[Doddify]

What other training do people do which they find beneficial?

I used to do a lot of boxing, amazing cardio and core strength and I found that this was quite good although the fatigue could sometimes make me a little weak - the overall high level of fitness made my endurance great.

I am now doing a lot more surfing which is far more heavy on the biceps with all the paddling? Initially when I started surfing again I found that all the boxing muscle I had built up (around the shoulders) was actually restrictive to surfing.

What sort of other sports do people do and does it benefit or restrict climbing?

[Nibile]

I do weights sometimes, mostly snatch pulls and one armers. Plus front lever pulls and the likes.
No cardio, unfortunately no surfing either anymore.
If you want to have a proper and omnicomprehensive look at what people do, you may want to check the Power Club.

[iwasmexican]

If you want to have a proper and omnicomprehensive look at what people do, you may want to check the Power Club.

In the nicest possible way though just because people do it doesn't necessarily mean its good for climbing. Personally I would say any activity that's spending energy that could be spent climbing (except perhaps stabilisation or antagonistic stuff to prevent injury) is restrictive to climbing.

[Muenchener]

In the nicest possible way though just because people do it doesn't necessarily mean its good for climbing. Personally I would say any activity that's spending energy that could be spent climbing (except perhaps stabilisation or antagonistic stuff to prevent injury) is restrictive to climbing.

To a degree, depending on what version of "climbing" you are referring to. For example, I want to do climbing involving twelve to fifteen hour alpine rock days. So, having read Steve House's new book, I have significantly upped my volume of aerobic base training (cycling, hillwalking) because I believe it will benefit me for that sort of thing. I am under no illusions that it will make me better at sport climbing or bouldering.

[cheque]

If you want to have a proper and omnicomprehensive look at what injuries people are trying to recover from, you may want to check the Power Club.

[Muenchener]

If you want to have a proper and omnicomprehensive look at what people do, you may want to check the Power Club.

In the nicest possible way though just because people do it doesn't necessarily mean its good for climbing. Personally I would say any activity that's spending energy that could be spent climbing (except perhaps stabilisation or antagonistic stuff to prevent injury) is restrictive to climbing.

Of course there's a crucial difference between people doing things that aren't climbing because they think it will benefit their climbing, and people doing things that aren't climbing because they enjoy them.

In the first case, it might or might not work; in the second case, as mex says they will almost certainly not be as good at either activity as they would be if they put all their effort into one of them, but if they're happy with that then there's no problem. At one point in my life I got to brown belt in karate, then gave it up because to get to black belt I was going to have to drastically cut back on my climbing which I decided I didn't want to do.

[SA Chris]

Personally I would say any activity that's spending energy that could be spent climbing (except perhaps stabilisation or antagonistic stuff to prevent injury) is restrictive to climbing.

What if you are trying to burn some calories and improve overall fitness?

[Sasquatch]

Climb more.  You'll get fitter, burn calories, and get better at climbing

[Sasquatch]

In responce to the original post, at the moment I also play football, run, cross country ski, Mtn Bike, yoga, and hike. In the past I also did road biking and triathlons.

Football - no help to climbing, negatives are constant ankle and hamstring tweaks and pulls as well as excess leg bulk.

Running, Skiing, Mtn Bike, Rd Bike, Triathlon - No direct help to climbing, helped to keep weight down overall, but have learned there are other ways as well. all increased leg mass as a negative.

Yoga - Directe benefits are balance, stability, and flexibility. indirect benefits are increased overall body balance resulting in fewer tweaks to shoulder, back etc. no negatives yet.

Hiking - negative bigger legs, positives, approaches are easy and I keep finding new boulders

[TobyD]

Yoga - Directe benefits are balance, stability, and flexibility. indirect benefits are increased overall body balance resulting in fewer tweaks to shoulder, back etc. no negatives yet.

Breathing control is the biggest benefit to climbing I find from Yoga. Along with tweak limitation perhaps.