UKC

Hello I'm new here . I have a few questions . I'm new to bouldering ( indoor only) . Think I've really found a new passion . I just love it . I love how you can turn the world off when you climb. I'm 43 . I'm in good health,  but as a new climber strength is probably pretty low in climbing terms . I'm male,  5'9 . I'm 12st so not skinny , but not heavy . How can I further my skill level quick and strength ?.  I'm climbing 3 times a week but realise it will take time for hands to get fully used to climbing more times a week . Am I expecting too much too soon? . Or is climbing itself my route to better strength ? TIA

Hi Russell,

Here's a few thoughts, hope they help you.

If you are climbing 3 times a week I would do a set of antagonist (pushing muscle) exercises each week as climbing emphasises pulling muscles and if you do no pushing exercises then you can get muscles imbalances and injury. You only need about 3 exercises; I use shoulder press with dumbells, bench press and push ups. 3 sets, 5-10 reps on each set.

I'd get a mat and go bouldering outside - it's even better.

Skill level wise, watching how other climbers in the wall do a problem you are stuck on can be helpful - most people are friendly and happy to chat about how to do it. Otherwise lots of walls run improver groups on certain nights with some coaching so getting involved in one of those could help your technique development.

Lattice Youtube channel also has some good technique videos

Climbing  without overdoing it is the best thing you can do for now. Congrats on spotting that upfront... too many get injured before they realise... tendons take time to strengthen.

Warm up before climbing, start easy, warm down and stretch after a session.

Climb with better climbers if you can, and watch their technique. Don't try to copy everything they do (dynos/ jumps, in particular, can easily lead to injury if you lack experience)

There are lots of games you can play to help. Here's a few: have sesssions downclimbing everything you can; on lower angle slabs try hands only allowed below the shoulders, then below the waist, then one handed, finally no hands; try hold elimination on familar problems; do laps on a problem without stopping or link problems (downclimbing easier ones).

When I was bouldering that much, I would pick up tendon injuries in my fingers. So be careful not to do that (don't know how to avoid it other than not climbing so often)

I would echo the others, 3 times a week sounds a good amount to be climbing, tho I would be reluctant to recommend climbing too hard too soon, your muscles will get stronger before your tendons do, and if you overdo it, you can quite quickly end up with pulled tendons in your hands (aka a pulley tear). Perhaps have one of your sessions restricted to a high volume of easy routes, to work on stamina rather than pure strength.

In terms of training, train your weaknesses, so likely early on, technique will be key... watch better climbers on the problems you are working on and try to mirror their movements. I find circuit boards are good for technique to, it makes you think laterally as well as up! And makes you think about your feet more.

Core strength... sit ups, planks, pilates will help with steeper terrain. And general stretching and flexibility is always beneficial. 

Glad to hear you've found a passion! It's the best thing I ever did, and has taken me to wonderful places for adventures. 

Thanks for asking this as it saves me creating a new OP

The information about antagonistic exercises is really interesting as the power-weight ratio seems to be what's stopping me from moving on from the v3/easier v4 problems at my local walls. I think I know *what* I'm supposed to be doing generally speaking, but at 93kg and having not properly exercised my strength in years, gravity is always winning. 

I guess it's one of those scenarios that time and persistence will sort. Getting a bit stronger and a bit lighter is a double whammy. 

One question I had on top of this was about recovery - does that just get quicker, the more your body gets used using the muscles it didn't previously know it had, or do folk on here do post-bouldering warm downs to help with the forearm and shoulder aches?

Cheers all, Dan

Please please don't ignore the advice about a) not overdoing it and b) building in some antagonist training. You don't mention your athletic history, but if you don't have a background in some sort of sport this will be even more important, especially at your age. In your 40s recovery takes longer, warming up properly at the start of a session is more important and paying attention to any developing niggles is crucial. I say all this as a 44 y/o with 25 years of climbing under his belt... Expect to build slowly through the grades, unless you're particularly talented and/or have a really strong athletic background. Be patient and enjoy the process. Otherwise you'll discover soon enough how fun elbow tendonitis can be

As a beginner the quickest gains will come through 'just doing it' as it's such a skill-based sport. But be sure to complement this with antagonist work, flexibility/mobility training...and plenty of rest. Jumping in and trying as hard as you can, three times a week, is a good way to get elbow problems, finger tendon injuries or more exiting stuff that keeps the physios of the country in business  

Consume as much helpful YouTube stuff as you can about technique for beginners. Lattice are great for this, as is Louis Parkinson (Catalyst Climbing on YouTube I think). Sounds like you've got the bug, and this is a good way to keep psyche high on rest days.

Welcome, and good luck.

