r/climbharder

I’ve been trying to send a hard route in my home town but I feel like I need to do some specific training. I’ve recently climbed 2 5.14a and in the past 5 years i’ve also done more than 70 5.13’s.

Specifically the 14a’s where: a very long endurance route (more than 40mts) the V8 crux was at the beginning and then it was just endurance. And the other route was a 30mts route with a V9 crux in the middle. Both routes where not that hard in the upper sections. Now my project is shorter (18mts) and it consists of 4 bolts (around 13a) directly into a powerful V7 and without rest another V7. After warming up I can do the moves in isolation almost every time, but I can’t do the first boulder from the ground. And I’m having a hard time thinking that I have to do 2 V7 without any rest coming from the ground.

I was training at home doing some hard boulders in my home wall once per week to keep my bouldering level high so the V7s feel easy. And I am also doing some 2min laps in a overhanging wall, just climbing on jugs so I don’t get super pumped. I climb for 2 min, the I rest for a bit and repeat. Then I take a long rest and start again. I’m doing this once or twice a week.

But I feel like this is super generic, and i’m not sure how to aproach my training for this one!

I would love to hear advice on how to improve my training for this project! :)

This is a thread for topics or questions which don't warrant their own thread, as well as general spray.

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Hi everyone,

I've been climbing for around 4 years and managed to reach 8a, but I’ve recently hit a plateau and haven't been able to push past it. Since hiring a personal coach isn't financially feasible for me right now, I started doing some research and at that same time, LatticePlan was announced.

I was pretty psyched about it, and despite some concerns regarding the AI aspect of it I decided to give it a go to be able to use the assessment and equipment update planned for early 2026.

Fast forward to today, no major update has been pushed and we're left with something that still feels a bit half finished with no news of improvement in sight. While I understand they can't communicate about every bit of work they're doing on it, we've had close to 0 news so far. I've checked their social media and recent podcasts, but couldn't find any specific roadmap for the 2026 rollout.

I'm curious if anyone has any insider info or if you've heard anything from their support team? If anyone from Lattice sees this, a quick status update would be huge! :)

Hello everyone,

I'm a 32(M) climber, 62kg , i started to climb 3 years ago, i almost only do bouldering (did some routes inside 4 or 5 times). I climb around 3 times a week. I hangboard and max pulls-ups 1 to 2 times per week.

I cannot say my level exactly in terms of the V scale, since my climbing gym doesn't show any, it is only colors.
I only did one session ever in a kilter-board, and flashed 2 V6 and did one V7 in 4/5 tries.

Outside, i only climbed at Fontainebleau. This area has the reputation to be pretty hard. I did some 6b+ and 6c, but i only went there 2 times, more than 6 month ago.
I think i could manage some 7a with more than one session, which would be V6, but probably really hard ones because its Fontainebleau.

I can hang 7sec with + 30kg on half crimp both hands, and can do 7sec with each arm -15kg (75%BW).
But I can only hang +5kg on open hand for 7sec on 20mm edge. I can barely hang the slopper on the beastmaker 2000 with BW only.

On another metric, i can do 1 one arm-pull up (only on my right arm, i can do one-arm pull up with -5kg on left), and can do a BW+47kg pull-up with both hands (175% BW).

I try to climb more and more sloppers, and practice specifically on the hangboard the open hand, but it feels like I'm not progressing , or very slowly.

I fell like my open hand level is really bad compared to my others metrics. Every time I'm climbing, I always crimp hard unconsciously, and if my hand open, i just fall. I sometimes try to force myself to not crimp sloppers, but it is very unnatural and it feels like I can't climb at my level i usually do.

Do you guys have any tips to get better at 3fingers open hands ?

A few weeks ago I posted here about the fact that there's no mental fatigue research on climbing, despite it being one of the most cognitively demanding sports out there. The discussion was genuinely useful, and a lot of you described exactly the kind of thing the research predicts: route reading falling apart after long work days, commitment dropping, feeling mentally foggy even though your body was ready to go.

