Welcome to Train Climb: why we built it

Most climbers we know train hard. Fewer of them know whether that training is actually moving them forward, and even fewer can say how tired they were three weeks before the finger tweak that kept them off the wall for a month. Train Climb grew out of that gap.

We are a small team of climbers and coaches based in Romania. For years we kept training records the way most people do: a paper notebook, a spreadsheet that nobody else could read, a chat thread full of "how did today go?" messages. It worked, sort of. But the information was scattered, and the most useful questions were the hardest to answer.

The questions we kept asking

• Is this athlete doing more this week than their body is used to?
• Did the plan we wrote in September actually happen in October?
• Are they getting stronger on the exercises that matter, or just repeating them?
• Is the climbing itself improving, or only the numbers on the hangboard?

None of these need fancy technology. They need simple, consistent records and a sensible way to look at them. That is what we set out to build.

What Train Climb does

Train Climb is a training app for climbers, their coaches and their clubs. At its heart it does three things.

It makes logging quick. An athlete records a session in about 30 seconds: what kind of session it was, how long it lasted, how hard it felt on a scale of 1 to 10, metres climbed, how they felt and any notes. If the coach planned the session, the exercises, sets and targets are already there.

It turns logs into useful information. Effort multiplied by minutes gives a training load for each session, an approach known as session RPE that was described by Foster and colleagues (2001). The progress page shows weekly load and how this week compares with the last four. A simple injury-risk light pulls together load, morning check-ins and skipped sessions, so a coach can spot an athlete who might need a lighter day.

It connects athletes and coaches. Coaches build season plans with phases and target loads, keep an exercise library, see their whole team on one board and message athletes about sessions, events and climbs. Clubs can run all of this for many coaches and athletes in one place, and parents give consent for climbers under 16.

What it does not do

We want to be honest about this. Train Climb does not tell you how to train. It does not replace a coach, a physiotherapist or your own judgement. The load numbers and the risk light are prompts for a conversation, not verdicts. Researchers such as Impellizzeri and colleagues (2020) have pointed out real limitations in some of the ratios used to monitor load, and we would rather you understand those limits than trust a number blindly.

Good records do not make you a better climber. Good decisions do, and good records make good decisions easier.

Who it is for

Train Climb works for a climber training alone, a coach with a handful of athletes, or a club with youth squads and adult members. You can read more about each group on our who it is for page.

If you are new to the ideas behind the app, a good starting point is our post on why tracking your training matters, followed by logging a session in 30 seconds.

In Train Climb

• Create an account and log your last three sessions from memory, as honestly as you can.
• Add one or two climbs to your journal, sent or still a project.
• If you have a coach, invite them so they can see your log and start planning with you.
• Come back to the blog for practical posts on training, recovery, movement and equipment.

We are glad you are here. Climb well, train sensibly, and tell us what would make the app more useful for you.