Here at TrainingBeta, we’ve posted a lot of articles about how incorporating some time in the weight room into your training program can produce some serious gains.  However, while we’ll stand by this statement, not all weight training is effective at getting you stronger for climbing.  The reason for this is the movements in many traditional weight training exercises are not climbing specific enough.

“Most dedicated climbers spend at least a little bit of training time in the weight room, but much of that time is wasted performing exercises that don’t mimic climbing movement closely enough… Sports science research (and basic logic) supports the theory that the more an exercise mirrors your movement in the sport, the more the exercise positively affects your sport performance. For climbing, the secret to a successful training exercise off the wall is to maintain a body position that is common while climbing.” – Dr. Jared Vagy

As Dr. Vagy describes, for an exercise to be an effective form of climbing training its movement patterns need to at least mimic those of climbing.  To help you improve the effectiveness of your weight training , here’s an article from Climbing Magazine by Dr. Jared Vagy in which he outlines six rules that will help you keep movement patterns as similar to climbing as possible.

6 Rules For Making Exercises More Climbing Specific:

1. Weight Toes
2. Bend Knees
3. Engage Abdominals
4. Retract Shoulder Blades
5. Keep Arms Above Shoulders
6. Maintain Straight Elbows

Obviously, not all of these rules can be followed with all exercises.  However, keeping them in mind when choosing what exercises to perform and when critiquing your form may help you translate your gains in the weight room into increased performance on rock.

Click through below to read about these six rules and Dr. Vagy’s thoughts on specificity in greater detail.

Dr. Jared Vagy Injury Prevention Guide:

Also, if you like what you see and are interested in learning more from Dr. Vagy’s expertise, check out the Injury Prevention Guide he wrote for us.  It is full of detailed and practical information to help you avoid climbing injuries before they happen.

Full Article: Making Exercises More Climbing Specific

(photo courtesy of climbing.com)

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• TBP 014 :: Physical Therapist Jared Vagy on Injury Prevention and Treatment
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• Training Antagonist Strength for Climbing
• 8 Functional Strength Training Exercises for Climbing