A long held belief in climbing is that the best way to improve and climb at higher grades is simply to climb more. There’s an undeniable logic to that, but at some point, in the words of pro climbing coach Justen Sjong, “Just climbing more isn’t as beneficial as targeting your training.” But what do you do? How do you turn a gym session into a training session with measurable results? How many days and how long do you train? What exercises will most benefit your climbing?

Learn from the pros

Professional climbing coach Justen “The Sensei” Sjong understands these questions better than just about anyone on the planet. He’s been climbing since 1992 and has established some of the hardest free big-wall climbs in the world, including Magic Mushroom (5.14a VI) on El Cap. He has had great success as a climbing coach as well, having instructed Daniel Woods, Emily Harrington, and Alex Puccio among others.

What’s Included

If you’re a 5.9 to 5.11 climber, this course is for you.

Through videos, weekly training programs, and periodic discussions, we’ll cover:

• Breathing
• Focus
• Engaging your inner athlete
• The power of rest
• Performance
• A detailed weekly program for each of the 9 weeks
• and much more!

How It Works

You can login and begin your training at your own pace from any device, anywhere you have a Wi-Fi connection. You’ll have access to the course and its resources forever.Climbing is a big investment of time and energy. You owe it to yourself to invest wisely. This course will help you climb one grade harder.

Syllabus:

This course follows a Monday-Sunday schedule, focusing on rest to be able to let your muscles recuperate and heal after a hard day in the gym. Below is a daily schedule of what your week will entail.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Roped Climbing*

Wednesday: Fitness

Thursday: Bouldering

Friday: Rest

Weekend: Climb for fun, hang out with your friends and family

In addition to the daily schedule, each week focuses on a different aspect of your climbing.

Week 1: Assess your climbing ability – where you are at this moment

Week 2 and Week 3: Establishing your base fitness level

Week 4: Improving your finger strength

Week 5: Rest Week

Week 6: Improving your finger strength

Week 7 and Week 8: Improving your performance

Week 9: Evaluate your progress

But know this: We realize that life obligations can get in the way, that partners can flake, that every climber’s schedule will be a little bit different. It’s A-ok to swap days so long as you are completing each week’s work before progressing and so long as you are not climbing on back-to-back days. So while we will present the program on a Monday to Sunday schedule, realize that you can adapt this to what works best for your life.

*Within the program, there will be alternate activities on Tuesdays for those who wish to focus solely on bouldering.