I’m new to bouldering, I started 3.5 months ago and love it. I was wondering what kind of training routines you all recommend for advancing? When do you decide to move on to more difficult problems? Any personal words of wisdom?
Mostly posting for content.
This might sound like throw away advice, but really it’s simple: find people who are better at it than you are, hang out with them, and practice as often as you can. Then practice more. And when you feel like you have practiced enough, do it again.
Not bouldering, but on my bike I went from “yeah, I can sort of do jumps” to sending the biggest shit I can find in just under 2 years and all I did was exactly what I just said. The people I know who keep levelling up are the ones who do three times as many reps as anyone else.
At the trails, there are the people who sit around, chit chat, and occasionally send a lap, and then there are the people who just go non stop. For every lap everyone else is doing, they knock out 3. It’s true for every sport. There is no shortcut to greatness. It’s a grind. A rewarding grind, but a grind nonetheless.
observe movements of “people who are better at it” when you find them. The way they place their feet, knees relative to feet, pelvis …
This I do as much as possible. I try to emulate those smooth climbers who send impossible routes like butter.
Not at all. I spoke with the head route setter at my gym about getting better with small crimpy hold and his advice was basically “climb”, go to the highest problem you can send in that style and run laps on it. Now I just need to find some partners who kick my ass to push me further.
About that: Sometimes it is hard to break into those groups. The #1 way to earn respect in those circles is dedication. And not just to climbing. But helping out at the gym you are a regular at. Volunteer your time, put in the work.
Watching YouTube videos on technique and professional competitions can help a lot.
I think a good goal is knowing your V rating level and being able to top all of those problems in the gym/outside. So, if you feel good about v2s, complete every available V2 cleanly before moving to a V3.
I feel like the biggest thing for me is trying climbs higher than what I can actually complete. The goal for me isn’t always sending a problem but sometimes just doing a hard/cool move and learning from it.
Along with this going at the wall with intention is useful. Start every climb with reading beta, and not just where your hands go but feet and body positioning as well. When falling off a wall don’t just go back on right away, figure out why you fell off and come up with a plan for your next attempt.
You probably don’t need to do any lifting, fingerboarding or anything of that nature this soon in; climbing is probably the route to quickest improvement.
Don’t feel like you need to incorporate all the advice you get at once, just pick through and focus at one point at a time until it’s habit.
I’m an absolute beginner and was very surprised today by how little my strength training background translated to even the easiest routes. I could do all the “green” ones, which translate to… I don’t know, the easiest grades, there’s way too many standards to remember. But not one of the “yellow” routes. And frankly some of the green ones were extremely difficult!
It feels like I have no idea what to do with my body, which is understandable given it was the first time I’ve tried. But where do I learn that?
It’s wild, I’ve been doing weighted pull-ups for months and it didn’t seem to count for shit on the walls. Humbling, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. But I’m genuinely one of the strongest people at my normal gym!
Sounds boring but just doing it more. I find it hard to learn by copying someone as I can’t easily identify the tiny body changes. But trying a problem over and over and trying new things you can learn what works and what doesn’t.
Also asking friends or strangers how they did something can very helpful. I find climbers are very happy to share advice when asked (but usually won’t offer as that can be considered rude).
As for strength, I guess it’s very different muscles. It will help when your fingers, forearms and technique are better I’m sure :)
Thanks for the advice. My forearms are totally ruined at the moment, between climbing and manual labour. But I guess that’s how they’ll get stronger!
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