How to Build Endurance at a Predominantly Boulder Gym
Similar to running a marathon, training endurance is not a one-size-fits-all. For those of us who can’t train endurance with ropes or autobelays, we have no choice but to train with the boulder space our gyms provide. But! There are benefits to training with the help of boulders, so even if you do have access to ropes, sometimes it might be beneficial to ditch the harness and choose to spraywall or boulder. Trying to stay relaxed and loose while maintaining power and blood flow throughout the body despite exhaustion is the name of the game. Any of these options could greatly benefit your ability to send a route.
ARC Training (Aerobic Restoration and Capillarity) is a form of training that establishes your foundation as a climber, allowing you to strengthen as needed. This involves climbing on a wall as long as possible without rest. This drill can best be utilized on a spray wall, but if your gym has access to an auto-belay, that also works. The key is to comfortably climb for upwards fifteen minutes without surpassing your anaerobic threshold (without getting pumped). Once you have a base, you could increase the intensity through the type of holds, the degree of wall, or the duration on the wall. This is a chance for you to focus on footwork, breathwork, tenchinques, and/or drills that also benefit your climbing. With ARC Training, not only can you use it as a warmup for your climbing, but it also helps ensure you can then strengthen your system power, also known as “power-endurance”.
Speaking of spraywall, another form of endurance training while on the wall is three minute on, three minute off, climbing. Similar to ARC training, this can be altered via type of holds, terrain, or durration on the wall. Unlike ARC Training, you get to rest. This allows you to shake out pump, and or stretch as needed when off the wall. This is also meant to be more intense than ARC Training. Aim for harder holds, moves, and a more overhung spraywall. You can also play around with your time on the wall. You can start with one minute on, one minute off, with powerful strong moves, then increase the time as you go attempting to maintain moves that are still challenging as you become more fatigued.
There are a few options here on how to improve your climbing when you only have access to boulders. One of the most obvious is linking boulder problems together. This also benefits your power when sport climbing, since some rope climbs require powerful moves to complete the crux. For those truly seeking to improve their power endurance, it’s recommended that you start with the easier climb, then complete the harder climb. Having the weaker climb trains our bodies to adapt to using lower-threshold muscle fibers as we fatigue; we want the opposite. You can connect two to three boulders, ranging in difficulty, to increase your endurance or strength. It is recommended that you do three to four sets with ample rest in between. Ensure your rest replenishes your strength, but still keeps your body under tension and stress while working through the set. If the climb took you 90 seconds, aim for approximately eight minutes of rest.
Another drill you can do is something called “power hour”. You don’t have to do a full hour; start out with twenty minutes, and either go up in time or difficulty from there. But the goal is to complete a climb every minute for an hour. If it takes you twenty seconds to complete the climb, you have forty seconds before your next climb. Avoid slab since it’s more beneficial to climb climbs engaging your core and maintaining your body under tension with the wall. Try to use a range of holds, styles, and terrain to maximize your ability to build endurance.
So contray to some belief, incorporating boulders and spraywall instead of only throwing yourself at the rope wall can greatly improve your abilities as a sport climber. Workign through powerful boulder sequences improves your strength as a climber, and with the drills above, can in turn greater your chances on sending your next project on ropes. Climb On!
