Many recipes to improve

Online coaching and training programs are getting more popular. In the same way, more kids attend courses where coaches tell them how to climb. I am sure this suites many and especially in the short run it can be motivating and productive.

On the other hand, for many this is probably just counter productive in the long run. Imagine Chris Sharma 13-years-old being told to certain weekdays just climb specific circuits etc in different colours run by a clock. Adam Ondra did not follow a training program or had a coach until he was 19-years-old! In fact, most of the best rock climbers have not followed any specific training regime. They have just been driving by the challenge to solve moves and climbs.

Back in the old days, all boulder gyms had spray walls with rather small holds where the climbers used their creativity to set new problems. Now this is replaced with larger colorful holds nicely placed to create delightful moves.

Again, this is good for the general mainstream and the gyms are making money from it. This structured way is also of course good for many kids and the ones who mainly focus on competitions. However, if your goal is to improve as a rock climber you have to also include technical drills indoor and use your creativity to challenge yourself by also setting up your own climbs indoors. Alternatively, do some easier ones by using just one foot or hand or leave out different holds.

You can also challenge yourself by combining two or more colors or add a color for the feet. There are endless of recipes to improve in a gym as long as you work on your creativity, which will make you to better adopt to rock climbing outdoors :)