1. Footwork is Key: One of the fundamental aspects of climbing is proper footwork. To start, ensure that your climbing shoes fit snugly, allowing you to feel the texture of the holds. Focus on precise placement of your feet, using the edges and small features on the wall. Watch training videos that emphasize footwork drills, which can greatly improve your balance and control.

2. Body Positioning: Climbing efficiently requires mastering body positioning. Stay close to the wall, using your hips to maintain balance. A slight twist or pivot of the hips can make challenging moves feel more manageable. Training videos often include demonstrations of these techniques, so pay close attention to them.

3. Hand Placement and Grip Strength: Grip strength is essential for climbing. Practice different grip techniques, such as crimps, pinches, and slopers, to become proficient in a variety of holds. Training videos can introduce you to hangboard exercises and finger strength workouts that will boost your grip strength.

4. Core Strength: A strong core is your secret weapon. It provides stability and control while climbing. Planks, leg raises, and hanging leg lifts are exercises that can help you develop core strength. Seek training videos with core-focused routines to incorporate into your training plan.

5. Mental Toughness: Climbing can be mentally challenging. Visualize your routes before you climb them, and practice controlled breathing to stay calm and focused. Some training videos offer mindfulness and mental training techniques that can improve your mental fortitude.

6. Cross-Training: Climbing-specific workouts can enhance your climbing performance. Include exercises like pull-ups, push-ups, and yoga to improve overall fitness. Seek videos that integrate these workouts into climbing-specific training programs.

7. Rest and Recovery: Don’t forget the importance of rest and recovery. Overtraining can lead to injuries and burnout. Training videos often include guidance on rest days, injury prevention, and self-care practices.

To start a more effective training routine, it’s essential to have a solid foundation in climbing technique. Utilize training videos as a valuable resource to learn and refine your skills. Combine these videos with consistent practice, and you’ll soon find yourself ascending routes you once thought were impossible. Happy climbing!

Check the Full List of Training Videos and Tips to Elevate Your Climbing Game

The post Mastering Proper Climbing Technique: Training Videos and Tips to Elevate Your Climbing Game appeared first on Rock Climb Every Day.

There are several easy recipes to actually accomplishing this. Pick a route that is two or three levels below your comfortable climbing grade. And by comfortable, I mean be honest with yourself, can you do 10 laps on this grade and still have a smile on your face? I think you get my point. Set a total number of hand holds OR number of vertical feet you want to climb for the day. For the sake of examples, I am going to use 500 vertical feet. If you climb at a gym that has 30 foot walls, do the math and divide 500 feet into 30 to get the number of sends you need to make to accomplish your goal.

Here is another Not-So-Secret Low-Intensity Training Recipe Sample, perfect for a beginner:

Complete a certain amount of feet for the night, probably around 200-500 feet depending on how hard you want to work out.
Then do one climb at the end that’s 2-3 grades above your ‘comfortable’ grade until you fall 3 times.

Warm up on a 5.5 (easy)
Climb a 5.8 three times (your comfortable grade)
Climb a 5.7 three times
Climb a 5.6 three times
Do 20 laps on a 5.5 (again easy) or until you fall
Climb a 5.10 or 11 until you fall 3 times

You can crank the numbers up a notch, once these climbing grades become too easy for you.

Warming up is key to staying injury free, so help yourself and pick an easy route that’s 3 to 4 levels below your average comfort. Down climb whenever possible. Downclimbing will also help you develop the ability to switch routes when you make a mistake on the sequence of the climb.  Continue this routine and repeat it over and over again. Before you know it, you will begin to feel that climbing will get a lot easier and you can increase the number of vertical feet per night.

The Rock and Ice Magazine recently wrote two articles, “Winter Workouts – Get Fit with Interval Training” and “Never Get Pumped Again“, which give extensive detail of low-intensity training routines.

One thing we all forget to mention is that in order for one to accomplish climbing training goals, you will need to find a belay slave. Now, I’m not sure what kind of a person is willing to be a sucker and agree to stand up all night to belay while you do 20 laps or 500 feet worth of climbing in one night. So I am going to point out the obvious and give you some enlightenment; do yourself and everyone else a favor and be independent, instead of having someone belay you all night like a sucker.

With today’s technology we are offered great alternatives to crying all night in our beds over finding a partner to train with. Find a gym that offers the “magical” belay machines or jump on an easy boulder problem and climb that over and over. Change the sequence of the moves that you make every time until you get your mileage goal for the night. Newsflash! You don’t need a partner and you don’t need a belay slave to become a rock climbing badass.

Climbing is a sport, a form of art, and it is very individual to each person. The only goals and competition that you should set, should be set for and with yourself.

If you need some pointers on climbing technique, check out our recommended short video tutorial, “Improve Your Climbing Technique” and get cranking.

The post Rock Climbing Training – Simple Steps to Improve Your Climbing appeared first on Rock Climb Every Day.