Cross Training for Climbing with CrossFit

Crossfit - will you be crowned the next "fittest on Earth?" While CrossFit athletes are undoubtedly fit, there's often a lot of controversy surrounding the sport. Some people are all for it, while others see it as a sure path to injury. But, as with everything, we believe in moderation and education! 

How can you take your interest or background in CrossFit and program the training in a way that is also beneficial for climbing? When incorporating CrossFit as cross-training for climbing, the goal should be to gain strength, mobility, and overall agility. While the lifting heaving part is super inspiring, lifting super heaving usually means packing on a significant amount of solid muscle. There is no right or wrong body type for climbing, but having bulky muscles can limit mobility and range of motion and add extra weight you have to pull up the wall. While you certainly want to train to be strong for climbing, you may avoid bulking on 20 extra pounds of muscle you'll have to pull up the wall. Instead, the focus should be on increasing muscle density and improving strength. 

The beauty of CrossFit is that many Workouts of the Day (WODs) incorporate some gymnastics movements, some mobility-based movements, and some strength movements. So after delving through a plethora of WODS, we've broken down some of the most common exercises you'll see into "Yay-Let's Train" and "No, Stay Away" categories. Within each category, we have included subsections of movements to reflect the variety of training styles CrossFit typically incorporates, including foundational fitness movements, gymnastics movements, and Olympic weightlifting movements. 

Of course, these are our suggestions and by no means expert CrossFit advice, but if you're looking at what type of CrossFit movements will best aid your climbing, the "Yay-Let's Train" section is where we'd suggest you start!

Reach New Heights with Cross Training and CrossFit

➔  Foundational Movements

These movements are the basis of most functional fitness and strength training and will allow you to strengthen major muscle groups used in climbing.

● Air Squats 

● Back Squats

● Deadlifts

● Bench Press

➔  Gymnastic Movements

The gymnastic movements CrossFit adapts are great for training strength and, even more critical, mobility. Climbing is a body weight sport in that you aren’t required to be strong enough to maneuver extra weight, just the weight of your own body. The following exercises often also correlate to on-the-wall improvements.

● Strict Pull-Ups

● Ring or Bar Muscle-Up

● Peg Board

● Sit-ups

● Push-ups

● Ring Rows

● L-sits

● L-sit Pull-ups

● Box Jumps

● Dips/Ring Dips

● Toes-to-Bar

● Handstand Push-Up

● Handstand Walks

● Rope Climbs (with and without Legs)

● Burpees

➔  Cardio 

A solid cardio base will benefit your climbing (you’ll recover faster between climbs and feel less tired hiking into the crag) and your overall quality of life. CrossFit workouts often incorporate HIIT-style cardio, but the exercises seen in WODs are great to add to your training regime.

● Jump-rope

● Running

● Biking

No, Stay Away! 

While we aren’t saying these movements could harm you, they require more experience and have a higher risk: reward ratio. Proper form and coaching are also crucial to ensure you remain injury free when attempting and learning these movements. All of these workouts are more complex than the ones we awarded the green light for training for climbing. Due to their complexity, there is a higher risk of injury, and they are not as effective when translating strength to climbing gains. 

➔  Foundational Movements

● Front Squat

● Overhead Squat 

● Shoulder Press

● Push Press

● Push Jerk

➔  Gymnastic Movements 

● Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups 

● Kipping Handstand Push-ups

➔  Olympic Weightlifting Movements

● Clean

● Power Clean

● Snatch

● Power Snatch

● Hang Power Clean

● Dumbbell Snatch

CrossFit is an excellent option for building strength and coordination when cross-training for rock climbing. Remember that not all CrossFit workouts may directly correlate to improving muscles important for rock climbing. However, the beauty of CrossFit is in the variety. You always have the flexibility to borrow the exercises that work and leave behind those that don’t! 

Hopefully, you found this article helpful! We’d love to hear from you in the comments below on whether you’re a CrossFit fan or have ever tried to cross-train for climbing with CrossFit!