For rock climbers, health is very important. Given that rock climbing is an intense physical activity done for hours, you have to make sure that your body is always in its best condition. This is not only for good performance but also to prevent injuries. The best way to remain healthy and strong is to …
So you’ve been improving your grip strength through focused warm-ups and stretches, increasing your grip strength by mixing up training holds on the bouldering wall, and finally working all those grip strength exercises into your routine, now it’s time to test your forearm muscles and hand strength with a grip strength tester. Do you need …
Read more Grip Strength Testers: What Are They and Why Do I Want One?
In this second installment in our series on rappelling gear, we are going to talk about personal anchor systems (PAS for short). A PAS is an essential piece of climbing gear if you are going outside. It is how you secure yourself to the anchor system while you clean an anchor system and/or set up …
Read more Essential Rappelling Gear: Personal Anchor Systems
I first started climbing in 2006 after moving to Flagstaff, AZ. Little did I know as I was purchasing my gym membership and very first shoes, ATC, and harness, climbing would become a lifelong passion for me. What I also discovered along the way is that there are enough types of climbing (and ALL the …
Read more Types of Climbing: Finding the Style(s) that Inspire You
If you’ve been tuning in for our other articles about how to improve grip strength by adding stretching and warm-ups to your climbing and training sessions as well as grip strength exercises that you can do at home or in the weight room, you might have been feeling like you’d be spending more time training …
Read more How to Increase Your Grip Strength through Bouldering
Do you ever get frustrated that you just can’t hold on any longer when you are climbing? Or look at those tiny crimpers and think “How do I improve my grip strength to the point where I can actually use those?” You are most certainly not alone in those thoughts. One way to improve grip …
We’ve all seen those ridiculously strong folks in the gym doing their weighted hang board and campusing workouts and then have looked down at our chalked and already burning hands to wonder how exactly one gets to that level of strength training. Deep down we know just by observing the incredible back muscles on these …
Read more 8 Grip Strength Exercises to Take Your Climbing Next Level
The short answer is yes but what is free climbing vs. sport climbing? Well, it turns out whether you’re sport climbing, trad climbing, or bouldering, top roping or lead climbing, at your climbing gym or outside, you are free climbing. Most of us cue first into that “free” part of free climbing and think “oh …
Read more I’m a Sport Climber… But Am I Also a Free Climber?
Lead climbing is a required skill set for most outdoor roped climbing. If lead climbing is still a mystery to you, though, that is okay. You don’t necessarily need to know how to lead climb in order to enjoy sport climbing. Let’s talk about your options, including top-roping and being an excellent belayer. Whether we …
There are many different ways to be a climber. In the world of roped climbing, most of us start off indoor climbing at gyms where we build up our mental and physical strength top-roping. From there we frequently make new friends or sign up for classes that take us on our first adventures climbing outdoors. …
Read more Sport Climbing vs Trad Climbing: Knowing the Difference
