Climbing clinic
Question from Jamie - 8th Sep 2008
Question:
Hi Lucy, let me start by saying you are one of the climbers that most inspire me. I have not been climbing long.. less than a year, but I now want to get serious. At the moment I just use the wall as a place to climb when it is wet and have no structure to my training. I was wondering how to make the best use of the wall for training, and improvement, rather than going down and climbing random climbs. Any advice would be gratefully received.
Answer:
When you first get into climbing, just ‘going’ climbing is not a bad thing. This can be good for your general endurance and experiencing different types of moves, as long as your tea breaks aren’t longer than the routes! But it sounds like you have been bitten by the bug and want to make improvements.
One of the key things to constructive training, is to identify your strengths and weaknesses and decide what you need to work on to improve. This is not the easiest thing to do in climbing, as there are a lot of variables that make up a good climber.
One way to do this, is to try and analyse why you have difficulties/fall off routes.
• Do you run out of endurance?
• Do you get nervous climbing above gear?
• Do you struggle to trust your feet?
• When the angle of the wall changes, does your body shut down?
And the list goes on…
So identifying problem areas is number one priority and then working out a strategy to help yourself improve.
In terms of general improvements, consistency is the key. Regular visits to the wall are way more beneficial than a splurge of enthusiasm followed by a period of non-climbing. So try and designate regular nights/sessions that you will climb at the wall and then as stated above, implement a more structured approach to your training.
Put very simply though, if you need to improve your endurance, you need to get decent mileage under your belt. The routes don’t want to be too easy for you though, as there needs to be activity in your forearms for there to be a training effect.
If you need to get better at doing harder moves, then bouldering is where it’s at. Shorter sessions trying moves or series’ of moves that are too hard for you initially.
If your head is the stumbling block, find a trusty belayer and try to do more leading starting on easy routes. Get used to climbing above bolts and maybe even have a few controlled practice falls.
Enjoy working out your training plan.