I don't want to hijack the man's thread but I have the exact same question and I didn't want to make yet another thread on the same topic.

I know that strength training and endurance training doesnt go along well at all if you're looking for optimal training.

I enjoy bouldering but I prefer doing sport routes so I was thinking 20ish rep endurance grind but I see a lot of people talking about pure strength. I can see why it would be useful for bouldering but wouldn't training for pure strength get you pumped too fast on longer routes?

I really feel that my fingers are the weakest link.

Having powerlifting experience, wouldnt' that make my tendons strong enough already to get on the finger training routines sooner? I mean, I can C&J my own bodyweight and deadlift 2x my own bodyweight, hanging on my fingers doesn't look risky from my perspective.

I think 20 rep sets would be really useless. The power generated is, well, incredibly low, and I don't even think it would translate to climbing endurance much. But...I am not totally sure what kinds of resistance exercises you're referring to when you talk about this kind of rep scheme to begin with.

Also, I don't think anyone advocates training for pure strength only, especially if routes are what you enjoy. On a related note, one thing that is apparent in the exercise science is that strength and power training do not appear to be detrimental much (or at all) to endurance performance (depending on how you define and measure endurance).

Rarely is there an average recreational climber out there that really benefits from "training" in the first year.

Once you have a year, or even two years, of full time climbing (3 - 5 days a week) behind you, training is probably necessary to climb harder grades.

I like pushups, pull ups, dips, shoulder press, reverse curls, and all kinds of painful core workouts. I tend to use moderate weight that I can do 4 or 5 sets of 10 w/o a spotter.

Here, I'll make you a better climber very quickly: stop using the term "mountain climbing" when you're talking about climbing in a gym (or rock climbing outside).

If you want to climb mountains, get a stairmaster.

If you want to be a rock climber, stay in shape and you'll probably figure out if any specific weight workout helps when your hands catch up to the rest of you. Be careful about not using strength to make up for bad technique early on or it'll start a bad habit that you'll pay for in the long run.

Throw out as many isolation exercises as you can.
By throwing out isolations, I mean dont do more than 1-2 iso exercise per session. Spend your time doing pullups, bent rows, upright rows rather than 3 exercises of bicep curls.

I read this often and it couldn't be farther from the truth. A good overall fitness level will help you a lot when you start out. You can NOT get experience/footwork/finger strength/visualization and all that stuff from exercising in a gym, that's for sure. But put up 2 beginners on a wall, a fatty who can't do 1 pull up, 5 push ups and walk up a set of 5 stairs without sweating Vs. someone who can chain 15 pull ups, 20 dips, has a decent core, good legs and good cardio... the fit guy will progress much faster. There is no arguing about it, just ask my climbing partner. He has more climbing experience than I do but my much greater fitness level ended up making me able to climb stuff a bit harder than he actually can, and he gets pumped a whole lot faster than me. I ain't bragging, I've seen it with other people also.

You're missing the point. I said I ain't training to get better at climbing. I'm training because I would be training anyway, I'm just looking about ways to make my regular training more useful for climbing since it has become my main sport.

Trust me, if I had the time and money to climb 5days a week, I would. It's just not possible right now so I'm trying to get better with the resources I currently have.

Those exercises are pretty much what I did. You said you did sets of 10 though. I guess that makes sense for someone like you who boulders a lot but are you gaining a lot of mass? 8-12 reps is in the mass range. I was working out around that range recently (5x12) and I put up about 5 pounds of muscle within 1-2 months (without eating like mass programs requires you to). If I keep going that way I'll be much more competitive in bodybuilding contests than actual mountain climbing... It's one of the reason I was saying I was thinking of sets of 3x20. Good endurance, but no mass gains. Sets of 3-5 gives you good strength and little mass also so I was considering that as an alternative if sets of 20 were a no go.

I was thinking of sets of 20 because most routes at the closest indoor gym are about what, 20 moves long? I figured out if I wanted to work out toward doing routes more than bouldering problems I should be doing sets of "climbing related exercises" with a number of reps averaging what I'd usually encounter climbing a route.

I read often that if you can do, lets say, 30 dips (endurance), and you start doing 5x5 of weighted dips, your strength will indeed go up but if you try pulling a max rep set of dips you will soon find out that your max dramatically went down. So I was wondering if bouldering often (due to a lack of stable route climbing partner) wouldn't impede on route climbing performance in the end.

So please don't bother with the usual "omg climb more noob!"

So can you climb more instead of lifting... or do you have to lift? It is part of your profession?

I'm not sure what the best answer is for number of reps but I can tell you that I climb MUCH better at 155 than I do at 170. When I was 170 I could bench 225, squat nearly 300, and don't remember the dead lift but I impressed my dad who used to lift a lot. I could do more pull ups then too. Still climb better at 155 with no lifting. Go figure.