[quote]Evolv wrote:
I used to climb a fair bit (in the 5.12s, never any harder) and I feel like I was pretty damn strong just by climbing alone. I was easily 60 pounds lighter then and a different “athlete” if you will. The only issues I had were with my shoulders. So if I were to climb hard again, I would definitely do a lot of push-ups and perhaps some overhead pressing of some sort to balance everything out.
I wouldn’t work my legs at all. I feel like if you can hump your rack/water/gear a couple miles up a mountain, then climb all day, your legs will be plenty strong. Not like Olympic or powerlifter strong, but certainly able to do plenty for everyday life and your purpose of enjoying the outdoors.
If you’re bouldering over V5 and climbing 5.11+, you’re pretty strong. Like lifting, I think being specific to your goal is the best way to be stronger. So climb as often as you can and become a better climber by doing it with maybe the remedial stuff like push-ups or something. I don’t think Chris Sharma ever did plyometrics. Dude smoked weed and went climbing everyday and was strong as hell. I guess he is still climbing, I’ve been out of the loop…
…and as always, climb trad. [/quote]
I agree with that, and I just started getting serious about building up my daily push-up numbers to balance the shoulders out a bit. Already starting to feel better!
Like I said, my main goal is to be the best climber I can be. However, I’m willing to sacrifice some extra time during my climbing sessions to add in some push-ups, squats, swings, and dead bugs. I’d rather stay at least slightly balanced and have more strength and GPP than have the body of an elite climber, constantly getting shoulder, elbow, and wrist injuries, not to mention the A2 pulley ruptures…
I like to take an intelligent approach to training for climbing as I think many climbers really don’t. Obviously going outside and climbing a lot is the most important thing but there really is a lot of ignorance regarding how to train for climbing. I’ve only been climbing for a year and I’m passing people who have climbed for two or three years, and I credit this to working harder AND smarter than they do.