As a trainer and climber of 20 years, I love to find new ways to make me stronger–after all I have to keep up with all the young kids in my gym. This goes along with changing your approach to climbing, switch it up and always try to avoid. “The Rut” of doing the same warm-ups, followed by the same routes/problems in the same amount of time. Your body responds to change by making you stronger.
Change Your Pace— One drill I love to do is pick 5 problems that are about 50% of maximum. As a guide:
Max Effort 50%
- V1 5.9/V0-
- V2 V0/V0+
- V3 V1
- V4/5 V2
- V6 V3
- V7/8 V4
- V9/10 V5
Pick problems that are different styles and are on different angles. Climb your problem 3 times in a row with 30 seconds rest in between each attempt (Rest up to 3 to 5 minutes between problems)
Climb the problem:
- Regular pace
- Double time (as fast as you can)– Dont sacrifice sloppy technique for speed. Make sure all your foot placements are precise and you are not out of control.
- Slow motion (as slow as possible)- the trick with this one, dont vary your speed whatsoever. No matter what part of your body is moving, it is moving as the same pace as every other part of your body. Matching feet, deadpoints, body turning, pivoting on your feet, and mantles are all the same speed.
One thing I have noticed with climbing problems faster than normal pace, is sometimes they actually feel easier. This is because you are on the wall for less time and moving quickly through difficult sections. One time I was speed climbing a 12a on a very steep toprope wall. When I climbed it at a normal pace, it felt 12a. However, when I speed climbed the route, more of my momentum was utilized and it did not feel harder than 5.11. Try and implement this into your workouts 1-2 times per week for a month and see what you can discover about your own movement.
Tune in next week for more applications of speed climbing into your route projects.
