Gym Series - Bouldering Power Hour
Only have an hour? Maximize a lunch break, or shorter training session with these bouldering drills...
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“I don't have much time to go to the gym now that I have a [insert adult responsibility here], but I still want to get better at climbing.”
Whether it’s only temporary or a new routine, running into obstacles that limit time spent climbing and training is sometimes unavoidable. When time is tight, focus on quality over quantity. The workouts that follow are catered to skill development—proper technique, efficient movement, and reading sequences correctly from the ground, are all aspects incorporated. With a little planning, a productive one-hour (read: lunch-break) workout is possible.
Select exercises (check our posts Climbing to Build Power, and Technique for examples) that highlight weaknesses, or focus on certain skills you want to develop further.
Workout A: Style Focus
•Warm-up (20 minutes) Try using two of the technique drills outlined in our Climbing Technique post for 10 minutes each. Select drills that either work on a weakness, or develop a skill (ex. toe-hooking, pogo-ing, using dropknees, etc.,) necessary for a future goal. Here's a few at a glance:
One Touch
Sloth Monkey
One Size Fits All
Single-Leg Climbing
•Perfect Repeats (2 problems; 15 minutes each) Select two problems in a style that you want to improve, at a difficulty around your flash level. Use the 15 minutes to repeat the problem 3-5 times, striving to improve with each effort. Rest as much as needed. You should feel recovered before each attempt.
•Cool Down (10 minutes) Select a specific skill to focus on. This might be climbing without hesitation, One Touch, or memorizing all of the beta before you leave the ground. Focus on one specific skill while cooling down on easier terrain.
Workout B: Hard Circuit
•Warm Up (10 minutes) See example drills above to incorporate into a quick warm-up.
•Stage Two Warm up (10 minutes) Climb boulders of escalating difficulty to prepare yourself to try hard. Repeating climbs that you’ve already done will help this go faster than trying to learn new problems.
•Three Strike Circuit (30 minutes) Practice "flipping the try-hard switch" by selecting five boulders to work for 30 minutes. Choose one or two boulders with larger holds to try first to help complete your warm-up (think pinches and slopers); save the finger-intensive climbs for later on. Before you pull onto the wall, rehearse the problem in your head twice. While visualizing the climb, focus on precision, confidence, and fluid movement as you transition through each body position. Rest at least three minutes between efforts and work through as many of the problems as you can in 30 minutes. If you complete all five boulders in the 30 minutes, replace the easiest boulder with a new hardest problem for your next session
•Cool Down (10 minutes) Select a specific skill to focus on. This might be climbing without hesitation, One Touch, or memorizing all of the beta before you leave the ground. Focus on this on easier terrain for a few problems.
Workout C: Low-Intensity Volume Circuit
Written by The Power Company in partnership with La Sportiva.
Photos and Video: © Henna Taylor