For those of you who don’t know, climbers are some of the most brutally strong individuals around. 

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John Gill

John gave this interview about training.  Some of the highlights are: 

• When asked which of his strength tricks he considered the most difficult to repeat for others, John replied: “the one-arm front lever, the one-finger pull-up, and the one-arm pull-up on a ½ inch ledge. Take your pick.”
• When asked about his general advice on training, John said “Each of you is unique. Experiment and find what works best for you. Don’t think that the one-size-fits-all approach of some books or gurus will necessarily be best for you. And have some fun training.  Be sure to have frequent rest days, and don’t overstress those small tendons. Gain your strength gradually and safely.”

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Jerry Moffatt

I grew up looking at Jerry’s face on the front of climbing magazines in the 1980’s and 1990’s.  At the time, people were raving about him being the best climber in the world.  To be fair, I don’t think he did much to discourage them.  Jerry did this interview about training.  Some of the highlights are: 

• Jerry describes the seasonal aspect of his training as follows: “in the winter I train power, for three reasons: Firstly, an increase in power leads to an increase in endurance — it doesn’t work the other way around.  Secondly, you retain power longer than endurance… Thirdly, you make smaller power gains, and power is much harder to get than endurance.”
• Jerry explains “Training power you must be totally committed and give it 100%. That’s what power is all about. If you give it 90% you’re not really training power.”
• Jerry sums it all up “I would say this: Enjoy it. If you’re not having fun with your training, then something is wrong.”

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Will Gadd 

I only really became aware of Will Gadd when I got more into ice climbing and I only discovered he had previously been a holder of the world paragliding record when I looked him up on Wikipedia.

Will has written a book on ice and mixed climbing,with a whole chapter on strength training.  I find his very sports specific approach interesting.  He doesn’t just revert to the traditional exercises, like squats, deadlifts, pull ups and dips for strength gains, although those do play a role in his programming.

Some people will say that training strength is not movement specific, i.e. that a vertical pulling motion is a vertical pulling motion.  Will concentrates on replicating the exact moves he does on the crag in the gym.  These include:

• One arm pull downs (to mimic pulling on ice tool)
• Dumbbell hammer swings (to mimic swinging ice tool)
• Staggered pull ups (to mimic offset pull ups)

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Mark Twight

I’ve mentioned Mark Twight before when talking about the 6 sets x 2 reps scheme.  Mark is probably best known for training the actors for the film 300.  Nowadays, he runs a gym called Gym Jones in Utah but he used to be quite a prolific climber. 

Mark has also written a book on climbing, called Extreme Alpinism, which includes a chapter on training.  What I like about Mark’s discussion of training is the way he talks about the small details like he knows them intimately.  Which, of course, he does.

Mark has a number of articles on the Gym Jones website about training and, specifically, training for climbing.  They are all written in Mark’s inimitable style.  If you need a firm kick up the backside to get you moving, check them out. 

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Other resources

The most comprehensive book on training for climbing, or about the training that climbers do, is Performance Rockclimbing by Dale Goddard and Udo Neumann.  It’s a bit dated now, in looks and some of the descriptions, but I don’t have a better text in my bookshelf when it comes to gaining strength in the ways that climbers do.

If you know of some good strength training resources for climbing, please do let me know.  I’d love to hear about them.