Lattice Training | How to: Train for Sport Climbing
Sport climbing blends strength, endurance, and technique, all while testing your mental focus. Training for it requires building the physical capacity and mental tools to endure the time on the wall required to clip the chains.
The UK has great outdoor sport climbing spots as well as indoor lead walls. Many British sport climbers will venture overseas to get some sun during the winter and enjoy the different styles of sport climbing on offer.
If you are interested in outdoor sport climbing, you will have noticed that UK weather doesn’t always cooperate for outdoor practice, so indoor preparation is key to making the most of good weather days. Sport climbing outdoors takes time, so often climbing in the week or after work isn’t an option. Therefore, if you are motivated to develop your sport climbing, introducing some training can go a long way! Training is not only a physical process but also provides an opportunity to develop skills that transfer to your climbing such as technique and tenacity.
1. Power Endurance: Fighting The Pump
Sport climbing often requires us to complete lots of moves in a row with limited rest or for us to be able to climb hard sustained sequences. We all know that feeling of being “on a timer”, and in simple terms your power endurance is your ability to sustain that level of effort. When we train power endurance the climbing needs to be challenging, such that we will likely fail during our training.
How to Train Power Endurance:
4x4s: This is an easy exercise to complete on a bouldering wall. Climb a boulder problem 4 times back-to-back. Rest 5 minutes and complete 4 sets in total. You should be trying very hard to complete the fourth repetition of the boulder problem. Although it is ok to fail on some repetitions, you should be completing the majority of the climbing - if you are failing on repetition 2 of a boulder the climbing is too difficult.
Double Route Laps: This requires a lead wall. Climb a moderately hard route, then lower down and try to climb it again immediately. You should be trying vary hard to complete the second lap, and it is ok to fail. Around maximum onsight level, but well known, or just below max onsight level usually works well. Complete 5 sets in total with at least 10 minutes rest between sets.
If you want to learn more about power endurance training check out this course.
Top Tip: Gradually increase the difficulty of the climbing as your power endurance improves.
2. Flexibility: Make Your Forearms Go Further
Flexibility allows you to move efficiently and access holds that might otherwise be out of reach. If we look at the top sport climbers, the majority have incredible flexibility.
How to Improve Flexibility for Sport Climbing:
Passive Stretching: Passive stretching is when you stretch muscles whilst they are relaxed. The aim is to hold the stretch for around 60 seconds so that the stretch sensation in the muscle reduces. A good example of a passive stretch that is useful for sport climbing is the frog stretch.
Active Stretching: Active forms of stretching are when you stretch a muscle whilst it is working. Active stretching can either be static (holding a stretched position using your muscles) or dynamic (moving in and out of a stretched position using your muscles). A good example of a static active stretch for sport climbing is the Horse stance.
Top Tip: The intention with stretching is to try and get deeper into the stretches over time. Bring this intention to your stretches.
3. Pacing: Precision and Efficiency
Efficient pacing can be the difference between clipping the chains and falling mid-route. Knowing when to climb quickly, when to relax, and when to climb slowly for precision.
How to Improve Pacing:
Practice Resting Positions: Spend time finding and holding comfortable rest positions on different types of terrain.
Climb Routes Deliberately: Practice slowing down on easier sections to build in rests and climbing faster through harder cruxes. Most importantly, experiment with pacing to find the balance between the speed of your climbing and the accuracy.
Incorporate Micro Shakes: If you do not have good resting positions try stabilising your body positions so that you can incorporate short shakes of each arm as you move between holds.
Top Tip: Watch elite climbers like Adam Ondra to see how they rest, pace, and execute their climbs.
How do I apply this information to myself?
No matter where you are in your bouldering, developing these 3 areas will help you. However, we don’t all have endless time and resources! We need to be selective with what we choose to do.
When it comes to choosing what training to do you need to consider the following things:
What do you want to prepare for? You need to find what goals are truly meaningful to you, based on your motivations and what you value in climbing.
What attributes are important for your goal? You need to define what attributes/skills are important for your goal. In this blog, I have highlighted 3 for trad climbing. There are of course more, and you need to go through a process of analysing the demands of your goal compared to your current climbing.
What exercises develop these attributes? You need to choose an appropriate exercise for your level that will develop the important attributes you have highlighted.
Top tip: Whatever you choose you need to make sure you can be consistent with it week on week. The number 1 mistake climbers make when it comes to training is choosing exercises or a number of exercises that they can’t be consistent with. You will want to complete your exercises for 6 weeks minimum and monitor how this is impacting your climbing.
I am going to summarise this by giving some rough guidelines for beginner, intermediate and advanced sport climbers. These are not hard-and-fast rules! Training for climbing requires an individual approach, but these might get you thinking about what holds you back and ways to work on it.
Beginner: Focus on power endurance by trying climbs that push you.
Intermediate: Add flexibility training and refine your pacing and rest strategies.
Advanced: Explore structured power endurance training and reflect on your tactics for refining challenging routes.
Tips for sport climbers
As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog - training for trad climbing can be a learning process in itself. There are a few things that climbers often neglect to do, that can help with this learning process.
Overanalysing Your Performance: Reflecting is good, but don’t get stuck obsessing over every move. Keep a curious mindset when you attempt climbs.
Changing Your Training Too Often: Stick to a plan for long enough to see meaningful results.
Not Working Rest Positions: Mastering rest positions can save precious energy.
Only Using One Grip Type: Climb on a variety of grips—crimps, pinches, open holds—to stay versatile.
Not Thinking About Pace: Think about whether it is better to climb quickly or more steadily through a given section of a route.
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