My Rock Climbing Training Routine to V8 Revealed (Beginner to Intermediate) 

"beginner to intermediate" Do a gazillion pullups.

instructions unclear, spent 3 days in the gym because of the 45minute rest

“100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10km run EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!”

Nice 45 minutes between my workout sets, I love this schedule

Found my new favorite way to count reps: "One two three four ten"

From a kinesiologist perspective, this Korean guy just happens to check off plenty of things that would accelerate his progress, it's actually hilarious. Ample amount of recovery after training, treating training and climbing sessions as two independent programs to avoid overtraining, scapula retraction to isolate the lats during pull-ups, emphasizing the difference between neck effort and chest effort on pull-ups, emphasizing slow movements for metabolic stress which is important for muscular endurance... the list goes on lmfao. Well done.

This is going to help me send that pink one in the corner

I like the part where you said you were tired

I can do ten pullups without breaking a sweat but to do this training routine I would need at least the mentioned 45 minutes of rest between the sets lmao

No wonder! This training regimen is absolutely insane. Thanks Hoseok and Derek for putting this together!

I’ve been bouldering for 10 years or so, but never trained… I did this workout for the first time and my forearms and lats are still sore 4 days later. Absolutely brutal. Careful out there folks!

In 2023, this has worked to help me crush a 2 year plateau. I reached V5 as my limit after about a year of on-and-off climbing. Over the pandemic, I didn't climb much and lost fitness. I've been on-and-off again for part of this year mostly due to being sick for much of it. And even with the lack of consistency, my fitness still improved over time. But this training regiment has just skyrocketed my improvement in only 18 days. I climbed my first V6 last week and am now able to do plenty of them. I'm not even able to complete the full training day without cheating a bit and I'm already going from struggling on a good number of V4-V5s to flashing many, not having any I can't do, and already seeing V7 as a close goal. So I can only imagine where I can go if I keep this up. This is just a review for anyone considering trying this routine--it might just have something you're missing. At least a variant of this is worth a try. The main things I deviate on: campus on one training day and fingerboard the other, climb 3 days a week with 2 days rest, and to do a 10ish minute tailored stretching routine during each workout. I've been more consciously stretching for awhile though, and it makes a big difference in certain techniques and being confident in holding my body to more positions. Thank you Hoseok for your resources and hope this works for others!

3 years late but i can’t tell if this guys first language is english or not? his english is so good, accent and everything

been following hoseok for a while.. glad he is sharing his experience

I know for a fact that I will die following this routine, but I really want to get strong. Pray for me.

Thanks for posting. This is a plan many can stick with and has variety that will help folks stay fresh through the commitment required. Stay healthy and keep cranking!

Thanks for the video I’m just getting started with climbing and this helped. One thing I’d change tho is when doing the uneven pullups, if one side feels harder for you, don’t do 10 reps for one side and 6-7 for the other. Instead start with your weak side and do as many as possible and then just do the same amount with the other hand, this way you will not end up with a stronger side and a weaker one.

Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own. Maaan I was waiting for that quote ;))) thanks a lot I'll try to employ your routine for sure.

04:07 Hoseok Lee’s training day 04:29 pull-ups 12:00 push-ups 13:24 campus board *listen to your body 14:57 leg raises 17:56 sit-ups 요약 - 몸과 마음의 컨디션에 따른 트레이닝 데이, 클라이밍 데이, 휴식의 적절한 조화. - 트레이닝 데이에 클라이밍 할 힘이 남다뇨? 영상 잘보고 갑니당ㅋㅋ

It's certainly more like "Intermediate to advanced", beginner would be happy to do 10 pullups in a week :D V8 is by all standards an advanced, if not higher level

Lol geez my man, you are a beast!!!! I climb around v6 and v7 and I was only able to complete 5×3 on the pull ups... 10×4 on the push ups and the core workout in one session. It kicked my ass. 🤙 pumped to see the gains and keep increasing the workouts!

Great video. I’m loving this!

Great video, i can’t tell you how much I love this methodical approach to climbing training.

hopefully i’ll be strong enough to climb with you one day, my motivation!

