Get a grip

Work your way to a rock-solid physique with climbing

If you’re looking for a wholebody, functional workout that gets your adrenaline pumping and gives you physical challenges to solve, climbing is as good as it gets. Whether it’s bouldering on low-rise problems, or roping up and scaling 12m walls, climbing is a versatile workout. We’ve included indoor climbing here so you can learn the skills in safety before you take to the hills! 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 180o 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 traverse

‘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 mastering indoor climbing

back and forth for three to four minutes, focusing on placing your feet precisely on the holds. Then, for three to four minutes, focus on body position and using 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 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.

Climbing is the best training for climbing. Pyramid session structures are a great way to get a lot of climbing mileage, but also build up to a peak. You might do your traversing warm-up, then five V0s, four V1s, three V2s, then maybe one or two V3s [V grades represent the difficulty of boulder problems]. Then you’ll work your way back down again.

My body is tired the day after a climbing strength session, so if you want to do two bouldering sessions a week, allow at least a day’s rest between each. Listen to your body.

Your first question when you fall off should be ‘what did I do wrong?’ This gives you the chance to fix your mistakes, and if you get to the top, you know you have.ww