The Lock Off Guide

A Complete Program for Building Functional Lock-Off Strength

This is a hyper-specific training guide, aimed at development of the ability to hold the body in a locked-off position. Specifically, it is designed to help you get stronger at this position on small edges on steep rock.

Many of us feel the need for more strength in these positions, but many of the climbers I’ve talked to have missed the mark over the years. What I want to put forth in this plan is the time required for a significant improvement, pitfalls to consider, and the way that specific strength is most effectively developed.

Much more than pure pulling strength or high levels of finger strength, the ability to integrate the two, in varied environments, determines bouldering and climbing performance.

As you look through this information, you’ll be asked to consider principles of training first, and then to apply them in your own sessions.

I include two 4-week programs, The Base Building (BB) Phase and the Peak Strength (PS) Phase. It is essential to understand that the BB phase will take care of around 80% of your results, and the PS will be the “icing on top.”

What Is Really Happening?

Being able to hold position on a climb is essential, and there are a lot of factors that go into it. It’s easy to make the leap from not being able to hold a lock-off on rock to thinking that the solution is pull-ups, yet there are some essential pieces that many of us don’t consider. We need to look at contact with the rock, body position and leverage, rotation of the torso, and the strength of the muscles that stabilize the wrist and shoulder.

Often, a climber has plenty of pulling strength in the big muscles of the back, yet lacks strength in the wrist. Or it may be that finger and wrist strength are amazing, but body positioning is the big issue. I like to remind athletes that we frequently test climbers with a straight-arm peak force that comes in greater than bodyweight—they can deadhang a 20mm edge if hanging from a board—whose peak force at clavicle level is less than 30% of their straight arm number!

Another major issue is the way the torso is rotated during the attempted lock off. Part of why the drop knee is such an effective tool on steep terrain is the position that it helps up put the torso in. It is substantially easier to pull across a rotated torso than it is to pull straight back with one’s shoulder “square” to the wall.

You can download the entire 30 page guide below.