Mental strength, the ability to think—and act—clearly and smartly in demanding and dangerous situations, is the single most difficult capacity to improve as a mountain athlete. The building blocks of mental strength may contain concrete knowledge of weather, snowpack, and navigation. But most of what makes a mentally strong climber, skier, or runner is not readily understandable. As concentration, calmness, confidence, and clarity of judgment are the hallmarks of the greats, it’s worth a closer study. My Time in Slovenia It was a fortunate accident that I studied in Slovenia, then a state of Yugoslavia, in 1988 and 1989. There…
Author: Steve House
Recently I attended the annual Guide’s Festival in Courmayeur, Italy, which is home to the second-oldest guide office in the world (founded in 1850!). As part of the celebrations I was invited by the Guide’s Office to participate in a discussion about the future of alpinism with my Italian friend and alpinist Herve Barmasse. Renowned Italian sports journalist Luca Castaldini, of Sportweek, did an excellent job moderating. The conversation made me think, and so I’d like to share some of my thoughts with our readers here. What follows are a selection of Luca’s questions and edited (by me) versions of…
We recommend you visit the Uphill Athlete strength training landing page—Strength Training for the Mountain Athlete—for a full rundown of how to develop both general and specific strength for your chosen mountain sport. The Uphill Athlete KIS Strength Series -by Steve House, Uphill Athlete co-founder and Master Coach Endurance athletes and climbers do not tend to come from strength and conditioning backgrounds. They don’t hang out in globo-gyms and few know an Olympic bar from an Airdyne. However, as soon as you start reading a word about strength training, the terms and protocols come rapid-fire: reps, sets, 1RM, OHS, and…
Core strength plays a supportive, albeit critical, role in locomotive sports like skimo racing. That role is to provide a stable platform from which the arms and legs can perform their locomotive functions. While core exercises are basic and not necessarily sport specific, they can provide a needed base of support for sport-specific training.To develop core strength is often challenging because you first need to learn how to engage some very deep muscles that are primarily used to stabilize the spine, hips, and shoulders and not for locomotion. This makes them hard to access and notice. These guys aren’t moving…
The magnitude of your commitment must be equal to the size of your goal. That principle sounds obvious, but it is the one we see violated most often by athletes who come to us with ambitious objectives. They are big on dream and small on commitment. Understanding what elite-level mountain performance actually requires—in terms of training volume, consistency, and years of development—can help you calibrate your own goals and your willingness to pursue them. Let’s start by looking behind the curtain at what three very successful mountain athletes’ training actually looks like. What Does Elite Mountain Training Volume Look Like?…
Work hard? Rest hard! If your idea of post-workout recovery is flopping onto the couch with a beer and chips or a quick dash through the shower as you race off to work, you might want to reconsider your approach. Chances are you take the improvement of your performance in your chosen sport pretty seriously and want to maximize the gains from your training. The Toll of Training Training requires many hundreds and even thousands of repetitive movements. Lack of recovery, rather than too much training, is often the cause of poor or no adaptation. If you are pushing your…
Ultimately, climbing in all forms combines fitness, skill, and judgment in varying ways dependent on the climb and conditions on that climb. Fitness alone can take you far on a route like the North Col on Everest, which requires few technical climbing skills. But fitness by itself is less impactful on a technical route that requires a high skill component. We spend a lot of time, ink, and pixels talking about improving fitness. But how does one best improve technical skill? Everyone involved at Uphill Athlete has spent most of their life dedicated to a technique-intensive sport, whether that be…
When doing ARC training or accumulating pitches during a climbing marathon session, it can be easy to lose your concentration and let your form slide downhill. Here are some technique drills you can work on while you log the vertical. If you have your own favorite climbing drill, email us your suggestion and we’ll add it to the list! If you are looking to incorporate drills into a robust training session, see the article: Training for Rock Climbing. Rock Climbing Technique Drills Pick one drill per session. When your mind wanders to that Weiss beer waiting for you at the…
If you know the history of rock climbing in Yosemite, you know that many of the famed Stonemasters would winter in Joshua Tree. There, with no long routes, John Bachar and friends invented the Half Dome Day (20 pitches in a day) and the El Cap Day (36 pitches). Climbing marathons were born. This decades-old practice is a valid and often-overlooked training tool. I was reminded of this time-honored tradition as I laced my boots for a competitive climbing marathon this last weekend. The event, a fun, tongue-in-cheek celebration of the birth of sport climbing, has as its signature event…
When it comes to rock climbing training, building a solid foundation is just as important as perfecting advanced techniques. While trail runners and mountaineers often rely on extensive aerobic base training for endurance, climbers need a more tailored approach to improve their performance. This is where ARC training—short for ‘Aerobic, Respiration, and Capillarity’ training—comes into play. Similar to a long Zone 2 run for mountaineers, ARC training serves as the cornerstone of climbing endurance, establishing the base fitness that supports strength, power, and power-endurance during climbs. ARC training specifically targets the forearm muscles, a critical area for maintaining grip and…