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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Pull ups? 23-Mar-2007 At 4:57:41 PM take!

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Pull-ups?
It really depends how often you climb and where you are in you 'career' or development as a climber. For an absolute beginner with little strength in pulling movements then it could help get a bit of strength and proprioception advantage in hauling yourself upwards.
If you are a seasoned climbing bum who gets to climb every day or evey second day then you wouldn't gain much from it but aches and pains.
Others would say that building power as a beginner can make you miss out on learning climbing finesse, as you will power through problems. This can pose problems later on when you need power AND finesse.
If you only get to climb on weekends and do nothing else then why not do a heavy workout of weighted chins and weighted parallel bar dips during the week for building power. Follow the usual rules, listen to your body and be safe. But only do this if gross shoulder girdle and upper body weakness is holding you back. As said earlier, its better than sitting on the couch watching TV - but don't overtrain and get hurt. I would NOT do chins every day. Depending on your volume and intensity (amount of tension you are generating in muscles and joint tissues), I wouldn't do more than twice a week of heavy resistance training. Even then only train like this for a couple of months before focussing on a different training cycle, say power endurance. A cheap way to wake up some hand endurance is to pick up a house brick in each hand (pinch grip) and go for a long walk. Time how long you go before dropping them and try to improve it. No more than twice a week and never if youre climbing every other day.

Better still go do a couple of Ashtanga yoga classes a week at a proper yoga school (not f@*king 'Fitness Last' or similar). I think this is better cross training than throwing weights around and has other benefits. Note that the yoga sequences are push movements, core training and flexibility... a good combination when used with normal climbing movements.

There are ways to train for climbing if you don't have access to rock or climbing facilities every other day. Just remember different things work for different people and for different goals.

Hope this helps. Don't hurt yourself!

Disclaimer: i'm not a world champion climber so info is being passed on for what its worth, I probably have different goals to you.