Rock Climbing Training: 7 Exercises You Can Do at Home

You’re busy. Whether it’s work, travel, or something else entirely, you don’t have time to hit the gym every day for rock climbing training.

But when you’re halfway up a wall, the only thing that matters is the strength in your muscles.

Fortunately, if you’ve got half an hour to spare, you can get in a full workout that will help you make it to the top on your next climb.

Keep reading to learn about 7 rock climbing exercises you can do at home:

1. Finger Pull-Ups

These are perfect for strengthening your fingers and ensuring that you’ll be able to pull yourself up using the narrowest ledge.

To do these, find a sturdy door frame and use your fingertips to hang from it.

2. Finger Planks

This is another exercise that will help you strengthen your fingers as well as your core muscles, both of which are vital to your success as a rock climber.

Start in a raised push-up position. Then, lift yourself up onto your fingers instead of allowing your hands to be flat on the ground.

3. Lateral Pull-Ups

To build up arm, core, and grip strength, find yourself a table where you can do this exercise.

Lay beneath the table (make sure it’s a heavy one!), grab the edges with your hands and then pull yourself up. Keeping your legs horizontal with your body will really push your core to work.

4. Tricep Dips

Since rock climbing involves a lot of upper body strength, you need exercises like this to get to the top every time.

Get a couple of sturdy chairs. Use one to rest your ankles on, and the other to lower yourself from using your triceps.

5. Stair Jumps

These will help you improve your leg muscles to become more explosive so you can launch yourself to the next hold.

Find a set of stairs, and use both of your legs to leap from the ground to each stair, or go up several at a time.

6. Pistol Squats

These will not only strengthen your legs but will make them more flexible so you can reach further while climbing.

From a standing position, extend one leg outward then lower yourself as far down as possible on your other leg. When you first start out, you may need to do these in a doorway to help get yourself back up afterward.

7. Raised-Leg Diamond Push-Ups

This is another excellent exercise that focuses on upper body, core, and back strength.

Use good push-up form, but maintain your hands in a diamond shape centered directly beneath your chest. When you get to a raised push-up position, lift one of your legs up and hold the position before repeating with the other leg.

How to Get the Most Out of Rock Climbing Training

To get the most out of these exercises, do each for at least one minute. For some of these, that means holding the position for the full minute. For others, you’ll need to do 4 reps of 15 seconds each, allowing yourself 5 seconds of rest in between.

Be sure to check out our blog for more rock climbing training tips and for all the fun chalk bags you could want.