Originally Posted by WhyFi

Yeah, more than one way to skin a cat, and I'm sure it depends upon the nature of the climbing that you're doing.

I think that a lot (vast majority?) of people that worry about putting on too much mass via weights just haven't lifted before - it's not something that you "oops" your way in to, unless maybe you're crazy genetically gifted. I think that I could increase upper body strength without adding more than a 3-5 pounds of muscle and still get to a target weight of 170 next spring.

Originally Posted by LesterOfPuppets

I used to do light weights. 10lb dumbbells. curls, upright rows, lateral lifts, shoulder presses.
I've switched to hitting the parallel bars and pullup bar. Dips and leg lifts and pullups. I should probably mix in a day a week of light weights, but I never get around to it.

Originally Posted by big john

There is definitely a genetic component involved when lifting. When weight training in high school we were grouped for wrestling according to our body weight but for lifting according to our max lifting weight. I tend to gain mass faster than max lifting ability. There were lighter guys who increased their max bench press without gaining much body weight. One guy in particular was lifting nearly as much as the heavyweights and he was around 175# iirc.

I haven't done any lifting in way too long and now that I don't work my arms and upper body are pretty weak. I gave away my bench and all my weights when we moved 5 years ago.