UKC

I've taken up bouldering once a week to work on strength for climbing, but find I have trouble completing any of the problems on the indoor wall I've been practicing on. Generally even if I can try things like outside edges, flags, drop knees and other ways to move my weight to get to the next hold, my grip slips before I can get there.

I know this is probably normal, but it's frustrating when it happens on the easiest problem on the wall (font grade 4 or something, sorry if I'm butchering the lingo). I'm just wondering when you guys started seeing improvements in your grip strength? Does it take a long time? I've been at it for about 4 weeks and I'm still struggling on the same problems now. The wall in question is also quite a bit overhanging in some parts, shaped like a short P, so one part is horizontal. Even still I see people just walking up it when I fall off.

In reply to TheFasting:

Maybe try something not so steep, some nice fingery vertical problems are always a good place to start. You might not be noticing it but you will be getting stronger.

Stick at it.

In reply to Lucid_Dreamer:

Alright that's what I figured, it's just that the progress has been pretty arduous so far so I figured I'd ask

In reply to TheFasting:

Are you sure the problems where you can't grip the holds are Font 4 and not V4. If they are V4 then they are supposed to be like that if they are Font 4 something is wrong.

Climb a lot, focus on technique and stay patient. Don't go all out training for strength, as a beginner that is the path to sore elbows and tweaked fingers.

In reply to TheFasting:

It's not grip strength - ie how hard you can squash something in your hand - it is is static strength throughout the chain from your finger up through arms and shoulders and lower back. So in other words you just have to keep climbing and training and you will gradually get stronger. Don't force it or you will probably injure yourself - usually in the weakest link, ie your finger tendons/pulleys.

Also it's not just about strength but improving your energy systems. The reason you get pumped is lactic acid build up because you are using anaerobic respiration. Climbing more and more increases the density of capillaries which makes you more efficient - but also as you gradually get stronger a given move will demand less contraction of your muscles. [i'm simplifying somewhat]

Warm up with easy problems.
Do loads of volume - eg traversing along a vertical wall. This is a good way to warm up and warm down, as well as improve technique. You should especially focus on volume in the early days. It would be the same in any sport - running/cycling etc: building a base.

Do loads of easy-ish steep-ish problems. It's simply not true that you only have to climb slabs or easy angled problems.
Try a small number of harder problems in a session once you are warmed up. You will only get stronger by actually trying hard - ie causing hypertrophy in your muscles.

Watch and copy what better climbers do particular in body positioning and how they initiate movement. On steep groud beginners try to pull up with their arms/upper back but good climbers initiate movement from the lower body (because they are stronger muscles and don't tire as quickly).

be patient but focus on progression and don't look for shortcuts. Be positive and enjoy it. Don't be afraid to ask for advice.

In reply to TheFasting:

Steep problems are hard especially when you first start. When I started indoors I couldn't get up any of the steep walls either whether I was on a route or not (I had also been climbing outdoors on vertical stuff for a while and was in pretty reasonable shape). With practice and training it does get easier!

It's really hard to say what'd help without seeing you climb so I'd recommend asking one of the staff (or a likely looking climber) to watch you and give you some pointers.

The only thing I'd say is that (if it's healthy to) then loosing even small amounts of weight (either fat or excess muscle) will make a bigger difference than strength gain.

Good luck and enjoy your climbing!

In reply to TheFasting:

Generally beginner climbers will make better progress through improved footwork than any other variable. Concentrating on better footwork also reduces the chance of injury. Anybody coming into climbing needs time for their body to get used to it.

Whether this applies to you I don't know. But my guess is that it does.

Mick

In reply to Stig:

It doesn't feel like I'm getting pumped the same way I get while climbing, it just feels like I can't hold on and my grip is too bad to reach for the next hold. Sometimes I can do it but it's hard to keep linking moves because I slip off too fast. I use chalk too.

But I do plan on doing more volume, I think it might help. I'm trying to work on technique, balance and body position with these problems but it's hard when my max strength limits me.

In reply to TheFasting:

There's some good advice here and I would add that you should climb at least several times a week. Throw yourself into it and try all sorts of climbing. In the early stages just climb loads. Training comes later.
Good luck

In reply to tom_in_edinburgh:

They're supposedly "grade 4", and since I'm in Europe I'm assuming that's the font scale. I can climb Norwegian 5+ pretty easily and a Norwegian 6 route I've been working on I've almost got. Indoor of course. English sport grades equivalent would be 5a and 6a, respectively. But that's not very overhanging, only slightly in some places.

In reply to I like climbing:

Yeah I'm climbing 3 hours one session and 1 hour of bouldering right now. I'm considering to add another day of climbing or bouldering. Would it be too much with one more session of bouldering?

In reply to TheFasting:

Your ability to contract will decline even after a few moves. But I agree, that probably isnt the issue.

As the others say, climb more and you will gradually get stronger. I suspect your main weaknesses, and therfore what to concentrate on are strength and movement initiation.

I hate to disagree with the esteemed Mick Ward but people often bandy about 'footwork' to beginners. But that is usually assumed to mean easly angle footwork: smearing, footswaps, high steps etc. But there are just as many techniques and subtleties to learn for steeper ground: heel hooks, toe/foot camming, flags, and crucially ability to use your legs to pull up and initiate movement - and core strenght comes in as well.

Concentrate on climbing straight-armed as well, which means side-on climbing (which you mention in the OP) rather than face on to the wall.

And I meant to say before: mix it up and climb all angles/problem and techniques, dynamic and static.

In reply to TheFasting:


I'm sure that would be fine. Hope it all goes well for you

In reply to Stig:









This is great advice.

In reply to TheFasting:
From reading your profile it looks like you have only just started climbing and are doing it as training for the mountains - is that right?
If so, apart from some good advice above, I would say most importantly make sure you are doing something you really enjoy. However good advice you receive, significant progression in climbing takes time, and looking for significant progress in 4 weeks is unrealistic. The advice you receive on forums like this will generally assume you are enthusiastic about (some form of) rock climbing, so if I were you I'd try to make sure that is the case!
Fwiw I started on rock because I wanted to be better/faster on harder ground in the alps. I wasn't doing any real 'training' but just started climbing grit trad with the Uni club. In rock climbing terms I was frankly rubbish for several years compared to where I am now, but it started a lifelong passion, and I improved fast enough for it to be easily sufficient for what I initially wanted. (As it turned out I ultimately ended up far more hooked on rock climbing than alpine mountaineering, go figure...)

Bit of a ramble but I guess what I'm saying is: at your early stage make sure you are climbing things you really enjoy. At your stage that's the most important thing: develop a passion for it and you'll improve much more in the longer term than if you are forcing yourself.

In reply to TheFasting:



It's likely to be about a lot more than mere grip strength. Body position and the core strength to maintain that position are just as important.

In reply to Si dH:

For me rock climbing is just part of getting enough knowledge and skills to tackle harder climbs in alpine areas. But I like just improving at something for its own sake, so this summer after I start trad climbing I will probably still sport climb from time to time. It's fun either way, and I can't make it to actual mountains every weekend. During the winters I will probably split my time between ice and mixed climbing at crags and climbing/bouldering indoors.

There's also some long trad routes that venture more into the big wall category that I'd like to do, and I think there doesn't seem to be a sharp divide between straight rock climbing at the crag and those, just longer. At least the people I see doing things like Mongejura and the south pillar of Stetind are guys who also just do sport and trad at the crags around Oslo.