Train With Purpose: Why Intentionality Separates Good From Great Climbers

How’s it going fam!?
Here at Elite Performance Climbing, I want to start things off right by laying a solid foundation that we can build a mighty fortress upon.

Time is a precious
commodity for climbers.

Many of us often feel overwhelmed while trying to juggle work, school, extracurricular activities, climbing, training, and everything else life throws at us, which is a major challenge for anyone trying to become an elite athlete. At EPC, we have a saying: “We Build Savages,” but that’s hard to do with the limited time athletes have available, so we have to be VERY intentional. 

Intentionality is a very powerful tool. It saves you time and effort, and can be harnessed in life-changing ways to create incredible outcomes. By harnessing the power of intention, you will see improvements not only in your climbing but also in your performance training. That's where I come in. This sacred space, The Iron Jungle, is where we pair science and intention to create very specific outcomes. The difference between good, great, and elite performance is all rooted in the use of intention. Let’s take a look at three climbers using intentionality in varying degrees of application.

Biff is a good climber and a rad dude. He’s on the climbing team and competes well, but he never breaks into the top half of the leaderboard. He’s there for a good time, is more laid back, and doesn't take his performance training very seriously. (Your gym’s Biff is usually the one making fart jokes during the core training part of the session.) He works on his climbing projects for a week or two before getting them, but they look good enough for his Instagram.  

George is a great climber and also a rad dude. He has been climbing for about five years and is one of the strongest climbers at the gym. He takes his training seriously and is doing programs he found on a popular climber’s TikTok/Instagram, as well as what his climbing coach has him do. He places Top 10 in the comps he enters and can climb almost everything in the gym

Marty is an elite climber and is, allegedly, also a very rad dude. Marty has only been climbing for three years, but he’s part of a strong group that sometimes travels an hour to train. His mobility routine was created specifically for him by his climbing performance trainer, and he does it while the rest of the crew does their general warmup before sessions. His time in the weight room is taken seriously, too. Sure, he still jokes around between sets, but he’s there to work hard and improve. Even the way he lifts is different, concentrating hard and ensuring slow, controlled movements for every exercise. His performance trainer updates his plan as he continually improves week by week. Marty also doesn’t seem to really ever get injured because he has a recovery process he does after every sesh and on his rest days. Marty podiums in most competitions he enters and just flashed my project for his warm-up. 

Alright fam, which climber do you think is being most intentional in their training approach? Pretty obvious, right? All three climbers compete, train, and are physically strong. What differentiates these climbers is their use of intention to elicit desired outcomes. Biff is intentional about crop dusting the weight room, but not much else, and it shows in his performance outcomes during comps and projecting. George is applying intentionality by doing extra training, but because it’s not designed specifically for him, and is more for general populations, he’s getting general results. Marty, on the other hand, is very intentional with every aspect of his training, inasmuch that he’s sought experts to create plans specifically for him and his body. Marty’s specificity in his approach was born from the application of intention, and it has yielded some pretty radical results.

How intentional are you being with your training approach?

This article originally appeared in Sport Climber Magazine. The magazine has since ceased publication.