Training antagonist muscles is very important for proper muscle balance and to prevent injuries.
Push-ups are a great way to train the antagonist muscles. It targets your chest muscles, triceps, and shoulders. There are also many different variations of push-ups that can make them more challenging, difficult, and effective.
Here are some of the different push-up variations:
- Close hands
- Wide hands
- Unbalanced hands (one hand up high, the other lower down), this puts more emphasis on different muscles for each arm
- Leaning forward
- Elevated feet
- Handstand push-ups
- Adding weights on your back
Climbing is mostly a pulling sport for your upper body. You will spend most of your time pulling with your arms, and pushing with your feet. But, there are times and certain moves in climbing that require you to push with your arms, such as when doing a mantle. This is where having strong triceps and chest muscles can be useful.
Here are 6 exercises and tips that I use that have helped me climb better and get better at bouldering:
1. Slow and Quiet Climbing
This is probably one of my favorite exercises, and one I do every time I go climbing as a warm-up, and as I finish climbing.
What you do is you simply climb easier routes, but quietly. If you make any sound at all (not including clicking sounds from fingers or legs, or sounds from the shoes such as the rubber or the Velcro), you get off the route, and start the route over again.
What this does is it teaches you to be more precise with your movements and hand and foot placements, as you have to really grab the hold slowly and softly to not make a sound.
It strengthens your muscles because as you climb slowly, you will find yourself in more lock-off positions, where you are holding your body weight with more of your muscles.
It's a great warm-up when doing it on easier routes, and is great for some extra low intensity climbing at the end of the session, but, it's also a great exercise to keep in mind while climbing difficult routes also, as the precision in the movements and limb placements can really make a huge difference in the harder routes.
It's a great exercise to really give your technique a boost.
2. Moonboarding or other tension boards
Strength may not necessarily be more important than technique, but it is important. Grip strength, finger strength, and pinch strength are crucial for climbing harder routes, especially for overhanging routes.
Grip and pinch strength can be trained in isolation with punch blocks and other gear, but one of the best ways I have found to increase my strength, and not just in my hands, is the moon board. It is also much more interesting than just lifting a block of wood for a few seconds as you are actually climbing. It also strengthens your core, shoulders, back, and other muscles in addition to just grip strength.
If you have a moonboard or any kind of tension board, I highly recommend dedicating a session or two per week to climbing only on it. After even just a month, you should be able to see the difference in your strength.
3. Projecting
Many climbers choose to only climb routes that are around their climbing level. This could be out of comfort, or out of the idea that they just can't climb harder routes because they are not there yet.
Climbing routes that are above your climbing grade can actually be one of the best things you can do for your climbing.
First of all, you may actually be surprised and may be able to climb the harder routes.
If not, even if you work on the route and get just a few movements in, those movements can go a long way in improving your overall climbing abilities, knowledge, and experience.
Plus, when you actually finish the route, the amount of motivation you will feel will be unmatched, a perfect dose for climbing harder and choosing another project.
4. Strength training
As mentioned, strength training is very important. Not just finger strength, but general body strength. This includes the back, shoulders, arms, chest, core, and legs.
Also, training antagonist muscles is very important as it can help prevent injuries due to imbalances and poor posture.
I would add a few weight lifting or body weight training days to your climbing schedule, to make sure that you are giving your whole body a proper workout.
5. Feet work
Most beginner climbers don't understand the importance of feet work. They think it's just an upper body sport, mainly for the back and arms.
This is very far from the truth, as feet work can be the defining element between success and failure on a route. You can be as powerful and as strong as you want, but if you have poor footwork, everything will just be that much harder for you.
Climbers who are not very strong often times climb better than those who are because they have much better technique and foot work. They cannot rely on their strength since they don't have that much, so they climb with increasingly better technique.
6. Flexibility
I have seen flexibility being the element that allowed some climbers to send their projects. It is underestimated in importance. People either think it is not that important, or, they just don't want to do it because they don't like it.
This is unfortunate, because being flexible just gives you that extra advantage on the wall, and on the routes where strength is just not enough.
Traditional indoor boulder walls are usually around 15 feet (4.5 meters) tall.
This is not an indication for how long the actual route is, though, since the climbing route may actually be shorter or longer than the wall itself due to the angle of the wall, and to the structure and design of the routes. If the wall is very overhanging, the wall or boulder may be shorter than 15 feet, but the route itself could be longer. Imagine a cave ceiling, it could be rather short in height from the ground, but, the route could span much of the actual cave ceiling, making the route much longer than the actual height of the cave.
Outdoor boulders can be of any height really, though at some point they are considered sport climbing routes, but generally, outdoor boulders can be much taller than 15 feet.
Rock climbing is a great sport as really almost anyone can do it, regardless of their fitness level.
There are a few types of climbing, but the simplest one is indoor bouldering. Boulders are short routes, usually up to 15 feet (around 5 meters) tall. You don't really need any equipment besides climbing shoes, and a chalk bag, but even those can usually be provided by the climbing gym.
The goal of bouldering is to climb from point A to point B. The rules are fairly simple, though each climbing gym may have their own variation of the rules. The basic rules are to start from the starting hold, and to finish the route by touching the finish hold with two hands. There is a mat at the bottom of the routes to make falling/getting down safe.
The reason why this is the simplest form of climbing, mainly for beginners, is because it’s very simple to just start climbing, you do not need to depend on anyone, you can do it alone, and the beginner routes are just very easy to climb, they are very much like climbing ladders. As you progress in the grades, the routes will become more complex and physically demanding, but also mentally demanding.
