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Old Forum Strength training and rock climbing

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Andy 99

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I recently started climbing, mostly rope climbing but also a bit of bouldering. I climb about 2 times a week, sometimes 3. Does anyone have any input as to the ideal strength program to do besides climbing? I'm not just interested in training for climbing, I also want to maintain more rounded and general strength than what I get from climbing. My biggest concern is overtraining (I'm 34). Does anyone have an idea for an actual program to do besides climbing?

Thanks, Andy.
 
Andy, if you get serious about climbing, you will need to keep your legs as light as possible. Deadlifts rather than squats.  The kettlebell hack squat is a good exercise with carryover to climbing and minimal muscle gain.  You will need to balance out the pulling and the hollow position with something like bent presses.  Obviously, weighted pullups and special work for contact strength (explosive kettlebell snatches also help a lot).
 
Pavel, I remember that you mentioned snatches last time someone asked (I like to dabble with climbing sometimes, too).
 
I think avoiding squats at the cost of bodyweight is generally to simplistic.  Since the deadlift recruits the most total muscle why would this be the lift of choice? Climbing requires plenty of leg strength and I'd rather be a stronger person on a ledge. You should treat all strength as gpp and use climbing to improve those skills.  I don't see snatches having any real value, as I'm sure if you look into what the best do in that sport they are not snatching kb for shoulder strength.   You need to climb and really think about the movements it requires and what your biggest challenge are physically,  then get stronger.   When I watched my brother climb after the Marines he weighed 175, he could hang and pull up so hard he could grab with his finger the holder about 2ft above him. He never heard of hollow position or hack squats.  He carried ruck sacks ND did pull ups,  1000's of them.
 
FWIW, I live in proximity to Yosemite and dabble in climbing on and off.  One of my best friends is very serious about it, having summited El Cap, Half Dome, and other big routes in Yosemite.  He introduced me to Alex Honnold the day before Alex and Hans Florine broke the speed record up the nose, and then I had a chance to talk with Alex again a week or so later.  He told me he never did any strength work but probably should.

I don't know how strength translates to climbing, but it seems that if you're strong and have good endurance, it won't do anything but help.  A lot of climbers get strong by climbing.  It wouldn't hurt to be more structured in approach.
 
Pistols, deadlifts, plenty of overhead work (antagonists!) and shoulder prehab.

Front levers and all grip-centric pullup variants will help, of course, if you want more specific work. I know some climbers are very serious about making their toes stronger, too, for obvious reasons.
 
Climbing rewards absolute lightness even more than it rewards strength-to-weight.  It's also a lot more "yin" than people imagine.
 
Having known a few climbers I'm with Matt Hoskisson, as I often am, on this. Lightness. Then I can imagine that snatches build good contact strength.
 
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