So YOU just got into climbing, an ever growing sport that takes only the very masochistic of climbers to size down on shoes, bruise up their knuckles, damage pulleys, and practically develop a lot of injuries only to ignore them and keep climbing.
CONGRATS! (skip to the underlined part if you just want to train)
So what did I do to get better? because I know everyone has had a 'stiff graded' gym experience like I did.. I hope...
I was never extremely athletic, except for cardio and calves strength of marching band in high school. I was never in a proper sport, and usually spent a lot of time playing video games. I did have one thing going for me that I didn't come to realize until I started climbing v6s consistently. I was flexible. I was exposed to Tae Kwon Do as a kid and that provided my kid-self with, which I consider, a pretty good foundation.
I like to think of it like this, there are a good chunk of people in climbing that are just naturals. Perfect body type, high power/strength to weight ratio.
And those that have to train. I'm one that has to train.
Let's cut straight to the regiment if you don't want to be bored by the stories.
When I started off I couldn't even do 1 pull-up let alone 3 push-ups. I hadn't had trained my upper body in a decade since Tae Kwon Do.
This is what I did to get better.
3 sets of 10 pull-ups 1 minute rest before each set
3 sets of 10 push-ups 1 minute rest before each set
3 sets of 10 sit-ups/crunches 1 minute rest before each set
3 sets of 10 concentrated bicep curls @10 lbs. again 1 minute rest before each set
I know I just said I couldn't do 1 pull-up. These were the goals I had set for myself and I achieved within my first couple months of climbing. I tried to do pull-ups every day on an Iron Gym bar every time I passed by my doorway.
Patience was key. I climbed in Madrock rental shoes until I hit a plateau at V4.
Next post will be a post on buying my first shoes. 5.10 Rogues. The grey ones.
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