Why Summer is Your Prehab Season
It’s not just about pulling hard. Strength, mobility and recovery are the real secret weapons.
Climbing Takes It All – So Train for It
We all know bouldering hits every part of the body—fingers, shoulders, core, legs. But climbing alone won’t build the kind of power, balance and resilience you need to keep improving and stay injury-free. That’s where strength & conditioning comes in.
S&C isn’t just about raw strength. It builds the stability and endurance that help you climb longer, recover faster and move with better technique. A good training routine works the stabiliser muscles climbers often neglect—the ones that quietly keep everything in check. Ignore them, and you open the door to injuries and imbalances.
The takeaway: if you want to climb harder, for longer, and stay uninjured, S&C is non-negotiable.
The Boulder Exe Gym – Built for Climbers
We’ve set up our gym with exactly that in mind. It’s not an afterthought—it’s a key part of your climbing toolkit. Whether you’re warming up, building a structured training routine, or prepping for your next trip, the space is yours to use. Access is included for all over-18s with a membership or pay-as-you-go pass. The kit is here. The rest is up to you.
What you’ll find in our gym:
- Two squat racks
- Cable machine
- Fingerboard station with 10 boards
- Plyometric gear – jump boxes, skipping ropes
- Full range of dumbbells and kettlebells
- Rowing machine and ski erg for cardio and warm-ups
Yoga & Flexibility: Movement with Intent
Power’s great—but the strongest climbers move with control, fluidity, and focus. That comes from flexibility, balance, and a calm head.
Why yoga works for climbers:
- Opens up hips, shoulders, back—hello high steps and drop knees
- Builds body tension and balance through core-focused movement
- Sharpens mental game—staying calm when things get sketchy
- Encourages proper breathing and better recovery
Yoga isn’t just a cool-down—it’s injury prevention, movement training, and a mental reset all in one.
We’ve got a regular schedule of classes in our studio, led by instructors like Tami (our resident instructor) and local climber/teacher James Van Cady. Got a yoga qualification and want to run sessions? Let’s talk. The studio fits small groups and is available to hire.
Prehab, Rehab and the Role of Physio
Even the strongest climbers pick up tweaks—tight shoulders, sore fingers, dodgy elbows. Physiotherapy helps catch these issues early and sort them before they become season-enders.
Think of it as a service check for your body.
We’ve worked closely with Quay Kinetics Physio for years—they’ve had a base at the Quay and now also run a dedicated space at Boulder Exe. Their team are climbers, and they get the demands of the sport. They are there to help you to climb strong and stay injury free.
Jennifer Searle, founder of Quay Kinetics, explains:
“We often see a spike in finger, shoulder and elbow injuries when climbers come back to indoor training after summer outdoors. Jumping from irregular outdoor sessions to hard indoor bouldering overloads tissue that’s not conditioned for it.”
The fix? A bit of smart, lightweight prehab. You don’t need to train like a machine—just a couple of weekly sessions focused on finger strength, scapular control, and lower limb stability can keep your body resilient.
Supporting the Next Generation
At Boulder Exe, we take these three pillars—Strength, Mobility, Recovery—seriously across everything we do. That includes how we support younger climbers through our development programmes. We follow the BMC Youth Protocols closely and build our programmes based upon a 360 degree approach that takes into account all our athletes needs.
As part of this, our coaching team work closely with Quay Kinetics to build understanding around injury risk and body awareness in young athletes. Recently, Ollie, one of our Squad Performance Coaches, hosted a joint session with Quay Kinetics to do just that:
“Earlier this month we ran a collab event with the Quay Kinetics team for all five of our youth squads. We focused on the risks growing climbers face—like growth plate issues—and how to build good habits early.
Parents and carers joined too. We talked about structuring sessions well, the importance of rest and recovery, and how communication between athletes, coaches and families makes all the difference.
Jenn and Dan from Quay Kinetics led the session. Their tips on training load, recognising pain, and fuelling properly really landed. It’s already shaping how our squads train—and we’re keen to run more events like this in future.”
Final Thoughts: The Climber You Want to Be
Whether you’re eyeing your first 5m wall or projecting your next V6, your progress isn’t just about time on the wall. Strength, flexibility and recovery are what make that time count.
We’ve built Boulder Exe to support all three—with a gym that works, yoga that delivers, and trusted physios right here when you need them.
Let’s train smart, move well, climb strong and stay injury free—on and off the wall. The climbing you envision is within reach—and we’re here to help you climb toward it in every sense.