Since then I've been collecting responses from athletes across multiple sports, and something interesting is emerging. Climbers describe the effects of mental fatigue differently from endurance athletes. Runners and cyclists tend to talk about effort perception: the same pace feeling harder than it should. Climbers talk about cognitive processing: not being able to read problems, hesitating on sequences, losing the ability to adapt mid-route. It's early data and I can't draw conclusions yet, but the pattern maps onto something the research has been hinting at for a while. Sports with high cognitive-perceptual demands might experience mental fatigue through a different mechanism than sports where the primary demand is sustained effort (Smith et al., 2018; Van Cutsem et al., 2017).

If that holds up, it would mean climbers don't just get tired brains like everyone else. The way mental fatigue degrades climbing performance might be fundamentally different from how it degrades a time trial or a 10k. And that matters for how you'd manage it.

I'm a PhD researcher at the University of Derby and I work at Lattice Training. This is a cross-sport study building a proper measurement tool for mental fatigue in sport, because the existing ones were designed for clinical settings and don't capture what athletes actually experience.

I'd genuinely like to hear from climbers on this: how does mental fatigue show up differently in climbing versus other sports you do? Is it purely about decision-making and route reading, or do you notice effort perception changes too? And do you think the climbing community underestimates how much your cognitive state before the session affects session quality?

I'm unsure if I'm doing my deload week correctly and would like some feedback, I understand that the general idea is that i should be halving the volume but keeping the same intensity. I usually train in 4 week blocks, 3 weeks of normal training, followed by 1 week of deload.

Here's a sample of a normal training week:

Monday (Strength and Limit Climb): Weighted Pullup, Overhead Press, Skill Drill Warmup (15-30 minutes), 3 Strikes, Limit Climb (Skill/Technical Focus 90 minutes)
Tuesday (Strength and Capacity): Warmup, Dumbbell Shoulder External Rotation x3 sets, Dumbbell wrist curl x3 sets, Skill Drill Warmup, Max V Points
Thursday (Finger Strength and Power): Max Hangs (3fd), Skill Drill Warmup, Project Repeats, Limit Climb (Steep/Power Focus 90 Minutes)
Saturday (Open Climb, Legs and Stamina): Warmup, Open Climb (60-90 minutes), Long Hangs (3 sets), Goblet Squat (3 sets), Depth Jumps (3 sets), Lateral Skate Jumps (3 sets)|

Here's a sample of my deload week, I also deloaded right after a competition I had
Friday: Competition
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 1.25 Hours of climbing (15 minutes warmup, followed by trying 2 projects)
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Skill Drill Warmup (15-30 minutes), Limit Climb (1.5 Hours, 2 Overhang, 2 Slab)
Wednesday: Active Rest Day Core Workout, 2 Sets of Shoulder Presses
Thursday: Dumbbell Shoulder External Rotation (5 reps, 2 sets), Dumbbell Wrist Curl (5 reps, 2 sets), Skill Drill Warmup (15 minutes), Open Climb (60 minutes)
Friday: Rest 
Saturday: Wall Warmup, Limit Climb (60 Minutes)
Sunday: Rest

During the deload week, I would feel strong for about 15 minutes, but then would fatigue would start to set in very quickly, and I felt like things were harder than usual. I'm not sure if my deload is successful or not?

If my deload week isn't a proper deload, how should I resume?

Motivation:

I get the feeling that there are a lot of climbers in the v3-v5 range in this sub that are plateaued.

I have my own theories for why climbers get plateaued in this range... But I think it would be more beneficial for this community to hear from its own members that overcame their plateau rather than listen to me who never really plateaued until v11-v12 :D.

So instead of just blabbing, I'll prompt a discussion with some questions (granted, my own theories will be evident from the questions I came up with). I'm only interested in hearing from climbers who experienced a plateau in the range v3-v5 and now consistently send higher grades. If you are a climber that never really plateaued, you can grab some popcorn, but please keep your theories to yourself, at least for this discussion.

Questions:

Answer these prompts however you like. They may not apply to your specific case, and that's ok... If the question sparks some thought, just share the thought even if it's off topic.

1. How long were you plateaued in the v3-v5 range, and what grades are you sending now? How are you defining plateau?
2. What was one thing you had to admit being wrong about to yourself in order to get to the next level?
3. What was one thing you had to change in order to get the next level?
4. What do you see as your biggest disadvantage as a climber, and what role did it play in plateauing you? What kind of mental relationship do you have with this disadvantage now that you have overcome your plateau?
5. What else would you like to share?

