The Case for Taking a Break: The Benefits of Seasonality for Maximizing Climbing Performance and Sustaining Stoke
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 have [...]
Common Knee Injuries While Heel Hooking Diagnosis, Rehab, Prehab and More!
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 end [...]
Off-the-Wall Strength Training for Climbers: A Seasonal Framework
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 jumping [...]
Climbing with Shoulder Hypermobility
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 able [...]
What is Hypermobility and How Does It Affect You
Imagine a project where your ability to send is based on matching your toe to a hold on which your hand is already placed. This move is one that I, as a novice climber, have encountered and have been struggling with. However, sometimes you will see people (or you are that person) who can easily [...]
Clinical Management of MCP Joint Collateral Ligament Injury in Rock Climbers
You’ve reached the upper crux on your first red point burn on your project. You’re pumped and you’re starting to get a little sloppy with your movement and coordination. You make a dynamic cross move throwing your hand up and across your body to the next hold, but your accuracy has gone out the [...]