Bouldering is climbing on low walls without a rope or any other life saving equipment other than shoes and chalk for your hands. It’s a very technical sport that requires a great deal of footwork and strategy along with strength.
The most common injuries to boulderers involve the knees and ankles from falling. Practicing proper technique and preparing well will help prevent these types of injuries. Read on Alta Boulders for more details.
Bouldering requires a lot of power, especially for the upper body. This is because overhangs force the climber to hang from the wall with only their hands and arms, which can quickly become tired. For this reason, it is important to train the upper body with exercises that focus on power. For example, pull-ups and push-ups are ideal, as they increase strength through a wide range of motion and work the muscles used for climbing.
In addition to power-focused exercises, climbing-specific grip training should be included in the bouldering strength program. Studies have shown that campus board training is one of the most effective ways to improve grip strength for rock climbers. Campus board training consists of performing dynamic movements on shallow rungs, mimicking the movement pattern and forces required in bouldering moves. In fact, four weeks of campus board training improved maximal slope crimp strength by 8% in advanced-to-elite boulderers compared to a control group that performed climbing exercises only.
A good balance between upper and lower body strength is also essential to improving your bouldering ability. Including exercises that strengthen the core, back, and shoulders can help prevent injury and also improve your posture on the wall. For instance, pull-ups and push-ups build shoulder strength while rows and dumbbell curls strengthen the back. Adding in some yoga and/or core drills can help to improve your posture and stability while bouldering as well.
Footwork is another critical aspect of bouldering. It’s important to be able to put pressure on bad holds without thudding your feet. A great drill for this is to place your feet on a couple of poor holds on an overhang and try to hold yourself there for 30 seconds while trying to complete a problem or sequence.
Then switch to a different pair of poor holds and repeat the exercise. Eventually you can switch to really bad holds and see how long you can keep yourself there while still maintaining body tension. The more you practice this, the better your footwork will be on overhangs.
Flexibility
As a boulderer your movement is very dynamic and you need to be able to move quickly and efficiently. In order to perform a dynamic movement you need flexibility in the hips, ankles, and shoulders. In addition, bouldering requires you to move your feet to make sure the foothold is firmly planted. This can be difficult for people who are used to indoor climbing where the footholds are generally much more forgiving.
One way to improve your footwork is to find a bouldering wall outside and climb without the use of any handholds. This forces you to concentrate on your footwork and you will quickly see improvements in your ability to get your feet to the next hold quickly.
Another important factor in improving your footwork is to practice dynamic stretches and drills. In particular, squats with one leg at a time (like the pistol squat) and single leg Bulgarian split squats can help improve your footwork.
Finally, finger strength and forearm endurance are also very important. Practicing a few drops and pyramid sets on the hang board can really help your finger strength. This is especially important for boulderers that are trying to move up in grade because the higher grades require more precision and finger strength to maintain a good position on the rock.
Injury Prevention
One of the most common problems for new boulderers is injuries to the knees and ankles. These injuries can be avoided by clearing the landing area, using a crash pad, and learning to fall properly. It is also very important to train your body to absorb and distribute force throughout the body in order to minimize the impact of your fall. This can be done by performing a few exercises like down climbing without the use of any handholds or downclimbing from a high spot onto a easy hold.
In addition to the above mentioned tips, it is very important to take a rest day between high intensity sessions. This will allow the body to recover and will prevent you from getting to the point where your CNS fatigues and you have a bad performance. In addition, it is important to eat and drink plenty of water. Remember that your body will need 48 – 72 hours to completely recover from a hard session.
Technique
The ability to move precisely on a rock is arguably more important than strength when it comes to bouldering. Without the ability to place your feet precisely, you’ll waste energy attempting to grab hold after hold when a more precise placement would be sufficient. Traversing drills are a great way to train this skill. These can be done on traverse-specific walls that some gyms have or on easier problems you’ve set up in the bouldering hall. Ideally, you should aim to do a set of four or more traverses in a session.
Another great technique drill is the deadpoint. This involves executing an explosive move where you briefly hover in a hover state before latching onto the target hold. Often short climbers are forced to do this type of movement early on, but even taller climbers can benefit from the practice. The goal is to learn how to use momentum and a small amount of extra force to get yourself up the problem rather than wasting energy trying to brute-force your way through each and every move.
A great footwork drill is the “tight toes” exercise. The concept is simple: find a foothold that you can place your toes on, but make it impossible for you to adjust the position once you’ve placed your foot. This will force you to place your foot exactly where it needs to be on the first try without wasting any energy by stalling or adjusting your feet. This drill will help you develop precision in your footwork and better sequence your movements as well.
The last great technique training drill is the downclimb. This is a great way to build power endurance on difficult boulders. Start by finding a few routes that are slightly above your current climbing limit and either rainbow them (use any holds) or climb them a few moves down from the top. Repeat this four or more times to build your ability to work near your limits for extended periods of time.
The above workouts aren’t the most exciting, but they are extremely effective and will make you a much better boulderer. Take the time to train these basic fundamentals and you’ll be able to spend more time projecting and less time trying to avoid injury!
Safety
While it may seem obvious that bouldering requires a great deal of strength, many beginners and even intermediate climbers overlook the importance of developing a full range of core muscles to help them with body positioning, balance and generating force through their feet. A good training program will help you develop the right mix of muscle groups to allow for a safe and effective bouldering experience.
The most important skill to master in bouldering is the ability to move your foot onto a new hold without unnecessarily consuming energy through stalling or moving it again once it is on the hold. The ability to “stick” the foot to a hold is an essential competency that can be improved through simple, repetitive drills.
In order to improve your ability to move your foot, find a route that you can do easily but that requires you to use the footholds in a way that isn’t typical for you (e.g., crimps, slopers). Doing this drill regularly will force you to learn how to do the problem in a way that doesn’t rely on the type of holds you prefer and will improve your ability to move your feet across the wall to get to new holds regardless of the type of hold.
Another useful footwork drill is to get on a bouldering wall and try climbing it horizontally using any hold that you can see. This will force you to rely on the footholds in a different way than you normally would, which will make it more difficult to reach the next hold. In addition, this drill will also help you improve your ability to traverse, which is necessary for advanced bouldering.
Lastly, to increase your ability to generate power through the feet, identify four routes that are two to three grades below your max (e.g., V4s). Then, instead of starting these routes by climbing “rainbow” (using every hold) start by climbing the routes as you would on a static set and focus on maximizing your foot force. This will help you to avoid limiting your progress by only climbing problems with a particular type of hold.