Hey yall and thanks for the video. I always find interesting seeing other climbing routines and how it could translate to my climbing program. Regarding the technical aspects of body positioning and correct terms i found it could be better explained considering this video is made with a clickbait title for begginners. Terms like scapular rectraction in the pull ups, pulleys and finger awareness, remarking more the importance of listening to the body and how campus board should only be targeted as an exercise after reaching a certain level/strength. And again the proper scapular and shoulder engagement that campus board needs, etc... In terms of the directors comment saying he would do it for one month and hoping to improve, a training routine is something you try to implement for a certain period of time that usually goes from weeks to several months. There's no magic formula appart from a continuous hard work and if climbing is your activity, in begginer levels, just climbing a lot. Even if you would do it just for one month, these results appear later than on your last workout of the month. Sometimes coupled with a deload week to allow your body to repair all the broken muscle tissue and then you would probably start to see differences. But oh well: TL:DR Just remember to climb for fun and that if you want to improve figure out what works best for you by doing your own study and research :)

Just what I’ve been looking for thanks for the routine. 🙏🏽

so good, getting strong enough to do this routine is now my short term goal.

Been just doing the pull-ups to see how my body would adjust added the chest and core yesterday I can definitely imagine how incredibly strong you can get from this thanks for sharing

Great video! Thanks for sharing your training methods. Very easy to follow. Keep posting things like this please :)

I’ve watched this video many times before and gotten really motivaded to train instead of just climbing . Though, I’ve still managed to procrastinate every single time, EXCEPT for last week when I actually pulled through and did this workout. Even to this day, I’m still sore lol, but this will definetely be my turning point. From now on, I’ll continue with this routine until I can do it consistently and get stronger. Thanks Hoseok😁

좋은 훈련 영상 감사드립니다. 이거 보고 열심히 훈련해서 2020년엔 꼭 12를 찍어보겠습니다

hats off. this is really inspiring

Insane value video. It's obvious that you know the topic you're covering inside out. Way better than random buff dudes who can do 20 pullups and decide to make a video. Thanks!

Hi, i just want to say thanks for that training routine because it just helped me so much last 2 weeks. from a v3 boulderer who had never done any higher grade ive been able to do 5 v4s and 1 v5 in just 2 weeks. Thanks!!

weirdly one of the best training vids ive seen

Just wow. I have been doing V2s consistently in the gym but could literally not even hang on the campus board. Thanks Hoseok.

Awesome video! No wonder Hoseok can climb on the moon board for hours, his training builds great capacity. Would love more videos where you share your thoughts while climbing!

Thank you for the routine! , will try it a couple of months to see what happens

Great video! I am defitnetly going to start incorporating this to my training :). Although I would say V8 is advanced level not intermidiate.

I stumbled upon this from Reddit and tried the workout for the first time yesterday. I’m mainly a sport climber, projecting in the hard 10s / soft 11s and hardest outdoor boulder at v4. I love it. I feel silly for not doing more pull ups as part of my training routine, and feel this will take me to the next level. I modified by only doing 2 reps of each pull-up variation - still taking a full 45s to a minute of rest. By the fifth set I had to use a band assist - my form was breaking down. I decided for the second 5 sets to only do one rep of each, band assisted. I felt a bit sheepish doing such a small number with so much rest but I felt it important to complete the routine with good form. I’ll get there. Thanks for such a simple and helpful routine Hoseok!

I'm very excited to have just started climbing! I'm 39 so it's a bit late to be starting but it's really fun. I've gone bouldering 5 times now, just nought chalk and shoes and used them last session. I seem to find v2 easy and v3 impossible at the moment. Did my first dyno too, and succeeded! Now I'm just sore as hell. Forearms seem to be the worst.

This is amazing to watch, I’ve only started climbing again and I always wondered why there were pull up bars in the bouldering gym. Thanks for the video, super insightful!

Nice one! I like how you put the workout list up on the video! Cheers and thanks!

WHY AM I WATCHING THIS I CAN BARELY DO ONE PULL UP!!!!!!

Thanks for the video. been looking for a routine to help me get stronger.

This is some no nonsense, meat and potatoes and vegetables, CONTENT! I started climbing September 24th 2019...you sir, have just made yourself a friendly rival 💪💪😁 Subscribbled

Tip: do exercises on the wall! Eg. Touch the hold with your foot before placing your hand/campusing overhang routes/use as little holds as possible etc... Great fun to come up with different challenges together and fun is the best motivation in my opinion!

Thank you 🙏

So good, thank you!

Oh wow this was released today, neato. Thanks for the tips!

You seem so honest and nice...i like u guyz

This is an amazing lesson. Thank you very much!!

