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Climb your way to fullbody strength and a rock-solid physique

If you’re looking for a wholebody, functional workout that gets your adrenaline pumping and entire body firing – all while throwing up physical challenges to solve – climbing is as good as it gets. Whether you prefer bouldering on low-rise problems, or roping up and scaling 12m walls, climbing is a versatile workout that can help you achieve any number of body goals.

“Climbing is a perfect feedback loop, because if you fall off you know you definitely did something wrong!” Professional climber and former Team GB coach Robbie Phillips offers his best advice for becoming a master climber

As an all-round functional body movement that works strength and flexibility, climbing is the perfect exercise. You can train aerobically by running around circuits of easier climbs, or you can work maximum power by choosing boulder problems on steep overhangs, which work your shoulders, biceps and triceps. You can make it as intense as you want.

Climbing requires

a lower-body-first approach: 90 per cent of your power comes from your legs, and your feet provide the platform for that power. Focus on only using the inside edge, outside edge, and toe of the foot. Lots of people don’t trust their feet when they first start out – they want to put the balls of their feet on the footholds, but if you want to move with freedom you need to be able to pivot your foot on a hold without it rolling off.

Nailing being

able to use the edge of your shoes, by rolling a full 180 degrees from the inside edge to the outside while staying on the foothold, will give you the full range of motion throughout your whole body, giving you a longer reach.

Before you climb,

start with some dynamic stretches, then do some super-easy climbing moves. Find a slab or vertical wall, and just traverse back and forth for three to four minutes, focusing on placing your feet really precisely on the holds. Then, for three to four minutes, focus on body position and using the flowing movements to reach the next hold. Finally, spend a couple of minutes on more dynamic moves: include more momentum, using your legs to power through moves and swing more between holds.

Even when

you see very explosive moves in climbing, it’s because the big muscles in the legs have pushed and then the arms have directed that power. You need to be able to put as much weight through your legs as possible, and for that you need flexible hips, which allow you to get into a ‘frog’ position on the wall.

For me,

climbing is the best training for climbing – what you want is a high level of specificity in the training that you are doing. Pyramid session structures are a great way to get a lot of climbing mileage, but also build up to a peak. As an example, you might do your traversing warm-up, then start with five V0s, then do four V1s, then three V2s, then maybe one or two V3s [these V grades are for boulder problems of escalating difficulty, marked on climbs at UK gyms]. Then you’ll work your way back down again.

I definitely notice

my body feeling tired the day after a climbing strength session, so if you want to do two bouldering sessions in a week, allow a full day’s rest between each.