Climbing Workout Plan for the Beginner Climber
Beginner Climbing Workout Plan: 3 Weekly Sessions for Power, Endurance & Core
If you’re new to climbing, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the training advice. The good news: you don’t need a complicated program. With three focused sessions a week—split between climbing and smart strength work—you can build skill, strength, and confidence on the wall.
How to Develop a Workout Plan for the Beginner Climber
Assuming you have a busy schedule and other hobbies to balance with your newfound love for rock climbing, a practical workout plan includes three workouts per week. Each workout consists of two parts: climbing and strength training. The total time of the workouts, split between climbing and strength, is 90-120 minutes.
Each workout targets one of the three systems utilized in climbing:
Power
Power endurance
Endurance
Power training focuses on maximizing explosive strength and the ability to perform hard, single-move efforts. It trains the recruitment of fast-twitch muscle fibers and peak force output. Power endurance trainingenhances your ability to sustain high-intensity climbing over a series of challenging moves without requiring a full rest. The goal is for your body to develop the ability to buffer lactic acid accumulation (the burning sensation) and maintain strength over 30 seconds to 3 minutes of climbing. Endurance training focuses on improvingefficiency and recovery on long climbs and between the most challenging sections. The goal is to improve your aerobic energy system, increase blood flow to muscles, and increase forearm capillarization (the density of blood vessels).
The strength sessions include:
Full-body lift
Upper-body lift
Core workout
The full-body focuses on compound exercises, which involve movement at multiple joints. You’ll use heavier weights and perform a lower number of repetitions to increase maximal strength. The upper-body focuses on higher repetitions at moderate weight to increase muscular endurance and strength. The core workout will build the strength you need to maintain high levels of body tension when climbing.
The Beginner Climber Workout Plan
Now that you understand the basics of a rock climbing training plan, it’s time to dive into the workouts.
Workout #1: Power-Endurance and Full Body Lift
Power Endurance: Overhung 4x4
Time: 30 minutes
Directions:
Pick four boulders on overhanging walls. The boulders should take 80-90% of your maximum effort to complete. In other words, you should finish the fourth lap with 1, maybe two laps in reserve.
You have 4 minutes to climb each boulder 4 times.
Pacing is up to you. You can climb, rest until the start of the next minute, and repeat four times. Alternatively, you can go back-to-back.
If you finish before the four minutes are up, start your four-minute rest timer. Listen to your body to determine the duration of rest and the intensity of the boulder. Did you fall on rep 2/4 from fatigue? If yes, downshift the difficulty of the boulders. Did you complete all four laps with more than two in reserve? If yes, increase the difficulty of the boulders for the next set.
Rest 4 minutes between each boulder.
Full Body Lift
Time: 60 Minutes
Directions:
For the following exercises, complete three sets of 6-8 reps at 85-95% effort. You should finish the set feeling like you could have performed one more rep before failure. Pick your favorite variation of each exercise and feel free to change them each week to load the muscles from different angles. For example, you can do back squats one week, and goblet squats the next.
Squats
Deadlifts or RDLs
Bench Press
Rows
Workout #2: Endurance and Full Body Lift
Endurance: Color/Grade Circuit
Time: 45 Minutes
Directions:
Pick a moderately challenging range of boulders that are approximately 2-3 grades below max effort boulders or at 70-80% overall intensity (e.g., if you climb V4-V6, pick V2-V4; If you climb V2-V4, pick V0-V2).
Record the # of climbs you can complete in 45 minutes.
Max 1 attempt per boulder!
Upper Body Lift
Time: 45 Minutes
Directions:
For the following exercises, complete 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps at a 70-85% effort. In other words, you should finish a set feeling like you have 2-3 reps in reserve. Pick your favorite variation of each exercise, and feel free to change them each week to load the muscles from different angles. For example, you can do wide pushups one week and diamond pushups the next.
Push-Ups
Tricep Extensions
Bicep Curls
Seated Overhead Press
Shoulder Lateral Raises
Shoulder Frontal Raises
Workout #3: Power and Core
Power Endurance: Hard Boulders
Time: 60-90 minutes.
Directions:
Choose 4-6 challenging climbs that require 90-100% effort.
For each climb, attempt it 3 times, with at least 3 minutes' rest between attempts/boulders.
Add or subtract holds from the climbs as needed to achieve 90-100% effort per attempt.
Core Workout
Time: 10 minutes
Directions:
Complete your favorite core routine OR do 5-10 minutes of planks.
If doing planks, change the variation every minute. Perform the plank variation for 20-40 seconds, then rest for the remainder of the minute.
Please note that these workouts do not include warmups. Make sure you take 10-15 minutes to warm up your muscles, joints, and fingers before beginning a climbing session or lift.
Consistency is the key to seeing results in the weight room and on the rock wall. Aim for 80% adherence to the plan, but life happens. Don’t beat yourself up over a missed session or a workout that doesn’t go to plan. Keep showing up and giving your best effort. Your hard work and patience will pay off.
