4x4 Climbing Training: The Complete Guide
The 4x4 is the most misused workout in climbing. Here is what it actually trains, how to set it up, and why your problems are almost certainly too hard.
Jake Bresnehan·
Climbing training blog
British Trad Grades in Sequence
The British system carries two pieces of information for a reason. Sequence logbooks now store both, so E3 6a stays E3 6a.
Jake Bresnehan·
The Set You Didn't Log
Everyone logs the PB. Nobody logs the session that felt awful. Which is why your training history is a highlight reel and not a training record.
Jake Bresnehan·
Plan Your Season, Not Your Week
Most climbers plan seven days ahead. That is exactly why the base phase you keep meaning to do has still never actually happened.
Jake Bresnehan·
Exercises in Sequence
Your strength and conditioning work is now first class in Sequence. Build the session, run it at the gym, and every set lands in your history.
Jake Bresnehan·
Don't Stop Training When You Go Climbing
Most climbers think training and climbing are two separate things. They're not. A climbing trip isn't a break from training. It is the training.
Jake Bresnehan·
Sequence for Gyms
We have partnered with Climb Strong to help climbing gyms reduce churn through scalable coaching. Give your members access to professional training plans at no extra cost.
Jake Bresnehan·
Logbooks
These are personal logbooks - just for you - to track the routes and boulders your climb outside (and inside too if you want). Whether you are working on volume or projects, keeping a logbook is vitally important to track how you are progressing as a climber.
Dean Rollins·
Workload
Workload is a measure that combines the duration of an activity with the perceived exertion of that activity, calculated using the formula: Workload = Duration × RPE. In this post, I will dive deeper into the finer details of Workload and explain how to ensure your Sequence workouts are set up correctly to track it accurately.
Jake Bresnehan·
SMART Goals in Sequence
Research shows that you are more likely to succeed in your goals if they are clearly defined and are attainable within a timeframe. In this post, I’m going to explore how you can create a SMART goal in Sequence and show some additional features that give your goals more depth.
Jake Bresnehan·
Ryan Sklenica’s Current Training Schedule: Behind the Scenes
An insight into Ryan Sklenica’s current training schedule. Ryan is one of the best rock climbers in Australia and after reading this you will understand why. He shares his specific workouts, recovery tactics and so much more.
Sequence·
Jorge Díaz-Rullo’s Current Training Schedule: Behind the Scenes
A detailed look at Jorge Díaz-Rullo’s training routine, including his general training structure, specific workouts, time management, recovery strategies, and more.
Sequence·
Understanding Dopamine for Climbing Progression
Luke Hansen shares insights on how understanding dopamine can help maximize motivation and intention in climbing.
Luke Hansen·
Alex Barrows’s Current Training Schedule: Behind the Scenes
A sneak peek into the training routine of Alex Barrows, a very accomplished climber who has thought more about training than most.
Sequence·
Stronger Wrists for Climbers - 4 Must-Do Exercises
Wrist strength and mobility are crucial for climbers, as they play a significant role in grip, stability, and injury prevention. These 4 exercises are for any climber that want to increase wrist strength and to help injury prevention.
Jake Bresnehan·
Kerrin Gale’s Current Training Schedule: Behind the Scenes
Kerrin Gale is currently on an endless climbing road trip. This post dives into her training, how she stays motivated and the biggest challenges she faces.
Sequence·
Ryan Holmes’s Current Training Schedule: Behind the Scenes
An in-depth look into how Ryan Holmes approaches his “projecting/performance” phase and how structured strength training over summer has helped him improve.
Sequence·
One Power Endurance Workout to Rule Them All
This power endurance workout unlocks not only an extra gear in the forearms it can be adapted to suit your needs with some very simple adjustments.
Jake Bresnehan·
George Eddy’s Current Training Schedule: Behind the Scenes
A look into George Eddy’s current training schedule, what his current training goals are and where he gets his motivation from.
Sequence·
3 Proven Climbing Workouts for Modern-Day Training
When it comes to improving climbing performance, some workouts have proven their effectiveness over the years and remain invaluable for climbers today. This post explores the benefits of incorporating three classic workouts. Frenchies, 4x4s, and the Campus Board into your training routine.
Jake Bresnehan·
Doug McConnell’s Current Training Schedule: Behind the Scenes
A look into Doug McConnell’s current training schedule, including his general routine, specific workouts, time management, recovery, nutrition, challenges, mental aspects, and more.
Sequence·
Weekly Training Plan for Casual Boulders
This weekly plan is designed to help casual boulders that are interested in taking the next step to improving. It is applicable for boulders who already boulder twice a week.
Jake Bresnehan·
Failure and Patience
This post is about why embracing failure and patience as a climber are key ingredients to improving and growing.
Jake Bresnehan·
The Key to Climbing Progress: Focus on One Variable at a Time
This post is about the benefits of only changing “one variable” at a time within your workouts to increase the potential of progressing. If you find your performance ebbs and flows, you are injury prone or you are continuously hitting plateaus you’ll find this training technique beneficial.
Jake Bresnehan·
Why You Should Think About Getting A Climbing Coach
If you dedicate a large portion of your time trying to improve as a climber, why not get some extra help to potential speed up the process?