If you ache, warming down is a good idea, whatever. 

Yes, as with most (or all) new exercises, as your body adapts, you ache less afterwards. I don't really ever ache after training endurance or bouldering these days. I did a fingerboard session followed by a bouldering volume session yesterday morning and then it turned out to be dry so I went sport climbing in the evening. Not surprisingly I ache now because I've never done that before!

I don't know how long the aching will last (less than a year?), but those kinds of pains are not necessarily warning signals of getting injured (I think). I remember them well. Good luck with the new sport

Thanks for taking the time to reply - really appreciate it.

After your message I spoke to my good lady and she gave me a few pilates-y/yoga-y type stretches to do when I got home this evening, and I'm definitely not going to bed seized up like a rusty trombone tonight, so looks like a warm-down is just what I need. 

I can already understand the addiction. I'm sitting here in bed, thinking about the problem I couldn't quite finish off and it's annoying me in a good way. 

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Don't underestimate technique as a way of improving. Yes, some moves may just be beyond your strength but I would imagine that if you get more weight over your feet and centre of gravity positioned well, some moves will become easier without you getting stronger. 

I started climbing at 53 and am loving it. I would say a really long hard session needs two days to recover properly, a hard session at least one full day. I would try to have two hard sessions and one easy session per week (easy meaning just lots of mileage getting really good technique wired - you can't really hardwire technique on hard climbs. Make feet laser precise on easy stuff now and it will pay dividends later)

I'm also a climber in my 40's. Been climbing for more than 10 years almost all disciplines.

Climbing indoors three days a week is fine. For me that's about the maximum I can handle without getting aches. Outdoors is another story ofcourse. 

I almost never climb two consecutive days in a row. Always have a full rest day after an indoors session. 

Sounds like a cliché but not focusing on high grades and strength but instead on technique and climbing 'beautifully' is key I would suggest.

Learning how to read boulders well made a massive difference in my climbing. Trying to flash / onsight climbs helps with that.

Another very important aspect of climbing is strengthening and using different gripping techniques/ hand positions. Try to learn 'good' gripping habits. For me that would be using half crimp and open hand mostly. 

I would focus on climbing and having fun for a year or so. After that you might consider some extra climbing specific exercises. Personally I've found having a short assessment by a climbing fysio / coach very helpful for that in the past.

Loads of great advice above.

One thing I’d add is to spend some of  your time (maybe 20%) trying stuff that’s hard for you - that you don’t think you can’t do.  

For instance if you see someone climb something that seems nails, see if you can copy any of what they did.

Thanks for all the helpful responses to my questions, everyone.

Week one done and I'm absolutely wrecked physically. 3.5 sessions, 8 hours total and I've taken the skin off the tip of my right index finger and the base of my right ring finger. My arse feels like it's just been subjected to one of the cruel punishments from Blackadder and my reproductive career might well have been ended by a slip onto a sizeable and particularly grippy v1 hold following an ambitious but ultimately terminal attempt at a V3/4.

Allied to that, my toes have compressed together like a ham sandwich at the bottom of my kid's school bag, my back is making very strange noises when I walk and the boot of my car looks like a winter wonderland after my chalk ball made a bid for freedom.

With that in mind, if I was rating it, I'd go 9/10 and back to it on Wednesday. 

It does sound a bit like you are pushing your body's limits, but your skin might reign you in.

Further to the advice given you can always work flexibly. Can’t touch your toes, sit cross legged with your knees flat on the ground or put your arms straight in the air without arching your back then there’s work to be done. Lattice and a bunch of the other climbstrong/trainingbeta sites have loads of simple routines to include to help.

You will soon realise being able to keep your heels dropped to create pressure on bad footholds whilst reaching and maintaining body tension in other directions is mobility rather than pure strength alone.

Generally, climbing is the best practice for climbing. At your level - you don't say how long you've been climbing but I'm guessing its weeks/months rather than months/years - I would say your main target is to turn your body into a "climbing body" safely. Then you can build on that foundation.

People have mentioned tendons especially. They takes ages to strengthen, and also, if damaged, take *forever* to heal. Especially at your age - not far from mine - its easy to damage yourself through "over-enthusiasm" and not being able to climb at all is incredibly frustrating.

So steady as it goes, really.

I don't know if anyone touches on this above but bouldering is at the physically intensive end of the climbing spectrum.  If you have a local wall with lead and top-rope climbs, you may find these useful for conditioning  - particularly endurance.  Do the odd session of longer vertical or slabby routes. It might also give you the opportunity to work on endurance without pushing onto the more overhanging and dynamic routes that may end up leading to injury if you push too hard too quickly.