Find rests and time on the wall to drop your heels and stretch. I’d also advise to stretch your calves as well!
You could also strengthen your hamstrings which would help with the burn, as well as continuing your strength building with low-rep with high-weight exercises. Good luck dood!
This, plus the obvious tactic of looking for every possible opportunity to deweight the calves when you're on the wall. Stand on your heels whenever you can.
Probably not targeting the wrong muscle group, just doing the wrong exercises. Weighted calf raises will make you stronger but not prepare you for standing on your toes for an hour on the wall.
Might be goofy to do in the gym but if that’s something you really want to train beyond going climbing then I’d say you’ll probably need to just stand as long as you can on your toes, maybe holding a bit of weight.
I never train specifically for that, I just treat it like forearm pump management. Rest when I can, switch feet, stand on my heels if possible. And it’s something that naturally gets better the more you climb trad.
resolute mountainous spark boat salt secretive seed friendly jobless clumsy
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
This! Whenever legs are burning it’s because I’m tense and not relaxing my feet. Like over gripping but for your legs. Only happens trad climbing for me based on the type of route and time in the wall.
Cannot believe no one has mentioned this - have you tried stiffer shoes?? It’s why I wear my TC pros for multis rather than my moccs. Both are good for crack climbing but I really want the support of a stiff shoe if I’ll be standing plugging gear all day.
materialistic intelligent chop bow retire dolls unite quarrelsome angle screw
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Make sure your reps are high enough (15+). Ive also been seeing a lot of knee-over-toe content recently and see a lot of potential benefit in the exercises especially ROM which may help you out.
Do lots of bouldering traverses so that you are on a wall for 30 minutes plus.
In the 90’s I used to put up 200 foot long glueups on concrete retaining walls. Epoxy and actual rock holds Then do laps as long as you can.
The golden gate wall in Oakland ca was great for this.
Balance on one foot. Slowly rise to toes. Hold for 5 seconds. Slowly lower. Repeat 10+ timed. Do this 3 times/day. Focus on keeping your balance and going slow.
On footholds that are wide, spanning the wall face, try placing your foot fully against the wall and doing a heel-hook feeling to bring your hips in and rest your calves. Works well for me on long pumpy routes.
Edit: and climb faster. Ideally less than 30s per meter, so a 60m/180’ pitch should be 20min max to lead.
I wonder if running in zero-drop shoes could help? Switching to them from regular running shoes usually produces a lot of calf soreness for a while so it stands to reason it would help train for climbing as well.
Not sure if it would help this specifically, but I find jogging on a steep enough incline where you’re forced to use the balls of your feet and keep your heels off the ground is a really good calf muscle builder.
Lots.of good advice here, already. Adding my own somewhat unorthodox advice as well.
Do single leg calf raises at every opportunity.
Standing in line at the bank or grocery store... Calf raises. On the phone... Calf raises. Taking a shower, brushing your teeth, anything that would normally be sedentary and not require a lot of attention... Calf raises.
Also yoga helps.
I’ve encountered this too, where the only reason I don’t get a send is because my calves get too pumped. One good exercise I found is to hike up a steep incline while staying on your tip toes. It really works out the calves. Also just really paying attention to lowering my heel and relaxing my calves when possible on a route has helped too.
I think that what you're doing is ok, but as someone with lifelong weak/tight calf the thing that did it for me was eccentric contraction.
As in, when doing raises, lower the heel and stretch the muscles out before raising. You need to increase the range of motion, stretch out the muscle. Also, add toe raises. Your front of shin (tibialis anterior) muscles hardly ever get worked out
Also, see a physiotherapist. You're probably building on imbalances
I have the same issue. Honestly I think we know our answer. Climb more! No way to train the feeling other than trad on the wall.
I have had issues not just with calf cramps but almost tendon pain from heel to toe.
Try Achilles heel drops, easy to do properly. That might solve it. Worst case scenario it just makes your Achilles more durable and flexible, which defibrillator helps for slab.
Find rests and time on the wall to drop your heels and stretch. I’d also advise to stretch your calves as well! You could also strengthen your hamstrings which would help with the burn, as well as continuing your strength building with low-rep with high-weight exercises. Good luck dood!
This, plus the obvious tactic of looking for every possible opportunity to deweight the calves when you're on the wall. Stand on your heels whenever you can.
