We build all of our training plans to work for real people. Built on 4-week cycles, our plans can be assembled to address almost any training goal. Whether bouldering, big-wall climbing, redpointing, or just getting generally stronger, this is your starting point for getting better.
The Complete Home Board Training Plan
Tags: fixed board, home wall, Moon Board, year-round
by Steve Bechtel This is a comprehensive year-round training plan for performance rock climbing. It features strength and power development, mobility work, and energy system sessions, all aimed at building sport or trad climbing fitness. It can easily be scaled to bouldering goals, and is built into 4-week blocks for scheduling ease. The planned outcome…
Rebuild I
Tags: basic strength, Novice Training, rebuild
By Steve Bechtel This is a training cycle of 4 weeks for climbers who have either never trained using weights and hangboards, or who have been away from climbing and training for an extended period of time. The volume and difficulty is progressed conservatively, and we are looking for the work capacity and strength to…
Winter Base I
Tags: base training, Off Season, Steve Bechtel, winter training
WINTER BASE I by Steve Bechtel The Route Climbing BASE plans are built to increase finger strength, core strength, and overall body tension, with the longer efforts of full routes in mind. This plan is appropriate for boulderers looking for a bit more capacity as well as trad climbers, though the plan emphasizes finger strength…
3-TIER PLAN: 2023 REVISION
Tags: 3-tier, climbing training, in-season training, redpoint climbing
The 3-Tier Plan is more a structure or philosophy than an actual training program, and could be better described as the “get out of your rut” plan. It underscores the idea that we truly do need to create a base of “persistent” training factors, then build fitness specific to our goal, and then go out…
Route Climbing: Late-Season Fitness – Logical Progression Style
Tags: in season, logical progression, maintenance, Route Climbing
by Steve Bechtel What do we do in the latter stages of a performance phase? Usually, we just hold on to hammering against our project, slowly losing fitness in the hopes of being fresh for each climbing day, until we run out of time, energy, or fitness to do the climbing at all. I know…
Aerobic Capacity Program 8:3 (Level 2-3)
Tags: aerobic endurance, capacity, Endurance, Steve Bechtel
by Steve Bechtel A better way to look at endurance in climbing is to understand that unless you’ve totally neglected it, you probably have some kind of general endurance for climbing. I’ll also preface this by saying that if you never try (nor plan to try) routes or long boulders, you might not really need…
8-8-8 Endurance (12 Weeks)
Tags: aerobic power, alactic intervals, Endurance, High Low, Power Endurance, Stamina
by Steve Bechtel The 8-8-8 Plan is a 12 week program aimed at making a long-term improvement in endurance capability. So often people go looking for a plan that will get them “in shape” for endurance, but only ever realize an endurance peak that takes them back to the same level that they previously attained….
General Endurance Training Plan 3
Tags: aerobic power, capacity, cardiac output, Endurance, energy systems, general endurance, High Low, Power Endurance
This is the third General Endurance Plan in the CS series, but isn’t necessarily a progression from GE 1 and 2… This plan is simply one that utilizes some different sessions than we saw in 1 and 2. I’ll remind you that GE2 was a no-climbing-available plan. This plan, although do-able in a gym, requires…
General Endurance Training Plan 2
Tags: aerobic power, capacity, cardiac output, Endurance, energy systems, general endurance, High Low, no climbing gym, Power Endurance
This is the second General Endurance Plan for the site, but isn’t necessarily a progression from GE 1…This one is built with the idea that no actual climbing is available to you. I built this for an athlete that was stationed in Afghanistan and had access to nothing but a hangboard, weight room, and cardio…
General Endurance Training Plan 1
Tags: aerobic power, capacity, cardiac output, Endurance, energy systems, general endurance, High Low, Power Endurance
Here’s what you don’t want to hear. You don’t want me to tell you that the root of your problem might be a fundamental lack of athleticism, that you might be lacking the basic building blocks of not just climbing fitness, but general fitness as well. There is a bit of a yin/yang relationship when…
Specific Endurance Training Plan 3
Tags: alactic power, Endurance, energy systems, High Low, Intervals, Power Endurance, specific endurance
This is a third option in our specific endurance plans, after, Specific Endurance 1 and 2. This is the highest-volume plan and is somewhat of a progression over 1 and 2. To review from SE1: The alactic energy system is primarily responsible for extremely high-power, short duration activities. Because it relies on energy stored locally…
Specific Endurance Training Plan 2
Tags: alactic power, Endurance, energy systems, High Low, Intervals, Power Endurance, specific endurance
This is a second option in our specific endurance plans, after, Specific Endurance 1, of course. This is not necessarily a progression from that plan, but is a slightly more intensive series of workouts. To review from SE1: The alactic energy system is primarily responsible for extremely high-power, short duration activities. Because it…