How to Intensify a Climbing Training Program
Five Inexpensive Ways a Climber Can Enhance a Home Workout Routine
Nov 30, 2008
A hangboard, campus board, weight vest, exercise bands, and a Thera Cane® or similar massage tool: each of these inexpensive items has more than one potential use in a climbing training program. Learn some of the ways these simple products can — separately and together — boost the intensity of a climbing workout routine and earn their place as valued pieces of climbing equipment.
Hangboard
Most indoor climbing gyms have at least one hangboard. However, using the hangboard often falls to the bottom of the list for climbers while at the gym. It’s simply more fun to spend the time climbing or bouldering with friends, especially if it takes some travel time to get there.
To benefit from the hangboard without sacrificing fun gym time, consider purchasing one for the home, or if appropriate, the office. Hangboards come in many sizes and shapes and range in price from under $40 to close to $100. Having a hangboard hanging above the doorway in an area frequented daily provides a constant reminder of the desire to improve one’s climbing, plus the ease of access to a tool that encourages this.
Hangboards usually come with a brochure that includes workout ideas. A versatile and compact training tool, the hangboard can be used to work finger strength, finger endurance, power, power endurance, and core strength, to name a few key components. Working in between training sets helps to break up both types of monotony — working and training.
Campus Board
Campusing on a campus board is one of the most intensely powerful workouts a climber can employ. A campus board session works arm and shoulder power, coordination, contact strength, dynamic movement, finger strength, and the core. Like hangboards, most gyms have campus boards, but they’re often neglected in favor of climbing.
A campus board is a potentially smart climbing training addition to a house that doesn’t have room for a total home climbing gym. Sets of five campus rungs can be purchased in a number of sizes, ranging in price from $34.50 to $42.50. The rungs come with complete directions on how to build a campus board, as well as campus board workouts.
Weight Vest
For about $50, a climber can buy a 20-pound weight vest with 20 removable one-pound weights. Adding weight adds intensity to any workout, including hangboard workouts and campus board workouts, as well as just climbing in the indoor gym. By evenly distributing the added weight, the vest doesn’t throw off one’s sense of balance, which is a key for rock climbing.
Exercise Bands
Easy to find, inexpensive ($5-10 for a single band), and portable, exercise bands are a simple alternative to bulky weights, especially for climbers looking to work their opposing muscle groups or to recuperate from injuries. Available with varying degrees of resistance and with or without handles, these versatile tools should have a place in every climber’s workout routine. Hiring a personal trainer for a session to go over specific exercises to address one’s areas needing improvement is a good place to start.
Thera Cane® or Body Back Buddy®
Allowing the body ample time to rest and recover from climbing workouts is the best way to improve one’s climbing. Recovery can be augmented with a self-massaging tool such as the Thera Cane® or Body Back Buddy® (both $39.95). Such tools enable the climber to massage sore back muscles, shoulder muscles, and forearms to promote blood flow and healing.
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