Article: What Climber Am I?
Climbing is an incredibly complex sport. It's not like throwing a javelin. There are so many different factors that come into play and require training.
Also, it's worth remembering that what one climbers sees as improvement (or success) doesn't necessarily equal improvement for another. Someone might aspire towards pure gymnastic difficulty (grades) while someone else might value variety, or style, or the social aspect of climbing or just having fun. Usually it's a combination. In the case of Upskill, we measure performance by the grade and volume of routes cleanly climbed on lead.
Here's some training ideas and thoughts based on where you might be in your climbing career.
Up to grade 18: |
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Q: Why do I suggest that climbers at this level are not yet suitable for Upskill personal training?
A: Because their time can be better spent!
At this stage of your climbing, you are still developing your repertoire of all the different climbing movement engrams (movement patterns in your brain). So it's vital you get out on rock as often as possible, on as many different rock types as possible so you are exposed to lots of different types of movement.
Because you are new to climbing, you don't really need to do any significant training beyond getting out on rock regularly. If you're a bit overweight or unfit, by all means engage in swimming, jogging, riding or other aerobic activity to increase your general fitness. Aggressive training such as campussing or hangboarding should be avoided, because it takes several years for the tendons and other connective structures to build the strength required to support your rapidly strengthening finger and forearm muscles that develop from climbing.
Often climbers at this level go out and do two or three routes in a session. The best thing you can do is aim to increase the number of routes you do in a session. Be the person who always says "Just one more climb!"
If you're at this level and still want a taste of Upskill, you might like to try one of our Full Day Outdoor Coaching days.
18-22: |
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This makes up the majority of climbers in Australia. The most common grade climbed by climbers in Oz is 18. At lot of people never break out of this bracket their entire climbing career.
This is the land of the plateau. And to break out of a plateau, the recipe is to stop doing the same thing every week! That is, increase your training load. You do this by increasing the intensity or volume of moves per session, or decreasing the rest between tries.
I also find that climbers in this bracket are often comfort zone climbers, in that they rarely venture beyond the climbing where they feel completely in control and are comfortable. Unfortunately, this is a recipe for digging yourself into a happy rut.
The following diagram suggests how you should be directing your climbing if you want to improve. Basically, it shows that you should be spending more time on harder routes! Simple eh?
23-26: |
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If you're at this level, you're already training. You're excited to be breaking into what is considered truly hard climbing by most. The routes that are open to you now are some of the best and most enjoyable in the country.
It takes years to move through this bracket of grades. Take the time to build your base. Tick off two to four 23's before moving on to attempt your first 24, and so on. Constantly backfill your grades. By the time you attempt your first 25, you should have four to eight 23's under your belt. Build a solid foundation on which to progress. This is what we call building a pyramid.
Often, the issue here that you are an advanced climber stuck with the self-confidence of a intermediate climber. It's here where climbers often stay well within their comfort zone, ticking off multiple laps on 25's, without the gumption to back themselves and have a serious go at some 27's. In Queensland, it's been a problem in the past due to a lack of hard (and safe!) routes to try but this has now changed and their are many good, safe routes in the 26+ bracket to get on. So go on!
26+: |
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So you're already an advanced climber. You're in the top 10% of Aussie climbers, but this is where progress can become difficult. We tend to fall into the habit of working our strengths, particularly in training. So mix it up. If you're an endurance specialist, do a month of bouldering. If you are projecting sport routes, go and do some moderate trad for a few weekends. You'll be surprised what this will do for your climbing, and your motivation and psyche.
The other issue at this level is that we know we have to increase training load but we're already doing what seems to be a lot of training, and so we are risking possible injury by overdoing it. This is where you want to train smarter rather than harder. Continually tweak your training variables to ensure very good quality of training rather than large amounts of dubious quality thrashing. Read up on periodization and perhaps try to design yourself a program.
Continually assess and address your weaknesses. Determine why you fall every time. Be brutal with your self assessments. Ask your belayer and training partners for feedback on your movement.
Understand that your performance is always in a state of flux and that this is natural. Listen to your body. When it feels right, go for it. If you're feeling average, scale things back to allow for recovery.