If you are hoping to improve your ability or learn more about training techniques and tools, then this blog will give you some of the answers - because that’s what I’m going to do too!
I’ve been climbing for about three years and have developed enough basic ability to get me up 6a routes. I’ve set myself a target of improving the level I climb at but I quickly hit a glass ceiling of ability: I tried to get up routes graded 6B and don’t have the extra strength or technique (or more likely both) to reach the top. The only way to improve seemed to be to fail on the routes I wanted to climb. This quickly got boring for me so I set about some research.
I found lots of advice online, with phrases like ‘contact strength’ and ‘body tension’. These are new concepts that I’m going to have to learn about.
One important lesson came quickly: If I want to be a better climber then training can help.
This blog will chart my journey from Joe Average 6a to my target of 7a onsight - and beyond!
2 responses so far ↓
1 Ollie // Dec 31, 2009 at 7:45 pm
7a onsight sport or bouldering grade?
2 Graeme Pearson // Nov 26, 2010 at 9:02 am
I’m probably teaching you to suck eggs here but have you read a book called “Performance Rock Climbing” by Dale Goddard and Udo Neumann? It’s quite dated (early 1990’s) but all of the advice still applies. I’m plodding through it and it has helped me to improve greatly, albeit at a lower level than you but it does cover the full gammut of experience.
I’ve also had a recommendation for Dave McLeod’s “9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes…”
Cheers
Graeme
Leave a Comment