What I Do: I stretch four to six days a week.
The Science Behind It: From what I’ve observed over the years, flexibility appears to be one of the most neglected areas of climbing training, even among proficient climbers who train other areas of their game diligently. Yet flexibility plays such a key role in rock climbing – both in terms of on-the-rock tactics and in terms of preventing injuries and promoting stronger muscles.
On the rocks, having a full range of active flexibility means that you can make the most of your body size, accessing the greatest number of holds possible for both movements and rests. For example, being able to kick a leg out sideways at full extension might be the difference between a no-hands rest and no rest, and being able to high step can make an otherwise ultra-reachy move an easy move.
However, static stretching prior to climbing will not improve your climbing and might actually decrease your performance and increase your potential for injury. According to an article published on April 15, 2010 in “USAToday,” “In the last few years, several studies have found static stretching before playing a sport makes you slower and weaker.” Save your static stretching for after climbing or climbing training. Instead, spend your time before climbing by warming up appropriately – start with light cardio (i.e. hiking to the crag, a light jog/walk/cycle) and some climbing-relevant dynamic stretches/exercises (pull-ups, dead hangs, etc.), followed by a warm-up pitch or two or three on submaximal routes. For more on warming up, read Improve Your Sport Climbing and Bouldering With Warm-Up Exercises and How to Stay Warm and Warmed Up When Rock Climbing in Cold Conditions.
Off the rocks, post-climbing stretching can loosen and lengthen tight muscles, which helps prevent injuries and promotes faster recovery, as explained in a March 2011 article appearing in “Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.” Researchers found that people who performed regular stretching three days a week combined with weight training had stronger muscles and less muscle damage when compared with a control group who did the weight training exercises with no stretching.
My yoga-inspired stretching routine contains many poses I learned when I was 10 years old from a copy of “Richard Hittleman’s Yoga: 28-Day Exercise Plan” that I picked up in a used bookstore. Of course, I’ve modified it and added to it through the years plenty of times. I actually find it easiest to stretch while watching a television show that doesn’t require serious attention, as I will really dig deeper and hold each stretch for longer when I stretch in this way. If you find it challenging to stretch on your own, consider enrolling in a yoga class, stretching with a partner or purchasing a stretching DVD.
For more on stretches for climbers, read Stretches for Rock Climbers, When/Why to Stretch.
Thank you Alli for these posts, I find them very insightful and share them with other climbing friends. I do have a question for you. The other day I was having a conversation with another fellow climber who is a physical therapist/chiropractor and we were discussing training with a weight vest. He suggested that it was bad to wear one while climbing, but okay to do so on a finger board/campus board. He said the movement was bad for tendons, ligaments, growth plates, etc. so I was wondering what your take was on this? I am starting to see youth climbing gym coaches use it as well as other climbers in gym settings, so I am very curious and I respect your opinion. Once again thank you for these wonderful insightful posts.
Hi, Christie, and thanks for your question. Since I’m not a medical professional, I’ll have to defer to the opinion of your PT/chiropractor friend as to the issues of the potential for damage using a weight vest while climbing for young people in particular. I don’t use a weight vest while climbing for training (nor do I include this in my clients’ training program), though I do use it for some specific resistance exercises like those mentioned by your fellow climber — for weighted pull-ups, hangs, and campusing. I have three reasons that come to mind for this: 1. It’s impossible for a weight vest to distribute weight the same way flesh distributes weight. Wearing a weight vest while climbing could potentially develop awkward/erroneous techniques that aren’t helpful for developing proper climbing skills. Even worse, it could encourage injuries by stressing the areas mentioned by your friend — just like campusing, if you can’t keep a slight bend in joints, but instead “slam” onto them with a completely straightened arm and shoulder in an effort to hang on, this is a great way to injure connective tissue. And it’s harder to override the “succeed at all costs” mindset when you’re climbing than when you’re in more controlled training mindset and situation, as afforded by the campus board or pull-up bar. 2. I believe that more targeted and specific resistance training mechanisms have the potential to be more effective than the more hit-and-miss kind of training that climbing with a weight vest on encourages. When you climb, the weakest area fatigues first and stops you from climbing more — potentially not giving other or all areas of concern as thorough a workout as possible. 3. Climbing with a weight vest isn’t very fun — definitely not as fun as climbing without one. If you’re training properly and using all of the training modalities available to you in an intelligent and well-constructed training program, it’s quite possible and in my opinion, more effective for most people, to spend your time climbing focusing on refining tactics and techniques as well as enjoying the experience of climbing.
To sum it up, I believe that regular body-weight climbing sessions focused on working personal weaknesses accompanied by more targeted resistance training (weight lifting, weighted pull-ups, campusing, finger work etc.) are generally more efficient and effective at developing climbing strength, power and power endurance than climbing with a weight vest. This isn’t to say that some people won’t see benefits from climbing with a weight vest — they can and will, certainly — it’s just to say that I personally don’t think it’s the most efficient and/or least potentially injurious way for most people to achieve the desired results.
Hi-
Your friend is probably either a PT or a chiropractor. It would be odd to find someone who is both, as the fields are rather divergent. As a PT with 13 years climbing experience, I believe it is not harmful to climb with a weight vest, as long as you are advanced enough to do so. You need to be a good enough climber to know what your body can stand, especially if you are training on small holds. I would be more nervous about wearing one on a finger/campus board because you don’t take any of the weight off with your feet. Campusing is already stressful to the body, let alone adding extra weight. I do believe that very advanced climbers (5.13 and up) can use the weight vest on the finger board successfully, but you must be very careful not to damage your finger joints and tendons.
Climbing with a weight vest (hyper-gravity training) can result in huge gains strength-wise, but again, one must be very careful not to injure oneself. Of course I’m referring to climbing in the gym (or on a home wall) with a weight vest where you can control and predict the holds you will use.
Aimee, thanks for your comment on this and for sharing your opinion.
The article at the link below should also help. It contains a number of stretches for climbing, plus information on treating and preventing injuries common to rock climbing…
http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/archives/stretches-rock-climbing.php
Thanks, Brad! Super helpful information.