Rock Climbing: Strength Conditioning

Hello again, fellow viewers! Today you will learn a vital piece to rock climbing, climbing specific training. This type of training will you get you up the rock faster, easier, and will make it more fluent. Training for more strength is possibly the most exerting training that you will perform. You will be very sore, and have aches everywhere, although it makes your climbing so much more fun. So let's tough it out together and get those muscles going." Training gains in strength, power, and local endurance will transfer favorably to climbing only if the exercise is extremely close in motion, body position, and functional use." (Hörst 131)

Many climbers go to a gym or climbing facility to work out. Not many people have access to these types of places so I will show you some of the exercises that you can do at home.

Push-Ups: This exercise will condition your back and chest. These muscles play a crucial role in climbing and will help improve getting up the wall faster and easier. You perform this exercise by putting your hands on the ground, and keeping your feet on the ground, while your back is straight. Then you bend your arms and push-up. A picture will be placed below this article to show you an example.

Pull-Ups: Not many people can do a proper pull-up but in order to be able to start climbing V12's and V13's you need to be able to do about 10 or 15 in a row. Pull-ups are an exercise where you put your hands on a bar and pull your body up so that your head goes over the bar, and then drop back down and go back up. This exercise simulates the pulling that climbers do when they are reaching for the next hold. A picture will be inserted below to show you a visual representation.

Sit-Ups: Another exercise that will benefit your climbing is sit-ups, this exercise will improve your core strength. In the book it says, "In climbing vertical to overhanging rock, the core muscles of your torso play a key role in enabling your arms and legs to maximize leverage and transfer torque from hands to foot and vice versa"(Hörst, 113). This exercise will leave you sore the next day, feeling like you got punched extremely hard in the gut. Not to discourage you, but I am being honest. Doing a sit-up you will need to be laying on the ground, and your feet on the ground flat. You will need to take your back off the ground, and sitting as far up until your chest touches your thighs. Then go back down and repeat the same steps. The picture under this paragraph should give you a good visual of what it would look like.

Squats: Squats are an essential part of rock climbing, they will help you project your body to reach higher holds, and will help you get your dynos higher than they ever will be. Just like sit-ups, this will leave you in pain the next day. The first step to doing a squat is standing straight up with your legs at shoulder-width apart, then you want to bend down with your back straight, and bring your knees to a 90* angle. The picture below is a fantastic visual aid.

All of these exercises are crucial and will help you excel in rock climbing, even though it may hurt it is all worth it in the end. So go out and get yourself in shape. Good luck on your next climb!


Hörst, Eric J. Training for Climbing: The Definitive Guide to Improving Your Climbing Performance. Guilford, CT: Falcon, 2003. Print.

What do you think is the hardest exercise? Will you do these exercises?