Simple Training for Climbing During Covid-19
It remains to be seen whether Coronavirus turns out to be a health threat on the level of Ebola or it comes down to big money election year induced hysteria. Regardless, one thing is for sure - your gym is monitoring it closely and is considering shutting the doors for a bit. With denied access to climbing gyms becoming a real possibility, we want to make sure that the hysteria of losing those hard fought gains doesn’t trickle down further than it needs to.
How you’ll train at home depends entirely on two things - your goals and your equipment. If you have a home wall and kettlebells that you’ve been ignoring in favor of the big shiny new gym, then you’re all set. If not, we’re going to take a look at the bare minimum and explore the options from there.
You need something challenging to hang on.
There’s no way around it. One of the best things you can do for you climbing, other than climbing, is to make your fingers stronger. To do this, at minimum, you’ll need something challenging to hang on. This doesn’t have to be the new Tension Grindstone MK-2 Hangboard (though it’s a great option). My favorite hangboard to this day is just three strips of wood from the hardware store - and yours can be even simpler.
I Have No Equipment
Assuming you have no weights and no hangboard, raid your scrap wood pile or get to the hardware store before they close down as well. All you need is a single hardwood strip (oak will do fine), though having a larger size to warmup on will be helpful. While it’s impossible to say exactly what size edge you’ll want to get, I can give some rough guidelines.
Up to 5.11 or V3 — 25mm or 1 inch for workout — Something larger to warmup
Mid 5.11 to 12- or V4/5 — 20mm or 3/4 inch for workout — 25mm or 1 inch to warmup
Mid 5.12 to 13- or V6/7 — 15mm or 1/2 inch for workout — 20mm or 3/4” to warmup
Mid 5.13 and up or V8/9 + — 10mm or 3/8 inch for workout — 20mm or 3/4” to warmup
Remember, these are rough guidelines, but will be enough to get you started. I’m not going to go in depth on how to attach your new single strip hangboard, but a smart place to screw these strips of wood is either (1) to a larger piece of wood that you mount on your wall, (2) directly above a doorway, or (3) at the edge of a small soffit. Anywhere you’re likely to hit a stud. If you have questions, call a handy friend over to help you out. Unless you’re a masochist, you’ll likely want to sand down the sharp edge a bit before hanging on it. Spend a few minutes to get it nice and rounded.
Warming up can be the toughest part in this situation. I’d follow the rough guidelines in the video below, and since you don’t have jugs to warmup on, the best bet is to gradually add more and more of your bodyweight to the larger edge - keeping your feet on the floor - until you’re ready to hang.
You’ve dusted off your hangboard, installed your new strip of wood, and are all warmed up. What now? How you structure your hang time depends on your goals and the time you’ve spent training up to now, but it doesn’t need to be complicated. First, let’s keep a few simple rules in mind.
If you’re entirely new to hanging, start slow. Monitor your fingers, elbows, and shoulders, and don’t push extra hard just because you’re stuck at home.
Don’t try to replace 100% of your climbing time with hanging. Your shoulders and elbows haven’t been prepping for that, so start smaller - perhaps even less than half of your overall training time at first - and gradually add volume.
If your goals are shorter and more powerful, less time hanging with heavier weights is a smart bet.
If your goals are longer and pumpier, a mix of harder hangs and more time on the board (not necessarily both at once) is going to get you closer to where you want to be.
While there’s some debate about “proper” hangboard form and can seem complicated if you go down an internet rabbit hold, it’s actually fairly simple. Watch the video below to get a good idea about where to start.
Can I Gain Overall Strength From Home?
Of course you can. Despite the popular rhetoric, lot’s of people have gotten brutally strong without barbells or kettlebells. Gymnastic rings, TRX, or some other suspension trainer can be a helpful tool, but bodyweight exercises can be plenty to get you through if you’re dilligent.
Of course, if you’ve got barbells or kettlebells at home - you’re set. Though you might want to check out our Kettlebells for Climbers Proven Plan to get the most out of them.
The list of bodyweight exercises is exhaustive, and I’m not going to go too deep into that. Exercises like pullups, inverted rows, pushups, hip bridges, and box jumps can all be used to great effect when progressed in a smart way.
The main rule to follow when training at only bodyweight is: if it feels easy, make it harder. Limit yourself to 10-12 total challenging reps of an exercise per session. Pushups are easy? How about handstand pushups? One arm pushups? Pullups are easy? Frenchies? One arm pullups? Add a cycled breath while holding an isometric at the difficult part of any exercise and it’s going to get a lot more challenging.
But I Get Sidetracked at Home
Yeah, me too. And nearly everyone else who regularly works from and trains at home. It’s definitely a challenge to keep track of how your parcel your time when you could literally be doing anything. But you’re here reading this because it’s a priority for you. Act like it.
Don’t try to “fit” your workouts into the day. It just won’t happen. Instead, schedule them. Do them at the same time every day. Even better, do two very short workouts each training day - one hangboard, one core for instance - to break up the monotony of working at home.
Find a way to be accountable. A calendar in plain sight. A training partner. Whatever it is, if you have a hard time getting it done, have a reason other than just yourself to do your session.
Get your equipment set up and leave it set up (as much as possible). If there’s a lengthly setup each time you want to workout, you’re far less likely to get it done.
What Workouts Should I Do?
That’s a tough question to answer. Training should be specific to you, your goals, and your history. However, we know this is a challenging time for many people who are thrown off of their routine. While we MAY be adding to this post with workouts, for now we’ve done the simplest and most time efficient thing we can do - created a section in our app specifically for all of you who are stuck at home with very little equipment. Myself and or new coach Nadya Suntay, who is certified through StrongFirst as both a kettlebell and bodyweight trainer, have built several at home sessions for you to choose from. Our other coaches may also be joining in as we navigate the gym closures, and we’ll be adding more sessions as this thing progresses. With the sessions, you’ll also be added to a group chat for everyone in the training group - including some of our coaches - to ask questions and share motivation.
Entering your info into the form below means that you’re open to getting very rare emails from us (in fact, we’ve yet to send one from this list - maybe 2020 is the year!). If you don’t see a setup email soon after submitting, check your spam folder for Trainerize or Power Company Climbing. If you have a home climbing wall, then this group isn’t for you. Instead, consider doing one of our Proven Plans, which are full programs that includes specific climbing training.
