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Bodybuilding is not going to help with climbing. It's an aesthetic pursuit, not related to fitness.

 

It's a hell of a lot more than just a 'bodybuilding' forum. It's got detailed information for everything from eating healthily for whatever goal you want to attain, to correct training techniques to avoid injury, to relationship advice. Don't judge until you've actually been on there, eh? :)

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It's a hell of a lot more than just a 'bodybuilding' forum. It's got detailed information for everything from eating healthily for whatever goal you want to attain, to correct training techniques to avoid injury, to relationship advice. Don't judge until you've actually been on there, eh? :)

 

I've been a member there for 5 years. I wouldn't recommend it to someone for climbing advice

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I've been a member there for 5 years. I wouldn't recommend it to someone for climbing advice

 

My bad. I must've misread where OP asked for 'weight lifting help'.

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My bad. I must've misread where OP asked for 'weight lifting help'.

 

Hi,

 

I am looking to learn to lift weight properly once a week to help with my climbing anyone got a good set up and willing to help or any advice?

 

Cheers

That's weightlifting help specifically for climbing- the last thing a climber needs is weight training advice for bodybuilding as bodybuilding weight training is designed to increase muscle mass and size- for obvious reasons an increase in bodyweight is not a good aim for climbing :)

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The first thing I would recommend is that you have a look at some climbing forums or magazines and check out what type of weight training (if any) that the top climbers use. Make a note of the program then have a look round and see if anyone in Sheffield can provide the facilities/expertise you need.

I suspect that if you use weights, you will probably be performing some of the 'Olympic lifts', in particular cleans, overhead presses, etc and if this is the case, you will definitely need some instruction, as these types of exercises are quite technical to perform effectively and allow little room for error and potential injury if you get them wrong.

 

Your ability to gain muscle mass, rather than just muscle density, via standard 'bodybuilding-style training' will depend mainly on your genetics, diet and also how you perform the workout. Genetically, if you are a natural 'ectomorph' frame (lean and skinny like a distance runner), it's more difficult to gain muscle mass than if you were a mesomorph (like a sprinter) or an endomorph (like a shot putter). You also need lots of food, especially protein, in order to gain mass and generally speaking, body builders tend to lift moderately heavy weights for 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps with 60-120 seconds rest between sets to stimulate growth; whereas 'fitness/conditioning' athletes can use an identical exercise but will use lighter weights with either much higher reps or only 20-30 seconds rest between sets to stimulate the development of a 'denser' rather than a bigger muscle. However, even a denser muscle, whilst it will have a higher proportion of contractile strength (cross-sectional density) in relation to its size, will be heavier and weight to strength ratios in climbing are very important.

 

Good luck with your research and feel free to PM me if you need any help.

Edited by getphysical
Grammar

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For climbing, you need to have leg strength, back strength, forearm and bicep strength (pushing with your legs and pulling with your upper body)

 

I would think Squats, Deadlifts, pull ups, curls and a forearm/grip exercise would be good for starters.

 

Squats and dead lifts - get your form in order, before lifting heavy, go for correct form and slowly add weight, say five pounds per week, a mix of high weight/low reps and then lower weight/high reps.

 

Pull ups (palms forward), as many reps as you can do, I used to know a guy at my gym who was a long time climber, in his 60's, who could still do 15 or so pull ups with a load of additional weights chained to his belt, very wiry bloke, but very strong. My son used to train by doing finger-tip pull ups on the concrete lintel over the patio doors. After some time doing this he could also go into the gym and do a one arm pull up, or one finger on each hand pull up.

 

Forearm/Grip - grab some heavy plates in a gym, with a "pinch" grip and walk around with them, as long as you can. Or pick up some dumbbells, uper arm and elbow tight into the side of your body, lower arm out in front of you, and rotate the weights side to side.

 

That, for me, would be the basics of building the functional strength for climbing.

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I wouldn't go too heavy on the weights if you're serious about getting into rock climbing. You don't want to add pointless weight to your frame that will be too much for you to move around while climbing. You need to get strength up without adding bulk. Look into some strength training programs.

 

The main thing though is if you climb for a few years, you're going to have a muscle inbalance with you shoulders hunched forward, strong back, and strong biceps. So you will need to counter this byb working on the chest and front deltoids

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