Rock climbing requires plenty of stamina and strength. You can build these up on the way using rock climbing training. You should include strength and stamina training as part of your physic exercise regime in order to get the most out of your rock climbing and to be physically able to try more advanced climbs. A good exercise for mixed rock or ice climbing is to use a bar or beam. Practice placing your axes over it and pulling yourself up. You might want to try this one with bare feet if you are working on strength. Arm pull ups are also helpful and you can add variation when loading each arm. You can vary these again, depending on different rock types. If you are working on improving your endurance, use a foothold for assistance to reach the target. This is a good exercise in building stamina.
You can use a Bachar ladder to crank-up with your tools. This is also very good practice for rock climbing training because you are synchronizing your muscle contractions with your movements, as you would do in real climbing. You can do this with your feet to improve stamina and without your feel to improve strength. It can be risky to climb high alone strapped to ice tools so make sure you do your pushups and hold on to a firm support.
Sometimes, when doing rock climbing, you have to hold your arms steady while placing protection or hacking out your next placement. This can be quite strenuous. You can do these exercises or combine them with some or all of the others mentioned above.
When you are doing rock climbing training, use three key positions. These are 90 degrees, 130 to 150 degrees and fully locked. Use one arm to test strength and specifics. This is very important. You also have to swing the axe three of four times above your head, if you want to make a placement, so you will need to work on arm strength.
Practice using both of your arms and also use your feet. Every climber should be aware of contraction guidelines. The limit is 30 seconds per lock, else you risk straining your capsules and tendons because of overworking them.
Sometimes if you swing your axe badly to try to hack out a stubborn placement, this results in jelly arm. Some varieties of the ice axe Bouldering focus on this.
Strength in rock climbing is about pulling out and locking off. All the antagonist muscles are used when you are placing and maintaining your axes in a stable way.
When you are raising the axe and using your triceps, forearm and wrist to drive it into the ice, this makes use of the deltoid group of muscles. When you are doing mixed climbing, a sequence of synergists is introduced to help you secure your axe when you are using narrow or precarious placements.
Not only is rock climbing training important for making sure you are physically prepared to do the real thing but it helps to keep you fit and strong enough to handle the climbs well which, in turn, makes rock climbing much more enjoyable.
