Build a Training Plan with Crimpd+

How to build a custom training plan in Crimpd+ with Skill Templates and workouts

The training plan builder lets you create and manage custom training plans. Requires an active Crimpd+ subscription.

Your training plans live on the Home tab. The Current Plan card shows the plan you are following. The Training Plans shelf has an All plans link (opens the Training Plans screen), a Create a Plan card (opens the create form, or the Crimpd+ paywall without a subscription), and Skill Template cards (each opens that template's detail).

Building a training plan consists of 4 steps:

1. Create a training plan
2. Add workouts and Skill Templates to your plan
3. Schedule workout volume and adjust your weeks
4. Structure your weeks

1. Create a training plan

When starting to build your training plan, there are two methods you can use: start with a pre-existing Skill Template to help bootstrap your plan or create a training plan from scratch.

Before building your plan, consider your goals, weaknesses, current training level, and available training time.

Option 1: Start with a Skill Template

Skill Templates are a feature included with Crimpd+ memberships that are designed to help climbers bootstrap their training by offering guidance on how to improve a specific skill relevant to climbing performance. Skill Templates can be found under Discover Skill Templates on the Training Plans screen, which you reach from the Home tab.

Each Skill Template focuses on a specific climbing skill, with progressions designed for different levels. For example, the Pull-up Strength – Intermediate template below offers Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced versions.

All Skill Templates are 6 weeks: two Base weeks, a Rest week, two more Base weeks, then a Peak week.

Once you've found a Skill Template that matches your current skill level and goals, tap Add to Training Plan to add the level currently shown to a plan. Without Crimpd+, this opens the paywall. With Crimpd+, an Add to Plan sheet offers Add to New Plan or Add to Existing Plan (your custom plans that haven't ended). If you have no such plans, it goes straight to Create Training Plan. When you create a plan from a template, the duration is fixed at the template's 6 weeks, so the Duration row is hidden.

Option 2: Start with a blank training plan

You can also start from scratch. On the Home tab, tap the + button and choose Create Training Plan. You can also tap the Create a Plan card in the Training Plans shelf, or the Create Training Plan button on the Training Plans screen.

The new plan form has the following fields:

• Plan Name
• Duration — from 1 to 24 weeks (6 weeks by default)
• Starting Week — the week the plan starts. By default, a new plan starts on the first week from next week on that doesn't overlap another plan.
• Training Goal

When you clone a plan, the form also shows Copy Schedule: copy the same weekday schedule, or turn it off to reset all scheduled workouts.

Only one training plan can be active at a time. Plans can't overlap: saving a plan that overlaps another fails with "Training plan cannot overlap with another training plan".

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2. Add workouts and Skill Templates to your plan

A new, empty plan shows two buttons: Add Workouts and Add Skill Templates. Add Workouts opens the Add to Plan sheet on the Workouts tab, and Add Skill Templates opens it on the Skill templates tab. In the sheet you can switch between the Workouts and Skill templates tabs to find what you want to add. You can also open it later from the plan builder's "..." menu with Add Workouts.

In the sheet, search for a workout or filter by Category or Equipment, then tap + Add on each one you want. Workouts already in the plan show Added. Tap Done when you are finished.

You can also add items while browsing:

• On any workout's detail screen, tap Add to Plan.
• On any Skill Template's detail screen, tap Add to Training Plan (see Option 1).

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3. Schedule workout volume and adjust your weeks

View your weekly progress on the plan's Week tab. Each training category shows how many of its scheduled workouts you have completed that week, and a check mark appears when a category is complete for the week. Endurance, Power Endurance, Strength & Power and Conditioning always show; Technique, Open Climbing and Cross-Training show only when the week includes them.

Each workout shows as done (green check), partial (yellow), or Missed (red X). Missed means nothing was logged and the week has ended. If you do a missed workout later, the log counts as the make-up for the nearest earlier missed day.

Schedule total weekly volume for each workout

Once you have added workouts to your plan, set how often you will do each one in its Weekly Volume sheet. To open it, tap "..." on the plan, choose Edit Training Plan to open the plan builder, then tap a workout's row. Volume is set from 0 to 50 sessions per week (steps of 0.5, then 1 from 3; type a value for quarter sessions).

The sheet has a row for each week of the plan, with the week's phase and the number of sessions, plus the shortcut buttons Every Week: 1, Every Week: 2, Build + Peak Only, and Clear All.

