Reach Your Climbing Goals
Climbing season is upon us! Although we have (hopefully) been training in the gym all year long to maintain our abilities, we can finally get outside and get humbled by climbs 3 grades lower than what we’ve been sending indoors.
The balance of mental focus, calm breath, and sheer strength it takes to complete a challenging climb is always a work in progress, but it’s what keeps us coming back for more. With the whole summer and fall ahead, there is endless opportunity for new routes and adventures. However, without our consent, very often neck, shoulder and hand injuries prevent us from having the season we hoped for.
It is important to make sure we are completing the following tips to ensure we are able to focus on adventure, pushing ourselves, and enjoying climbing instead of stressing about an injury.
Warm up! When we climb outside- we sometimes don’t have the luxury of an easier route to climb right in front of us, and don’t feel like trekking to find that easier climb. So instead of just going for the route without a warmup, find other ways to warm up your body and your arms. Spend about 5 minutes working on activities such as push ups, mountain climbers, planks, jumping jacks, etc to get your blood moving.
Strength train outside of climbing with a focus on mid back, core, shoulder and finger strength. Farmer carries are an excellent way to strengthen grip. For mid back and shoulder strength- complete both push and pull motions such as a push up and a pull up or a chest press and a row.
We very much focus on our pecs, biceps and wrist flexors when climbing so it is very important to focus on training the opposite (or antagonist) muscle groups when at the gym to avoid an overuse injury!
Invest in a hangboard. It is a great way to improve finger strength and will allow you to be able to climb more frequently with less finger fatigue!
Have good technique- engage your core and use your feet as much as possible to try to reduce the stress on your fingers and hands.
Try taping your finger(s) if you are coming back from a recent finger injury or have a few fingers that seem to be more tired at the end of your session than the others. It will provide some external support and allow them to not work as hard and heal. For more information, look into “H-taping”.
Listen to your body. If you feel a tweak in your fingers or shoulders, either move to a much easier grade of climb or maybe call it for the day. It’s not worth it for a painful incident to become a full blown injury.
If you do have a nagging injury that just won’t go away, even after incorporating these 6 tips, please reach out to us! Even for us PTs, it can be difficult to evaluate ourselves and we too need an outside eye to assess for muscle asymmetry, poor form, or a potential injury that requires load and activity modification.
We wish you all a happy and healthy climbing season!