Winter Sports to Complement Your Climbing
What winter sports can complement your climbing training? During the cold, dark season, many outdoor activities may be put on hold. However, that doesn’t mean your overall fitness and goals have to take a backseat. In fact, winter is an excellent time to focus on improving your strength, endurance, and flexibility. While you can push yourself at the indoor climbing gym throughout the year (and you should!), getting outside during the colder months and spending time in nature can benefit you in numerous ways. In the Northwest, we’re fortunate to have access to a winter sports playground. Here are some winter-specific activities that you can enjoy, which will complement your climbing training and help you progress toward your goals.
Skiing and Snowboarding
Builds lower-body strength and stability, especially in the quads, glutes, and calves.
Improves balance and coordination, essential for maintaining body control while climbing.
Benefits cardiovascular fitness, building up your endurance.
Ice Climbing
Directly complements rock climbing by improving grip strength, core stability, and mental focus.
Teaches technical foot placement and movement under challenging conditions.
Ice climbing can enhance gym climbing by improving your mental focus, as it challenges you to keep a very “cool” head.
Running
A great form of cardiovascular exercise that can be done with minimal gear in every condition imaginable.
Keep your fitness and shave off the extra winter weight.
Fatbiking
Builds endurance and balance and can extend the biking season into our darker gloomier days.
A great way to get onto snow-covered or slushy terrain when most bikers hang up their cleats.
Cross-Country Skiing
Enhances endurance and builds full-body strength, focusing on the arms, legs, and core.
Improves cardiovascular fitness, which is key for sustained climbing sessions.
Snowshoeing
Great for building leg strength and endurance while working on balance and stability.
Often involves carrying a pack, which mirrors the challenges of climbing approaches.
Winter Hiking or Mountaineering
Builds stamina and leg strength.
Engages core muscles through challenging terrains and snowy conditions.
Ice Skating / Ice Hockey
Enhances leg and core stability
Great for building cardiovascular endurance
Other tips:
The quieter season of winter is the perfect time to improve your flexibility and balance through investing your time in yoga classes geared to climbers.
Focus on activities that complement your climbing goals (e.g., balance, grip strength, and endurance). Use the winter to improve weak spots you’ve identified in your climbing skills.
As always, avoid overtraining by listening to your body and incorporating appropriate rest time.
Incorporating sports like skiing, snowboarding, and ice climbing into your routine can enhance your fitness and make you a stronger climber.
And nothing beats actually climbing! Visit Coeur Climbing for new routes each week. An excellent way to keep up your motivation and training through the winter is to join a climbing league. Stay tuned for more info about our adult league starting soon!
