Over the past several weeks, Epic TV has been posting a series of training videos featuring UK strongman Ben Davison. In the videos, Ben takes you through most of his training program beginning with his warm up and antagonist training and covering his finger strength training and endurance work. Ben is an extremely strong climber and is very knowledgable about how to effectively train to produce serious gains.
“Remember, this is training aimed at climbers who want to start pushing their grade. The exercises are tough, so do not attempt them if injured. Listen to your body, and don’t train to the point of injury.” – Epic TV
As Epic TV notes, much of the information in these videos is geared towards advanced climbers who are looking to and are ready to train systematically. However, even beginner and intermediate climbers will be able to learn from Ben’s warm up and injury prevention routines. Click through below to check out each of the videos for yourself.
Video 1: Ben Davison – Warm Ups
In the first video of his series, Ben covers the warm up exercises he does before beginning any of his training sessions. Unlike most climbers, Ben doesn’t just immediately start his sessions with some easy climbing. Instead, he does a series of mobility and injury prevention drills to ensure that he isn’t pushing his body too hard too quickly. The exercises include:
- Lumbar and thoracic mobility
- Shoulder mobility
- External rotators and rotator cuff work
- Thoracic activation
- Hip mobility and strength work
Video 2: Ben Davison – Antagonist Training
The second video covers the antagonist training Ben does to help prevent injury and make sure he isn’t developing any muscle imbalances. With his antagonist work, Ben focuses on the shoulders and making sure they are strong and stable. The exercises featured are:
- Reverse TRX flys
- Scapular retractions
Video 3: Ben Davison – Finger Boards
In this installment, Ben shares the finger board routines he uses to help him safely build finger strength. Beyond simply outlining the routines, Ben also covers exactly how to go about progressing these routines to ensure that you will continue making finger strength gains. Ben covers:
- Repeaters
- Max hangs
- His own repeater variation
Video 4: Ben Davison – Endurance
Finally, in his final video installment, Ben describes the endurance training program he uses to get ready for a specific trip. The program consists of three eight week blocs that each feature a different style of endurance training. Again, Ben clearly outlines exactly what each bloc consists of and then covers how to progessively increase the difficulty of each routine as you become more and more fit. The blocs are:
- Bloc 1: Longer boulder circuits
- Bloc 2: Low level endurance/ ARC training
- Bloc 3: Intense redpoint circuits and long circuits
In all four videos, Ben does a great job of both demonstrating the exercises and also outlining the details regarding the number of sets/reps and amount of rest. Definitely give these videos a look. They are full of a lot of useful information that will help you increase the efficiency of your training.
(video still courtesy of epictv.com)
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