While the adage “train only through climbing” is sound advice for novice climbers who need to develop basic technique and skill, there is a growing acceptance of the role supplemental “off-the-wall” training can have on performance and injury prevention. The key word here is supplemental, meaning you should not be spending most of your time deadlifting versus climbing. However, a well-designed off-the-wall program can bridge gaps, train movement efficiency, allow you to endure those hard sessions, and prevent the one proven thing that can halt your progress: injury.

As the medical manager for USA Climbing, I work closely alongside longtime strength training coach Matthew Maddison to keep the U.S. Team athletes healthy and prepared for the season. In developing their training programs, the challenges we face are 1) managing the workload of off-the-wall and on-the-wall sessions to allow the athlete to get the most out of each session and recover adequately between sessions 2) convincing them “more is not always better” 3) and keeping the “play” and curiosity within these training phases to develop an athlete’s skills and motivation. A “quality-over-quantity” approach has worked very well for the elite athletes I work with. What we contribute is guidance for structure, providing micro adjustments, and education based on scientific principles for the “why” or “why not.” Our plans are highly individualized depending on the athlete’s goals, areas that need improvement (e.g. lower-body power), keeping up with the trends in route setting (the new trendy move), and what they are motivated to do.

This three-part series will offer ideas for how to structure “on-the-wall” and “off-the wall” training during the preparatory (offseason), preseason, and in-season training periods. I will not go into great detail about the science, reps and sets, or work-to-rest ratios, as I believe that has been well-covered. What I hope to do is provide guidance in structure, programming (the “micromanagement”), and to a lesser extent, periodization (the “macromanagement”) to manage the training process. The aim of these articles are to help you get the most out of your training by: having an intention for each session, planning day-to-day sessions to allow for optimal execution and adequate recovery from one workout to the next, and managing workload throughout a week, block, and season. I do recommend consulting with an experienced strength and conditioning coach or personal trainer when starting some of the off-the-wall exercises mentioned here in order to ensure you are using the correct form so as to prevent injury and optimize performance.

Periodization Models: “Linear, Nonlinear, Block. Oh My!”

Linear vs. block periodization models: Both have been proven to be effective (more or less) structures for your training program. Which is best for you? The dreaded answer is “it depends.” Factors such as predictability of your schedule, goal(s) within a season, allostatic load (a.k.a., day-to-day stress), and, frankly, your personality determines which structure best suits you. For those who have the time and like a systematic approach, then a linear model, meaning increasing volume/load of a specific set of exercises over time, may work well for you. In contrast, if you like to dabble in both bouldering and lead climbing, requiring several areas of conditioning and skills and where a long phase spent training a single area may lead to declines in others, or, if you get bored easily, then a nonlinear, or block model, may appeal to you. This training structure is more varied, changing intensity and volume from week to week. 

The example referenced in this series is based more on a block periodization model that our USAC lead and bouldering athletes follow within a week. They shift towards specific training depending on upcoming competitions and their goals—“I want to do well at THIS World Cup.” This approach allows them to revisit certain skills and develop certain energy systems throughout the year while avoiding the decay in other areas. Like many of us, our athletes have many events a year at which they would like to perform well. For our 2024 Olympians, the obvious goal is Paris in August. However, never underestimate the impact of confidence gained from a few solid performances (mini-peaks) leading up to the big event. 

This block periodization model is showing good outcomes in a variety of sports, particularly for enhancing strength and power. It may also help athletes maintain motivation due to its wave-like approach. Evidence suggests that those who follow nonlinear programs can continuously gain strength over a longer period, showing greater strength gains overall compared to their linear counterparts. And, let’s face it, some of us have the attention span of a puppy in a room full of chew toys. Whichever training model you choose, some of the following recommendations can still be applied.

“Unless structure follows strategy, inefficiency results.” – Alfred Chandler

Structure: Day-to-Day, Week by Week:

I rarely run into the issue of climbers not putting in the work. In my opinion, they are often doing too much without structure or bouncing between a variety of exercises/plans made popular by social media every two weeks. One of the most common mistakes I have observed is “cramming” too much in a day. Much like cramming for a final exam, how much do you really retain and learn? Where this compulsion comes from may be a question more for a sports psychologist, but it left me asking two questions of our athletes: “What is the intention of today’s session?” and “Are you performing each workout with the proper intensity?” Some sessions, such as for strength or power endurance, when performed at the right intensity, should not allow you to train for hours and hours, and then add in another hard climbing session later. In contrast, other sessions are not meant to leave you feeling hollowed out. In these cases, you may be able to fit in another exercise/drill or some enduro work that is well below your limit. 

