There’s a lot more that goes into climbing well than simply our ability to pull with our upper body. That being said, climbing does have upper body strength requirements. As a result, we should practice climbing technique, but in our training, we should include exercises that target upper body pulling. Ultimately, pull-up variations are a great option.
To give you some ideas about what pull-up variations are effective, here’s an article by trainer and coach Eric Hörst. In the article, Hörst covers how to do these pull-up variations correctly, the number of sets and reps, and how many time a week to do them.
“While simply climbing a few days per week will build a moderate level of pulling strength and endurance, use of more target training techniques will provide beneficial gains so that the pulling muscles will never limit you on the rock. Toward this end, let’s examine four variations on the common Pull-Up to spice up your workouts—the first two exercises develop pull-muscle strength, while the last two train strength-endurance.” – Eric Hörst
4 Pull-Up Variations
In his article, the four pull-up variations Hörst covers are:
- Weighted pull-ups
- Uneven-grip pull-ups
- Pull-up intervals
- Frenchies
As Hörst mentioned above, the first two of these exercises target pulling muscle strength and the second two target pulling endurance. However, all four of these exercises can be used to effectively target pulling strength or endurance once your fingers and skin have had enough.
Click through below to read more about how to add these exercises into your training. Just remember, these are supplemental training exercises. Ultimately, they definitely shouldn’t take priority over practicing climbing movement and skill.
Full Article: Eric Hörst – 4 Pull-Up Variations
(photo courtesy of training4climbing.com)
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