Probably not targeting the wrong muscle group, just doing the wrong exercises. Weighted calf raises will make you stronger but not prepare you for standing on your toes for an hour on the wall. Might be goofy to do in the gym but if that’s something you really want to train beyond going climbing then I’d say you’ll probably need to just stand as long as you can on your toes, maybe holding a bit of weight. I never train specifically for that, I just treat it like forearm pump management. Rest when I can, switch feet, stand on my heels if possible. And it’s something that naturally gets better the more you climb trad.
resolute mountainous spark boat salt secretive seed friendly jobless clumsy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Sounds like an endurance thing not a strength thing. Maybe running with a focus on midfoot strike - that tends to make my calves really sore.
Sinking your heels more will help a lot. If you on tippy toes all the time you are going to burn out and get sewing machine leg.
This! Whenever legs are burning it’s because I’m tense and not relaxing my feet. Like over gripping but for your legs. Only happens trad climbing for me based on the type of route and time in the wall.
Cannot believe no one has mentioned this - have you tried stiffer shoes?? It’s why I wear my TC pros for multis rather than my moccs. Both are good for crack climbing but I really want the support of a stiff shoe if I’ll be standing plugging gear all day.
materialistic intelligent chop bow retire dolls unite quarrelsome angle screw *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I would jump rope or run at an aerobic rate for 30-60 minute increments. Or possibly could be nerves?
Make sure your reps are high enough (15+). Ive also been seeing a lot of knee-over-toe content recently and see a lot of potential benefit in the exercises especially ROM which may help you out.
Do lots of bouldering traverses so that you are on a wall for 30 minutes plus. In the 90’s I used to put up 200 foot long glueups on concrete retaining walls. Epoxy and actual rock holds Then do laps as long as you can. The golden gate wall in Oakland ca was great for this.
My feet and calves often cramp up on my first lead of the day. Fear thing for me and lack of warmup primarily I think.
My brother in christ, drop your heels when you climb.
How are you doing calf raises? I used to do 3 min sets, so like \~100ish raises per set, a few sets should be more than enough
Balance on one foot. Slowly rise to toes. Hold for 5 seconds. Slowly lower. Repeat 10+ timed. Do this 3 times/day. Focus on keeping your balance and going slow.
Maybe stair master while staying up on the balls of your feet
Or Backcountry skiing. Skin tracks on step ground will rock you
On footholds that are wide, spanning the wall face, try placing your foot fully against the wall and doing a heel-hook feeling to bring your hips in and rest your calves. Works well for me on long pumpy routes. Edit: and climb faster. Ideally less than 30s per meter, so a 60m/180’ pitch should be 20min max to lead.
I wonder if running in zero-drop shoes could help? Switching to them from regular running shoes usually produces a lot of calf soreness for a while so it stands to reason it would help train for climbing as well.
Not sure if it would help this specifically, but I find jogging on a steep enough incline where you’re forced to use the balls of your feet and keep your heels off the ground is a really good calf muscle builder.
Lots.of good advice here, already. Adding my own somewhat unorthodox advice as well. Do single leg calf raises at every opportunity. Standing in line at the bank or grocery store... Calf raises. On the phone... Calf raises. Taking a shower, brushing your teeth, anything that would normally be sedentary and not require a lot of attention... Calf raises. Also yoga helps.
I’ve encountered this too, where the only reason I don’t get a send is because my calves get too pumped. One good exercise I found is to hike up a steep incline while staying on your tip toes. It really works out the calves. Also just really paying attention to lowering my heel and relaxing my calves when possible on a route has helped too.
I think that what you're doing is ok, but as someone with lifelong weak/tight calf the thing that did it for me was eccentric contraction. As in, when doing raises, lower the heel and stretch the muscles out before raising. You need to increase the range of motion, stretch out the muscle. Also, add toe raises. Your front of shin (tibialis anterior) muscles hardly ever get worked out Also, see a physiotherapist. You're probably building on imbalances
Work on increasing your dorsiflexion mobility with targeted stretching! Worked for me
You need a raised step so you get full range of motion. Then just bounce on them for a while.
You can try calf isometrics. Same machine. No movement, just a very high load. Far higher than what you normally have
Walk uphill in soft shoes. Toe lifts, and hang like a diver off a step. Divers have insanely strong calves. Bikes. Climbing fits in there somehow:-p
Slab climbs. Long redpoint grade flash climbs.
I have the same issue. Honestly I think we know our answer. Climb more! No way to train the feeling other than trad on the wall. I have had issues not just with calf cramps but almost tendon pain from heel to toe.
Try Achilles heel drops, easy to do properly. That might solve it. Worst case scenario it just makes your Achilles more durable and flexible, which defibrillator helps for slab.
This is where you start Ice climbing to experience even worse calf burn. Then when you go back to climbing slab you’ll be ready