Some considerations for structure:

• Volume and Intensity: Never increase volume and intensity at the same time unless you want to have 8 to 12 weeks of forced rest due to injury. In general, they should have an inverse relationship: high intensity, low volume or low intensity, high volume. Avoid the temptation of adding in more or longer sessions while topping off your power and strength/power endurance several weeks before your project or season. Of note, include warm-up time, climbing, and off-the-wall sessions for your total volume for the day and week.
• Timing of Phases: Certain areas of “fitness” decay faster than others. In other words, how long can you maintain each without specific training? Maximum strength and aerobic endurance decline after about 30 days, strength/power endurance lasts a couple weeks, while power/speed drops in 5-7 days without targeted training. So, if you are planning a trip to Rocklands, maybe schedule in 3-4 weeks of power and power endurance training up to your departure date instead of a heavy lift or endurance block.
• “The Day After”: Consider tomorrow’s plan. How you sequence your day-to-day sessions can impact how well you can perform your next session, thus, affecting the “reward” from the session. When planning the days and week, consider the recovery time needed between sessions. Heavy strength and power sessions fatigue the central nervous system, taking 24-48 hours to recover. Soft and connective tissue can take 36-72 hours to return to “normal” after intense training, even in a healthy state. So, it is not ideal to do a campus board session the morning after limit-bouldering, or an upper-body power session using weights followed by an intense power-endurance session on the wall.

• DELOAD! A deload week should be scheduled every 3-4 weeks no matter how good you feel for ALL phases. Let your body catch up, give yourself a mental break. With a proper deload, you will likely gain instead of lose anything. One can deload either through decreasing volume (40-60%) while maintaining intensity, which is the recommended method, or decreasing load/intensity (40-60% of 1 rep max). The first method is also used for tapering before a competition or project (more on deloading and tapering later).

Order and Pairing of On-the-Wall and Off-the-Wall sessions in a Day:

Some other mistakes I see are “odd” pairings or order of workouts in a day. The most extreme example I saw started with a HIIT workout, then competition boulders, then power, then power endurance, and then endurance. Again, “what is the purpose of today?” I often say there is not an absolute right or wrong way when it comes to the order of exercises, but there is the best way which can lead to faster progress and prevent burnout and overtraining.

Some strong recommendations:

• #1: Intention for the session: What do you want to focus on THIS session?
  • “Stop interfering!” Multitasking is overrated: Too much can interfere with your working memory and long-term memory. One of the characteristics of the hot topic of “flowstate” is attentional focus: whatever you are working on has your complete attention. This is especially important when learning a new skill. If you are already thinking about that power endurance session while you are bouldering, then on to slab skills (when you may be thinking about that boulder you couldn’t do) and then maybe some more bouldering and then lifting, it is very likely several of those sessions will suffer, resulting in little gain. AND you will feel physically and mentally drained, which will haunt you the next day.
    • Simultaneous energy-system training can also interfere with one another. Endurance training may interfere with strength or power training unless there is adequate recovery or if performed at a low volume. Training strength and power first in the day may reduce interference, or simply follow the next recommendation…
  • Avoid “cramming”: In the same vein as the first recommendation. Dedicate an entire session to training a SINGLE energy system, practicing a strategy or learning a new skill or two. Sessions that require a lot of your attention and tax you mentally (e.g. learning new skill/technique, onsighting/flash attempts, mock competitions) should perhaps be done in isolation from other workouts.
  • How hard and how long? – Perform the intended session at the proper intensity, which can influence the duration of the session. Strength/power endurance sessions should leave you feeling super pumped and depleted. These sessions are metabolically costly, requiring a couple days of recovery. If you can still do some hard bouldering after this, then, maybe those 20-30 move circuits or 4x4s should have been harder. Power sessions should be very intense, but brief, which will not leave you feeling exhausted, but a little powered down. You may feel underwhelmed and feel the urge to do more. Don’t. Move on.
  • Start your week with “priority” sessions after a rest day when you are fresh. These are sessions dedicated to areas you need to work on the most, especially those that involve learning new technique/skills or are of high intensity.