I'm really looking forward to seeing responses. Thanks!

Edit: Asking more in question 1 per mmeeplechase's comment.

I have been climbing (mainly bouldering) for about 2 years and some change maybe coming up on 2 1/2.

I have dabbled w top rope, been interested in lead but I’m honestly developing a bit of fear of heights? Idk maybe I just don’t trust my equipment, the gym’s rope or my belay partner. Besides the point and ramble.

I can’t seem to break out of the V6 slump.

Some V6s even take me upwards of 9-10 tries.

I’ve done some V7s probably “soft” ones and I’ve done a few Kilter board V7s and some 8s

Tension board has been the most humbling I’ll attempt some 7s but mainly can’t get past 6s

I weigh 172-4lbs, 5’9” +1 ape index

Have been trying to do more finger and lock off strength exercises. So pull ups, 1 arms, finger board, campus board, pinch strengthening, just started pull strengthening on the fingers, I climb about 4 days a week I try to rest 1 day in between of course sometimes I double up and just take it easy.

2 days of the 4 I’m climbing are “training days”

warm up, stretch and board climb

What do you guys recommend I focus on for more strength or what can I add to my regiment? Should I lose more weight?

WHATS THE SECRET

Do I just have to try harder? Start lead climbing

What is it…!

Been climbing about 6 years, sitting solidly at V8 with a few V9 sends. For most of that time I treated hangboarding as warm-up filler or something I tacked on after a session when I had energy left. Which meant I almost never actually did it, and when I did it was garbage effort.

About 10 weeks ago I flipped it. Finger work first, separate day, treated like its own thing. Not a climbing accessory. I'm doing max hangs on a 20mm edge, half crimp, with added weight. Tested my rough MVC7 at around bodyweight plus 20kg. Currently working sets at about 75% of that, 6 to 8 sets per session, 3 minute rests. Session is done in 40 minutes and I leave.

The weird part is how little volume it actually is. I kept waiting to feel like I wasn't doing enough. But my contact strength on crimpy V8s and V9s has noticeably improved and I haven't tweaked anything in 10 weeks, which for me is almost a record.

I might be totally off base attributing the injury reduction to the lower volume approach rather than just getting lucky. And I genuinely don't know if the strength gains are from the protocol or just from finally being consistent for the first time.

For people who've run proper max hang cycles with real intensity targets, did you also feel like the volume was almost suspiciously low at first? And did you keep finger training completely separate from climbing days or just prioritize it at the start of a session?

Ciao everyone. I’m a 60-year-old climber looking for some training and programming advice from the older crushers (or coaches) in this community. I’ve been active for a long time, but as I’ve entered my 60s, I am hitting a hard times regarding recovery. For context, I work a desk job as a software developer, so my baseline physical activity outside of climbing is relatively low, though I try to keep generally fits.

Historically, my standard 7-day microcycle has been 3 hard sessions a week (e.g., Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday/Sunday). These sessions usually consist of indor circuits, some board climbing, and occasional hard (for me) boulders.

Lately, however, I’m noticing that by the third session of the week, I am completely empty. My power output drops significantly, my connective tissue aches, and my max hangs regress.

My thought are that my central nervous system and tendons simply cannot recover fast enough anymore for 3 high-intensity days within a strict 7-day window. I feel like that third session is just accumulating "junk fatigue" and increasing my injury risk rather than actually stimulating strength adaptations. So i’m looking to restructure my training to match my physiological age. For the older climbers here (50+), or coaches who train master-category athletes:

Did you drop to 2 hard sessions a week? If so, what do you do with the 3rd day? Pure ARCing/active recovery, or just off-the-wall antagonist/mobility work?

Has anyone shifted away from a 7-day week? I’ve heard of older athletes moving to a 9-day or 10-day rolling microcycle to allow 2 full rest days between every hard session. How did you organize this?

Also As we age, is it better to drastically cut the volume of a session while keeping the intensity high (to maintain power), or slightly lower the intensity to survive the volume?

Thanks in advance for the insights.

So the title says it. I've been climbing for 3 years, somewhat infrequently (once a week, or even less at times) for the first 2, and more consistently (2-3 times a week) for the past year. I climb V3 outside (though I've never projected an outdoor climb over multiple sessions; I could probably climb V4 if I did), V6 at my local gym (on a vertical wall, for overhang it's more like V2 outside and V4 indoor).

