SQUAMISH CENTRE ROCKS
Climbing fans get sport-specific training advice
Long gone are the days when the best training regimen was doing sets of pull-ups on the door frame until you tired out.
Last summer, the International Olympic Committee approved sport climbing for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo — a milestone moment in the progression of this once-fringe sport.
New facilities are opening up, new outside routes are being established, and the focused training practices previously reserved for marathon runners and gymnasts are making their way into rock gyms.
In past decades, only the diehard would bother with rigorous schedules, antagonistic training, nutrition plans, visualization rehearsal and highly specific exercises such as dead hangs and wrist curls — but these are becoming the norm, even for recreational climbers.
Most climbers who are even half serious about the sport today are doing some form of training. The mentality now is to train all winter in the gym for competitions or to perform all summer on the rock.
Identifying and targeting weakness in strength, technique, tactics, or mental fortitude is part of the process. The climbing world continues to adopt sport-specific and science-based training practices — and athletes are progressing in leaps and bounds accordingly.
Emilisa Frirdich lived previously in Montreal and Toronto and eventually found her way to Squamish. She works as a research associate at the University of British Columbia and also as an Apprentice Rock Guide with the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides. She is a committed rock climber.
“Climbing is a really important part of my life — most of my friends are climbers, most of my time is spent climbing or thinking about climbing, all my vacations are centred around climbing.”
Frirdich says she enjoys the fun and the challenge of the activity.
When the Ground Up Climbing Centre opened in Squamish in late 2015, she jumped at the chance to use the new facility and its many resources.
New rock gyms are usually equipped with large training areas with weights, hang boards, campus rungs and other training tools. Gyms are hiring sport-specific trainers and coaches to help climbers today navigate all of the new models and ideas about training.
“I’ve always wanted to do some more specific climbing training, but was overwhelmed by all the info on the web and didn’t know where to start. As opposed to having to create my own workouts, it is great to just show up and follow a well-balanced program,” says Frirdich who gained from the access to the resources at Ground Up Climbing Centre. She also found joy in the community.
“It is also really fun to work out with a motivated crew of people,” she says. “I go at least once a week when I can’t climb outside.”
She has been climbing for more than a decade, and began to get into sport-specific training during the last five years.
The Ground Up Climbing Centre has created several programs for climbers looking to improve their technique, mental composure and fitness, recover from an injury or improve their diet.
The Performance Team that runs these programs is comprised of a physiotherapist, a dietitian and strength, conditioning and technique coaches. They consult with medical doctors and are bringing the best practices to the climbers in their programs. Those looking to get a look up in the vertical world in Squamish can access a comprehensive suite of resources.
“Here at Ground Up we understand that growth as a climber is a multi-faceted pursuit,” says Will Bateman, the team’s physiotherapist.
“The wealth of knowledge, education and experience within our Squamish community is second to none, so it is only natural that we would draw from this,” he says, noting the quality of trainers they’ve gathered at Ground Up.
“We want to make sure what we’re providing our clients is the best available service, so that we’re not feeding into the misinformation that’s so prevalent in the exercise world.”
Frirdich took strength and power-training programs with personal trainer Pat Humpries.
“They’ve all been awesome. I saw huge improvement in my strength, and I’m ascending routes that are hard for me, a lot faster, which is great,” she says.
The application of scientific training methods, or techniques from other sports isn’t a new model, but it is being adopted rapidly by the climbing community.
A lot of people who come to the Ground Up Climbing Centre are interested in realizing and addressing their weaknesses as climbers. The application of sports science to climbing continues to grow and evolve.
“Training for climbing is not a new thing. Climbers have been training for climbing for well over 20 years,” says Judith Hirsch, the Performance Team’s technique coach.
“The difference today is there are more climbers training for climbing, more coaches offering training for climbing, more research for training, and more literature published for training for climbing.”
She says that today’s training for climbing is not only for the pro climber. It can be for everyone who wants to improve — technically, physically, mentally and tactically.
When the Ground Up Performance Team members assess an athlete entering their programs, they determine where their weaknesses lie. If it’s their technique that needs to be improved, Hirsch will work with them to improve it.
Take Phil Bonham, for example. Bonham is from southern Ontario originally and has been climbing for about 15 years. He also enjoys trail running and skiing in the winter, and has lived in the Sea to Sky area for eight years.
“I originally moved here just to climb, so yeah, you could say it’s important,” says Bonham.
Before taking some programs with the Performance Team, Bonham had dabbled with sportspecific training, but never had success.
“Mostly, my training was to just climb more, run more, ski more,” he says. “The Performance Team at Ground Up helped me figure out my weaknesses in climbing, and how to target them to be a better overall climber.
“I was lacking in power, so would often falter once climbs got burly. The Performance Team helped me to fix this with a series of exercises to improve strength, then transfer that into climbing specific power. I noticed the difference within a week, and have continued to work on this for further improvement.
“I have a much better understanding of how to best move when climbing, and was able to develop the power necessary to execute hard moves.”
Technique in climbing is a combination of a lot of different things including body awareness, spatial awareness, strength, mind, body positioning, foot work, and route reading.
When people come to the Performance Team looking to improve, they might wind up in one of Hirsch’s programs.
“Having a good technique means to be able to climb a route in the most efficient way, using the least amount of energy,” she says, offering a pertinent analogy.
“The only way to improve your technique is by developing an interest in understanding of what you are doing and how you are doing it. It’s like having a tool box full of tools. You have to learn how to use them in order to understand how to get the most out of them.”
This type of reductionist thinking is how climbing performance is being taken to the next level: break it down into its constituent parts, build them up individually and put the whole thing back together.
As more people take up climbing — and also as more climbers are motivated to elevate their climbing to the next level — sport-specific training is becoming a bigger part of the sport.
The Ground Up Performance Team is creating an environment where climbers can access the expertise and resources they need to improve.
They are one group of people in the Lower Mainland and throughout the global climbing community who are building this type of capacity.