Killer Rock Climbing Technique #1 - Warmup & Stretching
Warm up and stretching prior to rock climbing is one of the most important and often overlooked things to do. By applying these two rock climbing techniques (warm up & stretching) you increase your endurance for rock climbing and allow your muscles to perform better and longer.
Stretching acts to elongate the muscles and tendons of your body.To understand why this is an importantrock climbing technique you have to understand that your bodiesmuscle makeup is such that for every muscle in your body there is another muscle that performs the opposite function or movement on the other side.
For example on your upper arm there is the biceps and triceps. When the bicep is contracting the tricep is stretching and viceversa. So in this example if your biceps and triceps are not stretched (thus shorter than they should be) when your biceps is contracting (for example to help pull you up the rocks or rock climbing wall)it not only has to work to pull your body weight up but it also has to exert extra energy to fight the shortened and tight triceps.
So if your not stretched then your muscles are working against each other and your rock climbing endurance will be shorter than it could be.
The technique of warming up has the purpose of increasing the blood flow to the muscles of your body. Blood flow to the muscles when exterting your muscles in rock climbing provides 2 valuable services to your muscles:
Provides nutrient that in effect feed the muscle increasing its strength and endurance.
Remove accumulating lactic acid from the muscles. Lactic acid is a waste product the result of muscle contractions. The build up of lactic acid in your muscles will make them sore and tired quicker.
A great warm up for rock climbing is to do a couple of sets of pushups, a couple sets of chin ups, a few sets of sit ups, and job lightly for about a mile. You do not want to exhaust yourself here so only go at a light to medium pace and intensity for these warm up exercises