9 Bad Training Habits That Damage Performance

Training for climbing is a long journey and one that takes years for any one individual to perfect. For this reason we believe one of the best things a climber can do for their long term progression and performance is build good climbing and training habits. These will stay with you for the long term and will compound the effectiveness of any training routine you are following. In this video we run through 9 of the common bad habits we think climbers are making.

0:16 Bad habit 1: Not warming up your lower body.
1:15 Bad habit 2: Not resting between attempts.
2:04 Bad habit 3: Only using one grip type.
3:27 Bad habit 4: Not perfecting climbs.
4:30 Bad habit 5: Not working rest positions.
5:09 Bad habit 6: Changing your training too often.
5:56 Bad habit 7: Not persevering with one method.
6:29 Bad habit 8: Over analysing your performance.
7:19 Bad habit 9: Not brushing holds
7:42 Bad habit 10: Not wearing wash up gloves

Thanks to @TheDepotClimbing for having us film at their gym.

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[pavelpayne]

I like all the points you emphasised but I found one missing: Not to enjoy the climb. In every gym the grading is different and often fluctuates over time but the point is to enjoy the movement. No matter how it's graded (either outside or in a gym) the point is to have fun, enjoy every move and improve. Is it graded two grades lower than you onsight and you struggle? Who cares! The route setter may have a different body type or whatsoever, if it is an enjoyable boulder problem, enjoy it. I have seen too many people in gyms and outside at crags showing nothing but frustration from their inability to reach their goals. And they are not professionals. If climbing is just your hobby sport (like mine for the past 20 years), focus on enjoying no matter the grade is!

[ianderk]

#10: Never Downclimbing Before Coming Off a Route

I see a lot of climbers skip downclimbing and trusting their ability to fall properly every time. Good falling technique is important, and downclimbing supports imperfect falling technique. In some places, gyms only set downclimb holds for beginner routes. This practice encourages climbers to think of downclimbing as "beginners only" rather than a good safety practice. Downclimbing might not be possible on every problem, but taking the more controlled falls with a bit of downclimbing helps prevent injuries that will take you out of climbing for a long time.

[tediousgeorge]

Another potential point, at least for me, is: Be careful when you compare your own progress with someone elses progress. Also, be careful when you compare yourself as you are now with someone who is stronger than you. Both of these points risk demoralizing you, demotivating training and slippering the slope down to slower progression due to something like low motivation or bad "catching up" training. If you get hyped or engaged when doing these things, then it's not a problem obviously.

[TomDufall]

The absolute easiest way to fix #2 and rest properly between climbs is simply to climb with other people. With 3-4 people you can hit a good natural rhythm of 1-2 people climbing at a time while the rest watch and/or chat. It's also a great way to learn technique and think about route choice by critiquing (not necessarily aloud!) others' route choices and you can help each other out with pointing out holds and brushing. The obvious downside to this is the difficulty trying to get people available at the same time or trying to meet new people.

[zachwaltman]

"Not perfecting climbs" really good one. Started working this because an injury's been forcing me to do easy climbs for a while. Really honing the beta for easy problems feels a lot more rewarding and valuable than a session full of sloppy flashes.

[BGChicks]

I completely agree with point #4! Doing a route properly can be a valuable learning experience. However, it's important to recognize that sometimes you may not have the necessary strength or technique to execute it perfectly, and that's okay too.

[jorgecoronado]

0:16 Bad habit 1: Not warming up your lower body.
1:15 Bad habit 2: Not resting between attempts.
2:04 Bad habit 3: Only using one grip type.
3:27 Bad habit 4: Not perfecting climbs.
4:30 Bad habit 5: Not working rest positions.
5:09 Bad habit 6: Changing your training too often.
5:56 Bad habit 7: Not persevering with one method.
6:29 Bad habit 8: Over analysing your performance.
7:19 Bad habit 9: Not brushing holds
7:42 Bad habit 10: Not wearing wash up gloves

[robinvickersbatzdorf]

I have gained so much useful information from lattice videos over the years, but I think that glove video from Josh takes the cake🤣

[TheRodiscumbag]

Points 6-8 are something this video made me realise I've been missing. Not just from climbing but education too. I feel like those apply to everything really, I've been very bad at managing those things and my grades have suffered as I always try to change things up, especially when the semester grades come back. Similarly, in climbing or other sports I've practiced over the years I've never kept consistent and always tried to overanalyze everything and thinking I must make changes all the time.
These tips were very insightful, and to anyone with consistency issues it hopefully helps realise them better! Keep persevering!

[sandbox]

Josh giving tips on washing up is the video we never knew we needed. Will be turning on notifications waiting for it.

[flip_lange]

#4 and #7 (the freaking out and anxiety part) are definitely my thing lol! Great video guys especially for including gloves for dish washing! It's an often overlooked performance metric haha

[franckpolia]

Thank you for this video, i've been climbing since awhile now, and most videos about good or bad training habits just keep repeating things we all already know and are really basic common sense. Your advices were really relevant and new to me, so thanks a lot.

[carolinacolmenaresp]

Absolutely LOVED this video, thanks!!!! ❤

[skinnygenesT]

Like Josh I have sweaty skin and intuitively figured out that gloves were needed when washing up dishes to keep my skin dry. But unlike Josh I always bought larger gloves so I didn't struggle taking them off and just dealt with using overly sized gloves while washing up. The beta at the end was mind blowing

[postmanpat]

At 52yrs old - I have no choice but to warm up properly 🤣definitely great advice 💪

[BunnyAce]

I think I'm very guilty of habit #4
I still often redo climbs but only the ones I liked doing, there are some climbs I kind of "luckily" do and then I don't redo them.

[thegeorgecameron]

Thanks for the glove tips Josh! I will never again have to deal with individually getting each finger back to being the right way around :D

[LePetitBat]

For me #3 is the most useful. I think it describes me so well, I do attempts over attempts without resting and it makes you so much more prone to injuries. 2 weeks ago I did a "feet first" move where you throw your feet up dynamically, more than 10 times in a row, and I'm still recovering for the back muscle strain it gave me. I've also had bicep pain + golfer/tennis elbow for months and I cannot get rid of it, it may probably be linked with this no resting thing...

[ravenbom]

Yeah, I've been trying to perfect my climbs. Especially with dynos or strange movements/cruxes.
But I will say only fell into that habit when I'm climbing at or near my limit.

It's a little bit of an easier habit with slabs, though. Slabs are more technical, than strength based so I tend to be able to send higher grades on slab now.

[AllegraClimbingPsychologist]

Bad habit 4 is so undervalued! It has a lot to do about how you are able to manage reward, uncertainty and failure. You might see some pro climbers that self-identify as perfectionists (like Janja Garnbret or Anna Hazelnut) that would want to make each and every climb perfect. You don't need to reach that level of perfectionism (it has its own drawbacks) to improve, but it can show you how much you can develop as a climber if you are willing to risk lowering your beliefs of what you are able to do. It's hard! We like to believe that we managed the climb because of our abilities and not because it was a one-try fluke of luck. But it's one of the best tools that we have to really get outside of the plateau!