If you’ve been bouldering regularly and are looking to take your bouldering to the next level, this beginner’s guide to bouldering training is for you.
A few days ago I did my first indoor bouldering session after months and my conclusion was that: Bouldering is climbing but climbing is not bouldering!
I am blessed to live in an area with south faces and lots of sun so I can climb on the rocks most of the time – even in wintertime. This is partly why I don’t boulder indoors very often.
However, every time I do climb on plastic I feel like it’s a constant struggle to pace myself in staying modest with choosing difficulty (to avoid the risk of injury) because climbing indoors feels so hard and different to me!
The good news is that it gets better if I climb regularly on plastic. So as a climber who climbs three to four times a week outdoors, my first advice is: if you want to get strong in bouldering, go bouldering, be consistent and you’ll get a stronger body for it.
Improving fitness
Depending on your available time, take a few weeks to build your fitness: this is a very important step that will help your body endure the training plan. Plus, you eliminate the risk of injury because you start building on a solid base.
- Start by mixing easy cardio such as swimming, running, and cycling with anaerobic exercises that are performed at maximum effort for a short time such as HIT, jumping, sprinting, or heavy weight lifting.
- Continue with low-intensity endurance and easy boulder problems.
- Pull-ups and press-ups, basic core, and deadlifts: these are very effective because they target multiple muscles in the upper body. This way you increase the strength of your muscles and tendons you need to climb better and safer.
- If you’ve never tried core exercises, start with this one.
- If you’re into Yoga just like me you’ll appreciate this wonderful All Things Core with Tracey Noseworthy.
- Remember to stretch and work on your flexibility.
Bouldering and endurance training
The endurance and skills you develop by climbing on the wall can and will help you to progress. This type of endurance training will improve your ability to climb on easy terrain for longer without getting pumped and is quite easy to achieve. You need jugs (yay), sweat, and commitment. (lol)
I like using Spray Walls for that because they offer circuits that vary in difficulty and you don’t bother anyone from their climbing. And vice-versa. If you don’t have access to one you can make yourself a circuit by choosing your holds on a normal bouldering wall.
- Choose a circuit of 21 to 30 moves.
- Test your circuit before and even if it feels easy when climbing on it once you want to make sure you’ll be able to complete it 5 times in a row with no rest.
- Try to make sure you are struggling a little bit to complete the 5th round.
- Fun tip: if you have a training partner (or more) choose slightly harder to hold holds and perform the same number of repetitions (5).
- If you fall, the other climber starts climbing.
- Do it twice with 5 minutes rest.
For rope climbing you can try top roping as many routes as you can for 30 minutes with no rest in-between!
What would bouldering be without finger strength?
My answer is – it wouldn’t be! Not only an excellent method to become stronger and keep yourself strong, fingerboarding turns out to be an ace in the hole for injury prevention.
As Korey writes here in our guide on how to get strong fingers, “Finger strength is crucial in climbing, especially if you aim to climb hard. While some routes offer generous, open-handed holds, others feature razor-thin grips that resemble the width of a credit card. Aptly referred to as “credit-card holds”.
Our article on hangboarding for beginners might be of interest to you as well.
Bouldering and Powaaa’
After you have done your usual laps for endurance you are ready to add some power! Sure, it’s cool to be able to hang on a wall for longer but it’s even cooler to be able to push hard while doing so.
This brings us to Power Endurance – the ability to stay strong through your climbing while performing a set of difficult moves, aka sending – or close to.
The classic: 4 boulders x 4 times x 4 sets
- One set x 4 times
- Choose four different boulder problems that are 2 to 3 grades easier of what you can normally do.
- Climb the first problem four times with no rest in between.
- Rest for two minutes (between problems), then climb again and do the same with each problem.
- Rest for 5 minutes (between sets) and choose new problems, or repeat the same set 4 times.
Circuits on boulder problems
- Similar to circuits for endurance training only this time you have to choose three boulder problems below your limit.
- Climb each problem one after the other with no rest.
- If you fall you start the next one and so on.
- The only rest allowed between circuits must be equal to the time spent on the wall.
- Rest for 5 to 10 minutes (between sets) and choose new problems, or repeat the same set up to 4 times.
Circuits usually work pretty nicely with a sparring partner as this makes it more dynamic, motivating, and fun
How do you know it’s working?
Sore forearms. And soreness means fatigue – this is why you want to rest well between workouts too – that’s right, avoid injury and achieve what you are working for!
To begin with I would advise max two per week.
Important to know: Power Endurance is achieved quite fast but it goes away at the same pace it came if you are not actively training.
Skill – Introspection and retrospection
There isn’t a special way to perfect a skill besides climbing. Essential for progression in climbing, the technique involves positioning your body as efficiently as possible. More moves with less force – if possible. This is why moves such as kneebars, drop-knees, and flags are a great way to climb more efficiently, using less force.
For some of us these moves come naturally but for some don’t. No worries, becoming a master at any sport requires repetition. Climbing is no different. The more you climb, the better you become.
A way to improve your technique is to observe yourself from the exterior while you climb and a good way to do this is to ask your friends to film you. I used to do that in my beginner years and I still do it now, 10 years later because there is always something to improve – especially when we are working on a route/problem at our limit.
Another good way is to try to observe yourself while climbing.
- Are you tense when climbing?
- When do you stop breathing?
- What happens when you stop breathing?
Diversify
We all have favourites! Guess what: I am a crimp lover and used to avoid slopers. However, since I started training for specific routes, I got to enjoy going exactly after those types of holds that make me feel weak because this is a great opportunity for me to become stronger.
Bouldering training on different types of holds it’s one of the best things you can do to improve! Remember: there is power in both your strengths and your weaknesses.
Eric Horst has several great training programs – from beginner, to intermediate and advanced, documented and available for free download. However, he suggests one should read his books before as these programs are supplements to detailed presentation instruction and execution in his books. What’s great is that you can download the Excel spreadsheets and customise them so they fit your training schedule and personal needs.
Lattice also has a good video below on how to get stronger quickly where they explain some easy and efficient steps in building a good climbing routine, and they give tips as well on training, and injury-free practices.
Make your choices and get started
As a beginner in climbing, you have the advantage of having numerous options to choose from. It’s like being a kid in a candy store for the first time – every option seems good, as long as you don’t overdo it! You have the freedom to tailor these exercises and adjust their intensity based on your schedule, level, and available time.
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