Climbers often pride themselves on consistency, training year round in gyms, chasing progress outdoors, and pushing limits with little rest. But what if that nonstop approach is holding you back? In the early days of climbing, the end of a season meant rest by default. Today, with gyms open twelve months a year, we [...]
Imagine you’re bouldering at the gym at the start of your session, slowly starting to build up the intensity. As you make your way over to the new set you spot a shiny new boulder that seems to revolve around a tough rock over move on a heel hook. As you near the [...]
It seems like a new “best hangboard protocol” or “best training plan” emerges every day, promising to be the missing piece of the puzzle to help you send harder. Unfortunately, it’s common to see climbers taking these bits of advice, applying them to their own training for a couple of weeks, and then [...]
Have you ever watched a climber contort themselves into seemingly impossible positions to reach the next hold? Their arms stretch out or cross over in ways that shouldn’t be possible, yet for them, it seems effortless, and they appear unaffected by these extreme angles. Or perhaps this reminds you of yourself. When someone is [...]
Rock climbing is a physically and mentally demanding sport that can often be accompanied by painful experiences. The hands and feet are subject to significant moment arms through their slender tissues, while the forearms regularly experience painfully high levels of ischemia¹. Despite this familiarity with pain, rock climbing's popularity has been on the rise [...]
My training plan used to look something like a form of aerobic warm up, climb as hard as I could with a little climbing skill practice sprinkled in and finish with an ab and pull up workout until I was completely gassed and groaning on the ground from muscle pain. Thanks to my no [...]
Visualization and mental practice can significantly enhance climbing performance, tapping into the brain’s ability to reinforce neural pathways that contribute to motor learning, skill acquisition, and even movement precision. For climbers, mental imagery is more than just “seeing” the next move; it's a comprehensive tool that strengthens your mind-body connection, allowing you to [...]
You’ve always been more flexible than those around you, maybe you grew up being referred to as “double-jointed”, you’ve got a mean hitch-hiker's thumb, and most of those “difficult” yoga poses are actually fairly easy. As a rock climber you use this to your advantage by favoring high steps, full-crimping most hold types, and [...]
Although not often thought about, major amputations may occur from any outdoor recreational activities such as rock climbing. With any sport, there are risks; however, with rock climbing, a single mistake, or even being at the wrong place at the wrong time, may cost one’s limb. Whether it be from a traumatic accident, frostbite, [...]
You are finally at the end of your training cycle, months, or multiple weeks of weights, hangboarding and a lot of board climbing. You are ready to start the new season and start projecting the line you were dreaming of. But, unfortunately during the last few weeks, your fingers were feeling sore and [...]