Jake Bresnehan·
3 Reasons Why Spray Boards Are Still The Best Training Tool
This post is about the benefits of using a spray board instead of community boards such as a Moonboard, Kilter Board, Tension Board, Grasshopper, etc.
Jake Bresnehan·
Quantifying Bouldering
There are various was we can try and quantify sessions but in this post I’m going to go a little deeper to what Steve Bechtel proposed in 2019. I’ll also share a dedicated Sequence bouldering workout you can copy and use in your account today.
Jake Bresnehan·
Benefits Of Using Sequence On A Rock Trip
The benefits of using Sequence to plan and track your training are obvious but Sequence is also a powerful tool to help improve your performance on a dedicated rock trip.
Doug McConnell·
Monitor Fatigue During A Climbing Session
The common advice generally suggests to focus on quality over quantity and once your strength level declines, it’s better to call it quits to get the maximum results. But how do you know your strength has actually declined?
Jake Bresnehan·
Working Out Your Weaknesses
As a climber I would argue the hardest thing to workout is your strengths and weaknesses. In this post we are going to explore one of the best ways to workout your weaknesses.
Jake Bresnehan·
Moonboard Benchmark Buster Plan
We are super psyched to introduce a new training plan designed specifically to help you level up your Moonboard game, and become a stronger climber in the process.
Jake Bresnehan·
Sequence Plans Revamped
Over the last few months we have been working hard on revamping the Sequence plans experience. We are super excited to announce that we have partnered up with some industry experts to bring you premium training plans delivered to you seamlessly on the awesome Sequence platform.
Jake Bresnehan·
Bulk Add Workout
We are excited to announce the release of a new feature that will make it easier than ever to add workouts to your training plan.
Jake Bresnehan·
Widgets
A few weeks ago we shared about a new feature we were working on called widgets. We are excited to announce that widgets are now live and ready to use!
Jake Bresnehan·
Introducing Widgets
A widget is extra functionality connected to a workout. A widget can be anything. Think Moonboard widget, Timer widget, Garmin widget, Measurements widget, Logbook widget, Stoked App widget, etc. Each of these widgets can provide additional unique functionality to Sequence.
Jake Bresnehan·
Metrics Updates
What if you had better ways of gaining more insights into your climbing? At Sequence we believe in giving all climbers the tools to help learn and become better; this is why we continue to invest our time into the metrics section of Sequence.
Jake Bresnehan·
9 Degree Gym Plans
With any 9 Degree membership purchase get access to a custom training plan tailored to your 9D colour level for 5 weeks completely FREE on the Sequence platform.
Jake Bresnehan·
How to get better at “Rock Climbing”
In this day and age it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture and forget what we are actually training for. In this post we cover how you can get better at rock climbing. Not indoor climbing. Not at party tricks. Rock climbing.
Jake Bresnehan·
Bouldering Workouts
So you are hooked on this climbing thing and you are keen to make the most of your time and improve as quickly as possible. Well, bouldering is one of the best things you can do. And with some of the following bouldering workouts, you should see some quality improvements if you consistently make time for them.
Jake Bresnehan·
Planner Improvements
Over the last couple of months we have been redeveloping the planner from the ground up and we are super excited to finally be releasing it.
Jake Bresnehan·
The Magic Number
When should you change your workout? How often should you change your workout? Have you hit a plateau? How many sessions have you done in the last X weeks? Is your Y really good?
Jake Bresnehan·
Biometrics & Menstrual Cycle Tracking
In Sequence we have developed an easy way to configure any number of biometric variables that you want to record daily and then easily record those measurements from your dashboard.
Jake Bresnehan·
Workout Measures
Within Sequence we have developed the ability for you to create an infinite number of tracking measurements on any workout that can give you feedback as your training evolves.
Jake Bresnehan·
Plans
One of the features we have on the Sequence platform is Plans. At present there are 3 plans (Boulder, Routes and Combined) that are 4 weeks in length. Each plan aims to give you direction and accountability.
Jake Bresnehan·
Milestones
In Sequence, we think of milestones as markers in something significant. Generally, we tend to associate our current ability with what we are sending. Unfortunately this is not always the best way to measure progression. You may run out of climbs to send. Your circumstance might change. You may have completed all the hard local climbs, or your priorities change. This is where milestones come in.
Jake Bresnehan·
Good Climbing Goals
If you want to improve as a climber, being focused is a guaranteed way to see improvement. Training with a goal in mind has a massive benefit, something that I would recommend to anyone.
Jake Bresnehan·
Measuring Climbing
Unfortunately the tools we have to track and measure climbing are still in their infancy so we just have to work with what we have. Some companies are doing some promising things but I feel we will not be really making any leaps and bounds unless the likes of Elon Musk start climbing anytime soon.
Jake Bresnehan·
What Does A Climbing Platform Look Like?
This holistic view has taken me a while to come to grips with, mainly because I tend to just start developing my ideas rather than stepping back and planning. This time, however, I made time to crack open a mind mapping tool to help me solidify my thinking.
Jake Bresnehan·
The Training Platform I Want
Nope, it is not another smart fingerboard... The platform I want is something that can tell me what I was doing when I was climbing well. A platform that guides me in the right direction. It gives me ideas on what to do and when to do it. It makes planning easy. It keeps my goals in check and it helps me achieve them.
Jake Bresnehan·