How Do I Prepare Myself For Climbing?
A crucial part of getting ready for a mountaineering trip is getting yourself physically ready for climbing. But success outside the gym does not always follow excellent performance inside.
There are plenty of things in the mountains that are out of your control. This is why it's crucial to keep your sense of value separate from the outcome of a climbing day.
Get warmed up.
To get their bodies and joints ready for the demanding exercise of climbing, climbers must warm up. A good warm-up improves flexibility, lubricates the joints and muscles, and boosts circulation.
Take it easy on a spray wall for a few climbs or traverses before working your way up to routes or issues that are just a little bit challenging for you right now. Your body will become more flexible as a result, and you may also practice certain movement patterns that will be useful on the rock.
Once you feel a stretch, firmly pull one knee into your chest. Then, switch legs and do it again. This will stretch the abs and glutes while also enhancing hip rotation, which is an essential climbing motion.
Keeping your hands in front of your face, control the little, controlled movements of your fingers as you move them forward and backward, resembling a windmill. This aids with the flexion of the forearm muscles, which are essential to all forms of climbing. It also makes your grip stronger.
Extending
In addition to helping you perform better, a well-rounded stretching regimen is crucial for preventing injuries. Some of the most frequent injuries sustained when climbing are muscular pulls and strains, which can be avoided with stretching.
Start by doing a series of dynamic stretches that focus on the back, biceps, and wrist flexors—muscles that are engaged in climbing. To further strengthen your core, add in a few push-ups.
Planks will aid with balance and precise footwork while strengthening your core. Although there are many methods to accomplish them, we advise beginning with a push-up in the water (or on dry land). Next, take a plank posture. Hold this stance for 30 seconds, keeping your hands and feet together. As a result, the latissimus dorsi, a crucial back muscle for climbing, will get stronger. Additionally, while flexibility in the shoulders is essential for climbing, this exercise will improve it.
Strengthening Exercise
It takes a lot of muscle strength and endurance to climb. Including cardiovascular and strength training in your training programme will help you become more adept at climbing. In addition, having a strong core helps with balance and precise footwork when climbing. Plank exercises are an excellent method for building core strength.
Three main abilities make up a strong climber: strength, endurance, and repetition. You will ascend the mountain more quickly if you can maintain your strength for the duration of the ascent. The more endurance you have, the higher you can go before getting too tired to go any further.
You can try doing a few long, steady, and gentle hills to help build your endurance. These will aid in acclimating your body to the longer ascents and higher altitudes that you will encounter in the mountains. Consider using TrainerRoad's Sustained Power Build training plan if you have an event in mind that involves long hills. This plan incorporates lactate tolerance, strength endurance training, and a few maximal aerobic power intervals to help build better sustained power capabilities.
Exercise for the Heart
Regardless of whether you're planning an expedition or a day route, you need to train aerobically if you want to be a mountain climber. This entails tailoring your training to include aerobic exercises like riding, hiking, and jogging. Your endurance is the most controllable limit on a summit attempt (after weather and safety), and aerobic training increases it.
Additionally, you must strengthen your body, particularly your core and legs. You'll probably be towing a pack, and the more weight you have to lift with your legs, the more work they'll have to do. A strong core also aids with balance.
And last, you'll have to psychologically get ready. Climbing is a very egocentric activity, with many climbers basing their sense of value on their level of success. This could result in a craving for achievement, which would make the activity less enjoyable and make you feel more anxious. Avoid this by focusing on the other elements of climbing, such as mobility, problem-solving, and difficulty, and separating your value from your climbing performance.
