Specificity
Some Specifics about Specificity
Tags: climbing, Fitness, Practice, Specificity, Tactics, Ty Mack
By Ty Mack A Cautionary Tale My good friend and longtime climbing partner Kirk Billings used to spend his winters bouldering in Hueco Tanks and cooking at Todd Skinner’s training compound. He got to climb with many of the top climbers of the era and witness all manner of novel approaches to climbing and training….
In-Depth: General, Specific, and Developmental Exercise
Tags: Planning, Specificity, Strength Training
In-Depth: General, Specific, and Developmental Exercise from Climb Strong on Vimeo.
Improving Arm and Back Strength
Tags: Isometric, Progress, Specificity, Strength Standards, Upper Body Strength, Weight Training
By Steve Bechtel Fingers aren’t the only part of a climber that can be weak. On hard routes and particularly in bouldering, we often see arm and back strength as a limiting factor. The ability to move between holds effectively, to lock off on holds, and the ability to keep your body close to the…
Pull-Ups Are a Waste of Time
Tags: Inverted Rows, Pull-Ups, Specificity, Strength Standards, Weight Training
By Steve Bechtel There’s nothing like a title almost everyone disagrees with. It’s a sure-fire way to make people at least look at the article. So, now that you’re looking, I’ll be more clear. If you’re interested in actually improving your climbing ability, you’d be wasting your time if pull-ups were a major part of…
Three Mistakes You Might Be Making in the Gym
Tags: Assessment, Intensity, Progress, Quality Training, Specificity, Training, Weight Management
By Steve Bechtel Training is all about progress. Unless you just love to train (I’d rather watch Deadwood), you’d better be seeing some results for the hours you spend flogging yourself. What we see in most climbers, though, is really just slight decreases in fitness throughout the year, and then an occasional return to a…
Strength Training for Rock Climbing (Part 2)
Tags: Specificity, Strength Standards, Strong, Training, Weight Training
By Steve Bechtel In part one of this article, I talked about why many climbers should consider supplementing their climbing-specific training with resistance training. In this article, I’ll talk about how. First, let me say that I think resistance training is terribly misunderstood and misused by climbers. When we talk about strength training with weights…