Do you struggle on powerful routes and boulders simply because you find it difficult to pull between the holds?  According to climbing trainer Eric Hörst of Training for Climbing, hypergravity pull-up training may just be the answer to increasing your pulling power while also increasing strength and endurance in the process.

“In a nut shell, you’re going to simulate hypergravity (greater than gravity’s natural pull) by adding weight to your body while you perform five sets of pull-ups. Ever notice how light your feet feel upon taking off a pair of ski boots or a heavy backpack? We are going to create the same effect with your climbing muscles! The key is to do all of your pull-up training with weight added (weight vest, belt, or free weights hanging from your harness) to trigger your neuromuscular system to adapt to this apparent increase in gravity. Long-term, you’ll develop a new level of pull-up and lock-off strength—on the rock at normal bodyweight, you just might begin to feel like you are climbing on the moon!” Eric Hörst

In the article, Hörst takes you through both an endurance metric test (how many pull-ups you can do in a set) and a strength metric test (your one rep max pull-up with added weight) to help you establish a baseline from which you can evaluate any gains you make over the ten weeks blocs during which he advocates you perform hypergravity pull-up training.

Then, Hörst outlines the ten-week pull-muscle program which consists of performing five sets of five weighted pull-ups with three minutes rest between each set.  Hörst advocates that this training is done three times a week towards the end of a climbing session to ensure that you are fully warmed up when this exercise is performed.  He believes that committing to a full cycle of this hypergravity training will produce serious gains that will transfer to performance on rock in both the endurance metric and strength metric tests.

Click through bellow to read the complete article where the protocol is discussed in more detail.  Then, give this hypergravity a training a shot yourself.  You may just be shocked at how much it increases your ability to pull hard especially if you a naturally a less powerful and explosive climber.

Click Here: Training for Climbing – Hypergravity Pull-Up Training

(photo courtesy of trainingforclimbing.com)

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• Eric Hörst – Uneven-Grip Pull-ups
• Maximum Strength Training with Eric Hörst
• TBP 019 :: Eric Hörst on Training Methods for Adults and Kids
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