[al123]

hi all, having recently started climbing i want to progess from my current normal grade of font 6ish upwards to higher grades and i think i need to devolp more arm,core and leg strength to porgess my climing as well as learning the techniques. the reason why i think i need more strength is that i was trying some 6b's on sunday at burbage north and on one of them i needed to stand a small crimpy ledge thing no more than 3mm out and stand up but i felt i didnt have the strength to pull myself up or stand up so i am after a good circuit or similiar i could do at home without any equipment. also would it be a worthwile idea to go running to develope cardio fitness and build musclear endurance in my legs??
thanks for any help

[chris05]

There are plenty of people on here who can offer more informed advice than me but I would guess the general advice would be to simply climb as much as you can.  Its likely to be better technique rather than strength you need. Your legs are likely to be plenty strong enough.

I have been at a similar level for a while and have seen some improvement recently from improving finger strength, climbing more and running to keep weight low. Core work seems to be helpful too. Unfortunately this hasn't resulted in outright crushage as yet but it will....!

[erm, sam]

How recently is "recently'? font 6b is not shabby for a 'beginner'. Do more climbing. If you are new to climbing then improvements in technique will make a lot more difference than getting stronger.
If you are unable to climb more due to circumstance then by all means look up hangboarding, beastmaker, pullups,  etc to get some ideas for at home training, but don't be fooled into thinking this will make you a better climber. It will make you stronger, which is a start but not an end.

Dave Mcloed has lots of good stuff on his coaching blog and if you have a trawl through here you will find a load of useful stuff.
"The Self coached Climber" is a good book to read also, as is DMC's "9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes"

Mods- How about a sticky for "Beginners wanting to get better" Seems to come up a lot..

[al123]

um  i would say i have been bouldering for 2months max now and font 6b would be a sort of mini project for me depending on the type of problem but i geuss a more approiate grade would be font 6a but anyway. hmmm at first i tought it was technique but i was with a much better climber than me so he would do it then i would try it and he would direct me on what to do but i think a bit of it was technique but i think it was more of a lack of stregth in my chest and core area muscles as the problem was a wide compression sort of start where i had my hands strected out to the side of me and had to stand up on a small foothold to swicth my left hand to grab a hold above and to the right of me. hard to explain and understand i know but if you can shed light on this that would be great

[erm, sam]

Obviously I have not seen you climb, but unless you are an actual real Jedi I expect your technique is likely to be sketchy, on account of having little time on rock (unless you are sandbagging me because you have 10 years tradding experience, just no bouldering). I'm sure strength will help a lot, look at typewriters on a pull up bar perhaps to make you feel stonger on open shoulder moves, but overall TECHNIQUE is where it is at.
Best to spend a lot of time just moving on rock and not get to projecty at this point I think. At this stage every minute you spend resting between goes on something harder is a minute wasted because you could have been learning about foot or body positioning etc by climbing something easier. It is obviously important to have fun, and trying hard things is fun, but don't get bogged down in it. Just climb stuff.
What problem was it by the way?

[SA Chris]

i was with a much better climber than me so he would do it then i would try it and he would direct me on what to do but i think a bit of it was technique but i think it was

Are you getting being shown how to do something confused with technique? Being shown a sequence is part of the technique, but the all encompassing term "technique" goes a lot further than that. It can be anything from body positioning, grip use, footwork, legwork, balance, use of shoulders and hips and a myriad of other things. I

As per the above, you would do well to just get out on real rock as much as possible, and just get volumes of climbing in, concentrating on climbing smoothly, experimenting with hold use and foot placement and trying not to just stretch for the best hold and bear down on it. Lack of strength is no doubt also a factor, but unlikely to be the major factor.