6 Kettlebell Exercises For Climbing Performance Improvement

If you love to climb, either bouldering or rock climbing, adding some form of resistance training into your week could be a great addition. Kettlebell workouts can help you mitigate injury and improve movement capacity, so are worth putting into your workout program.

3 min read
Sean Klein
Written by
Sean Klein
Published on
13/05/22
Last updated
12/01/23
In This Resource
  • 6 Kettlebell Exercises For Climbing
  • Common Questions
  • How Do I Strengthen My Body For Climbing?
  • Should Climbers Use Kettlebells In Their Training?
  • Which Kettlebell Exercises Are Good For Climbing?
  • Do Pulls Improve Climbing?

Climbing can be an intense sport that requires you to be in excellent physical condition. Thankfully doing climbing will get you into climbing shape, so you don’t need to worry to much about the gym. That being said, its always beneficial to be in well balanced physical condition, not to specific to one sport. Here are 6 exercises climbers can use with a kettlebell to not only improve their climbing performance but also their overall health and wellbeing.

6 Kettlebell Exercises For Climbing

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Lower Body
Squat
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Tertiary
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Lower Body
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Lower Body
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Common Questions

How Do I Strengthen My Body For Climbing?

Use the kettlebell exercises listed above in a full body resistance training plan that you perform 1-2 times a week, giving you a strong and robust body.

Should Climbers Use Kettlebells In Their Training?

Yes, its not 100% required,but can be beneficial to both performance and injury preventions. Remeber doing a diverse range of activites will ensure your healthy and well.

Which Kettlebell Exercises Are Good For Climbing?

The most specific exercises to climbing that you can do with a kettlebell are those that improve shoulder health and stability, like the kettlebell arm bar. Also kettlebell exercises that strength the core musculature might have a direct impact. Traditional strength patterns will be benficial for health and longevity but will not transfer directly to performance.

Do Pulls Improve Climbing?

Yes. But improving your technique will likely have a far greater benfit. Also your pulling strength and sport specific strength will increase as you do the actual sport so don’t put to much empahsis on this especially at the beginning.

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This resource was written by Sean Klein. Sean Richard Klein has thousands of hours of coaching experience and a BSc in Sports Science with Management from Loughborough University. He owns a gym in Bayonne France, CrossFit Essor, which runs group classes and a Personal training studio.

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