Strength Isn’t What Most Climbers Think It Is

When climbers talk about getting stronger, are we all talking about the same thing? The answer matters more than you might expect.

One of the most contentious conversations in climbing revolves around a single word: strength.

Ask ten climbers what strength means, and you'll likely get ten different answers. Some people mean climbing a harder grade. Others mean mental toughness, resilience, or the ability to handle fear. And while those qualities are valuable, they aren't necessarily what we're talking about when we discuss physical strength.

For the sake of clarity, I think it helps to use a simple definition: strength is the ability to manage or produce force.
If we borrow from Isaac Newton, force equals mass times acceleration.
In other words, strength is demonstrated when we're moving a relatively high mass or accelerating a mass quickly.

This distinction is important because it changes how we think about training. When I say that climbing won't make you stronger (assuming you're already reasonably fit) people sometimes push back. What I'm saying is much more specific: climbing is not a particularly efficient primary method for improving your ability to produce high forces.

If you're new to training, almost anything will make you stronger. That's the magic of what we often call "newbie gains." Early on, your body responds to nearly any physical challenge. But as your training age increases, the rules change. Improvements become more specific to the demands you place on your body.

Developing strength requires training that involves either moving relatively high loads or producing force rapidly. If neither of those things is happening, it's difficult to argue that you're actually training strength. You may be training skill, endurance, movement efficiency, coordination, or any number of other valuable qualities, but not necessarily strength.

This is where many climbers get tripped up. Sending a hard route or sticking a difficult move can absolutely be an expression of strength. But expressing strength and training to develop strength are not the same thing. One demonstrates a quality you already possess; the other is a deliberate process designed to build more of that quality over time.

Understanding the difference can help you make better decisions about your training and avoid expecting climbing itself to solve problems it wasn't designed to solve.