I've been heavily training climbing for the past year and a half and always love trying new routines, gunna give this a try for a month and report back! Can already do a one arm but would always love to get stronger!

Thanks!!

Thank you so much for this video. I've only been doing this for a week and I am looking for tips for improvement.

Been stuck at v6 for a long time.... will start with a scaled down version of this and have the goal of sending my first v7 and eventually v8

Me: Thinks I’m strong because I haven’t been able to make myself sore in abs for a really long time *Tries this workout Me: I’m definitely not strong.

Brilliant content 👍

Super inspiring, thanks and hi from Australia.

Amazing routine, gonna try it!

If you aren't able to do many pullups, set a band up from the bar, then do the pull-ups whilst sitting in the band (like a swing). It'll reduce the amount of body weight on your arms, you can then increase the number of reps / use more stretchy bands to gradually ramp up difficulty.

There is a lot of good advice in this video but I wonder if beginners will be able to adapt this to their training regiment since their training capacity is probably much lower than what is suggested here. I guess Hoseok must have been already in decent shape when he started climbing. Most people struggle to do 3-5 sets of pull-ups so that is the volume they should start at and work their way up to 10 sets. Also going to failure on all or most of these exercises is going to tax your regeneration a lot. I'm not saying train lightly if you want to make improvements but you also have to know when to stop to not ruin your training for the rest of the week or even worse injure yourself. I would prefer three climbing days and one training day instead of a 2:2 ratio. Of course you can focus on training for a period of time but most time should be spent climbing. Especially beginners can make good gains without having to train twice per week. Another thing I noticed is that Hoseok does his powerful pull-ups at the end of his pull-up session. I would argue that they should be done when you're still fresh but already properly warmed up so that you can truly be as explosive as you can be which most certainly won't be the case at the end of your pull-up training.

Awesome vid :D hope to get to v8 in next two months

Thank you for this video! Would you be able to post a video about your diet/ eating tips for climbers?

My novice recommendation, for people who can only do a handful of pullups in a set, is to *consider your failure point the first pullup where you cannot touch your chest to the bar,* and then you rest for 45 - 60 seconds. Once you're unable to hit your chest to the bar, your form suffers and you risk imbalancing your muscles. Right now I can do 3 normal grip pullups where I touch my chest to the bar. On my 4th my chest is about 2 inches below the bar, I consider this my point of failure and thus rest before the next set.

Thanks for this routine, i'm gonna try it rn

Hi, I’ve been somewhat plateauing around v4-5 (on my best days) and 10 b/c or 10 c/d. I started your training regiment about 2-3 months ago, but only did the pullup part for the first two weeks because i injured my pulley then had to rest for a month. Due to injury, i have mainly done your pushups and ab routines. It’s now been about 3 months and boy do I see the difference. I approach v4s and even v5s with much more confidence, feel less pumped, and just feel overall more powerful. I am crushing most 10 b/c and 10 c/d. BUT, i have been wanting to share that I did the hardest problem I ever have a few weeks ago. It was an 11 b/c. I was shocked, proud, and confused all at the same time. I cannot wait until I get back to full recovery to add the pull ups into my training regiment. Thank you so much!

Sacrificing the rest of your body and athleticism to perfect a niche. Just shows how dedicated and passionate climbers are

안녕하세요. 클라이밍 6개월차 입니다. 영어라 잘 이해는 못하지만 잘보고갑니다. 이런영상 볼때마다 저도 언젠가는 호석님처럼 되고싶다는 의욕이 생기네요 ㅎㅎ

Hoseok you rascal I enjoyed this training routine I threw in some silent footwork on easy bolder routes just to feel like I'm not missing out on climbing

This is perfect.

