Five Gym Drills to Improve Your Climbing
It's prime indoor climbing season and here are some drills to keep you moving
It is easy to fall into the same old routine at the climbing gym, but keeping it fresh can help improve your skills and to push the grades. Consider throwing in a drill or two into your next session and it won’t be long until you see results.
Skill Training
This will help with your overall strengths and improve your onsighting. The goal is to climb a number of different style routes as quickly as you can. Find a partner who can get on the same plan to maximize the training. It’s best to climb top rope routes, as moving fast is the goal. Find 10 routes with varying angles, from steep to slabby and aim to climb them back to back.
Start with a vertical wall and then move to a slab. Mix it up with a crack, if there is one, and then move to the juggy overhang. Then move back to a crack, if you can, to save your joints. Then back to a few steep roofs. This should work most of the basic and advanced climbing techniques.
Downclimbing
Once you reach the top of a route, on top rope, try to downclimb it. Instead of lowering, have your belayer feed out slack as you reverse the route. This will double the time you’re on the wall. It will force you to focus on the route as you climb up, to be sure you’re efficient on the way down.
It will seem odd at first and you likely won’t find any flow. You will overgrip, but work on your footwork to lessen the pump. Amazingly, your lowering strength is stronger than your pulling strength, so you will perfect how to save energy and position your weight. The better your footwork gets, the easier downclimbing will be.
Add On
One of the oldest bouldering drills is the simple game of add on. Add on is traditionally done with one partner to increase climbing time. The first climber selects two start holds and then adds two moves and comes down. The second climber repeats the moves and adds two moves. The goal is not to stump your partner, but to create a long problem that builds a pump on moves neither climber might have created on their own.
The drill ends when one climber can no longer complete the route or add on any moves. Add on can also be done with one person on the ground with a laser pointer or long stick. They point to the next hold and the climber attempts the moves until they come off the wall.
Speed Climbing
Climbing fast up a route is not about strength training, rather building muscle memory and balance. Speed climbing is a difficult skill to master, but can improve a climber’s overall abilities. Throw in a speed climbing session every few visits to the gym. After a while, you will notice you’re climbing faster and more efficiently on redpoints.
Start on route that is easy for you and climb it at regular speed. Then repeat the route after a short rest, climbing a little faster and again even quicker. Increase your speed about five to 10 per cent every time until your technique begins to suffer. Maybe you will find yourself at the speed climbing event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Repetitive Training
Repeating moves when you’re fatigued can improve your technique. You don’t want to push yourself to injury, but moderate-for-you movements can work muscles otherwise not engaged. During your regular session, get as much mileage as you can. Try to memorize routes and moves so you don’t have to focus on route finding later. Once you’re feeling a little fatigued, select a few moves and repeat them.
Think about including a high-step, a dead point, a big move, a back-step, a cross. Climb up a route to the move you want to repeat and do it about 10 times and carry on. Do the same on a bouldering wall and on a few movements, close your eyes. This will dial in your muscle memory.
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