Climbing References:

Here is a list of books related to improving climbing performance. I've compiled this list to serve as a great starting point for anyone interested in creating a more academic foundation when it comes to the study of how to become a better climber. Of all the texts listed here I consider "The Rock Warrior's Way" and "The Self Coached Climber" to be required reading for anyone serious about improving their climbing performance.

Psychology:

“The Rock Warrior’s Way” Arno Ilgner
This is a phenomenal resource on many levels. This excerpt from the book pretty much sums up the entire text. “The Rock Warrior’s Way is a method for cutting through the mental clutter, gathering your attention, discerning exactly what the risk is, deciding if the risk is appropriate for you, and then fully committing your resources to your choice.” Even more significant than creating a tangible means of improving our mental abilities Ilgner admirably illuminates how the “rock warrior” thinks. He shows us what it takes to not only become a better climber but what it means to use the discipline of climbing to become a better person.

Climbing Performance & Injuries:

“The Self Coached Climber” Dan Hague and Douglas Hunter
I can’t imagine a climber wanting to improve at the sport and not reading this book. Hague and Hunter have done an excellent job of attempting to put exact definitions to some of the esoteric concepts climbers use to discuss climbing movement. They also give the student practical drills designed to improve each of the individual skills fundamental to creating a better overall climbing performance. More importantly the authors are equally adept at integrating the details of individual training sessions into the bigger picture of how to go about achieving your specific climbing goals. Through the use of self assessment questionnaires and concise goal setting plans “The Self Coached Climber” can help anyone from the newbie to the seasoned veteran put together and implement a training plan to start shortening their tick list.

“Training for Climbing” Eric J. Horst
This is an all around reference giving suggestions on how to improve climbing performance. Horst has done a respectable job and I really like the fact that he isn’t one dimensional in his approach to improving climbing performance. The book touches on all the variables that play into climbing, with this in mind the bulk of his material is focused on sport climbing. The one reservation that arose concerning Horst's recommendations was his view on training antagonistic muscles. From an injury prevention perspective his notion that doing a few pressing exercises at a moderate intensity is inadequate. This is especially true if you are trying to maximize your climbing performance.



“Performance Rock Climbing” Dale Goddard and Udo Neumann
This is another good general reference that looks at most of the variables involved in climbing. Again this book addresses both the physical and mental aspects of climbing. Goddard and Neumann speak to the importance of overall fitness and the fact that recovery time is essential in preventing overuse injuries.

“One Move Too Many: How to Understand the Injuries and Overuse Syndromes of Rock Climbing” Thomas Hochholzer, Volker Schoeffl
This is a little more technical and goes more into the reasons behind why certain injuries are more common in climbing. You don’t need a background in anatomy to get a lot of good information out of it and the authors include some good exercises and stretches for the arms. This book may be a little more difficult to get from a local store since it’s only being distributed through Petzl. Most good climbing shops will either have it or should be able to get it and there are always on-line sources that should have it.

Functional Conditioning & General Sport Performance:

“Power to the People” Pavel Tsatsouline
This is a good reference for those of you who want something simple, straight forward and effective when it comes to supplemental training. Pavel’s philosophy is dead on when it comes to strength conditioning. He’s all about getting the job done efficiently and maximizing the return on the amount of time you spend in the weight room. This is probably the most fundamental of his books on the subject. This book is refreshing because he includes many ideas on strength training that are not from the body building perspective. If you’d like an alternative to this he also has a book called the “Naked Warrior” which focuses on strength conditioning exercises using only your own body weight. If that’s not enough, he has a several other books that get into more diabolical training regimens mostly involving Kettlebells.

“Periodization Training for Sports” Tudor O. Bompa, Ph.D.
This reference is included for those of you who identify with the following: “Obsessed\ n. -a word used by the lazy to describe the dedicated.” -Anon. If you like to plan out your training months in advance or are interested in scheduling your training to “peak” for a comp or trip this is a great resource. It’s also a good source of information concerning the details of what separates Hypertrophy training from Endurance and Maximum strength training protocols. The entire book comes at the subject from the perspective of training athletes for strength related sports. However, there are no climbing specific routines laid out so you’ll have to get creative and put together your own route and bouldering pyramids, interval training sessions, campus routines...etc.


Nutrition:

“Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy” Walter C. Willett, M.D.
This book presents an overview of dietary guidelines. The strength of this book is that he gives general recommendations for a healthy diet that are easy to apply but doesn’t get overly involved in the topic. The other nice thing about this book is that Dr. Willett also compiles a plethora of current research on dietary guidelines and looks at it from a public health perspective.

“Optimal Muscle Performance and Recovery” Edmund R. Burke, Ph.D.
For you technical geeks out there... and you know who you are. This reference looks at the current research on optimizing muscle performance and recovery through diet and supplementation. It’s getting a little dated at this point but still serves as a good general resource for learning about the subject while providing examples of how to implement the information. It’s aimed more toward traditional endurance events such as cycling but the information is quite applicable to anyone spending a day at the crag or bouldering.