wrote just won’t work in x program and could I please explain how one might do y… Clearly, most of us have all the…