Climbing

How do I climb longer without getting pump?

How do I climb longer without getting pumped? Well you're talking about building your endurance and endurance is built by practicing staying on as long as you can. But while you're doing that you're also trying to recover while on the wall. So recovery is a whole other game and that is where you're probably resting on a pretty good hold with pretty good feet in a pretty comfortable body position and your arm is extended straight above you or mostly straight and the other arm is able to go ahead and shake out a little bit. You could switch back and forth between this position resting heavily on your feet and allowing your arm to go ahead and de-pump for a moment and then you can de-pump the other arm. Then you can continue climbing up until you get to another rest. So what you're talking about learning is talking about learning how to rest on a root, recover, and then climb more. Rest on a root, recover, and climb more. That is how you climb longer.

To climb longer without getting pumped, practice staying on for as long as possible and learn how to rest and recover on the wall by switching arms and shaking them out. Position your body in a comfortable position and rest heavily on your feet while you extend one arm above you.

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What do you think is the average grade you climb after a year?

What is an average grade you climb after a year? Wow that is a tough one. Everyone is so different. If you're only going once a week and climbing is just casual then you might be at the same grade you're at when you started at the end of the year. And if you're super dedicated and going four or five times a week and just pushing yourself and pushing your limits then you can go ahead and bump a bunch of grades in a year. Yeah this is all personal. I don't think that there is any direct answer that can go ahead and put anybody on particular paths. I've seen people accelerate from having never climbed to climbing 513 in a year. Is that normal? Probably not but I've seen people climb for 25 years or 30 years and still be at the same grade. So this is all about you and the energy you want to put into it and what you're seeking to get out of it.

There is no average grade for climbing, as it depends on the individual and how much time and energy they are willing to put into it.

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How many pull ups should I be able to do before starting to do weighted pull ups?

How many pull-ups should I be able to do before starting to do weighted pull-ups? This is one of those questions I would say depends upon what your goals are. Are you looking to develop more power? Are you looking to develop more strength? Or are you looking to develop the ability to do a weighted pull-up with a bunch of weight? So ultimately a pull-up is an explosive move which is related to power. So if you're looking to develop power, you need to make sure that your strength is there that can handle the power you're about to develop, if that makes sense. If it doesn't, we need to make sure that everything connected inside our body is going to stay connected when you start doing weighted pull-ups. If not, you're going to get injured and be out for months, maybe a year or so. Is there a number of pull-ups that you need to be able to do? No. There's time on rock, time training, all the past expertise that you have doing physical activities that all factor into that question.

The number of pull-ups you need to do before doing weighted pull-ups depends on your goals, your strength level, and your prior experience. Ultimately, it is important to make sure your body can handle the weight before attempting weighted pull-ups to prevent injury.

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How can I make the jump from V3 to V4? It feels impossible!

How can you make the jump from V3 to V4? It feels impossible. The first thing I would say is watch the stronger climbers in your gym or outside what they're doing and try to emulate them. And oftentimes what you're going to notice is that their footwork is probably a bit more precise, meaning you're going to stand over your big toe on the holds. The other thing you're going to notice is that their body position is going to allow them to be more efficient when they're climbing the route or sorry the boulder problem. They're going to be able to use more power and be more explosive when they're climbing so they may not do things very they may do things very slowly which requires more power and they might do things dynamically meaning they're kind of lunging or jumping for a hold. So as you watch and gain techniques from other folks then you get to try them and then you make them your own and perfect them and you will progress.

Watch more experienced climbers and try to emulate their footwork, body position, and powerful movements. Use these techniques to make the jump from V3 to V4.

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Is indoor climbing a better way to train for outdoor climbing?

Is indoor climbing a better way to train for outdoor climbing? Let's just put it this way. All of the absolute best climbers in the world, sport trad or boulder, have spent a significant time training indoors. So yes, you can go ahead and have repetitive sequence. You can maintain the variety that you're trying to. You can get whole different differentiation, angle differentiation, difficulty differentiation, all in a hundred square foot area. And that is a big difference than going out to your local crag that may only have certain style of routes, certain difficulty of routes, whether the routes are boulders. So yeah, indoor climbing is certainly the pinnacle of training. But for me, climbing is about being outside. So my progression was significantly slower because I only climbed outside, but once I went inside, I passed the grades that I was stuck at.

Yes, indoor climbing is a great way to train for outdoor climbing as it offers more variety and options for progression.

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How can I strengthen my forearm grip? I'm not really sure what question you're asking because your forearm doesn't actually have a grip. Your hand has a grip. So how can I improve my grip itself? Well, climbing of course. Climbing on vertical terrain when you're starting or slappy. And then as you climb more you can move on to overhanging terrain, meaning where your feet cut off the wall if you let go with your feet. Once you go ahead and do that, you can use a fingerboard and there's a million different plans out there. I would always just say lay off the extra weight and lay off the teeny holds until you've really developed a strong grip. You can pinch things and hold them in the air. There's again 20 different things you could purchase that you can pinch and you can just pinch heavy objects around your house or at the gym. So basically just continue to use them in a manner at which isn't over training. And what does that mean? Don't do it every single day. Don't do the same exercise every day because that's over training.

To strengthen your forearm grip, practice climbing on vertical and overhanging terrain and use a finger board. Additionally, pinch heavy objects around the house or at the gym, but be sure to avoid overtraining by resting in between sessions.

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Rob Pizem answers your Climbing questions. See all the advice Rob Pizem has and get answers to your own Climbing questions.

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Rob was born in Ohio and didn't even learn about rock climbing until after graduating high school. Having his first climbing experiences at the New River Gorge, West Virginia gave him the climbing bug and he has been at for over 20 years. He continues to travel the world for climbing and adventuring, always seeking the ever elusive perfect route. His passion is establishing new climbs big and small. His favorite places to climb are in the Italian Dolomites and in Zion National Park. He has been teaching high school science for 15 years at an alternative high school for high risk youth where he leads an outdoor program and a real life hands on science curriculum. Rob now resides in Grand Junction, Colorado where he is a proud husband and a father of two boys