Training Strength The training of this component of your climbing arsenal is an intriguing area for discussion and certainly involves a lot of question as to how best train it. In this article, I hope to divulge my own thoughts on the matter. For starters, let's have a look as to what strength actually is. Sometimes people get mixed up between strength and power, there is a very notable difference. Strength is basically the ability to do anything at maximum resistance for a length of time under around 7 seconds. When talking about strength in climbing, we usually refer to either... Continue reading

This is blog post isn't really a training one, but perhaps would be more useful to parents and coaches bringing up kids climbing. Currently I am out in France (Ceuse) climbing. In the campsite we have built up a kind of group/gang of climbers of all ages, abilities, nationalities, etc... This is a very common thing on climbing trips, in fact, I can't think of a climbing trip that I haven't attached myself onto a larger group of climbers. It's a very educational experience as well as just a sociable one. You meet new people, you learn new things and you... Continue reading

The title of a book I've read recently thanks to a good recommendation by Mr Randall. The book itself is not remotely climbing related, in fact it's a book on training swimmers :P Irrespective of this, I have found it useful in describing the energy systems as well as the application of exercises aimed at stimulating them. When investigating the scientific principles of training, a lot can be gathered from reading what other sports have discovered through their own scientific research. As climbing has a fairly modest research and development contribution, we can benefit a lot from literature published by other... Continue reading

NATALIE BERRY'S EXPERIENCES Mental training is a massive area in climbing, yet it is all too often overlooked. You may think that your bulging biceps, massive forearms and impeccable technique will get you up the wall no problem - but what happens when fear, nerves and doubt begin to creep into the equation? I have been competing for over ten years now and am just starting to venture into the world of outdoor redpoint and onsighting. What are the differences between these two (or three) disciplines? Competitions I find competitions relatively stress-free and very rarely do I give up or get... Continue reading

Climbing is an incredible sport for the simple reason that it incorporates so many different areas of performance. You have to be strong, fit, light, confident, aggressive, relaxed, prepared and precise. If you lack in any one of these areas you will surely not get the best performance out of yourself. Something I have worked on in my own climbing as well as with all the people I coach is aggression! In this blog i want to look in particular at it's uses whilst climbing. For example, I work with a lot of young climbers between the ages of 7 and... Continue reading

Hey Guys! I have just completed my first project in Spain! I am so happy right now, I have been falling from the last move loads of times over the past couple of days and have been getting rather frustrated at the continual denial with the chains so close in sight, but I suppose I wouldn’t be learning as much if I was getting to the top of everything first go : P I thought I’d talk a bit about my experiences of projecting and what I have found works well for me when attempting them. I remember, the four biggest... Continue reading