How to improve your climbing: 7 mistakes that are holding back your training

Training mistakes in climbing are often the cause of stagnation or injury. Poor timing, overloading, lack of planning, or ignoring pain can slow your progress. If you really want to improve your climbing, the quality of your training matters more than the quantity.

Why your training can slow down your progress

Climbing training is a powerful tool. But it also causes significant mechanical and nervous stress.

After a workout, your nervous system is under strain. Your muscles are tired. Your tendons have been subjected to high levels of stress, especially in your fingers and shoulders. If you add volume in the wrong places, increase the load too quickly, or ignore certain signals, you won't speed up your progress. You'll slow it down.

Progressing in climbing doesn't just depend on your commitment. It depends on the structure of your training, how you manage recovery, and consistency over the long term.

Here are the 7 most common mistakes that prevent you from progressing in climbing.

The 7 mistakes that prevent you from progressing in rock climbing

1. Training after a climbing session

It may seem like a great idea, but it's actually a very bad idea.

After climbing, your nervous system, muscles, and tendons have already been put through their paces. Following this up with a maximum number of pull-ups on a 20 mm bar or a Güllich competition with your friends at this point is a sure-fire recipe for injury.

Finger training for climbing is demanding. Done at the wrong time, it can be destructive. If you want to improve your climbing, separate your climbing sessions from your specific training sessions. Quality always takes precedence over quantity.

2. Skipping the warm-up

The hangboard an extremely powerful tool... but also extremely demanding.

A thorough warm-up is essential before starting your workout. A good warm-up for climbing should:

• gradually increase body temperature
• activate the shoulders and shoulder blades
• move your wrists and fingers
• integrate progressive suspensions before loading

Starting directly with a demanding move, cold, is a classic mistake. Connective tissues need to be warmed up gradually. Warming up is an integral part of the training program; it is not optional.

You can find all our warm-up equipment here. And download our free white paper with tips on how to warm up properly and exercises byregistering on this page.

3. Push through the pain

If you feel pain in your fingers, behind your shoulder blades, in your shoulders... stop. You shouldn't train through pain.

Persistent discomfort is not a challenge to be overcome. It is a warning sign. Climbing injuries frequently affect pulleys, flexor tendons, or the rotator cuff. Ignoring pain in order to "keep up the pace" often ends up ruining the season.

If the pain persists, consult a healthcare professional trained in climbing. Many specialists now work specifically with climbers, such as Julien Rémillieux and Charlotte Lorelli. Improving your climbing skills sometimes means knowing when to take a break.

4. Training without a plan

Without goals and structure, training leads nowhere. You need to know what to do and why you are doing it. Volume, intensity, frequency, cycle... everything must have a logic behind it.

An effective climbing training program is based on:

• a clear objective (maximum strength, endurance, power, consistency)
• an increase in the load
• integrated recovery phases
• consistency over several weeks

If you don't have the necessary knowledge, there are plenty of qualified coaches who can help you, such as Kevin Arc, PC Training, and Fred Vionnet. The important thing is not to do everything yourself, but to follow guidelines.

5. Wanting to "succeed" at every session

Spoiler alert: it's impossible.

There are good days and bad days. Your level of fatigue, sleep, stress, and diet directly influence your performance. Trying to beat your record every time you work out is a common mistake. It leads to pushing yourself when your body isn't ready.

To improve your climbing, you need to adapt the intensity to your current fitness level while staying consistent with your program. Be demanding, but fair to yourself. Consistency always wins out over ego.

6. Charging too quickly

Start light. At first, it is important that you learn the movement and master it correctly before adding weight.

Once you've done that, find the right intensities and then the right weights. You can increase them once you've mastered and assimilated the exercises.

When training your fingers for climbing, progressing too quickly is a major factor in injury. Tendons adapt more slowly than muscles. If you increase the load or volume too quickly, you create a mismatch between muscle capacity and tendon capacity.

Progressive overload is a basic rule. It requires patience and consistency.

7. Not believing in your program

This is probably the most underestimated mistake in training.

Believing in your program and your goal makes a real difference in a training cycle. It's better to have an imperfect program that you believe in wholeheartedly and stick to than a "perfect" program designed by a highly qualified coach that you don't really follow.

Discipline creates consistency. Consistency creates progress. Progressing in climbing is a comprehensive process, not a flash in the pan.

Take the time to consider the design of your program, adapting it to your goals, but also to your abilities. Just because an athlete follows a certain program doesn't mean you have to do the same. Make sure it suits you and is adapted to your level.

Once you've designed and finalized it, believe in it wholeheartedly and stick to it. You know why you're doing it, so trust the process.

How to build an effective training program to improve your climbing skills

Now that you know the pitfalls, here are some tips for building your training program. We will be publishing a more detailed article on this topic shortly:

1. Structure your cycles

Work in blocks of several weeks. Identify one priority quality: maximum strength, power, endurance, or continuity. Avoid doing everything at once.

2. Plan your volume and intensity

Write down your sessions. Track your workload. Adjust gradually. Constant improvisation slows down progress.

3. Integrates recovery

Rest is part of training. Physiological adaptations occur during recovery, not during suspension.

4. Listen to weak signals

Unusual tension, persistent fatigue, or a sudden drop in performance are indicators that should be taken seriously.

5. Stay consistent over the long term

Progressing in climbing takes time. Sustainable progress is based on consistency, not on occasional intensity.

Finally, by correcting these mistakes, you lay the foundations for lasting progress. Consistency, patience, and quality of execution remain the most powerful levers for reaching the next level.

It is important to remember that progress in climbing depends not only on the intensity of your sessions, but also on how they are structured and sequenced. Structured, consistent training that respects your abilities will help you progress more reliably than a series of misguided efforts.

Summary

Here are the key tips you need to remember in order to progress faster in rock climbing:

• Don't schedule your training at the wrong time.
• Never skip the warm-up
• Don't ignore pain
• Don't train without a plan
• Don't demand a record every session
• Don't charge too quickly
• Don't doubt your program

Training is a powerful tool. Used intelligently, it helps you reach new levels, but if poorly structured, it slows you down.