• Exercise Order: “It matters!” 
  • Climbing FIRST, conditioning second: 
    • Why? More complex tasks that involve decision making (beta strategy), learning new skills (techniques, movement strategies), or coordination (hint, hint: climbing) should be done FIRST in the day. If you are fatigued and your nervous system is wrecked going into these sessions, you will not have as productive of a session. 
    • The exception to this rule may be finger-strength training for those who it is a priority. For these athletes, I recommend doing this before climbing in the offseason to maximize your effort.
  • Power exercises next (when in the power phase) – e.g. plyometrics, explosive campusing
    • Why? These exercises require a high level of skill and concentration and are most affected by fatigue. If you do these after a climbing session, give yourself adequate rest beforehand.
    • Avoid doing these after a very fatiguing session. You will be moving slower, not allowing you to perform these exercises as effectively.
  • Strength compound exercises that work larger muscle groups
    • Why? Requires a little less “brainpower” for some, but still requires proper execution through proper technique and maximum effort to have the best effect.
  • Smaller muscle groups (antagonistic, some prehab exercises):
    • Why? Avoid performing these prior to heavy lifts or power exercises since they may fatigue the important stabilizing muscles. 
• Higher-intensity On-the-Wall and Off-the-Wall sessions on the same day – This may seem counterintuitive but there is some science supporting performing high-intensity exercise together with resistance training on the same day due to the positive hormonal response. The other pro is managing day-to-day intensity and recovery by avoiding two consecutive high-intensity training days (assuming the following day is a lower-intensity day). If you plan to do this, ensure each of these high-intensity sessions are low in volume. Some examples would be combining limit bouldering with heavy compound lifts. 

Workload Monitoring:

This is a topic which could be its own article. To be honest, I don’t know of a “perfect” workload monitoring method for climbing given its diversity. Some popular methods used in other sports have value despite some of their flaws. One method, the Acute/Chronic Workload Ratio, considers your daily training load by multiplying your sRPE (session rate of perceived exertion where 0/10 is rest and 10/10 is utter exhaustion) and your daily training duration (minutes). A weekly training load can then be calculated through the sum of all daily training loads.

Daily Training Load = sRPE x training duration in minutes

Weekly Training Load = sum of daily workloads for the week

This is a simple and accessible way to begin monitoring your workload without looking at internal factors (heart rate, blood labs, etc). The key takeaway here is to keep a training log of some sorts. Note how many “8-10/10” days you have had in a week and over a training block. Are you having many high-intensity AND high-volume days? Is your training volume increasing at an astronomical rate each week? Are you incorporating some just-for-fun sessions with friends (remember how most of us got into climbing)? Do you schedule regular deload weeks? Consider allostatic load: lack of sleep, stress, trauma, nutrition, etc and how that affects your sessions.

Phase 1: General Preparation (Offseason) – 8 weeks

The intention of this phase is to build a foundation of fitness and durability before the season, which can prepare you for the latter phases. During this time, get to know your threshold and learn what you need to improve. Without this, you are blindly guessing, which can lead to prescribing an ineffective program or increasing injury risk. The majority of training time should still be through general climbing practice and play, but it may be less during this phase to allow for off-the-wall conditioning AND adequate recovery. As an athlete moves closer to their competition or project season, there will be a shift to more climbing practice and sport-specific training, meaning more on-the-wall, less off-the-wall sessions.

ON-the-Wall: Basic techniques, a variety of movements, base endurance

Your on-the-wall “practice” during this phase is a good time to revisit basic techniques, introduce a few new movements, and practice movement efficiency through submaximal bouldering, and base endurance training. Climbing should be at a relatively low-to-moderate intensity with a gradual increase in volume each week. Since most climbers are (or ideally should be) coming off a rest period, it is important to get to know your threshold at this time to prescribe proper climbing volume and intensity. Avoid falling into the “I went too hard, too soon” crowd. Including some endurance sessions (low intensity, high volume) will build a base that can allow you to climb at higher intensities in the future by improving energy production through the aerobic energy system, recovery, and overall work capacity. 

For on-the-wall training, there are several methods out there to “test” your baseline. Some of these are well documented, such as max finger-strength and critical force testing. Taking note of the number of sets, routes, or laps when you can no longer complete a set, maintain the proper intensity, or when your form breaks down can give you an idea of where your threshold is. This can provide a rough starting point from which you can gradually progress volume each week (not each day). A good rule of thumb is to not increase total weekly volume by more than 10-15% each week.

OFF-the-Wall: Strength Endurance to Basic Strength

This initial phase targets strength endurance for weeks 0-4, then basic strength for weeks 5-8. “Why should you train strength? Researchers agree that strength is one of the predictors of climbing performance. Target strength training can also help in power development by increasing motor unit recruitment and firing frequency, which are determinants for power. We also know improvement in maximum strength can help our endurance by allowing us to work at a smaller percentage of our max effort. 

For off-the-wall strength training, repetition-max testing provides baseline information from which you can prescribe load progressions. Starting with a strength endurance phase where reps are higher (8-12) and intensity is lower (65-80% of 1 rep max), allows for a gradual introduction or reacquaintance to lifting after an extended break, working on movement technique, and prepping soft and connective tissues for the progression to heavier loads (85-95% of 1 rep max) in the next block. 

