UKC

So I'm researching peoples attitudes and understanding towards warm ups and cool downs (specifically dynamic and static stretches) before a climbing sessions, either indoors or outside.  

My main question is do you stretch to warm up and/or cool down before your session? What stretches do you do for each? 

If not, do you know what stretches you could do to warm up and cool down and how to do them?  

Or is there another reason, such as its embarrassing, doesn't improve your performance or you dont have time? 

In reply to Stuck On a Wall:

I never warm up by stretching at the wall or crag. I warm up by climbing easy problems/routes and work my upwards until I'm ready for maximum performance.

Bouldering wise, I'll normally start with very easy problems (5-6a), just using jugs or easy slopers which generally loosens the body up a bit then as I progress I'll start to pull on some smaller holds to ready the fingers. After 20-30 mins in the 6's doing a range of styles, I'm normally then ready to start trying harder stuff.

I don't really see how standing around doing stretches is going to ready your body for climbing more than actually climbing is. For guidance though I'm (only) 33 so maybe don't need to be so gradual with my warm-up processes. 

In reply to Stuck On a Wall:

That's a bad start.  Why 'So'?  Why not just start with 'I'm researching . . .'.  However, once past that initial grammatical red flag, to your point. 

Yup.  The older you get, the finer the line becomes between being properly warmed up and absolutely knackered until the two overlap; and being properly warmed up is a distant land you once remember visiting but to which you know you will never return.  Back when these things mattered, I'd do some leg stretches - calf, hamstrings, quads and the like - and some shoulder rotations, tricep stretches, a few upper body turns and the like before climbing at a wall or a relatively accessible crag (Stanage, say).  For crags with a longer walk in I wouldn't bother, assuming that when I got there everything was as warmed up as it was ever going to get.

After climbing, I'd only ever do a stretch if something ached.  Cooling down happened when we got to the pub.

T.

 

In reply to Lord_ash2000:

Warm ups are so much more than stretches. 

 

In reply to Stuck On a Wall

Never used to warm up and never warm up when cycling, I just go easy for a couple of miles before giving it full beans. 

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

Is 'Yup' better than 'So'?

 

In reply to Stuck On a Wall:

Indoor bouldering I do easy overhanging problems, doing a kind of half-arsed stretching by hanging really straight/low on each hold for a few seconds, both up and down. Don't really know why I do this, I just do. I increase the difficulty of the problems until they're a bit more fingery, until after about 20 mins I'm at max effort.

For routes, I just do a couple of long easy steep routes.

Outside it's tricky - if I can I'll do laps on a boulder problem. I don't like cracking straight on with a route near my limit but often there's not much choice. An easier route is a good idea if it's quick or thoroughly worthwhile in its own right, but my heart sinks when the person I'm climbing with wants to do some easy faffy route as a warm-up, 'cause I know it's going to take half the day and not work as a warm up. 

In reply to Stuck On a Wall:

If I'm climbing outside and the crag is within a couple miles from my house then the walk in, carrying my mats and whatever else serves as a pretty good warm up. I'll then start off with a few easy problems, as well as hanging from holds to warm my fingers and forearms up. The walk home will serve as a bit of warm down I guess, it's downhill.

Indoors I start with dynamic stretches of the shoulders, trunk and hips and then start with easier climbing. I'm pretty bad for not warming down when climbing indoors though, which may be due to the fact my girlfriend has been waiting for me to leave for the past hour or so.

In reply to Stuck On a Wall:

I have two little go tos;

When climbing indoors I have a strange little warm up dance consisting of star jumps, jogging on the spot and helicopter arm spinning amongst other things. I do look like an absolute pleb, but I’ve kind of made it a habit. Does it help? I don’t know, but it doesn’t not help so I guess I’ll keep on with the silliness. Outdoors, the approach is usually a sufficient warm up.

I also now make sure to stretch out my forearms after suffering from a premature forearm pump on my left arm. This, has definitely been a huge help in recovery and progress with left arm strength. 

In reply to planetmarshall:

Indeed it is.  'Yup' is an affirmative answer to a question.  Starting a post with 'So' presumes familiarity by assuming the resumption of an interrupted conversation, and there has been no previous conversation to resume; and neither I nor the vast majority of people who read the initial post will have any knowledge whatsoever of the person who posted it and so assuming familiarity is indeed presumptuous.

It may be fashionable to use 'So' in this way, but that doesn't prevent it from being an egregious error.

