The key to being good at climbing and bouldering is having a strong core, grip and pulling strength. While these are not the only things necessary in this highly technical activity, they are almost imperative to be able to climb for longer and conquer more difficult levels. The unique part about climbing is that it hasn’t been affected by the popularity of padel and pickleball. That can perhaps be attributed to the fact that the activity requires a completely different skillset. A certain amount of fearlessness is also needed, along with trusting the equipment and learning how to fall safely when one can no longer hold on to the pegs.
Climbing continues to rise in popularity as more people move away from conventional lifting at the gym. Like every other sport, however, it’s worth noting that pushing and pulling weights, while building strength and endurance, can make you a better climber. I had earlier written a piece in Lounge on the best exercises to get better at padel, but climbing requires slightly more specialised work, even if you’re already doing something related, like trekking.
“Rock climbing finger strength, while indeed a skill that elite climbers train, is a bit of a misnomer since there are no muscles in your fingers. Your fingers move by the pull of forearm muscles on the tendons in your fingers. However, finger strength does correlate to your grip strength, so it can be helpful to strengthen your fingers for climbing,” says a piece on trxtraining.com titled 5 Grip Strength Exercises for Rock Climbing and Bouldering.
The Farmer’s Walk is an excellent exercise for shoulder, forearm and grip strength, since it works all three at the same time. Reducing the weight and pinching it between your thumb and fingertips, rather than fully gripping it, will engage the fingers more, while walking with heavier weights will test both grip strength and the shoulder’s ability to support the forearms over time.
The key is to do exercises that engage the Flexor Digitorum Profundus (FDP) muscle. This flexes the entire finger and not just the tips, though you would have to train with a talon grip — like a bird’s claw — to activate it properly. There is a two-minute video on YouTube, posted by the channel Ability Rehabilitation, that takes viewers through a series of tendon glide exercises designed to do exactly this. It consists of five moves: duck, hook, squeeze, touch and trace, and spread wide. Doing these as an activator before a climb can be a gamechanger.
Dead hangs are another great way to start working on grip strength. Not only are they excellent for stretching the spine, but they are also isometric holds that build the endurance needed to climb better. Delhi-based Aditya Ambegaokar took up climbing about a year ago, initially as a standalone fitness activity, before incorporating gym workouts into his routine.
“The difference is night and day. Before I began working out in the gym, I relied mostly on running as an add-on to climbing. While it increased my stamina, my failure range while climbing was low, and my muscles would cramp or fatigue long before my lungs did. Since integrating targeted leg and core work, I can hike, trek and climb for longer without muscle fatigue. There are ways to mimic the difficult movements involved in climbing at the gym,” says the 35-year-old, who started climbing as an extension of his interest in outdoor treks. He is now planning to get a professional climbing certification by the end of the year.
Given his history of ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears in both knees, Ambegaokar focused more on lower-body stability and core integration in his gym workouts. But pursuing a certification will eventually require him to invest in a fingerboard or hangboard. This is a board with various grips that can be mounted on a wall, even at home, making it easy for climbers to practise different grip exercises through the day. The boards are easily available online, ranging from ₹1,500 to ₹5,000.
A study titled Comparison of Grip Strength in Recreational Climbers and Non-Climbing Athletes—A Cross-Sectional Study found that even recreational climbers can have almost twice the grip strength of those who don’t climb — nearly 56.9kg compared to 32.9kg among men, and 33.15kg compared to 20kg among women. But that also means correcting the imbalances that can develop from a pulling-heavy activity. To do this, antagonist exercises need to be added to the routine. One exercise mentioned in the trxtraining.com piece is finger extensions. “Wrap a thick rubber band around all five fingertips. Spread your fingers open against the band's resistance. This strengthens the finger extensors that oppose your gripping muscles.” Adding wrist extensions and reverse curls can also help. The best part? These can be done with weights as light as 1kg to 2.5kg.
Pulasta Dhar is a football commentator and writer.