This is how you train one-arm blocking

When climbing should be paid to stretched arms. But a solid blocking power is still necessary. Christoph Völker from taget10a.com explains in today's guest post how you can train one-arm blocking.

A guest post by Christoph Völker from target10a.com

A must for all ambitious climbers: One-armed blocking - unless you can already do one-armed pull-ups. Even if in extreme cases it can even go up to the 9th grade UIAA without normal pull-ups (I know someone there!), For the very difficult tours the one-arm blocking, or even the one-arm pull-up, can not hurt. In addition, according to some voices, one-armed blocking is even a requirement for that Campus Board Training.

For me it has always been part of an athletic and stabilization unit over the past few years. Unless I was able to do one-arm pull-ups right away. In any case, it is a preliminary exercise for the one-armed pull-ups, which you can hardly avoid. If you have shorter arms and possibly a negative monkey index, it will be much easier here due to the leverage ratio. With my 1,94 meter arm span, I find it very difficult to do this exercise.

Important: In which angle should one block? In all - start at the top first, when the arm is fully dressed and hold for two to three seconds. Then drain a few inches and hold again for two to three seconds. Repeat this for about five to six stops on the way down. Just not at the bottom - risk of injury!

This is how you perform the exercise

Try to perform three to four sets per arm. In between, you take a longer break of more than four minutes.

This is how one-arm blocking works

The one-armed blocking works the large round muscle and the lower bone muscle. The brachioradialis, biceps, and latissimus also have to work hard. One-armed blocking is one of the few real climbing-specific exercises that also involves a lot of stress on the biceps. If the exercise is too difficult for you, train the normal pull-ups first or the somewhat harder towel pull-ups (second video).

Video: One-arm blocking on the chin-up bar

Towel pull-ups in preparation for one-arm blocking

You want more?

Other Training tips can be found here.

You lack the necessary equipment for training?

You can find articles for your personal training www.target10a.com

Credits: picture & text Christoph Völker von target10a.com

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