Schedule workouts on days of the week

To choose which day you will do each workout, open the Week N Schedule sheet (for example, Week 5 Schedule) and pick a day for each workout. You can open it from:

• The Schedule button on the plan's Week tab
• The Schedule button in the Today section on the Home tab. If you are following a plan, Home shows a Today section with that plan's workouts scheduled for today, above the Current Plan card.
• The Calendar tab

The Sessions per day row at the top of the sheet shows how many sessions fall on each day.

Adjusting weeks

In the plan builder, tap the "..." beside a week to open its menu. The menu appears only when the plan has more than one week, and has these options:

• Insert Week Before — add a week before the selected week
• Insert Week After — add a week after the selected week
• Delete Week N — remove the selected week from the plan

Tap the week's phase to change it. To review and change the phases of all weeks at once, tap "..." in the plan builder and choose Adjust Week Phases.

The plan builder shows the selected week's sessions by training category, and each workout has – and + buttons to change its sessions for that week. Below the category totals, Copy Week N Here copies the previous week into the selected week, Copy to Week N copies the selected week into the next one, and Clear Week clears the selected week.

When selecting an appropriate micro-cycle for your training plan it is important to balance the ratio of Base-to-Rest weeks. New plans start with a 2:1 Base:Rest pattern; many climbers move to 3:1.

Managing your plan

Tap the "..." button on a plan to:

• Edit Training Plan (opens the plan builder)
• Change Plan Start Date
• Clone Training Plan
• Delete Training Plan

The "..." menu in the plan builder has:

• Edit Plan Settings
• Add Workouts
• Re-order Workouts
• Adjust Week Phases
• Tips to Build Your Plan
• Change Plan Start Date
• Delete Training Plan

Training Plans may have a minimum duration of 1 week and a maximum duration of 24 weeks. We recommend that you limit the plan duration to a maximum of 12 weeks. Longer training plans and cycles can be split into multiple plans for easier management.

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4. Structuring your weeks

It is important to schedule the correct workout in the correct order during a given week. As a general rule of thumb, Endurance workouts are the least intense, followed by Power Endurance, and Strength & Power.

An Example Training Week

Suppose you have a week scheduled with a total of 17 workouts containing the following energy systems:

• 1 x Regeneration
• 4 x Aerobic Capacity
• 2 x Strength & Power
• 10 x Conditioning

Alternatively, if a climber was looking to maximize their training while also providing ample time to climb freely indoors or outdoors they may structure their week as such:

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Frequently Asked Questions

What can I do on rest days and weeks?

Rest days should be used for recovery in order to make the adaptations you want. Make sure to eat well and stick to lighter physical activities if possible. Rest weeks are relative REST weeks! Just because you don't have lots of training, don't go bonkers and get too tired from doing other things. It is okay to climb for fun a bit more on rest weeks but make sure you don't over do it.

What if I have spare time or not enough time?

If you have spare time, great! It is totally fine to add additional climbing into your plan as long as your body is recovering well. If you have additional time, we would recommend focussing on skills based practices and climbing at your limit at the start of training session before structured training. Alternatively, if you are finding that you cannot fit everything into your schedule, it will be key to reduce the training and focus on the stimulus you need the most to improve. Try reducing several workouts by half (half the sets) to begin with. If this is still too much, eliminate a workout which is less inline with your goal, i.e. AeroCap for someone working towards a bouldering goal.

What happens if I miss a workout?

It's okay - it happens to everyone. A missed workout shows as Missed (red) in your training plan's weekly progress. If you do it later, the log counts as the make-up. If you miss a workout, you can either make it up later in the week or skip it. If you miss a workout, we recommend that you do not try to make it up the following week. Instead, continue with the next scheduled workout.

What if I want to climb outside?

We understand that you may wish to climb outside during your training plan. We would like to confirm that you can certainly climb outside during a training cycle on top of your scheduled sessions. If you feel you do not have the time to climb outside as well as training, please follow the rules below:

• If physical gains are your priority = limit outdoor climbing to rest days and rest weeks. Do not push too hard during these sessions and prioritize recovery for training.
• Outdoor climbing is your priority = adapt training. We understand the important skill aspects of climbing outside and maintaining motivation throughout a training cycle. In this circumstance you can either train outside using the same workouts which can be adapted to your local crag or replace training workouts with outdoor climbing.
• Trad climbing or easy sport can replace endurance workouts
• On-sight sport, red-point sport attempts and fast boulder mileage can replace aerobic power workouts.
• Working routes in small sections or hard bouldering can replace strength/power workouts or anaerobic capacity workouts