Whether you are a route climber or a boulder, it’s not a secret that improving your upper body power will help you progress to climbing in the higher grades.  However, how exactly to train power for climbing isn’t as clear.  While most climbers are familiar with bouldering and the campus board, what about using a gym rope  to training power for climbing?

To make this case for training power with a gym rope or inverted ladder, here’s an article by climbing trainer Eric Hörst that outlines the benefits of this type of training and gives you a basic workout that you can incorporate into your next power phase.

“Since the advent of indoor climbing walls and the campus board, however, rope and ladder climbing have fallen largely out of use. Still, serious climbers would be wise to incorporate some arm-only gym rope climbing into their training program—“campusing” up a 1.5-inch-thick gym rope is, in my opinion, one of the best arm-power-training exercises a climber can do!” – Eric Hörst

Eric Hörst’s Gym Rope Workout:

For power training with rope or inverted ladder climbs, Hörst suggests a series of explosive campus ascents (using only your arms) with ample rest between reps.  The workout he suggests is this:

• 3 – 8 total ascents
• At least 3 minutes rests between reps.

Important Gym Rope Power Training Concerns:

As with all types of power training, quality is much more important than quantity.  This is why Hörst’s total workout is only 3-8 reps with almost full recovery between each ascent.  As he points out, really focusing on good form and being explosive for 3 reps is much more effective at increasing power levels than 8 sloppy, less-explosive reps.

Click through below to read more about gym rope training and learn how to incorporate this effective and finger-friendly exercises into your power training repertoire.

Full Article: Gym Rope Training for Power

(photo courtesy of training4climbing.com)

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• TBP 019 :: Eric Hörst on Training Methods for Adults and Kids
• Maximum Strength Training with Eric Hörst
• Jerry Moffatt – “Power is a Quality Thing”
• Power Training Video with Louis Parkinson