Almost all the articles we post on this blog revolve around some type training that you can add into your routine to help you improve.  While all of us here at Training Beta definitely believe in training hard to reach our goals, what if part of the answer for truly taking your climbing to the next level was actually to do less, not more?

To highlight the importance of focusing your training, here’s an article by trainer and coach Steve Bechtel of Climb Strong in which he urges climbers to actually do less in their training, not more.

“I’ll reiterate that the first solution to stalled progress should be to simplify the demand for adaptation on the system. Total training volume aside, you could ease the burden on the athlete (and advance progress!) by simply reducing the number of qualities you are trying to develop.” – Steve Bechtel

Why “Do Less”?

Bechtel’s directive to “do less” does not mean he’s advocating you don’t train hard.  Instead, he is simply prioritizing two training principles that tend to get overlooked:

1. Adaptive potential
2. Recovery

Essentially, Steve is arguing that by trying to pack too many types and too much training into our routine we are sabotaging or efforts in two ways.  First, he believes that we are giving our bodies too many stimuli and, as a result, we fail to let ourselves really make gains in any particular area.  The second, according to Steve, is that when we pack too much training into our weeks we don’t give our bodies enough time to properly recover.

How to Do Less Effectively

His solution is simple: instead of trying to pack in as much training as possible, we should focus on really improving individual facets of climbing (i.e. finger strength or endurance), and then keep the overall training volume low enough that we can still adequately recover.

While training less to improve may seem counterintuitive, it’s really just another example that it’s better to train smarter than simply harder.  Click through below to read Steve’s full article and learn more about this idea.  Then think about applying it to your own training.  It might just help!

Full Article: Do Less – Climb Strong

(Photo Credit: Matt Pincus; @mpincus87; Area: Leavenworth, WA; Climb: The Practitioner,V11)

Other Articles You Might Like:

• TBP 009 :: Mark and Mike Anderson on Their Book, J-Star, and How Less Is More
• Evening Sends – 5 Recovery Tools Every Climber Should Have
• The Hierarchy of Training with Steve Bechtel
• TBP 036 :: Steve Bechtel Interview #2