Boulderbuilding cards
Draw a hold, movement, and theme card, then build and climb a boulder using all three.
- Slot
- On the wall
- Focus
- Technique
- Time
- 35 min
- Intensity
- Low intensity
- Injury risk
- Low injury risk
- Equipment
- Boulders
How to do it
Make three small piles of cards: hold types (e.g. crimp, sloper, pinch), movements (e.g. heel hook, drop knee, dyno), and themes (e.g. slow, powerful, balance). Draw one card from each pile and build a boulder on existing wall holds that uses all three. Climb it, tweak it until it flows, then draw again. Aim for 3-4 boulders in the session.
Run it now
The same timer as the app: a five-second get-ready, then every round and rest counted down with a beep. Keep this page open while you train.
Boulderbuilding cards
0:00 / 35:05
Ready
35:05
3 rounds
Draw a hold, movement, and theme card, then build and climb a boulder using all three.
High risk: read the protocol, stop if anything feels wrong.
- 3
- rounds
- 35:05
- total
Done.
Want this inside a plan? Take the quiz.
Seven questions about your climbing, then a plan built from your answers. Free.
Want this in a plan? Seven questions and you get a plan built around your climbing.
Take the quizWho it's for
Sessions where you can't face another circuit, and for setters who default to the same three shapes. The cards make choices you wouldn't, which is the entire point.
Common mistakes
- Redrawing until you like the combination. Take what you draw. Slow, sloper, dyno sounds impossible until you find the one move where it works.
- Building at your limit. You want to climb the problem several times and refine it, so keep it well below your max.
- Making the theme decoration. If you drew 'balance', the boulder should fall apart when you rush it.
- Not writing the good ones down. Some of these turn out to be excellent problems. Note the holds.
How to progress
Add cards as you go: hold types you avoid, movements you're bad at, themes like 'no matching' or 'one foot only'. A pile built from your own anti-style notes turns a game into targeted training.
When it fits
The training periods this exercise fits into in Blok Sessions.
Base Lots of easy climbing, good movement and aerobic fitness.
Deload Train less, let your fingers recover, keep moving.