Principles of Training (for Alpinism)

Alpinism is one of the most complete and hardest sport;
One, must be very fit and to have strong muscles in both, legs and arms as we use the full body for climbing.
Climbing skills, technical knowledge and mental strength also play a key role in technical alpinism, but those are for another video.
In this video, I'll focus on the three principles that I follow for my physical trainings to prepare for expeditions in the Alps.
One of the most fundamental principle of endurance training is to steadily increase the amount of exercice every week.
Spending between 5 and 10÷ more time training every week is good.
Every month or so, it's good to have a rest week for the body to recover and to absorbe the training.
For example, if last week we trained for 10 hours, this week, we should train for 11 hours and next week for 12 hours...
You can see this quickly becomes plenty of training hours!
Training can be any physical exercise, for example, cycling, running, skiing or even football. We can adapt to our circumstances, like, the weather, our friends' plans or injuries.
In my case, in winter and spring, I go ski touring, while closer to the summer I start cycling. But if my friends are going trail running, I might as well join them and change my training plan because...
... Because the second principle is to have fun!
I have tried for a year to follow a training plan like a robot but I have also tried for another year to not follow a training plan and to follow my feelings.
Both years I managed to improve significantly, but I had much more fun when I didn't follow the plan thoughtfully.
In fact, let me mention the two most notorious North Face speed climbers, Ueli Steck and Dani Arnold. Both Swiss, they come from very different schools.
Ueli Steck was known as the Swiss machine as he used to follow his training plans to the millimeter while Dani Arnold follows more his feelings. Regardless of their approach, they have both accomplished extraordinary records.
The third principle is to focus on your weaknesses.
We improve a bit by repeating what we are good at, but we improve so much more if we train our limiting factors.
This principle will guide us to decide what aspects to train and if we're continuously monitoring our weaknesses and strengths, we should be adapting our trainings every few months.
For example, when I started climbing, my weakness was my finger strength. So I started training on the hangboard. A few months later, I realized that what was holding me back, was my flexibility, so I started doing yoga. Then I noticed that I was getting pumped up while placing cams so I focused my trainings on lock off strength...
This approach has helped me to keep continually improving and to become a better all round climber.
It's good to have a goal, like a project, and to prepare a plan to train for it.
But rather than following the plan like a robot, if you use it as a guideline and follow these three principles, you'll get there, you'll enjoy the way and it will be better for the long-term ;)
So, just to summarize:
Increase the training volume every week by 5-10÷
Adapt the training to the environment or season to have fun while training.
And to focus on your weaknesses.
This is the first video of a series of videos about training for alpinism. The next video will be about fitness training.
Subscribe to my channel to be notified when the new video gets published.
Have fun in the mountains and stay safe!
Video credit:
Dani Arnold video from Mammut:
• Dani Arnold - Speed Re...
Ueli Steck video from Jon Griffith:
• Grandes Jorasses north...
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[@mitchellbarnow1709]

Thank you so much Jon! I am always amazed by your self discipline and by the levels of fitness that you achieve.

[@Devoted96]

You're an inspiration for me... I'm an Alpinist from Southern California... We hardly get optimal conditions, so progression is quite difficult. But watching your videos from years ago to the stuff you've done today is amazing. It gives me hope I have more room to grow and improve.

[@jonmurua]

Oh! Such a nice message, thank you!

[@ShartedKegs]

Hey Jon. Awesome video. Can really tell you love what you do!

[@saimukunda6]

Thank you very much Jon. Please make more videos on training. Thank you.

[@stefanconstmano3]

I like who you think. Happy trainng

[@camilocarrillo2132]

Love the content! I think choosing a good objective and training with purpose is the first step and the most important. Just training for the sake of it wont hold increments or consistency needed to get results. It also helps you focus the priorities as you can only train so much weaknesses before injuries, overtraining or just simply hating every second when it gets really hard. Its also good for the mental game to train for your strength, to feel confident on your element and choose goals that will be part of your identity rather than a hit or miss event.

[@jonmurua]

Thank you Camilo! I think you nailed it when you mentioned to train with purpose and to have an objective. It helps to plan a training program and to keep going during the hard days. From my experience, weaknesses are the limiting factors that can dictate if we can get through the crux or not. Small Increments in the difficulty/length of the routes we climb can give us that boost of confidence and pride because we can see how we are continuously improving. Cheers!

[@3222morgan]

Hey Jon, i love the video. But besides all the cardio work. Do you do a lot of indoor climbing training on top of that?

[@jonmurua]

Hi, I go twice a week to the bouldering gym, but I do gym-type circuit trainings rather than just climbing. I complement it with fingerboard training and some bouldering for the warm up. I plan to make another video to show how I do my strength trainings and where the climbing specific training lies in my training program. Cheers!

[@lorenzopatras9897]

This is a nice video with good advice but i would take it with a grain of salt. The first advice, of increasing the training with 10% every week is just not feasable from my point of view. At some point there should be a plateau. It's unfeasable to get to train 70 hours per week. I think periodization of the training sessions is more important that just increasing the volume of training. Also, specific training will help you improve more than just doing any kind of sport. Football, as enjoyable as it is, is not as effective for alpinism as it is rock climbing, dry tooling, ice climbing and trail running. Big kudos for the part of "having fun". In the end this should be the main motivator. If it's fun keep doing it. If it makes you feel miserable, better stop and try something else. I think this applies in different aspects of life. Have fun and wish you all the best both in training and in alpinism.

[@jonmurua]

Thank you Lorenzo, you raise good points! The increase of 5-10÷ is indeed focused on a periodization. After a few months it becomes hard to find the time 😇 Although, I believe in the concept of continually trying to go further/harder in small increments. Training specific is indeed more effective, but it requires a lot of sacrifice and I find it hard to motivate in the long run. I think a good balance is necessary. Cheers!

[@slobodanzalica2681]

Dear friend, don't forget Soul-training (aesthetic approach to the sublime nature of the high mountains, feelings...) , and Spirit-training (will, and cognitive approach, thinking) -- only in this case classical Alpinism is complete -- like a Triad (body--soul--spirit) which is much higher then ordinary sport is. Classical Alpinism is like classical (artistic) music vs. so-called modern mountain climbing, that is, "free- or sport-climbing" = hip-hop "music"! Those guys, you have mentioned, are just "clambers" -- they are just a sad product of western-style materialistic culture... I have climbed big walls as well, in the Alps (Brenva. 1300 m), in the Dinaric Alps (rock-walls of 1100, 800... meters). Best regards!

[@avdo5442]

Well said my dear friend.

[@JFmaya00]

🤣