Hey Hoseok, I tried the training routine two days ago! I've been climbing for about a year but I've never dedicated a day to just training and not climbing, and I redpoint V5 outside V6 inside. Some feedback for how the training went - the pull up and campus programs are fantastic. I wasn't able to consistently hit 10 pull-ups once I got to the fifth set but I'm not sure how much of that was fatigue and how much was due to the back half being loaded with harder variations. I may change the order to compensate for this (normal/slow/narrow/wide/offset left/right/explosive). I found the leg raises difficult for two reasons, one having good form on that exercise without anyone in the room who does them regularly to correct my form is very challenging, but we also don't have a hangboard with enough room on each side. I changed out leg raises with resistance band assisted front levers and windshield wipers (raising my legs straight up over the bar and twisting side to side while focusing on not allowing my upper body to move). Is this a suitable replacement or am I missing important core strength there? Overall it was fantastic, it took me about an hour and a half to finish my whole circuit and I thought if I rested for an hour I may have been able to climb but I tried pointing to a hold and my whole arm felt heavier it was fantastic! Still super sore through my whole chest, upper arm, upper shoulders, and lats two days of rest later! I'm gonna stick with this program for a long time.

great instruction man thanks

This video got me motivated to start my own channel!! I will be doing your training! My goal is a V8 by the end of 2020. I have a lot of work to do.

Good luck to the beginners trying this outlier's routine...the most important part of the video: 0:26 ...skill.

Thanks 🙏

Damn was looking at the last instagram post and you talk about a training routine you already posted. Since im not following you for a long time i checked it out. This will help me a lot i hope. Im a pretty strong guy climbing since 1,5 maybe little bit more my best is 7b. But will try out your training and climbing routine and really curious what will change/happen. Thanks for all the great content and info keep up the good work❤

1 2 3 4 10 Doesn't seem too bad

Climbing is so awesome. In regards to all the physical goals a six pack is just a step. A (small) milestone up to the more hardcore side of the sport.

long live this man

THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS. I will try out this routine too (if I can even) hahaha :)

Love this sharing.

Just started climbing 2 weeks ago and was able to do 1 v4 without much direction. Hoping to take it to the next level though and actually train to improve.

great video

Just here to clarify About his tip for better pull up technique. The “Chest to bar“ motion is referred to as scapular retraction and is vital for proper engagement of the big back muscles. A better way to think about trying to pinch a pencil between your shoulder blades before starting to pull

That was a great video!

Thanks for sharing this :)

really helpful, thx :)

A good way to describe the way to do pullups: Try to bring your elbows to waist. The opposite would be to bring your shoulders to your wrists. That way you will engage more back muscles.

Wanted to try this! So broke my 1 year plateu with this training program!! Took me week and a half to do that, thats amazing!!

It would have been great, to put your sets into perspective, to what you can do max. Cause ten pull ups can be quiet easy or extremely hard, depending on where you are.

Awesome advice

nice training routine! I need the pullup training too:)

Nice video. It does make more sense to do (climb) - (rest) - (climb) - (rest) - (climb) - (rest) - (rest) At the beggining What i do is Week 1 / week 2 Monday - Tuesday - Wed - Thu - Friday - Saturd - Sunday (climb) - (train) - (climb) - (train) - (climb hvy) - (rest) - (rest) (climb) - (train) - (climb) - (train) - (climb hvy) - (rest) - (train) So the weekend i can go light climbing outdoor and also just rest my fingers. Usually on training day i mostly focus on flexibility and core strenght so i manage my fingers related to how heavy i went. So far so good after a 3 year break where i was climbing 5.11a (6c) max i now climb after 4 months 5.12b (7b+) Also i avoid as much as i can hangboarding training and heavy crimping. I prefer to build back skills/fexibility/balance and slowly upgrade my crimping game.. So many people injured their fingers with overdoing it even 2-3yr in climbing

18:22 GHOST!? The mat behind you falls suspiciously! Also sick vid

I've decided to try this plan for upcoming 3 winter months to build my strength for upcoming spring season. Let's see if it can break my 3 year plateau.

Interesting video. For me, beside the pull-ups, the rest seems possible (just did it yesterday). Do you mind telling us if you were able to do uneven arm pull-ups (with a towel or whatsoever) in the beginning or if you strictly stick to your timing (45s rest between each set)? I can do 15 pull-ups in one go but after 3x10 pull-ups (normal, narrow, wide), I can't even do one uneven (pronation) pull-up. I don't even talk about the slow pull-up... So I was just wondering if in the beginning you were able to do the *hard* pull-ups to the end and if not, were you replacing the *hard* pull-ups by easier one, for example: uneven pull-ups --> normal pull-ups wide pull-ups --> normal pull-ups Or did you do it "negatively" for the one you couldn't: like starting from the top position and slowly going down? Would greatly appreciate if you could elaborate on this. Thanks a lot

Great video definitely going to try this out but I’m rolling at “your shoulder like raises your legs somehow”

3 years and V13, there it is, a good development