Foundation Strength: the Basis to Allow Us to Get Climbing Strong

Clearly, you’re quite a psyched climber and I would guess, would quite like to train a bit more than you do. But I’m also guessing that if you manage to get chance to get to the wall, you’d quite like to spend that time climbing and not mucking about with dumbbells and pull up bars.

This page is for you to complete some extra training at home. It is based on something called ‘foundation strength’ from Steve Bechtel and you can see the original link here. The concept here is to build strong, robust bodies that then allow us to get stronger for climbing when we go climbing, with a reduced chance of injury.

Foundation Strength

The premise is simple: we can break ‘training’ down into six different areas. Click the link on each heading to quickly skip to the relevant section. In no particular order, they are:

• Squat. This is the action you do when you bend down to pick something up but bend at the knees, keeping your back straight up in the air
• Hinge. Very similar to a squat, imagine bending to pick something up but this time, keeping your knees straight and bending in the middle
• Push. Really simple one this one, think press ups. Anything where you push your body away from something or push something away from your body
• Pull. Another super simple one, think pull ups. Kinda the opposite of push but crucially, make sure you’ve got a big, full hand around whatever you’re pulling against
• Midsection strength. This is the toughest one to explain, it’s all about being able to maintain tension through the body. So kinda like core but not quite
• Fingers. Yeah, they are important after all. Just don’t get carried away jumping on a fingerboard straight away (we’ll come to that as we go along)

The idea is that if we can develop strength in these six areas, we’ll be ready to get stronger for climbing.

Let’s run through each of them in turn.

Squat

This is the action you do when you bend down to pick something up but bend at the knees, keeping your back straight up in the air. You can work both legs together or one leg at a time.

Example exercises:

• Bodyweight Squat. Real simple, link here to give instructions
• Bodyweight Single Leg Squat. If two legs is too easy, try one leg at a time. Link here
• Band Squat. We can add in an elastic band to provide assistance. Link here

Back to the list

Hinge

This is possibly the hardest to get your head around. Think of it as bending in the middle.

Example exercises:

• Half Kneeling Hip Hinge. You’ll need a bench or some such for this one. Link here to give instructions
• Glute Bridge. Floor Based exercise, slightly tougher. Link here
• Single Glute Bridge. Same thing but with one leg elevated. Remember to swap over and do the other side too. Link here

Back to the list

Push

The classic that you’ll doubtless recognise. But when you think about it, something we don’t often do in climbing…

Example exercises:

• Push Up. I’m sure you’ve seen these before but watch out for form. Link here
• Bodyweight Knee Push Ups. If you find classic push ups too hard, this one is easier. Link here
• Incline Push Ups. Another option to make things easier. Link here
• Diamond Push Ups. On the other hand, if push ups are too easy, you can change hand position to make them harder. Link here
• Decline Push Ups. Or you can raise the feet higher. Link here

Back to the list

Pull

Another really simple one to get our head around but be careful not to get the fingers involved here. We’re trying to target the big muscles in the upper arm and shoulder

Example exercises:

• Pull Up. Could I start anywhere else? Watch out for hand position though. Link here
• Bodyweight Assisted Pull Ups. If you find pull ups too tough, try these, perhaps adding a chair if you can’t reach the floor from your bar. Link here
• L Sit Pull Up. If you want to make it harder, lift your knees up. Link here

[Note: the difference between ‘chin up’ and ‘pull up’ is which way your knuckles are facing. Chin ups knuckles face away towards you, Pull ups your knuckles face towards you. Personally, for climbing, I much prefer pull ups and tend to disregard chin ups]

Back to the list

Midsection Strength

Tricky one to describe, this is all about keeping tension through the body. It often relates to a strong core or a six-pack but those are by products really, concentrate on that tension through the body.

Example exercises:

• Bicycle Crunch. Slightly different to the classic sit up, I can’t help but feel these are slightly nicer to perform. Link here
• Laying Leg Raise. A different variation, easily made harder by slowing the speed. Link here
• Bodyweight Hanging Knee Tuck. A tougher version, with lots of variations. Link here

Back to the list

Fingers

This one gets trickier. We’re going to need some extra kit for this – either a fixed fingerboard or what I call an edge block – but it’s also where we’re most likely to suffer injury (they’re small muscles, not big ones here). Be very careful and remember: this isn’t intense training, it’s supplementary training.

Example exercises:

• Flannel Squeezes. A pretty tame one, this one, although you can make it as hard as you like. Bright side is it should cost you any extra money. Link here
• Repeaters (Fingerboard). This one involves hanging from your fingers from a fixed fingerboard above your head. Link here
• Edge Block Curls. You’ll need an edge block and resistance band for this one. Link here

Back to the list

How Much of Each to Perform

Now this is where it gets tricky. We’re all different, so laying it out there and saying ‘do this many sets of this many reps’ is simply not a one-size-fits-all thing anyway.

So I’m going to give you a basic structure. There is a diagram here to help explain some of the terminology:

It’ll be up to you to be able to work out how much to do. You may also like to try something such as Pyramid Training.

Some Training Principles

Here are a few simple rules to guide you in working out how much to do:

• Your last good rep is your last rep. Once you start wobbling about or become lop sided, it’s time to stop. You won’t make any gains at this point, certainly not compared to the risk of injury
• Aim to finish your last set with your last good rep. This is harder but over time, adapting sligtly as you go, you can change the reps and sets to ensure you finish your session but only just before your form falls
• Lots of easy reps, fewer hard ones. If you’re finding an exercises really tough, do less of it. If you’re finding it really easy, well it won’t be that easy after you’ve done heaps of them!
• Regularity is key. Doing anything once won’t do much, we need to repeat it over and over to see gains.
• Train fresh. Make sure you’re physically rested well before training
• Keep notes along the way. This will allow you to tinker how many sets and reps you’re doing

IMPORTANT BITS: When too much is too much

I’ve got some Golden Rules that are worth stating:

1. Pain is bad. Remember the old adage of ‘no pain, no gain’? Yeah, let’s not do that. Pain is a very complicated feeling, for now let’s stick to the idea that while discomfort might show we’re working, PAIN doesn’t. Pain is our body telling us something isn’t right.
2. Pain = Stop. No ifs or buts, if it hurts, stop doing it; if only for a short while. Again, ‘no pain, no gain’ doesn’t work. Pain doesn’t always come before an injury but injury usually follows pain. If it hurts, stop. If it keeps hurting, consult a medical professional
3. Don’t add weight. I know a lot of people like to do this but it comes with a massive risk. Adding weight falls into the category of something called ‘Progressive Overload’ but if you overload too much, guess what happens. For now, stick to bodyweight. There are plenty of exercises you can do that will work you without hanging weight from yourself.

Summary

If we want to be climbing strong, we first need to be 1) healthy and 2) generally strong. Failure to cover these bases leaves us open to our body not only rejecting the gains but complaining enough to stop us doing anything.

But what does it mean to be generally strong? Well, thankfully, noted physical training for climbing expert Steve Bechtel has presented us with something called Foundation Strength. This is very much his concept, not mine. All I’ve done here is to structure it in such a way you can follow it slightly easier.

Originally, this was specifically done for my own Performance Squad group but as time went on, I wanted to share it with other clinets as well. So I’ve made it publicly available for you all. However credit for it should certainly go to Steve Bechtel, whose original piece can be read here.

If You Enjoyed That…