“My climbing gym is the world”
Barbara Zangerl
Barbara it’s an adventurer, multipitch climber on big walls around the World and trad climber. After many years spent just bouldering (first indoor than outdoor) she embraced a wider range of climbing styles and right now it’s a complete climber.
So for me personally the gym season is really important. I like it to spend time in the gym to get ready for the upcoming season.
I don’t have a specific training for different kind of rock or a special training for a special route.
For me it is more like a training program where I gain power and endurance to get ready for my projects.
I spent 2-3 month from December to end of February mostly in the gym and only rarely get outdoors at this period of the year.
It’s not only about training. It’s just a different focus. Of course I like the time outdoors on the rocks on different big walls or sport climbs much more then the training indoors.
But I enjoy it to have a daily routine and follow the motivation to get fit again and combine that with different sports like backcountry skiing or cross country skiing.
And another good thing of a longer period in the gym is that I get extremely motivated to climb on real rock again. :-)
At the moment my focus is on big wall climbing, sport and trad. Because of that I try to focus on power first. Most of the time I train in the bouldering gym doing different circles. (like a sloper, crimp- and pinch circle) I do this circle training 3 times a week. I climb each circle 8 times and at the end of this interval training, I do power exercises, to move hand over hand without feet, training with the rings and co.
Or I just go bouldering and try different boulders in the local gym.
I like to train 2 times a week on a beast maker or spend some time on the campus board as well. I combine that all with some stretching.
And after a certain time I focus more on endurance and less on power, climbing a lot of pitches in the rope climbing gym, or making longer circles in the bouldering gym.
For me personally it is really motivating to have a training partner, that makes it much more fun even if I have a day where I am not 100% motivated. I think the most important about the gym training is that you don’t have to force yourself to a strict program. Listen to your body and enjoy the training.
Share the training with friends and have fun doing that!
“Share the training with friends and have fun doing that!”