UKC

Would be interested to hear what grade gains people have achieved through structured training regimes (as opposed to 'just climbing/bouldering' outdoors and indoors) and what those training regimes involved. Any type of climbing but particularly interested in trad and sport.

Personally I've never really trained properly, I just go to the wall twice a week (sometimes only once due to work) and mostly do bouldering there. I try to make the sessions focused on either lots of easier problems for stamina (up and down and straight on to the next one or even climb across, that's about as close as I ever get to training) or doing harder problems for strength/power (but there's no real structure to that). I do climb a fair bit outdoors - both days most weekends - and have been doing more sport this year, partly to see if I'd get better at trad and partly due to the wet weather.

This has got me to solid at E3 5c, reasonable at E4 6a and occasional E5 6a, or on sport 7a onsight on a good day and a couple of 7b+ redpoints (plus a couple of 7c projects which should go). I'd love to get up to E6 6b onsight but that's 7b-7b+ so a fair bit of work to do! It seems structured training is required....

In reply to Misha:

For some there may be a magic bullet - a type of weakness that when targeted leads to a jump I the grades. Their lessons probably won't work for you. For the other 95% of the rest of us embrace the slow grind of addressing various weaknesses, injuries and lifestyle choices and types of climbing and training that you'd rather avoid for incremental progression. Sorry.

In reply to ukb shark:
Yes I get that but I was interested in some examples. Eg I could redpoint grade X then added a finger boarding session a week for a year or focused on bouldering for six months or whatever and could then redpoint X + 2. I know that structured training helps but it's interesting to hear some examples. The other points you mention such as lifestyle, focusing on weaknesses and avoiding injuries are also important of course.

In reply to Misha:


I could redpoint 8a+, then last year added 1-2 finger boarding sessions a week, and could then redpoint 8a+..... but I felt a bit more bionically crimp-tastic whilst doing so and managed some bouldery routes I suspect I might otherwise have struggled on. Progress is sloooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww.

In reply to Misha:

I'm finding that you get to a certain age and then you have to do all you can just to stand still.
I started religiously following a regime on the Beastmaker fingerboard, and mixing bouldering with sport indoors to keep up strength and endurance. I'm still crap (doesn't matter what I do to try and improve, but I still enjoy myself). However, just had a look at my graphs (i don't put everything on, but it does capture some activity) and I've slowly crept up to bouldering an f6a average and the odd (lucky) f7c.
The other positive outcome is that I've embraced training and indoor climbing as part of the whole climbing experience, which when you live on an island with challenging weather and flying creatures, and the requirements of going to work, makes for a much more satisfying life.

In reply to thebigfriendlymoose:


I'm sure there'll be others posting on this, but my progress to being able to complete the 'easiest' Beastmaker circuit was glacially slow, but reading the website, they talk about years of effort to graduate through the grades.

In reply to Misha:

I'm not sure you do get it. The jumps people have had and the interpretations (real and imagined) they attach to it are scarcely going to be relevant to your current state of development as a climber and a way forward which works for you. You have to start with some sort of assessment of what you need to improve to get to where you want to be and what you prepared to change (and sacrifice) then practice or train that thing.

I used to hate training and that was by biggest hurdle. Starting Fit Club was one way to help overcome that by shaming myself publicly on a weekly basis - month in, month out

In reply to Misha:
It's not all about the grade for me. My training focuses on working on stamina and endurance on my home bouldering wall so that I can enjoy climbing whatever routes I wish to attempt in a more relaxed style without losing focus on technique due to fatigue

In reply to Misha:
My climbing standard sounds fairly similar to yours. What I have found really makes a difference is doing sets of boulder problems for power endurance (4x4, sets of six different problems etc) to supplement general endurance lapping routes and so on. However it is brutal stuff and I have to do it in careful phases to avoid injury - maybe an age thing! Seems to add about a full grade to my sport level. The effect on trad is less obvious because mileage/confidence plays such a big part for me and I'm not sure this and the training have ever come properly together.

In reply to thebigfriendlymoose:
Hmmm... though as you say, same grade but different style is still progress, Kilnsey jugs vs Malham crimpfest.

In reply to ukb shark:
Should have clarified, my self-assessment is that one of my main weakness is not training properly. Partly because it's boring and I don't have training partners, partly because I don't know where to start! Strength and power endurance being the main weaknesses (got plenty of stamina). Trad head is fine as well. The other big weakness is not reading the moves well or quickly enough once it gets hard. I guess sport climbing should help with that, as would bouldering. Yes I was thinking the fit club self shaming could work well.

In reply to Misha:
Sounds like you are where I was 20 years ago.

Introducing more Bouldering, fingerboarding and interval training is most likely the way

In reply to Misha:

Weaknesses can be hard to pinpoint, especially if you are trying to analyse yourself.

I do recommend getting a coaching session from a very experienced performance coach.

I did just that, found that my aerobic endurance was rubbish and this made me jump up my game from around 7a+ max redpoint after a long siege to around 7b+ redpoint. My problem was making more than 20 moves and controling the pump and also having more than two good goes in a day without getting knackered. The bouldering strength was already there.

Now I am mainly working on strength before taking a couple of weeks off so that the body can recover a bit more.

I do also recommend Dave Macleod's training book.

Have fun!

In reply to Robert Durran:
Sounds good for power endurance. Presumably you pick a problem/problems so that you can just about do the set? Climbing only up or down as well?

We're talking summer stuff here of course. Winter training is more obvious, just go dry tooling and do some ice axe pull ups, plus some press ups, while your mate chucks buckets of water with ice cubes at you.

In reply to Misha:

Sounds like you've been doing the same kind of routines for a fair while. So the first thing is that it's generally considered best to change one's training after a period of six weeks or so. After that time the body's adaptation response is likely to slow or even stop.

But of course climbing is not just physical. The broad areas are technique, mental and physical. Each one of these can be broken down into further sub sections. So one can improve at all these things too some which will yield better results than others.

If you're going to embark on some non climbing training (eg, weights, fingerboard, core etc.) then you need somewhere to do it. Somewhere where you feel comfortable and happy to go to (or maybe that's even a space at home). I think this is vitally important point if you're to keep up what you're doing. A training partner can also be good though not essential.

In terms of motivation I think that builds as you see yourself get stronger at the exercises you're doing. More reps, heavier weights or progressing to harder exercises that you couldn't do before is great motivation. Maybe getting started and getting into a routine is the hardest part. I don't think you jump into a big training programme. You need to figure out which exercises to do and how to them, one at a time.

In terms of figuring out weaknesses I don't think it's necessarily so hard to do oneself. For instance you probably already have some idea of which styles of climbing you're good at and those you're not. Maybe it's roofs, or pocket climbing or crimping or whatever. Another way is to honestly analyze why you don't get up something. Is it a mental thing, loss of concentration or slight fear holding you back, technique: maybe not using momentum the best way or not finding the best sequence or physical: you simply too pumped to carry on, or those particular moves are hard for you etc. You need to be specific, not just conclude I'm not strong enough. None of us ever are.

For me what seemed to work getting me from 7c to 8a was figuring out a way to improve at fingertip pull ups which I absolutely suck at. I ended up using bigger blocks than normal, and making my own way to attach weights to my wrists and training in a specific way. I also think dong strenuous boulder problems on the Foundry wave for some weeks was pretty helpful - first just getting up a specific problem, then working on doing them 2 or 3 times in succession as I progressed.

I'd also add another vote to Dave Mac's 9 out 10 climbers if you haven't got it.

In reply to stp:
Good advice, thanks. Yes, I have 9 out of 10 and should re-read it.