• Chest and upper back
  
• Quads and hamstrings
  
• Abdominals and your low back
  
• Hip and butt muscles with your thigh and leg muscles
  
• Rotator cuff shoulder muscles and mid and lower trapezius with deltoid, lats,and rhomboids
  
• Flexors and extensors of your wrists and fingers.
  

Be functional and activity specific for some of your exercises. Try to use your muscles in your exercise like they will be used in your climbing activities. Pattern your movements to reflect how your muscles are used when climbing. Work against gravity as you would while climbing (strengthen your quads with standing lunges rather than sitting knee extensions) Combine key muscle and joint areas in exercises( work your buttock-hip region along with your opposite shoulder; work your opposite arm and leg)

Incorporate challenges to your balance in some of your exercises as if you had a heavy pack on and were on a steep slope (the functional exercises done on one leg will do this).

Use free weights, pulleys and tubing in addition to machines to more realistically challenge your muscles.

Work harder on any weaknesses you have in addition to an overall program.

Take at least a 48 hour break before working on the same muscle groups in strength training.

Consider doing sets of 15-25 repetitions for warm-up and endurance. Do sets of 8-12 for strength. Do 2-3 sets for each exercise 2-3 times per week.

Climbers should strengthen their fingers and forearms.

Make sure with any exercise that you get into good posture (to protect your neck, back and shoulders) and practice the movement pattern before you add resistance or make it more challenging.

Consider the use of an indoor climbing club and do some traversing and bouldering to strengthen your hands and shoulders in climbing specific motions

Strengthen your buttocks. It is your powerhouse of hip extension to drive you forward and upward.

Condition to be stronger than your climbing activities demand.

Conventional exercises
Consider the following conventional exercises: dips, pull-ups (with different hand grips), lat pulls, bench press, pushups, and rows (two-arm sitting machine and one arm holding a free weight with your knee on a bench)

Functional exercises
Functional exercises are dynamic exercises that strengthen multiple body zones in combination and against gravity. They can improve your general strength and balance much more effectively than by only doing the aforementioned exercises. Start with lighter weights and smaller steps than you think you can normally do to avoid injury. These functional exercises are much more challenging than you would think. Warm up for at least five minutes with some aerobic activity�walking, jumping jacks and such. You can do a set of 10-15 for 2-3 sets two times per week. Make sure you know the correct movement patterns before you make the exercise more challenging with added weights. Also remember that your buttocks may ache after starting these exercises. You can do these functional exercises in addition to the exercises listed above, but consider doing these before you use weight and exercise machines.

The punch with butt push off and spine rotation ( this can also be used as part of your warm-up). Using small weights of 2-5 pounds in each hand, place your feet at shoulder width and bend your knees slightly. Push off and extend your right leg, using your calf and butt, while you rotate your spine(torso) to the left and extend your right elbow in a punching motion. While doing this bend your left elbow into a rowing-like position. Repeat and reverse all of this so you are rotating and punching to the right side.

The lawnmower rotator cuff external rotator combo. Hold a 2-5 pound weight in your right hand. Stand on your left leg and slightly bend your left knee. Reach down to the side of your left foot, bending your left knee more and avoiding excessive flexing of your back. Then push off on your left leg and butt as you are rotating your spine to the right. End up with your upper arm horizontal, elbow at 90 degrees, and your fist pointing up in the air. Do this 10-12 times on one side then switch to the opposite leg and arm.

The lawnmower row. This is the same as No. 2 except that you end up with your arm in a rowing position with retracted shoulder blades.

The functional one-leg-standing lat pulldown. Stand on one leg in front of a lat pulldown machine. Bend your knee in a squat with your elbows extended to pull the lat bar towards your chest at the same time you are pushing off your leg and butt to straighten your knee. Return to the starting position and repeat. Do one set on one leg and another set on the other leg (see fig. 1).

The functional one-leg-one-arm pulldown. This is basically the same as No. 4 but you do this with one hand holding onto an overhead pulley or sport cord. The left knee will extend while the right arm pulls down. Do your second set on your other leg and opposite arm.

The step-up and one-arm pulldown combo. This is the same as No. 5 except one leg is positioned on a step or stool of usually 8-12 inches. The opposite leg is touching the ground. The motion is a combined step-up and knee extension while pulling down on the opposite hand. (see fig. 2 )

The lunge biceps curl combo. Hold weights in both hands by your sides with your feet at shoulder width and then curl both arms. From that as the starting position do a lunge on one knee while lowering the weights. Then return to the standing position and repeat on the opposite leg. Try to do a slight-to-moderate lunge but keep your knee cap away from the floor. You can do this by moving forward on the floor and going from one lunge to the next without recessing into a standing position.

The weight roll-up. Use a dowel with a 3-5 pound weight attached by a rope and resting on the floor. With your arms horizontal and elbows extended, roll up the weight and then slowly roll it down.(This is good for rock climbing/scrambling.)

One arm bench press with abdominals. Put a weight in your right hand and lie on a bench so that your right shoulder blade and part of the right side of your back is off the bench. Stabilize yourself with your right leg. Start with your spine rotated to the right and with your right arm in a row position. Then rotate your spine to the left, using your abdominal muscles and punch up in a bench press with your right arm. Slowly lower down into a starting position, using your abdominal muscles to control your trunk motion. Do 10-15 and switch to the opposite side.

The standing abdominal challenge exercise with an overhead pulley or tubing. Put some tubing up so that you have it behind you in a door or on a hook with a carabiner. Have two equal arm lengths and handgrips for the tubing. Use smaller gauge tubing at first. Stand on one leg with your knee bent. Put your hands in the tubing handgrips and slightly bend your elbows holding your arms at an angle just higher than horizontal. Bring your arms down and do a slight abdominal crunch. Use your oblique abdominals to control your motion so your torso doesn�t go into excessive side bending. Do a set of 15-20 on one leg, then rest and do a set on the other leg.

David Musnick, M.D., is a sports and internal medicine physician at the Sports Medicine Clinic in the Ballard area of Seattle. He has written a new book called "Conditioning for Outdoor Fitness" to be published by Mountaineers Books this summer. Note: If the reader is to follow any of these recommendations he/she understands that it is at their own risk and they can not hold the author of this article or The Mountaineers responsible for any injuries or negative outcomes.

© 1997, The Mountaineers