Many climbers and coaches are starting to catch on to the incredible benefits of strength training for climbing (and for life). However, strength training is still not yet well-understood by much of the climbing community. This results in a lot of confusion and misconceptions circulating online. You’ve probably heard or even said one of those listed in this article.
As a Certified Personal Trainer from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), strength training for climbers is my expertise, and I want to bring clarity to the conversation. Let’s clear up some of the most common concerns I hear around strength training for climbers!
1. Climbers shouldn’t strength train because it doesn’t “look like climbing” / it’s not “climbing-specific”.
Specificity is the principle that your body will respond to physical activity in a way that is specific to that activity. For example, you can expect to get better at climbing by climbing; but you can’t expect to get better at climbing by jogging. Many climbers and coaches have interpreted this to mean that all strength training should mimic climbing, and by extension, that any strength training that doesn’t mimic climbing is not useful.
Specificity is great and absolutely a necessary component of training for a sport – but it’s not the full picture. If you look at high-performing athletes in every other sport, they all participate in supplementary non-specific strength training. There are no exceptions to that.
And no, climbing is not different because it’s a “skill sport”, because, in fact, every sport is a skill sport. Climbing is not unique in having a high skill-requirement; every sport has its own unique set of skills that are necessary to excel. Think swinging a baseball bat, shooting a basketball, jumping a hurdle, throwing a football. These are all skills, just like using a heel hook or doing a dyno.
Having foundational full-body strength is a prerequisite to performing a lot of these skills, and also increases your ability to execute them effectively. The stronger you are, the more you can practice the skills, and the better you can use them to your advantage.
2. Strength training will make you better at climbing.
Strength training has so many benefits for climbers both on and off the wall. Instantly making you better at climbing is not one of them. What it actually does is build a solid foundation of athleticism to build off of, and provide the capacity to allow you to get better at climbing. Lifting weights won’t make your technique better, but it will give you the prerequisite strength needed to practice those techniques and learn them over time.
It won’t stick the crux move on your project, but it will give you the physical capacity to keep trying until you do.
It won’t take you from V1 - V8 overnight, but it will sustain your health and performance for longer in life so you don’t have to quit from injury or burnout before you get there.
3. Strength training is dangerous & will get you injured.
Injury risk is present in every sport, just like it is in climbing. But out of all sports, strength training actually has one of the lowest injury rates [3]. Statistically speaking, you are much more likely to get injured climbing than resistance training!
Not only that, but a well-dosed strength training program is actually one of the best ways to decrease sport-related injuries [4]. If you are worried about injury risk taking you out of climbing, the best thing you can do is participate in regular resistance training.
If concern over knowing how to do exercises properly and pick the right weight is holding you back from starting, I highly recommend hiring a climbing coach who is also educated in strength training (such as myself!)
4. Climbing on the wall is enough to get you strong.
In the beginning of your climbing journey, this might be true! Especially if you have limited sport history and/or limited upper-body-sport history. But after a certain point, climbing will no longer stress your muscles and connective tissues enough to effectively build strength. The loads of climbing on each individual muscle group are unpredictable, unmeasurable, and non-specific to any one system, making it challenging and inconsistent to build strength just by climbing.
Weights, on the other hand, are predictable, measurable, AND specific! Making them incredibly effective for building strength in a controllable scenario and logically progressing over time. Especially for muscle groups that don’t experience maximal loads on the wall, like your lower body, climbing is not an effective way of building muscle beyond a certain point.
5. I don’t have time to strength train.
Strength training takes less time than most people think. You can get effective strength training done in just 60-90 minutes per week, or even less if you are a complete beginner. That can easily be split into 20, 30, or 45-minute sessions to be digestible and easy to get done! It might mean sacrificing some of your climbing time and stopping a climbing session 20 minutes early, but I promise it will be a worthy investment. Not only for your climbing now, but for your long-term climbing future.
6. I don’t want to gain weight / get bulky.
New lifters can get significant strength gains without gaining a single pound, just from neurological changes. Your body gets better at producing maximal force with the muscle you have when you continually expose it to loads that require that maximal force through weightlifting. You won’t gain weight from lifting alone.
But you might want to consider… maybe you should gain some “bulk”! A few extra pounds of muscle could be hugely beneficial for many climbers, especially those who have never participated in strength training before. Not only for climbing, but for life; strength training has been shown to improve longevity and extend quality of life for more years [1,2].
Did this clear up any of your concerns? Do you still have some that I didn’t address here? Shoot me an email on the “Contact” page, or reach out via Instagram @pinkpointclimbing, and let’s chat about it!
If you’re looking for a climbing coach who specializes in strength training to help you feel comfortable and empowered in that space, you can apply for 1:1 virtual coaching with me on the “COACHING” tab. Or, reach out to me about other coaches who might fit your needs as well!
If this article helped you, you can help me out by sharing it on social media or sending it to someone who might also benefit from it. You can follow me on Instagram @pinkpointclimbing for more content about training for beginner & intermediate climbers!
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