Rock climbing demands immense fitness across strength, power, flexibility, and endurance. While climbers often focus on the flashy power needed for difficult moves, endurance forms the foundation for any outstanding climb. Developing climbing-specific stamina allows you to climb longer routes, manage pump, and push your abilities.
Assessing Your Current Climbing Endurance
Before creating an endurance training plan, determine your current limit to identify weaknesses. These questions can help:
- How long can you effectively climb a moderate route before needing to rest?
- What causes you to come off the wall - forearm pump, grip fatigue, overall exhaustion?
- Which routes really test your stamina?
Pay attention while climbing easy to moderate problems. Note when your endurance begins fading, which moves become difficult, and what physical symptoms occur. This establishes a baseline for tailoring training and tracking improvements.
For instance, my endurance fails around the 15-minute mark on 5.10 routes. Forearm pump, sweaty hands, and mounting fatigue causes sloppy footwork and an inability to hold slopers. Thus, I need better muscle endurance to resist pump along with mental stamina to keep precise technique when tired.
Training Endurance On The Wall
Once you identify endurance weaknesses, employ these climbing-specific workouts to boost stamina session by session:
Endurance Intervals
Endurance intervals act as the cornerstone for improving climbing time. Here's how they work:
- Warm up thoroughly to avoid injury
- Climb easy-to-moderate problems with minimal rest between attempts
- Start with manageable durations - 5 minutes climbing and 2-3 minutes rest
- Repeat for 30-45 minutes aiming for a slight pump by the end
For example, I would climb three V2-V3 problems then rest for 3 minutes. Repeat this 8-10 times while traversing in between climbs.
Over 6-8 weeks, add 2-3 minutes of climbing time every session until reaching 45+ minute problems. Though initially grueling, this stimulates the muscular and mental stamina needed on long climbs.
4x4s
The classic 4x4 workout trains power endurance through repeat bouts of bouldering:
- Find four quality benchmark problems at your limit
- Climb each problem without resting between them
- Take exactly 4 minutes rest
- Repeat for a total of 4 sets
Aim to climb each problem cleanly, but don't hesitate to push through pump and fatigue. This pumps maximum blood into the forearms between each set.
Over time, increase difficulty as 4x4s improve power endurance. This transforms typical "30-move pumps" into sending entire routes!
Pyramid Intervals
For a highly-customizable workout, pyramid intervals serve as magic. Here's how they work:
- Choose an easy route or traverse
- Climb for 1 minute then rest 1 minute
- Climb for 2 minutes then rest 1 minute
- Climb for 3 minutes then rest 1 minute
- Work upwards until reaching 10+ minutes of climbing
- Then reverse back down the pyramid
This builds endurance through increasing duration and accumulated fatigue. It also synchronizes breathing for better recovery between efforts.
Modify variables as needed. Shorten/extend climbing intervals, increase/decrease rest times, or stagger the pyramid after an "up" phase. This opens endless training possibilities!
Over 4-6 week mesocycles, expect to add 3-5 minutes of climbing time to both ends of the pyramid. Gains happen quick if you commit!
Supplemental Exercises
While actual climbing drives adaptation, supplemental workouts target specific limits. Integrate these into training once or twice a week:
Farmer's Walks
This mega-old school workout trains crushing grip strength and endurance.
- Grab heavy dumbbells or kettlebells you can carry for 30-60 seconds
- Walk keeping perfect upright posture
- Aim for 4-6 sets of 30-60 seconds, resting 1-2 minutes between
Over just 2-3 weeks, increased carry times show rising grip capacity.
Fingerboard and Pull-up Intervals
Target forearm pump resistance and pull strength using intervals on a hangboard or pull-up bar.
Hangboard Routines
- Warm up fingers and forearms thoroughly
- Hang from edge sizes challenging at 10+ seconds
- Repeat hangs with 10-30 seconds on, 1-2 minutes rest
- Complete 6-8 hangs for 2-3 sets
Pull-up Circuits
- Warm up shoulders through full range of motion
- Knock out max pull-ups with perfect form
- Rest 60-90 seconds between sets
- Do 4-5 sets of 50-80% max reps
These short anaerobic efforts boost power endurance which carries over directly to climbing movement.
Aim for a moderate pump. Severe pain and swelling suggests an overreach. Quality rules quantity!
Tension Board Endurance Workouts
Tension Boards serve as highly-effective tools for systematic endurance training indoors. Here are two workouts which can level up your stamina.
Linked Boulder Circuits
Create custom 4-6 move "boulders" across a section of the Tension Board:
- Link together 6-10 hand movements to form mini-problems
- Climb each mini circuit with no rest upon finishing
- After completing 2-4 problem links, take a 1-2 minute break
- Repeat 5-7 times total
This trains both power endurance for completing back-to-back dynamic moves and resistance against accumulating forearm pump.
Full-Board Laps
For the ultra-endurance workout, climb entire up and down sections of the board:
- Start either at the bottom right or left
- Traverse right until hitting the top
- Traverse back left to the start
- Take a short 1-2 minute rest
- Complete 4-8 laps
Aim to use as little "jugRecovery" holds as possible through. This pushes both grip endurance and whole body conditioning simultaneously.
Tension Boards allow highly-measurable metrics indoors - time elapsed, perceived exertion per lap, number of laps completed over weeks. Make sure to document each session's details!
Nutrition and Recovery
Alongside training, support endurance gains through proper fueling and rest:
Nutrition
- Pack climbs with nutrient-dense foods: bananas, nuts, hard-boiled eggs, protein bars, etc.
- Emphasize complex carbohydrates - oats, quinoa, sweet potatoes
- Refuel muscle and liver glycogen within 30 minutes post-session
Recovery
- Climb every other day at most
- Get 8-10 hours sleep nightly
- Periodize easy and hard weeks
This balances pushing limits with tissues restoration and adaptation.
Tracking Progress
Like any training, gauge progress through consistent tracking:
- Note workout details - intervals, pyramid times, weights used
- Document observation - pump factor, grip fatigue, sending ability
- Update baseline max endurance times every 4 weeks
For example, my initial max was 15 minutes on 5.10s before pump killed my climbing. After 6 weeks of the above workouts, I now climb 20+ minutes before needing to rest on similar grades. Huge progress!
Use these markers to modify workouts and break plateaus. An extra 2-3 minutes added weekly shows methods working. Stagnation after 4 weeks means a need for more difficulty or rest.
This ties everything together. Numbers show training efficacy over the long run.
Conclusion
Improving rock climbing endurance allows attacking long, sustained routes with less rest between burns. Through on-wall training, supplemental exercises, fueling properly, managing fatigue, and tracking progress - expect huge capability gains in only 6-8 weeks.
Stick with these proven endurance workouts tailored specifically for climbing. Consistency drives adaptation as increased pump resistance and mental stamina opens new possibilities on the rock!