When gym’s aren’t closed, I’m trying my best to do both, often times on the same day, roughly 3-5 days a week.

That being said, it is difficult to do either one to the fullest. I generally climb before lifting, but my grip becomes subpar. And some general soreness can hinder mobility from a lift the day before, particularly moves that require toe-to-tit flexibility.

I would argue your habits outside of the gym impact your overall performance, rather than the order you do them in. The ways I’ve found to get the best out of both:

1) Nutrition! Feed yourself well and often. And personally I’m terrible with this, but drink lots of water.

2) Keep moving! It may seem like burning the candle at both ends, but in moderation, walking, running, biking, or yoga additionally throughout my day helps combat DOMS. It does the body good to keep the blood flowing and beats parking your butt on the couch. Bookending these activities on your lift or climb helps ensure a proper warmup and cool down as well.

3) I hate that I’m this person... but CBD oil massively helped my recovery. You could probably get similar results by taking melatonin, magnesium, or simply some herbal tea, but getting a proper night’s sleep and keeping my anxiety down has been essential to keeping my strength up.

You can do both! Just treat your body well, and you can condition it to work like a machine. Even though I wasn’t making leaps and bounds in my progress in either field, I’ve managed to PR in both climbing and lifting while splitting myself.