This is where things start to get more interesting, and why people looking to start a new sport should consider rock climbing. Climbing is not only a physical sport, it is also a mental one. You can think about climbing and boulder problems as puzzles. Your goal is to solve the puzzle by understanding the route, it's requirements, and how you can physically complete the puzzle. To do this you have to understand what the route requires from you, and what your physical strengths are, skills, and technique.
There is a lot of thought and puzzle solving that goes into climbing, it's not just a matter of getting on the route and climbing to the top with all the strength you have, sometimes the routes require far more technique than strength.
The chest muscles are some of the only muscles that are not directly worked when climbing. Climbing does build many muscles in the body, even legs to some extent, but the chest muscles are just barely used while climbing.
While climbing, your body is under general tension, and there are specific moves that do use the chest muscles, but they don't occur so often as to actually give your chest a good enough workout.
This is why climbers should also include antagonist training and exercises into their schedule to help build the muscles that are not really worked enough through climbing, otherwise they could suffer muscle imbalances that eventually could lead to bad posture and to injury.
Climbers sand their fingers to prevent skin injuries such as flappers, cracks and tears. This happens due to calluses building up.
Climbing is pretty rough on the skin, and after doing it for a while, you start developing calluses. This is a natural process of the body and is meant to protect the skin. The problem climbers have, is that after some time, the calluses can actually build up and cause potential skin injuries.
The skin injuries can occur due to different reasons, such as the callus area being very dry, or when a callus is caught or pinched on a hold, which can cause the callus to peel off, which is known as a flapper.
Climbers tend to sand down the calluses to reduce their size, and make them a little bit smoother so that they don't get caught and rip off.
There is no real rule as to how flexible you need to be for climbing, but, being flexible can really help a lot in climbing and in solving the problems. It gives you more tools to use on the wall to finish the routes.
Having basic flexibility and a full range of motion is a good starting point, and building on that can get you a long way in climbing.
If you are not flexible, though, don't think that you won't be able to climb hard routes. I have known many people who cannot touch their toes even with slightly bent knees, and they can climb v7/v8.
On the other hand, I know some climbers who are very flexible and that are relatively beginners, they normally climb v5/v6, but sometimes they are able to top some v7s due to their flexibility. It just gives them that additional advantage.
Being flexible can also help prevent injuries. Some routes require a low level of flexibility, and others may require quite a high level of flexibility. Working on routes that require a level of flexibility that you do not have could result in injury.
Being flexible in general also just helps prevents injuries.
Squats are great for building general leg strength, while also working many other upper body muscles.
Another great exercise is sprinting. Sprinting can really push you to your limits and give you that leg power you are looking for.
Pistol squats is another great exercise that is very popular among climbers. It's very similar to regular squats, but also quite different, as you will need to put extra effort in balancing yourself on one leg in order to do the squat. To make it easier, you can do it while standing on the edge of a box, and performing the squat there. Part of the difficulty in the pistol squat is doing the squat with your other leg extended out front. So, by minimizing the amount that leg must be out front will make the squat easier to perform, and this is done by standing on something tall.
Calf raises are a great exercise and a personal favorite for building and strengthening the calf muscles. It is also one of the easiest exercises that can be performed. All you need is a step, this can be a staircase step, a weight that you stand on, or anything else with an edge that you can stand on and have your heel touch the ground. Just make sure that what ever you are standing is tall enough so that your calf muscle will actually be extended when your heel touches the ground. To do the exercise, stand on the edge with your toes, lower your heel to the ground, and lift yourself up slowly, hold at the top for a second, and then lower yourself slowly, and repeat.
The bottom line is that building leg strength for climbing is just like building leg strength in general, really. In climbing, you use your legs for certain hooks, jumps, dynamic movements, and stabilization, all of which require general leg strength in most or all of your main leg muscles. The exercises above will work those muscles.
It is also important to keep in mind that climbing itself activates certain muscles that may not be activated in other exercises, and they may be used in certain ways and conditions that are hard to replicate outside of climbing. These situations are also important for training and strengthening your muscles, and not just your leg muscles, so keep on climbing, and add the additional leg exercises as a supplement to your climbing.
Bouldering does not require a climbing partner, so if you cannot find someone to go with, then that is ok. Bouldering required extra people when you do it outdoors, since you will need crash pads and spotters to watch over you while you climb. Indoor bouldering, though, does not require more people as the gyms have types of mattresses that you fall on, and the bouldering walls are usually at a max height of 15 feet (around 5 meters), while some are even shorter.
Besides the technical aspect, though, bouldering, and climbing in general, is a very friendly sport, at least from my own experience and that of many others. Climbers are usually very welcoming and helpful, so even if you go and climb alone, you can meet new people that can help you or that you can climb with. It's a great place to meet new people.
If, on the other hand, you want to climb alone and not be bothered, that is of course also an option.
Doing planks help strengthen your abs, back, and shoulders, among the other muscles it works.
These muscles are crucial for climbing, so if performing planks helps strengthen these muscles, then yes, doing planks should contribute to your climbing. The amount at which it contributes though is another matter, but generally speaking, doing planks and other exercises that improve core strength can help climbing.
Climbing relies very heavily on core, shoulder, and of course back strength. Training these muscles is important and can help climbers progress and climb better and harder.