What about finger strength? There is solid advice about who should or should not do finger-strength training: novices could gain more through climbing to learn proper technique and allow soft and connective tissues to “catch up,” while for intermediate and advanced climbers it depends on the level of climber. For an intermediate-level climber, learning better technique may trump improving finger strength, while another who has good skills could benefit more from dedicated finger strengthening. That said, loading the fingers in a dedicated manner with the right programming can play a role in injury prevention (and performance for some).  

The following is a simple breakdown of on-the-wall and off-the wall sessions during Phase I:

• On-the Wall: 
  • Low-intensity, high volume based on your threshold: (e.g. submaximal bouldering sessions, endurance-based circuits, doubles or triples)
  • Basic technique and some new skills: (e.g. easier versions of specific movement patterns, coordination moves, footwork)

• Off-the-Wall: General conditioning: Strength Endurance to Basic Strength
  • Strength Endurance (weeks 0-4): minimal 2x/week, 65-80% of 1 repetition max, 8-12 reps. 3-5 sets per exercise
  • Basic Strength (weeks 5-8): minimal 2x/week, 85-95% of 1 repetition max, 2-6 reps. 3-5 sets
    • Compound exercises: (deadlifts, weighted pull ups, back squats, bench press):
      • Why compound exercises?
      • Endocrine system response (temporary elevation of anabolic hormones testosterone and growth hormone) leading to tissue growth and remodeling.
      • Preparation for power phase. Greater strength means greater power. Research shows a combination of heavy-resistance training combined with high-velocity work
      • More functional: can properly train movement and activation patterns
    • Progressive Loading: This can be done either by adding a set or increasing load. One method used to increase load is called the 2-for-2 rule. If you can perform two or more repetitions over your assigned repetition goal for a given exercise in the last set in two consecutive workouts, weight should be added to that exercise for the next training session. For the more trained athlete, this could be 5-10 lbs for the upper body, and 10-15 lbs for the lower body. For the lesser trained, this could be 2.5-5 lbs for the upper body, and 5-10 lbs for the lower body. If you are not ready to add weight, try adding a set the next week to keep surprising your body.
    • Finger Strength (for some): 2x/week: Max Hang Protocol: 7-10-second hang; 3 minute rest; 4-6 sets adding a set each week or two.

• Antagonistic and Prehab Training for Injury Prevention 
  • Focus on inhibited muscles (commonly middle and lower trapezius, rhomboids, wrist and finger extensors) and hypertonic muscles (lats, pecs, wrist and finger flexors, hip flexors).

Exercise Order and Session Pairing Recommendations:

Day 1: 

Session 1: Finger strength FIRST (if a priority)

          On-the-Wall: “focus” session, moderate intensity 

• submaximal bouldering, technique and skills

Session 2: Off-the-Wall: PULL strength training (ideally several hours of rest after climbing session): 

• Weighted Pull Ups, Deadlifts
• Why PULL on this day? Some of your common “pulling” climbing muscles will be more fatigued after climbing two days on, leading to a submaximal effort.

Day 2: 

Session 1: On-the-Wall: Endurance single focus- lower intensity, can be higher volume 

• long circuits, route repeaters, submaximal bouldering)

Session 2: Off-the-Wall: PUSH strength training: 

• Back Squats, Bench Press or Dips
• Antagonistic or prehab exercises

*Sample Week: (based off the schedule of USA Climbing National Team athlete)

Food for Thought about Strength Training:

• Should you train to failure?
  • This is a debated topic. Some of the science tells us training to failure is optimal when doing lower-intensity and higher repetitions, whereas not as essential when doing high-intensity, low repetitions. The exception may be for trained individuals. With that out of the way, whether you want to go to failure depends on your goals. Going to failure can cause excessive fatigue, lowering rate of force development, and requires longer recovery time. Given the majority of your training should be executing on the wall, you don’t want to sacrifice these sessions by trying to set a PR in your deadlift.
• How long should you do a MAX strength phase?
  • At least 3-4 weeks. Some will see progress within this time mostly due to neural adaptations. However, there is some evidence that if you are performing heavy multi-joint exercises (ie at 95% of 1 rep max) or at high volume for more than 5 weeks you may start to see a decline in performance. If you have the time, an eight-week cycle (deloading every 4 weeks!) varying in load and reps each week may allow for more gains versus a constant repetition scheme. For some, they are ready to move onto the next thing anyways,…

The next installment of this series will go into a “preseason” phase. Spoiler alert: shifting to sport specificity and increasing intensity means what for volume?

Also Read

• Cameron Hörst, Joe Kinder Repeat and Downgrade ‘Hundred Proof’ (5.15a) with Kneebar

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