Climbing

Background: I am 5'1 and a half. I started climbing in college, and now I climb 2-3 times a week at the V4-V5 level.

Contents

1. Fall 2023 and Spring 2024
2. Summer 2024
3. Fall 2024
4. Summer 2025
5. General thoughts

Fall 2023 and Spring 2024

I started indoor climbing in my first semester of college. I went an average of 1-2 times a week in my freshman year, for a total of 18 sessions in my first semester and 10 sessions in my second semester. I bought climbing shoes after 11 sessions.

During that entire year, I stayed at the V0-V2 level. While I could blame my lack of strength and my height, I think the main problem was simply that I didn't push myself to do V3 climbs.

I have a completionist attitude about finishing all the climbs in a grade first. But I didn't go often enough to finish all the V0-V2 climbs in the gym, so I stayed at that level.

Takeaway: Go climbing more often.

Summer 2024

In the summer, I continued climbing. We went an average of 2 times a week, for a total of 21 sessions.

One of my friends broke through V1 in his first session, V2 in the second session, V3 in the third session, and V4 in the fourth session. We joked that he had linear growth. Climbing with him really pushed me to try harder grades, and I broke through V3 at the same time that summer.

Takeaway: Collaboration can help you break through plateaus. Watch and talk to people!

Fall 2024

In my first semester of sophomore year, I climbed a total of 26 times. But I was stuck in the V2-V3 range and felt frequently frustrated with the wall.

One of the things that I didn't know at the time was that rest is not the same as recovery. As a beginner, a day of rest is probably enough to be fully recovered. But when you put more stress on your body, it might take days of rest or "active recovery" before you are fully recovered. And on those recovery days, you won't be able to quite perform at your best. This just happens naturally from the cycle of stress and recovery.

Because my mantra was just to try harder, that semester I:

1. Sprained my ankle from falling badly off a wall
2. Pulled a back muscle from attempting an overhang problem too many times
3. Cried frustrated tears after falling off a V2 I "should" be able to do

I didn't climb for a week after the sprained ankle. I also had to stop climbing for a semester to let my back recover.

Takeaway: Listen to your body. Don't put too much stress in a particular muscle in one session by attempting a problem over and over again.

Summer 2025

I started climbing again after a semester off. I could climb around half of the V3s and some of the soft V4s in the gym. The goal I gave myself was to send one new V3 every session and one new V4 every week. I think it motivated me to keep trying on my projects. My strengths are slabs and crimps, but I struggled on dynos, overhangs, roofs, and long routes that required more strength and stamina.

I also started going to the gym to get stronger. It was a bit difficult balancing gym with climbing—If I wasn't careful about how hard I pushed myself in the gym, I could accidentally put myself out of commission (for climbing) for 1-2 days.

Takeaway: Other aspects of your life will invariably affect your climbing progression. It's important to eat well, sleep well, and not be chronically stressed.

Fall 2025

I found a really nice group of friends to climb with this semester. I think that really motivated me to go more often, which helped a lot with my climbing. I climbed a total of 32 times this semester, and I sent my first V5!

Toward the end of the semester, I would often end a session without sending anything new. Perhaps it's a sign of a plateau. I think I should focus a little more on volume and do less projecting. My weaknesses are still dynos, body tension, and slopers.

I also started recording my climbs! I don't feel that they're that helpful for analyzing technique, but it's nice to have a reminder of some of the climbs I've done.

I tried maintaining my gym routine, but I became too busy with schoolwork, and it interfered with my climbing schedule.

Takeaway: Climb with friends! You will climb more often!

General thoughts

Technique is mainly about getting the right body position and footwork to maintain tension while minimizing the amount of force put on the hands and the fingers. In other words: "legs strong, arms weak." This is a great video on the topic: Learn 100+ Climbing Techniques With Just 4 Movement Concepts.

Focus on technique all the time. Never try to muscle through anything. If you get a problem by muscling through it, come back later and do it with better technique.

Try to spend at least 2-3 sessions on volume and 0-1 sessions on projects per week. Building up a base is more important than trying to send a specific hard problem. Repeating a hard problem over and over again can also increase risk of injury.

If you're a short climber, there will be some problems that are much easier for taller climbers. For example, I have a friend who is stronger and taller than me, but a weaker climber. The set of V3s I can do and the set of V3s he can do is completely disjoint. My advice is to treat this problem like it is a higher grade. You can do it, but you might have to become stronger and scrappier.

Links

I was inspired to write this after reading Steven's 7.5 year self assessment of climbing, strength training, and hangboard. It's really inspiring hearing how other climbers approach training.