Welcome to the twelve week Level 1 route climbing training plan with Uphill Athlete. This plan will introduce you to physical training for route climbing, while also systematically improving your climbing technique and skills. It’s important to note that training, unlike exercise, is progressive, systematic, and generally simple to replicate. Understand that training’s benefits play out over months and years, not days and weeks, and never lose sight of the core training principle: quantifiable progression.

Over the course of twelve weeks you will climb a lot, and our goal is to help you do that climbing mindfully and with purpose, while also making you physically stronger through adaptation to the training stimuli. The format of this training plan is three weeks of progressive loading, followed by a one week taper in preparation for a specific trip, project, or further training. This will be repeated three times to complete the twelve week plan.

This plan is designed for climbers that are either new to climbing and training, low on time, or sport climbing in the 5.9-5.11a range. The Level 2 and Level 3 plans will introduce more traditional, specific forms of climbing training, such as the finger and campus boards as well as much more climbing volume. These plans should only be attempted if the climber has years of experience to help their muscles and tendons adapt to a higher training load.

Required equipment:

-Climbing Gym
-Climbing Shoes
-Chalk Bag/Brush
-Logbook
-Basic free weights/yoga mat for strength and mobility sessions

Trying Hard: A common skill amongst advanced and expert climbers is the ability to try really f****ing hard! This is a trained skill, and can not be underestimated. In order for you to get the most out of this training cycle it’s important that you give your best; sometimes in the form of mental focus, other times as maximum physical effort, and often as both. Trust that over time trying hard will become a habit, and translate into long term performance gains.

Skipping Workouts: To get the most out of the training plan it’s best to follow it as closely as possible, but obviously life sometimes gets in the way. For that reason we’ve added a * symbol to the most critical workouts in the training schedule. Do your absolute best to do these workouts each week. Skip optional workouts first, followed by non * workouts, whenever time constraints are an issue. If you miss more than one critical workout in a week, repeat that week.

Workout Timing: We have labeled workouts with am or pm when timing is important. The aim of this is to spread the load, maximize rest time, and increase workout quality. The plan will still work if you are unable to spread out the workouts as prescribed, but will likely be somewhat less effective. If a workout is not labeled specifically with am or pm complete the workout at any time during the day.

Workout focus and drills: Many workouts will be accompanied by a focus or drill. Although these can sometimes be mentally draining, and detract from your overall climbing performance within the workout, be sure to give them your full attention. They are an excellent way to improve climbing specific skills, and discover weaknesses. Later in the training plans, fewer workouts will have an accompanying workout, or drill. See this as an opportunity to revisit a drill, or focus that you struggled with, or simply commit more energy to the workout itself.

Warm-ups: Never skip or truncate the warm-up portion of the workouts; these are critical for performance, and most importantly avoiding injury.