Rock Climbing training a la GB/Foundation?

Hello!

I've seen quite a few members on the forum mentioning that they rock climb in addition to GST. I have a friend that climbs at an indoor gym and I go with him every now and then (maybe just 2-3 times a year). We'll do both top roping and bouldering: I like both a lot but I usually find myself limited in the climbing-specific strength/endurance in my hands/fingers/forearms. I know that there's a lot of technique and a heavy mental aspect to good climbing, but I'd still like to add some climbing-specific training to my home workout so that I'm not as limited when I go to the climbing gym.

Now, if I browse online and youtube, there are plenty of "training" methods (just like for GST), but I'm curious if anyone knows of basically the Gymnastic Bodies / Foundation version of rock climbing. Even though I'm on mostly the first progressions in F/H, I think I've been spoiled by the thoughtful progressions in GB, and instead of wasting time (possibly getting injured) with Joe Schmo's climbing training on youtube, I'd like to start proper, or at least as properly as possible, for just some basic home training. If anyone has any resources they've found to be helpful and legit, I'd be interested. Thanks!

If you are looking for Specific training for your grip, then there are books out there to help uo with continual improvement in overall climbing skill. (the one by Mark and Mike Anderson is the best IMO). If you are lacking any type of pulling or pressing strength, thrn GST will make you strong and mobile and prevent injury from climbing. Just follow the F/H/S courses for now and you will be ahead of the game. Eventually I'd add on climbing, once your body adjusts to the GST. (Maybe wait like a month or two)

You want to get a campus board

I don't think campus boarding is a good idea for a complete beginner at all. Going overboard with that kind of crimping could easily lead to injuries. A hang board with some good positive jugs as well as a few more challenging grips would be a better idea at this stage imo.

Ravn said:

I don't think campus boarding is a good idea for a complete beginner at all. Going overboard with that kind of crimping could easily lead to injuries.

Don't crimp on a campus board. Ever.

Bipocni said:

Don't crimp on a campus board. Ever.

Look closely next time. Depending on the proportions of the hand, you can easily get in a situation where the middle and ring fingers are crimping on the campus board (second knuckle closing more than 90 degrees), since they are longer than the index and pinky finger, which are making contact with an open hand configuration. It should be avoided, yes, but if you are not specifically aware of this it can easily happen, particularly in dynamic campusing.

It can happen, but should be avoided as much as possible. The crimp is a cheat anyway as far as developing finger strength goes. Open hand and/or slippers will develop crimp strength but not the other way around.

So a beginner campus board routine would just be hang boarding. It would only be after they had the ability to open hand for a decent amount of time that they would start actually campusing. Even then, care should be taken not to introduce dynamic movements too soon.

OP check out Galina Parfenovs videos on training for climbing. The programming could use a little work and the calisthenics sucks, but she nails campusing.

Before he gets a campus board, he should get a Hangboard, and build a foundation of climbing by at least getting to a 5.10 level on Top Rope. It would be a lot easier to know what type of climbing you like to do. Sport/Lead, Bouldering, FreeClimbing, Multipitch or Trad? Training plans for each would very.

I recommend first buying a harness (Black Diamond Momentum is really good for only $55), belay tool (Some type of ATC, ~20), Locking Carabiner (depending on the type, can range from $5-30), chalk bag (look around and find the one you like, Hanchor has really cool, innovative ones), chalk (Black Diamond White Gold is the only one you want). And then buy some shoes ($~160+, for first time I recommend La Sportiva Katana Laces, $170) if you wanna go really fancy, get the La Sportiva Genius. Then after you get all that gear, you need to just go climb a lot and work up to at least a 5.10a/b on Top Rope (make sure you know your knots and how to belay). After that, then I recommend soecific trsining to get better. (By now make sure you have The Rock Climber's Training Manuel, $20) or (ideally) you can just buy the Rock Prodigy Elite Package (which gets you one of the best Hangboard IMO, a pulley system and the book for only $179.) By now you also want to build a campus board in your house (Google will help you here a lot). Ideally you could just build a whole training center and build a wall in your basement. That's should get you started and will carry you for a long time.

Dylan Robertson said:

Before he gets a campus board, he should get a Hangboard.

It's pretty easy to hangboard on a campus board. There might not be punchers or slopers like you get on decent hangboards, but you can still mono off the tiny ledges all the same.

Hangboard training is rough as hell in general tho. Personally I found I wasn't ready for it until I could at least climb ropes and do thick bar chinups. You need a pretty strong base of grip strength to start with and even then the chances of injury are gonna be pretty high.

That's why I rate campusing higher than dead hangs. If you're only hanging for as long as your arms/back can take it (especially one arm/lockoff work) then you're not as likely to push it so far that you blowout a tendon.

Also, in general people don't mono on campuses. So there's a certain automatic safety margin.

Newbies should not be doing 1-arm hangs or any type of Monos. And since a pulley system is used, scientific measurements and increases can be made. A good trsining plan shoukd consists of s good general warm up on easy stuff (~20 min) then doing 2 Sets of each hold for sets of 5-7 reps with each rep being 7 sec on, 3 sec off.

1st set- Baseline, 7 reps

2nd set- baseline+10lbs, 6 reps

3rd Set (advanced only)- baseline +20 (if only doing two Warmup Jug Sets then do set 1 and then set 3 as your two sets)

A beginner workout could be

Jug (Warmup), baseline (7 reps), baseline +20 (5 reps)

Large 4-Finger Edge. Baseline (7 reps), baseline +10 (6 reps)

Large Pinch, baseline (7 reps), baseline +10, (6 reps)

IMR Edge, baseline (7 reps), baseline +10 (6 reps)

Small Pinch, baseline (7 reps), baseline +10 (6 reps)

Sloper, baseline (7 reps), baseline +10 (6 reps)

MRP Edge, baseline (7 reps), baseline +10 (6 reps)

Rest between sets and Grips- 3 Min. Move on to a smaller edge once +35lbs (base) can be completed for multiple workouts. (This will take multiple seasons. (This workout will be done every 4 days) for more details look at the Rock Climber's Training Manuel.

(ALSO, Newbies do not do downwards explosive work on the campus, aka dropping and catching the edge, you will hurt yourself)

I boulder once a week, which goes great with Foundation.

I'd recommend more climbing instead of any hanging work, it's much safer.