David Rowland

Two Systems In the U.S., climbing grades are broken into two systems: the V-grade system used for bouldering, and the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) used for grading routes. Why are Read More

The original layout of the first Philadelphia Rock Gym was truly an exercise in old-school design.   In the early days, as I have mentioned previously, many climbing gyms were Read More

In the early days, many believed that climbing gyms were just a passing fad. They might survive a few years, maybe five. People reasoned that once the novelty wore off Read More

When the first Philadelphia Rock Gym opened in February of 1994, it was not only the first climbing gym in the Philadelphia metropolitan area but one of the first in Read More

What is a Roof in Climbing? A roof in climbing is a severely overhanging face. There is no hard and fast rule, but a steep face typically becomes a roof Read More

What are Repetitive Stress Injuries Along with overtraining, repetitive stress injuries (RSI) are the most common cause of performance declines during training. In fact, repetitive stress injuries are frequently an Read More

What is Over-Training? Perhaps the single most common risk to athletes during the season is overtraining. In this article, we’ll examine its causes and effects in detail and discuss how Read More

The Warm Down: Neglected But Needed The warm down is the least appreciated (and least used) element in a workout. Coaches and climbers alike frequently neglect it. This is unfortunate. Read More

4 Workout Rules How do you build sets to target the goals you want to achieve in your climbing workout? We start with the simplest sets first and then we’ll move Read More