Bent over rows with full concentric contraction all the way up so the bar is against your chest, shoulders externally rotated, hold for a second, down again. And I'd go for like, heavy weights, low reps. I dunno what that would be for you but 3 reps where you could do a 4th if you desperately wanted but probably not a 5th to save your life would be good.I guess it depends whether you want to do left arm cable flies to get better at this one move, or get generically stronger shoulders, in which case bench, strict, bent over rows etc would be my cautious suggestion. But lateral cable work probably would do it. I'm just generally a believer in barbell compound movements.
Heel hooks are quite technical so I suggest exercises should to be as specific as you can make them, perhaps after a short period of a more general conditioning style like hamstring curls. Make a habit of practicing heel hooking when you're bouldering.
Completely agree re:specificity and technique.But I'm rubbish at a horse squat, struggle with anything like a bridge position, and couldn't even do a bodyweight Romanian deadlift with passable form. Conclusion: these exercises are so far removed from heel hooking that I would question whether they have any relevance for most climbers.
Quote from: duncan on April 12, 2022, 11:35:22 amHeel hooks are quite technical so I suggest exercises should to be as specific as you can make them, perhaps after a short period of a more general conditioning style like hamstring curls. Make a habit of practicing heel hooking when you're bouldering.Completely agree re:specificity and technique.Heel hooking is by far my biggest strength in climbing. I'm always using heels that other people don't have the mobility for or can't get anything out of (like a punter version of Ned).But I'm rubbish at a horse squat, struggle with anything like a bridge position, and couldn't even do a bodyweight Romanian deadlift with passable form. Conclusion: these exercises are so far removed from heel hooking that I would question whether they have any relevance for most climbers.
I think if you have a specific injury that needs rehab then general exercises are useful but then beyond this point I prefer to target specific movements by setting them at different intensities on my board and steadily ramping it up. This has been far more effective than the more general conditioning I've done over the years as it contains the benefits of structured exercises i.e. graded increase in intensity, repetitive loading at an appropriate workload but also incorporates a very high level of specificity. Not sure if this is an option for you but certainly worth prioritising IMO if possible.