Climbing techniques – a plan to raise your game: Week 6 – strength conditioning and grip (workout 3)

Hello everyone, it’s week 6 of my rock climbing improvement plan. How’s it going? Has anyone made any improvements?

In 5 weeks I have moved up a grade, from 5b to 5c. I have nailed quite a few tricky 5c routes as both top ropes and leads at my local indoor wall, so I’m going to claim it – there! That’s halfway toward my target for my plan to be able to climb 6a sport routes.

Last week I gave you rock climbing workout 2 of 3, here’s number 3.

Split squats with back foot on a bench

4 sets
8 – 12 repetitions per set
Leave 90 seconds between sets

I’m not bad at standard, weighted squats but I found these pretty tough to start with. The balancing aspect is great for building your core strength.

1. Stand in front of a weight bench and take a stride away from it. Bend your right leg and place your right foot an the bench behind you, toes facing down. You should now be balancing on your left foot with the bench behind you.
2. Slowly squat down on your left leg, keeping your back straight. Don’t allow your knee to extend further away than the toes of your left foot as it will place too much stress on your knee. Allow your arms to just hang by your sides. Inhales as you go and finish the movement with your left thigh parallel to the floor.
3. Push back up to the starting position. Exhale as you go.
4. Repeat for between 8 and 12 repetitions then swap feet and repeat for the other side – that’s one set. *Start with an alternative foot forward for each set.

Variations:
Once you can do this comfortably without weight, start using a dumbell in each hand to add resistance.  You can increase this with each set.

Swiss ball leg curls

4 sets
8 – 12 repetitions per set
Leave 90 seconds between sets

Performing these on a Swiss ball instead of using a machine improves your balance and core strength.

1. Lay on your back with your heels on the swiss ball and your arms by your side (hands about 12 inches from your sides).
2. Keeping your back straight, lift your buttocks off the floor.
3. Draw the Swiss ball toward you by bending your legs. You’ll end up with the soles of your feet on the ball, your neck & knees bent and your body pointing upward. Breathe in as you go.
4. Slowly push the ball away from you to return to the starting position (for a count of 3). Exhale as you go. Try to remain controlled all the way down.

Variations:
You can make the exercise harder by:

• Moving your hands closer to your body – this makes it harder to stabilise yourself through the exercise
• You can bend one leg so that you only have one foot on the ball to perform a single leg variation of the exercise. Perform an equal number of repetitions for each side.

Single arm dumbell clean and press

4 sets
6 – 10 repetitions per set
Leave 90 seconds between sets

This is a superb power building exercise and will work wonders for your dynamic strength. This comes in useful for those powerful ‘dyno’ moves.

1. Take a dumbell (keep it light until you have the technique down), stand with your feet about shoulder width apart and place the dumbell between your feet. The bar should be parallel to your body.
2. Squat down, bending your legs and keeping your back straight, to grab the dumbell in one hand.
3. In one big movement, drive up through your legs and pull the dumbell up through the centre of your body toward your neck. Keep your elbow out to your side until the dumbell reaches about chest height, then move your elbow forward and flick your wrist so that your hand ends up facing backward, palm up with the dumbell resting in your palm.
4. Take a breath then press the dumbell above your head, bend your legs slightly as you go to make it easier (this will allow you to be able to press a good weight). Straighten your legs at the top of the movement to lock out.
5. Reverse the sequence to lower the dumbell to the floor. Repeat for between 8 and 12 repetitions, then swap hands and repeat – that’s one set. *Start with an alternative hand for each set.
   

Swiss ball crunches and Swiss ball balances

4 supersets
8 – 12 repetitions per set
Leave 90 seconds between supersets

Swiss ball crunches are a great abdominal exercise, and performing them on the Swiss ball builds core strength. Swiss ball balances are fantastic for improving your balance, which is useful for those really delicate routes where it really comes into play.I like to combine the 2 exercises as a superset

Swiss ball crunches

1. Sit on a Swiss ball with your feet shoulder width apart
2. Roll forward until the ball is positioned just above your buttocks
3. Touch your temples with your fingers and roll your rib cage forward to cause your abdominal muscles to contract. Touch your chin to your chest at the top of the movement (I have been taught that you should press your tongue to the roof of your mouth to help to isolate the correct muscles). Exhale as you contract.
4. Allow your rib cage to roll back then repeat for between 8 and 12 repetitions. Move straight onto the Swiss ball balances.
   

Swiss ball balances

1. If you haven’t done these before, start with seated Swiss ball balances. Sit on a Swiss ball and lift your feet off the ground (just a little). Focus on keeping your core tight to maintain your balance. Try for 90 seconds.

Variations:
You can make the exercise harder by:

• Kneeling on the Swiss ball. Make sure you have nothing with hard, sharp edges near you, in case you fall off. You can make it harder still by holding a dumbell out to one side, then swapping hands.
• Standing on the Swiss ball (yes you can). The advice on hard objects and sharp corners goes double for this. I like to position the ball next to a weight machine so I can hold on with one hand until I’m ready to balance.

I hope you enjoy these workouts. I’m going to move onto a body composition (weight loss) workout  soon. I’ll keep you posted.

As always, it would be good to hear from you. Drop me a line below.