No matter how dedicated you are to climbing, sometimes “real life” time commitments can cut into the amount of time you can devote to training.  The good news, however, is that as we learn more and more about training for climbing, we are finding that if you train efficiently you don’t need to spend hours and hours on end in the gym to improve.  The key is training at the correct intensity level so that you aren’t wasting any of your time or efforts.

To help you improve the efficiency of your training, here’s a video from Epic TV featuring Tom Randall and Ollie Torr of Lattice Training that outlines two variations of a 2o min endurance workout that will let climbers with even the most hectic schedules drastically improve their endurance.

20 Min Endurance Workout:

In this training video, Tom and Ollie give you two different variations on a 20 min endurance workout.  The goal with both of these workouts is to eliminate wasted time on the wall.  Essentially, as the most recent research shows, climbers, when training endurance, spend too much time at a medium intensity.  The goal of these workouts is to get you out of this middle zone by focusing on either longer intervals of easy climbing or shorter intervals of higher intensity climbing.

For the longer interval workout, Tom and Ollie suggest climbing for 8 continuous minutes on terrain eight grades below you onsight level.  This is followed by a two minute rest and then repeated so that you fit two 8 minute intervals into the 2o minute time frame.

The second workout focuses on shorter intervals at a much higher intensity level.  For this variation, Ollie and Tom recommend a 1 minute on, 1 minute off x 10 workout done at around 1-2 grades below your onsight level.

Intensity is Key:

For both of these workouts, the key is dialing in the intensity level.  Doing so allows you to work different facets of your climbing endurance and ensures you aren’t wasting time doing lap after lap.  Click through below to watch the video for yourself and learn more about both these workouts.  While we all have busy schedules, efficient workouts like these are the best way to maximize your time and the benefit of your training.

Full Video: 20 Min Endurance Workout

(video still courtesy of epicTV.com)

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