Straight-arm efficiency drill
6-8 boulders below your limit, 2 laps each, arms straight wherever possible.
- Slot
- On the wall
- Focus
- Technique
- Time
- 20 min
- Intensity
- Low intensity
- Injury risk
- Low injury risk
- Equipment
- Boulders, Easy circuit
How to do it
On easy and moderate boulders, keep your arms straight whenever the move allows it and let your legs and hip turns do the work. Bend your arms only when you have to, and keep your shoulders relaxed. Climb 6-8 boulders, 2 laps each, resting a minute between climbs.
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.
Straight-arm efficiency drill
0:00 / 20:05
Ready
20:05
12 rounds
6-8 boulders below your limit, 2 laps each, arms straight wherever possible.
High risk: read the protocol, stop if anything feels wrong.
- 12
- rounds
- 1:00
- rest
- 20:05
- total
Done.
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Take the quizWho it's for
Climbers who get pumped fast on easy ground. Bent arms burn energy continuously; straight arms hang off the skeleton. It's the cheapest endurance gain available.
Common mistakes
- Straight arms with no hip movement. The legs and hips have to do the work instead. Straight arms alone just means you can't reach anything.
- Choosing boulders that are too hard. Below your limit, or you'll bend your arms out of necessity and learn nothing.
- Tense shoulders. Engaged, not clenched. There's a difference and you'll feel it after two laps.
- Doing one lap. Two laps per boulder. The second is where the habit forms.
How to progress
Take it onto steeper ground, where staying straight is much harder, then onto problems you're actually working. Filming a lap is the fastest way to see how often you bend without noticing.
When it fits
The training periods this exercise fits into in Blok Sessions.
Base Lots of easy climbing, good movement and aerobic fitness.
Endurance Climb longer before you pump out, by moving efficiently.
Deload Train less, let your fingers recover, keep moving.