Most training plans for ice/mixed/dry/winter climbing I’ve seen suck. The fundamental outcome of training for anything is that you should get better at it, as efficiently as you can with the time and resources you have. Here is a training plan that will work for any sport:
1. Do the sport. Consistently, intensely, preferably with people who are better than you. For years. If you don’t train today you will suck, and sucking sucks, go train at least 3x/week.
2. If you can’t do the sport then do the closest thing to it. Consistently.
We’re done. That’s it! Stop f@cking around with Turkish Snuggles or Serpent Swings or WTF and do the damn sport you want to get good at it! Runners run. Climbers climb. “But, what about...” No. Climbing is fundamentally a movement/skill/specific strength sport. Go climb if you want to be a better climber, regularly and a lot. If you can’t rock/ice climb then hangboard/hang on tools and do some of the exercises below.
But wait, you can’t go winter climbing all the time because, doh, it’s too warm or you made a bad life choice and moved to a city a thousand K from winter climbing. Bad move, but here is a rough hierarchy of training activity:
1. Ice/mixed/drytool climbing. Buy plane tickets. Drive all night. Go climb on your tools.
2. Climbing on a steepish wall with tools. Build a home wall. Put an illegal PLICE up in the woods.
3. Rock/plastic climb, a lot, in summer. Steep juggy cave routes for mixed, gently overhanging routes for ice.
4. Climb anything. Climbing is movement, move.
5. Hang on your tools. Front levers, Tabata intervals, pullups. Metal emergency exit staircases are great for all this, but any playground will work.
6. Exercises that closely imitate the type of movement you want to do. One-arm lat pulldowns, rows (on your tools if possible), front levers, squats. Walk up stairs in the rain/snow wearing a pack.
7. Watch good climbers on rock, ice, whatever, and really understand what they are doing.
8. Do this regularly, and never, ever give up when training. If you give up in training you will give up when climbing.
Do not f@cking weaken! Do not ever let go one microsecond before gravity claws you off the tools/holds.
817. Turkish Twisters and Belly Band Vibrators fit in here somewhere.
If people are stoked I'll make some videos with the specifics above, what do you think?
