How to stay in shape/possibly get better

Thanks for all of the advice/opinion!

I should add that I really want to learn how to sport climb. I live in the Bay Area, so I have plenty of options.

What advantage do rock rings have over a hangboard? Just curious.

Also, any good hangboard workouts would be great also.

go climb whenever you can, outside if possible, inside if not

ignore the people here telling you indoors wont help you ... if you noticed all the wonder kids that climb harder on their warm ups than anyone here does in real life, youll notice they all go to the gym when they cant get outside ...

A little bit of meta-advice:

It's difficult for those of us on this forum to give specifically tailored advice because we don't know that much about you. An experienced climber at your gym could probably give better feedback on how to improve, given your constraints.

For most people, climbing is a series of improvement curves separated by plateaus. In my mind one of the most exciting aspects of serious climbing (vs. recreational climbing, where improvement isn't as important to the climber) is the ever-changing question: What could I do differently to get to that next level?

In summary: ask advice from an experienced climber who has sessioned with you. And reassess often - there's no one silver bullet training regimen.

Rajiv Ayyangar wrote:In my mind one of the most exciting aspects of serious climbing ... is the ever-changing question: What could I do differently to get to that next level? In summary: ask advice from an experienced climber who has sessioned with you. And reassess often - there's no one silver bullet training regimen.

Best advice yet. At each point in your climbing, there will be a different set of skills/strengths that are your limiting factor. Identifying what these are can be tricky and can take some serious self-reflection...and you may be incorrect once you think you've figured it out. A common thing is for young climbers with a lot of power but little technique is to think they need to be stronger, but often the opposite is true (if they got weaker, maybe they would be forced to learn to use their feet). On the flip side, there are plenty of people with great technique and endurance, who really just need to build some power. Etc etc etc.

Anyway, once you learn what you need to work on, then you can actually start working on it...and you will become a better climber as a result. If you don't figure out what your deficiencies are, then you may end up wasting your "training" time on something that will do little to improve your climbing. As such, you can throw out most of the "training" advice you will find on the internet, since it is not useful to you.

Nonetheless, I am going to go out on a limb and speculate on what you need to do, since your self-description makes you sound like you fit a pretty typical mold for the teenage climber that is new to the sport (I exactly fit that mold when I was 16 as well). Based on your age and athletic background, I would doubt that general muscular strength and fitness are limiting factors for you. I would expect that you can do 20+ pull-ups and be able to do crunches all day long--both a remnant from other athletics? Great, then you can probably do more pulls ups than some 5.14 climbers. No need to beat yourself up doing more, at least for now. You will eventually get to the point where you need to get stronger (muscularly), but that won't be for a while. Honestly, you could probably spend all winter dangling on a hangboard, and make almost zero improvement as a climber (and you might get a finger injury in the process). Strength is not your limiting factor.

Instead, what you probably need to do is just to learn how to climb better, and the best way to do this is to climb a lot. Gym, rock, whatever- just climb as much as you can, but be careful to also let your body rest plenty between climbing sessions to avoid injury. Think actively about your technique. Climb with people who are better than you, and watch what they do; imitate them. Enjoy your climbing and stay psyched. if you keep climbing, stay psyched, and don't get injured, I guarantee that you will get (much) better as a climber. It takes time, though, so be patient. Climbing is a lifelong endeavor. If you keep at it, you can climb 5.13/5.14 some day...but it may take 10+ years of climbing a lot to get there.

So, you should assess your priorities. If getting better as a climber is what matter most to you, make the decisions that will let you climb a lot. This may include stopping XC in favor of climbing. If XC is still important, then keep doing it, and don't worry about drubbing yourself with "training" for climbing, since it won't do much for you at this point in your climbing career. instead, just focus on XC, if that is what you want to do, and the climbing will be there when the XC season ends. Any strength/ability that you lose during XC season will come back in a few weeks once you resume regular climbing.

My experience with XC was not as pleasant as yours, Ryan. Maybe cause I ran for a 7 straight year national champion team and I was just a casual runner. But quitting was the best decision I made in high school. I started playing beach volleyball tournaments, started climbing, got a job at a rock gym, windsurfed on weekends, started a band. Had more free time, and never would have done any of those things had I not quit. My point isn't that he should quit if he's mediocre. My point is that if you have a chance to get a scholarship, then I WOULDN'T quit. But if not, have fun and don't work too hard. Life is hard enough when you get older. The great thing is you don't need to be on a team to run. So fuck getting up every morning at 5 am and staying after school till 6. Just giving the kid a different viewpoint.

Plus there's only one event in running that's a team sport. It's the relay. Play football if you want to be on a team.

My experience was great. I was a casual runner at first, but I was very competitive back then and once I realized that I was good enough to stay on the team, and that our team was good enough to win at a high level, I became more than just casual.

The experience will be different for everyone, but I think XC runners have some sort of bond between them. The training is BRUTAL, and for me, that is where the team came into play. I couldn't have done that without my teammates pushing me. It's very much like a group of climbers in that way, or big wave surfers, or any number of pursuits that take every ounce of effort. You need someone to push you. And in return, you are there for that person when they need support.

I think that the team element is a great lesson, but I also think that the training itself, the emotions that come with it, are important lessons. XC is very much about personal goals, and some of them seem impossible at the beginning of the season, but you reach them. This taught me, at least, the value of hard work. More so than any job I had back then.

I agree that young athletes should not be too obsessed, but I don't agree at all that high school kids should take it easy and have fun just because "life will be hard enough when you are older." Habits die hard. Learning to "not work too hard" as a 16/yo is not a good way to start adulthood. I certainly will never tell my 16y/o that. In fact, it is just the opposite of what my father told me. "Work now, play later" he used to say. I didn't really follow that advice so well, and I am paying for it a bit right now.

I do understand your first comments better now though. It sounds like the extra time you gained by stopping XC was used wisely. That is perhaps the only real advice any of us can actually give to someone that we don't know.

Wilson Marinez wrote:...Also, any good hangboard workouts would be great also.

Wilson, I posted a "Basic" hangboard routine to my blog. You can check it our here:

lazyhclimbingclub.wordpress…

Good luck!

Monomaniac wrote: Wilson, I posted a "Basic" hangboard routine to my blog. You can check it our here: lazyhclimbingclub.wordpress… Good luck!

I like the little clip on fan to dry the hang board mid session!

Taylor Lais wrote:Go climbing when you can. Have fun when you go. If you have fun, you will get better.

true that!

Surprisingly I got stronger during last year of having a job than during 2 years of dirtbagging around living out of my van. Time restrictions forced me to focus on harder routes and fully commit to each try instead of just going out and climbing whatever just for the sake of it. You may not get as versatile as a full-time climber, but you can easily get stronger if pushing limits and trying stuff above your head is fun for you. Couple 3hr climbing sessions a week should be enough.

Oh, and be VERY careful with your tendons, if you just started training hard.

Monomaniac wrote: Wilson, I posted a "Basic" hangboard routine to my blog. You can check it our here: lazyhclimbingclub.wordpress… Good luck!

Thanks! I'll be sure to try this out