Rock Climbers: Should You be Strength Training?
Rock Climbers: Should you be Strength Training?
The short answer is: YES!
The long answer is: Yes, and there are clear reasons why. In this article we’ll explore a few reasons why strength training can improve your climbing, some may surprise you!
Balance Muscle Groups
Feeling a little hunched over? Rounded shoulders? Neck pushing forward? This is a very common feeling for anyone in a tech-centric world, but rock climbers often double down on these sensations. Unfortunately, many rock climbers also fail to adequately train their opposing muscles - continuing to build up these imbalances. Imabalnces left untreated long term can impair performance and even lead to injury.
There gotta be a better way right? There is!
A balanced strength training routine can easily mitigate these effects. While imbalances can vary from athlete to athlete, one of the most common areas affected is our shoulders. More often than not climbers use a pulling motion on the wall. Balancing this is as intuitive as it sounds - push! Bench press, overhead press, push-ups. These movements, along with proper shoulder mobility and stabilization, can lead to healthy shoulders and a more balanced posture. Helping you climb stronger, for longer, without injury!
Improve Grip Strength
Every climber is on an eternal journey to strengthen their grip. While grip-specific exercises are wonderful additions to any routine. Simple, heavy, lifts can be an efficient way to work in grip strength while targeting other muscle groups. Getting more bang for your buck (and time). Some examples include Farmer’s Carries, Deadlifts, Bottoms-up Kettlebell Presses’, and Dumbbell Reverse Bicep Curls.
These are just a few examples of many. Anytime you’re in the weight room picking up heavy things and putting them back down - you're improving your grip!
Calm Under Pressure
Strength training causes adaptive changes within the nervous system that allows athletes to more fully activate prime movers. Building a stronger mind-muscle connection in the weight room will lead to a strong mind-muscle connection on the wall. A great example of this is a Turkish Get-Up.
The Turkish Get-Up is a multiple-step exercise. To perform it well you need to pause after each portion, consider what is next, find stability, and then begin moving again. This process, when repeated, allows us to gain physical strength, but also strong awareness under physical pressure. Exactly what we need to be a confident climbers.
Strength training is a great way to improve your rock climbing performance. It can help you to build muscle, improve your balance, increase your grip strength, and boost your mental game. If you're not already using strength training, I encourage you to give it a try. You may be surprised at how much it can help you improve your climbing.
