THE WARM-UP & COOL-DOWN

WHATS IT ALL ABOUT?
A good warm-up (pre activity) and cool-down (post activity), should become an integral part of your climbing/training routine. There are several important reasons for warming up by slowly and systematically increasing the stress on your body you properly prepare it for peak activity and reduce the risk of injury, you can nurture optimal mental focus to gain good psychological performance levels. Similarly warming down allows the body to return to resting activity level, aids in dissipation of body heat and flushing out lactic acid built up in skeletal muscle during high intensity activity.
Thinking of your warm-up and cool-down as an essential part of your climbing routine rather than separate and it as time lost to not climbing or training is important to keep you focused and regularly engaging in these processes.
Imagine a day in which you get straight into hard climbing; hurt yourself, perhaps get a mega flash pump or sketch out feeling awkward and uncomfortable on rock. A day in which you work a route or problem over and over till failure then just stop and go home feeling waisted and sore. Half an hour spent warming up aids avoidance of the first example and half an hour cooling down will aid in the recovery of the latter, quicker recovery means on the rock sooner. So an hour dedicated to the warm-up cool-down process isn’t an hour lost but an hour well spent ensuring optimal performance level and better recovery to get you sending again sooner!


WHAT TO DO & WHY TO DO IT
0-5 minutes aerobic activity 1 minute of light intensity aerobic exercise 1-3 minutes should be medium intensity aerobic exercise you should be able to maintain a conversation, 3-5 minutes of vigorous intensity aerobic exercise you should find holding a conversation difficult. Doing this will raise your heart rate, increase blood flow and begin to warm-up muscles for high intensity exercise. Eg. Jogging, Cycling, Skipping
5-10 minutes light dynamic stretchingto begin to ‘limber up’ each of the following areas:
HEAD gently roll the head from left to right for 15 seconds and then front to back for 15 seconds (do not rotate like a ‘NO’ response)
SHOULDERS roll your shoulders forwards for 15 seconds then roll them backwards for 15 seconds
ARMS spin your arms together slowly forwards and increase the speed over 30 seconds and spin your arms slowly backwards and increase speed over 30 seconds
HANDS clench your fist and open them as wide as you can for 15 seconds and shake them about for 15 seconds
TRUNK start with small rotations and begin to get bigger and bigger circles with your hips for 30 seconds
LEGS one leg at a time for 15 seconds make increasing arc ‘kicks’ from back to front then for 15 seconds each leg try put your knee on your chin and for 15 seconds each try to kick your bum
FEET write your name with each foot for 15 seconds each
Doing this gross movement will promotes joints to release synovial fluid which lubricates joints and you begin to put the body through some of its range of motion you are going to engage when you begin climbing
10-30 minutes of sport specific activitythis means climbing! Do several easy climbs/boulders with each climb/boulder engage in these activities:
BREATHING: focus in on your breathing, hear yourself breathe in and out, concentrate on moving fluidly with each breath.
BODY: close your eyes between moves and zero in on your balance point, focus a moment on each hand and each foot and what it feels like on the given hold, close your eyes again and concentrate on each limb relative to the other
PACING: concentrate on the speed at which you climb, begin slowly and increase your speed to as fast as you can whilst maintaining excellent technique


By now you should start to feel pretty warmed up you can begin to increase the intensity of the climbing/bouldering you are doing bringing it to just below the level that of your desired climbing/training for the day. You may choose to isolate some specific movement or holds and use them. Eg lock off left arm and hold then repeat for right. Hang on a finger boards off a medium edge. Here you want to bring on a near pump but definitely do not waste yourself, now after a short period of active rest (you don’t want to get cold again!) you are ready for your session


Sometimes the constraints of an area or climbing partners etc. mean a regimented program like this may not be possible, this doesn’t mean you should throw out your warm-up routine. Instead be creative, here is an example warm-up for a ‘real’ climbing day.


Your walk-in will become your aerobic warm-up bringing up your heart rate, if the walk in is too short go for a quick jog on the spot or along the base of the crag. Whilst still warm (don’t sit around for ages talking shit and getting cold) by all means still chat with friends and have a good time but whilst doing this begin your light dynamic stretching as described above. If reasonable traverse the base of the cliff and begin your sport specific activity or choose a very easy climb to conduct this stage, don’t think of this as a waisted climb if it is easy enough it won’t take you very long, engage in the activities whilst doing the climb, and if possible a top rope may make closing your eyes and adjusting your pacing better. For the final stage you can find some holds and begin increasing intensity hangs or moves at the base of the cliff, or choose a second route that will be a step up from the first but not too hard that you can’t get the desired effect of this stage. A short rest maybe a snack and you are really ready for a day of crushing.


THE WHATS AND WHYS AFTER YOU GET YOUR CRUSH ON

COOLING-DOWN

So many times I have just packed up and gone home after trying a route/problem at my max, leaving my body feeling tired and soar. It may often seem inconvenient but cooling-down properly in the longer term will aid recovery, meaning we can send/train harder sooner so surely every minute spent cooling down is a minute well spent.

The idea like I said above is to allow the body to return to resting activity level, aids in dissipation of body heat and flushing out lactic acid built up in skeletal muscle during high intensity activity. So initially we simply need to reverse our warm-up process slowly decreasing the intensity of our activity, creating nice blood flow to flush out muscles and slowly cool down our body. This will be followed by twenty minutes of static stretching aiming to elongate our muscle which will have tightened up after intense activity.

0-10 minutes gradual decrease in climbing intensity Climb 1-2 routes or a handful of problems well below your max, again concentrate on style and technique and shake out, you will feel tired but shouldn't struggle on the routes you choose

10-30 minutes static stretching Check out the following sight

www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/stretching-exercises

and work through:

Front/Doorway/Back shoulder stretches

Wrist flexor and extensor stretches

Back stretch, lumbar rotation and side stretch

Quad stretch, hip flexors and hamstrings

Calf muscles

www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/stretching-exercises/types-of-stretching

Read the section on static stretching to guide you in what to do.

Now you should go enjoy a nice meal, hang with some pals and get a good night sleep OR drink beer.