My concern is that despite having increased my training intensity, I climb at a rather similar level as I do before increasing my training intensity. The only difference really is that I can climb 1 grade higher indoor more-or-less, and that's mostly because I've gotten better at weird shoulder-tension moves (and I think my shoulders have gotten stronger). Even 1 year into climbing, when I was still climbing very casually, I could just barely hang bodyweight on a 20mm edge (for like 2 seconds). Now I can do the same for like 5. It should be noted that neither is with proper form; my bodyweight 20mm hang is completely skin-dependent and I can't do so in a proper half-crimp. I also started no-hangs like 4 months ago, which didn't really make any clear difference. I didn't really have a structured protocol for the no-hangs, just pulling for 10 seconds and resting for a while and doing it again. I would do this a few times a week, at least once a week, sometimes more if I felt like it.

What I'm wondering is how I managed to plateau at such a low strength level. My max half-crimp no-hang is 32kg (I weigh 80kg, I think I'm 181cm tall), and that hasn't increased in the months I've been training. I'm still in my early 20s, and I don't have any problematic health conditions as far as I'm aware. I'd think that I'd at least get newbie gains.

Obviously there's probably some information that is missing here, but I don't know what. If you have any ideas, please share.

This is a thread for topics or questions which don't warrant their own thread, as well as general spray.

Come on in and hang out!

Hi all

My question: **Is there any way to train specifically for outdoor bouldering (eg using very small edges that sometimes are very slippery from overuse or uneven/jagged) besides outdoor bouldering more?**

BACKGROUND: I’ve been an exclusively indoors only boulderer for nearly 5 years. First 4 years very casual, I was overweight, not training, etc and was sending V3s and some V4s indoors. Last 12 months I ramped up the intensity, started training and climbing seriously, lost some weight. Now flashing most indoor V5s, and sending V6/V7 indoors. I do climb at a softer gym.

I went climbing outside for the first time last week and fell in love with the outdoors. So much so that I did a second outdoor trip later in the week. Sent a few V3s and a soft V4 on these first two sessions.

However whats blowing my mind is how one is expected to hold onto such small holds even on the lower grades, uneven jaggedy edges, etc. I consider my crimp strength and pulling strength my strongest attribute as a climber - currently can hang on a 15mm edge for 10 seconds BW @165 +30lbs. My pullup 1 rep max is BW @165 +100lbs.

Some of the V4s I tried had uneven, glassy sub 20mm crimps on an overhang. Something I felt I could probably crank on indoors, but couldn’t even begin to hold statically outdoors. Dunno if its not being used to glossy rock, or uneven edges, etc.

**Obviously technique can always be improved BUT is there anything training wise I can do to better prepare for these imperfect slippery edges found everywhere outside?**

Thanks in advance. Can’t wait for the next outdoor session. It has ruined gym climbing for me 🤣

Been climbing about 4 years, projecting V7 outdoors, gym climbing V8 on a good day. My contact strength feels like the obvious limiter right now, so I've been reading into campus board plyometric work, specifically the stretch-shortening cycle stuff where you're using the elastic rebound rather than just pulling hard.

Started experimenting with double dynos on big rungs last month. Just 4 sets of 3, sub-maximal, no rebounds yet, long rests between sets. Honestly my catches feel fine and I'm not getting pumped from it. The warm-up protocol I've been following says to stop the whole session if your fingers feel even slightly worked during warm-up, which I respect, but I'm also wondering if I'm being paranoid.

Here's where I'm uncertain: everything I read implies this kind of training is for people with a much higher base. Like, legitimately scary injury potential if your tendons aren't ready. But I'm also 4 years in with no pulley injuries and I climb 4 days a week consistently. That's not nothing.

I might be totally off base here but I feel like the "wait until you're advanced" advice is sometimes just overcautious boilerplate that gets copy-pasted everywhere. Or maybe it's not and I'm exactly the person who's going to pop an A2 thinking I'm the exception.

For people who added campus plyometrics to their training: what grade were you climbing when you started, how long had you been climbing, and did you have any issues early on? Trying to figure out if there's an actual threshold or if it's more individual.