A Simple Strength Workout for Climbers
When you look at online trainers, they usually overcomplicate fitness.
To train your posterior chain for sports, the deadlift is the best option, it trains your ability to push through your hips like no other movement.
But these trainers still want to look fancy and as such, they will recommend you things like snatch-grip banded tempo deficit deadlifts.
Strength training does not have to be complicated…
This workout is designed to help you gain pulling and finger strength.
We’ll start with banded one-arm pull-ups, if you are strong enough, do them without any assitance.
The idea of using a band is that it allows you to have the perfect resistance profile.
Most assisted one-arm pull-up variations modify the movement, which is less specific, it does not mean that these movements are useless, but that there are better options!
This workout is biased towards strength, so use low-rep sets (1–5r) with long rest intervals (3–5') for the first two exercises.
The third exercise is going to help with forearm hypertrophy, a bigger muscle has more strength potential, and we can’t say that having bigger forearms will make you too heavy.
For the last exercise, I will give you the details later.
As for the number of sets, it all depends on your experience level and your training frequency, do the maximum number of sets which still allows you to perform at your best when you climb.
This requires you to experiment a bit, start with something like 2 sets per exercise and move on from there.
The second exercise is once again a vertical pull, rowing is effective, but I feel like you get more bang out of your buck by doing only vertical pulls.
Doing too many movements will create so much fatigue that it will impact your performance too drastically.
Weighted pull-ups are on the list! Progressive overload is easy to apply, add a bit of weight, if you struggle to perform your sets as usual, you can also reduce the load.
One-arm pull-ups help to correct asymetries and build lock-off strength.
Bilateral weighted pull-ups are here to build raw pulling power.
Now, what is the third exercise? Which movement can be great for forearm hypertorphy?
Isometrics, like half crimps on a hangboard, are great for strength, but for muscle growth, you need to go through the deepest stretch under tension possible.
My solution is to do finger curls with a dumbbell, once again, it is an unilateral movement, you can do them with a barbell as well but I find it less convenient.
So, grab a heavy dumbbell, open your hand as much as you can and close it, the pump is nasty and this is exactly what you want!
The last exercise is a simple passive hang on the bar, you can engage your scapula if you want but I feel like it prevents me from focusing solely on my grip.
The protocol is the same as in the article that I have written about “My Secret to Grip Strength and Shoulder Health”.
Put a timer for 5 minutes and hang as much as you can during this time frame, rest as needed.
You can be a purist and only hang on two arms, or you can do the same as me and release one-arm for a few seconds to let it relax and then come back to a bilateral hang.
And there you go, you have a simple, yet effective climbing-specific strength workout!
For all the curious readers, here is my personal version of the workout:
- 3*1–3r Banded one-arm pull-ups / rest for 3'
- 3*6–10r Weighted pull-ups / rest for 3'
- 3*8–12r One-arm finger curls / rest for 90"
- 5' Passive hang (I usually hang for around 3' in these 5', my goal is to never release but it will take a long time before I reach it)
I do it twice a week but I recommend you build up to it.
Start with only one session with 2 sets per movement.
Then, add one set per movement, see how it goes.
Afterwards, maybe add one more set or go back to 2 sets but with 2 workouts per week.
Do not go much farther than this because most of your attention should be on your climbing workouts.
I will finish this article by talking about progressive overload.
As you can see, I do not use fixed reps, but rather, I use a rep range.
So for the first workout of a cycle, I start with 3 sets of 6 weighted pull-ups with X weight.
Each workout, I add one rep per set until I reach 3*10.
After this is done, I go back to 3*6 but with a higher load and I repeat this process over and over, this is called “dynamic double progression” for all the nerds like me!
Use this program, adapt it to your needs, work hard and reap the reward!
