Welcome to the twelve-week Level 1 route climbing training plan with Uphill Athlete. This plan will introduce you to physical training for route climbing, while also systematically improving your climbing technique and skills. It’s important to note that training, unlike exercise, is progressive, systematic, and generally simple to replicate. Understand that training’s benefits play out over months and years, not days and weeks, and never lose sight of the core training principle: quantifiable progression. 

Over the course of twelve weeks you will climb a lot, and our goal is to help you do that climbing mindfully and with purpose, while also making you physically stronger through adaptation to the training stimuli. The format of this training plan is three weeks of progressive loading, followed by a one week taper in preparation for a specific trip, project, or further training. This will be repeated three times to complete the twelve week plan.

This plan is designed for climbers that are either new to climbing and training, low on time, or sport climbing in the 5.9-5.11a range. The Level 2 and Level 3 plans will introduce more traditional, specific forms of climbing training, such as the finger and campus boards as well as much more climbing volume. These plans should only be attempted if the climber has years of experience to help their muscles and tendons adapt to a higher training load.

This plan is based on your RPE, or “Rate of Perceived Exertion,” where workout intensities are guided by how hard you are working based on your perception of effort (how hard the workout feels to you) rather than by heart rate.

Whether you use an RPE-based or heart rate-based training plan, we recommend that you use a chest-strap heart rate monitor and GPS watch to log all your training.