As climbers, we tend to focus on the parts of our sessions where we get to try our hardest because they are the most fun. While it is definitely good to enjoy these parts of climbing, it is extremely important to not neglect the less exciting parts like warming up properly.
To further emphasize the importance of a good thorough warmup, here’s an article by Aleks Taistra from The Arch Climbing Wall that discusses the science behind warming up and then outlines the important components of a good climbing warm up.
“Everybody instinctively agrees that warming up is important. To my surprise, however, people often choose not to prepare their bodies for training or climbing. Asking why, I often hear it’s because they’re not professional athletes and they ‘just climb recreationally’. Yet climbing requires our bodies to adopt moves it wasn’t designed for. Fingers particularly need easing into it. Recreational climbers should think of making climbing a sustainable sport to avoid injury, thus never skipping the warm-up. Professional climbers too need to be aware that even the hardest training won’t pay off without getting the body sufficiently warmed up. If you don’t warm up, forget about high performance at competitions or red-pointing routes at your limit.” – Aleks Taistra
Components of Warming Up:
Ultimately, Taistra doesn’t outline a one-size fits all warm-up program for you to follow. Instead, she covers what she believes are the main concerns that need to be addressed by a good warmup. They are:
- Temperature
- Central Nervous System
- Quality of Movement
- Watch Out for Stretching
- Work Your Weakness
Click through below to read the full article where each of these components is discussed in greater detail. While this article doesn’t give you a routine to follow, it does give you the information you will need to develop an effective warm-up routine that works for you.
Full Article: The Science of Warming Up
(photo courtesy of archclimbingwall.com)
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