UKC

What useful exercises or routines can you do at the indoor bouldering gym/wall after you've got to the stage where your fingers, hands and forearms barely work anymore and your skin is burning and peeling off?

In reply to elliot.baker:

Yoga/stretching?

There is a point where you just have to call it a day though.

In reply to elliot.baker:

Climbing yourself to failure is deemed by most experts to be counter-productive. The quality of training is more important to focus on than the quantity. If you do want to finish a session off with anything, then either do basic low precision exercises like pull ups, or antagonistic muscle training or core work.

In reply to elliot.baker:

Core exercises?

Injury prevention exercises?

Stretching/ yoga?

Hangboard? (if your fingers aren't too done)

Basic circuits?

In reply to elliot.baker:


Nothing.

If you've got to that point, your session is already too long and you are already hindering your recovery and your future training sessions. If you are training for bouldering, most sessions should be finishing long before that point.

The exceptions would be if you are only able to train once a week (not sure you could still call it training in those circumstances) or maybe if you were training to condition yourself for long multipitch days in which case, the answer would be to grit your teeth and just keep on climbing.

In reply to elliot.baker:

Hands free slab problems?

In reply to elliot.baker:

I used to do just this, but have since started spending time to work on other things such as flexibility, core, injury prevention exercises. Though I find all of this stuff painfully boring, the progress and improvement I have made since starting this has offset my original dislike for them. If you don't already do this stuff, give it a go and you will see your climbing improve a lot.

In reply to elliot.baker:

ARC on easy stuff.

In reply to elliot.baker:

Get on the rings and work those shoulders and arms?

Last but not least the core can take a beating any day of the week.

In reply to elliot.baker:

Cake.

In reply to elliot.baker:

Curry and beer.

In reply to elliot.baker:

Shorten the session, finish with some comprehensive stretching exercises, it does wonders for reducing aches and soreness in the recovery period.
If you're training that hard it will probably be counter productive and your risk of injury increases exponentially.
Much better to be able to train 2x2 hour sessions in a week than 1x3 hour.
Read '9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes'.

In reply to mouseliveson:
Great advice here thanks everyone.

Mouseliveson: can you briefly recommend any types of exercises, or sources/videos with routines I could try? I've dabbled with Yoga a very little bit but don't recall enough moves to just start doing it on my own, core exercises as well I don't know much past plank, leg raises and sitting on a box moving medicine ball side to side.

Thanks!

In reply to elliot.baker:

Getting the 'Daily Ab workout' app on your phone is handy for an end of session workout. It's free (I think?) and there is some good core stuff on it.

In reply to elliot.baker:

I can't comment on yoga because I've never really gotten into it properly but I can recommend some videos that show great exercises that have helped me.

For low body stretches I do this guys routine, which has massively improved my flexibility and footwork - I particularly recommend working on hip flexibility if you are lacking in that area, as it will allow you to unlock higher and further foot holds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDqmtJs4WvA&t=777s

For core I do a similar routine like this that you can do in any climbing gym, any TRX exercises I've found are very effective too, I think generic core exercises like planks are great too when you really can't hold on to anything any more, though painfully boring, but in general I try to do movements that emulate climbing forces where possible:
youtube.com/watch?v=8CAtQeFbwic&

Injury prevention for me includes working out the opposing muscles to the muscle you usually use in climbing, These are general upper body stretching, and general 'pushing' exercises such as dips, pushups, and shoulder presses.

In reply to elliot.baker:

You could try lifting a cool glass of something as a warm-down.

In reply to elliot.baker:

“Building the gymnastic body” by Chris Sommer details a lot of different progressive exercises that you could typically do in a training room. They may interest you.

Jerry Moffatt autobiography says he would climb a lot of easy stuff on rest days so you could do simple stuff to train technique and get the physical benefits of looong sessions.

Stretching would help me most so that’s good too.

Billy