T.

In reply to Stuck On a Wall:

Stretching shouldn't be confused with warming up or cooling down - it should be done when you are warm.  Mobility can be focused on during a warm up but that isn't the same thing as stretching... (sorry, gymnastics coach rant over..)

For warming up, I generally walk briskly to wherever I am climbing so that I feel physically warm and my heart rate is up.  I'll spend some time moving my joints gently but dynamically through the full range of their passive motion without stretching until they don't feel constricted.  Then I'll climb easy problems, again focusing on passive range of motion, getting progressively harder over 20-30 mins or so.  For me, cooling down is essentially reversing that process.

Stretching is something I do separately most days.  I will always warm up, mostly as described above, and then I will work on both dynamic and static stretches focusing on 2 or 3 problem areas.

In reply to Stuck On a Wall:

Indoors warm-up: A few static stretches, mostly because I think I should. Then do a few easier routes (which for me is grade 4 or 5). Then work up to harder stuff (currently 6b+). I usually do some routes followed by some bouldering, so by the time I get into the bouldering area I'm as warmed-up as I'm ever likely to get.

Outdoors warm-up: Never have. Probably afraid of looking silly.

I don't do a post session cool-down. Disclosure: 50-ish, average-ish ability.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

Yeah... that's bollocks though, isn't it? Your argument is undermined a bit by 'Yup' not being an actual word.

And yes, I know it's in the dictionary, but so are all sorts of things both fashionable and egregious.

 

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

 

So, two things. 

1) So has been used in this manner for centuries. It's only recently been a 'thing' though. (see the 'recency illusion'. Let's see - "So on a day he leyde him doun to slepe. ..." - Chaucer, 14th Century.

https://www.npr.org/2015/09/03/432732859/so-whats-the-big-deal-with-startin...
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/is-starting-a-sentence-...

2) I think your use of egregious is unwarranted unless you are really triggered by the use of 'so'.

---- BACK TO THE CHASE ---

I do some start jumps, arms swings, finger wiggles, squats, etc. before I head off to the gym. Once at the gym I do a few easy routes, up, down and up again. Then do a few stretches and get going.

 

In reply to Stuck On a Wall:

I often cycle to the wall which provides a warmup of sorts and I do find I climb better.

Otherwise I just start on easy stuff.

In reply to Stuck On a Wall: .Yes I warm up, mostly easy climbing and some gentle static stretching indoors,   outdoors can be the walk in or some easy climbing.  No dynamic stretching

 

In reply to Stuck On a Wall:

I have never found a successful warm up plan. It often feels like anything that would warm me up adequately would either be too time consuming, take too much energy, or make me feel like I should climb better than I am capable of.....so I avoid it and add it to the list of potential excuses for climbing like a punter. 

In reply to Stuck On a Wall:

I used to do a short (30 - 40 min) yoga session before climbing with a friend who was really into it. Over a few months I definitely felt the benefit of being more flexible.

Indoors I usually cycle or walk to the wall which gets my heart rate up and body warm.

These days limited time means I prefer to get on and climb asap. Warm up consists of doing easier problems. I try to stretch out on the first set of easy juggy boulders, so mostly upper body stretches.

I tend to never do post climbing stretching or exercise, mostly down to limited time but I also find it a bit boring. Think I'm a type A personality: ie. bit impatient and like to get going and get on with things.

I don't know much about dynamic stretching so interested to hear more.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

Technically I think you're spot on. However as this is a conversational forum about climbing rather than a book about grammar I think various idioms, slang, spelling errors etc. are usual and acceptable. In the same way we don't expect an informal chat down the pub to be of the same standard as someone reading the news headlines on TV.

 

20-30 minutes slowly working up the grades to the level I intend to climb at. As much as it's for injury prevention it's also for getting fully 'recruited'. If I jump on a fingerboard cold, i'll only be able to produce about half the strength that I can manage after a sufficient warm up. 

In reply to Liamhutch89:

I just try to do some easier routes first.

I sometimes get told off for stretching my arms briefly above my head, folk thinking that this two second routine is " the warm up ".  Actually just checking my t shirt or fleece is tucked in correctly into my harness and not restricting my reach.

In reply to Stuck On a Wall:

I don't warm-up off the rock - but I would do for certain crags - if the need was to jump straight onto anything harder than 6a+, or indeed for any route with a bulging Margalef style start. Some dead hangs and windmilling - nothing too serious.