Climbing Progression & Plateaus: Ways To Breakthrough

Anyone else ever feel like they’re plateaued at a grade and can’t seem to break through to the next level? If not, count yourself as one of the few lucky ones. For most, this happens at various points across their climbing lifespan. Everyone has their own reason for wanting to move on to harder grades: feeling stronger, internal validation, keeping up with friends, etc.
 
But, for most people (myself included), it can be super difficult at times to figure out what to focus on to improve in tangible or meaningful ways.
 
For some, it’s easy enough to point to technique or finger strength as the cause of stalled progression. But, for most, the answer is usually a whole lot more complicated...until it’s not.
 
In my experience, some of the most common reasons climbers end up with stalled progression are:

🔸Failing to challenge yourself adequately
🔹Influence of non-climbing components of performance (e.g., recovery)
🔸The influence of fear
🔹Training strength's rather than modifiable weaknesses

​Curious to learn more about each of the above and read about some ways to overcome them? Click on the 'read more' button below!

Climber: Justin Philips

Failing to Challenge Yourself Adequately 
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To get bigger/stronger/faster/better coordinated etc., our body needs to have a reason to do so. If you don’t use it, you lose it. And if you don’t need it, you won’t build it. It’s very energy demanding for the body to do things such as build muscle and improve neural connections, and then maintain these improvements. If we consistently stick to climbs that we know we can get up without falling, there’s no reason for the brain to send more refined signals, for the muscles to build stronger, or for our route reading to become more dialed.
 
When we climb and don’t manage to achieve the performance goal (i.e., falling, getting stuck at the crux, pumping out, etc.) our body/brain synthesizes all the new information and goes about refining its systems. It does this so that it has a better chance at succeeding the next time it is presented with similar challenges/tasks. For climbers, this might mean a drop knee on a precarious foot chip or a coordinated dyno requiring the perfect amount of leg swing prior to jumping.
 
Evolutionarily, this makes sense. If you couldn’t run, jump, rationalize well enough to get a meal or find shelter, humans were forced to adapt or risk not surviving. So, if you want to improve but frequently finish a session without falling or failing on a route/problem, this is likely a major barrier to progression.

Climber: Lydia Young

Influence of Non-Climbing Components of Performance 

This could be related to sleep, rest, nutrition, environmental conditions, menstrual cycle, climbing partners, work/relationship/financial stressors, etc. Each plays a role in performance & can result in slowed or negated improvements in performance if they are not accounted for in a training plan.
 
It can be easy to become hyper-focused on the goal of being better to the point of forgetting what actions led to you improving in the first place. Yes, there’s always going to be an emphasis on the act of climbing itself – it’s quite difficult to improve as a climber without actively engaging in the sport. That said, performance is about a constantly evolving and shifting dance with balance. Balance on your toes, balance in your recovery, balance in your life. If you feel that you’re doing everything right from an in-session training perspective, it might be time to consider what you’re doing between training sessions.

Photo: Marvin Lloyd

The Influence of Fear 

This can be fear of falling, fear of failure, or fear of judgement, or a combination of all 3 things. Or it might be fear of something entirely different. Regardless, if not managed successfully, it impairs our ability to think clearly, slows reaction time, increases fatigue, and erodes self-confidence. When we think of climbing higher grades or being more consistent these are all considerable limiters to doing so.
 
For many climbers (and athletes in general), we chase the moment where time seems to stop, and we reach what is commonly described as the flow state. Your body responds intuitively to the demands in front of it. Side pull, high foot, rock your weight, cross your free arm over your head, grasp the jug, clip the chains. No extra energy, no worry about whether you ate too much for breakfast, or whether your shoes are too tight. No wasted energy towards the things that might give you reason to pause and question your ability or motivations. 
 
There’s no perfect way to overcome fear and I’d wager that, with very few exceptions, every climber is battling fear in some capacity. The climbers who tend to perform at their best most consistently are also likely the climbers who have learned to acknowledge their fear without allowing it to control them. Confronting what scares you under your terms and in a relatively safe environment, whether physical or psychological, may be what’s necessary to gain control over your fears. If you feel like fear, of anything, may be what’s holding you back, it would be worth chatting with a sport psychologist.

Climber: Joe Fornari

Emphasizing Training Strengths Rather Than Weaknesses 

Inherently it feels good to succeed or be good at something. If you’re awesome at slab and mediocre on steep terrain, you’ll likely gravitate towards slab climbs. Similarly, if you can do 25 pull-ups, you’ll likely veer toward doing similar type exercises while tending to avoid training core, upper back or whatever your true training weaknesses are that may be holding you back.
 
Obvious weaknesses, such as the inability to hold on to slopers or sloppy footwork, are common and quite visible. It makes sense that the more visible the weakness, the more readily it can be identified and corrected. Unfortunately, it’s common for climbers to be limited by weaknesses that aren’t so readily visible. For instance, our weaknesses are frequently masked by our strengths until we push our abilities to the edge of what we are capable of accomplishing.  At the edge or beyond our abilities we are then able to recognize that something such as power endurance, scapular (shoulder blade) control or contact force is the most prominent limiter of our chase of improvement.
 
The more holistic the climber’s training history and understanding of their body, the better able they are to identify the subtleties acting as a roadblock. If you recognize that you’re prioritizing the things you feel you’re already good at in your training routine but can’t put your finger on what your true weaknesses are, it would be worth chatting with a climbing physio or performance coach to work towards identifying these areas and then working to create an individualized training program.

Photo: Author

Final Thoughts
 
While there are other limiting factors, these are some of the common themes I’ve noticed working with climbers. What have you noticed? Do any of the above resonate with you and your experiences? If so, what did you do to address them and achieve your goals? Let me know by messaging me on Instagram @climber.physio
 
Climb hard, climb safe, and more importantly, be the person having the most fun.

Ben Boyd, Physiotherapist (MScPT)
​@climber.physio​