If you can easily do 10 reps you need to add weight. Vary the stretch by taking each finger individually, then gently pulling it back and holding, as well as turning hands under to stretch the wrists/forearms in the other direction. They recommend stretching three times a week and suggest performing each stretch three times for 15-30 seconds with a 30 second rest between repetitions. It should help you learn some nuances of the structure of the body and individual muscles.” – Dan Hague and Douglas Hunter. This is a highly illustrated book with trick, tips and how-to's. This is probably the best forearm exercise for rock climbers. Thumb strength is important in rock climbing. Gorilla Pose – Wrist extension stretch “Begin standing at the front of your mat with your feet hip width distance apart. Another good way to improve forearm strength is using a dumbbell. For most of us, consistent and stretching is something we haven’t done since gym class or high school sports practices. Switch sides. Their discussion is rather detailed and will definitely be educational for anyone who is not totally familiar with the anatomy of the forearm and hand. Fingers and forearms are related and perform similar functions in climbing. All the joints a target muscle crosses must be engaged for a stretch to be effective. The Best Forearm Flexor and Extensor Stretches for Climbers. Three at-home treatment devices tested - Although climbing is a full-body exercise, nothing gets more of a workout than your forearm extensors and flexors—the muscles on the inside and outside of the forearm. Once you "peel" off the bar, shake out for 5 minutes. This training will workout the forearms to improve strength. Forearm Workout. There are more complex devices available which are also helpful for specific muscle targeting. Roll the dumbbell up your fingers to a fist. Start the 20 minute workout session with a pull up to get blood into your forearms and bump your heart rate up. If you can not do 8 reps you need to decrease the weight. You can also work strength/endurance on forearms by traversing on near vertical wall. The workout targets forearm strength, endurance, and individual finger strengthening exercises. All repetitions should be high enough that you can just do 8 - 10. Below we will review some of the best rock climbing stretches you can do before a climb. They also improve flexibility. The exercises themselves are detailed in this video: However, in the article, Hunter an Hague also walk you through the kinesiology behind how each of these stretches follow all of the above three rules. Workout the forearm muscles in a specific deliberate program and you will see a big improvement in performance. Strengthening exercises for individual fingers will work the muscles controlling opposing movements. Climbing is a great forearm workout, but I didn’t need to tell you that. The first is a simple forearm stretch. TrainingBeta is a site dedicated to training for rock climbing. Adding these stretches into your training is a pretty low time commitment and may just make the difference in helping you stave off any issues of elbow tendonitis, finger pain, and the development of overuse injuries. Reach back up, grab with both, then drop the other arm and shake it out. You can drop one arm at a time to shake, but the key is still continuous low-stress gripping for 20 minutes straight. The difference between working forearms and fingers is with forearm exercises the fingers move together. Lift hips off the mat, keeping your back straight and abs tight. Stretches & Exercises. © 1998 All rights reserved. The stretch must be opposite to the action the target muscle is responsible for. A forearm exerciser will help strengthen fingers, including the thumb. Stay on the wall 20 minutes straight without a break. Pick up the dumbbell holding it with a fist. Static hangs on a bar is the best way to improve the strength of your forearms. This will add a lot of endurance while improving forearm strength. Grip strength is very important in rock climbing and comes from the forearm muscles working as a unit. Stretch after your eccentrics, and after climbing. Some useful circuits for rock climbers are the bench press, dumbbell bicep curl, and deadlift, as these exercises target arm, chest, and back strength, which are the main components you utilize a lot of while climbing. Anytime you exercise for strength you need to make forearms sore. How to Stretch the Forearms After Rock Climbing. In their detailed article and through video, Hague and Hunter cover some of the kinesiology behind stretching and then illustrate how to properly apply these concepts to stretching the forearm. Save these stretches for the end of a gym session or day out cragging. How to do them: Begin in a tabletop position, with your wrists below your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Building Your Own Climbing Wall. You can use the same principle on overhanging bouldering caves (not to high though since you must go to failure). Start out with 1 minute and work yourself up to 5 minutes or more. Using the Meglio Hand Therapy Putty and the Meglio Hand Egg can help you to increase your finger, hand and forearm strength and is a great way to improve your power and stamina in those areas. Thumbs grip sideways to rock or holds and provide the friction needed to stay on the hold. Extensor Stretch. Stretching the pronator muscle can help to improve flexibility and reduce pain in the forearm: Sitting upright, place the elbow on a table or chair arm. All athletes--not just rock climbers--who play a sport that demands forearm strength and use of the upper body can benefit from doing forearm workouts. It’s important to stretch both the topside (extensors) and underside (flexors) of your forearms. Make sure it is vertical vs overhang to decrease the stress. What they do: Gently warm up the back, spine, and neck and stretch tight forearms. Forearm Exercisers. Forearm Strength. To help you learn effective forearm stretches, here's an article and video by Dan Hague and Douglas Hunter of The Self Coached Climber all about how to best stretch both the extensors and flexors of the wrist and forearm. Conclusion. When your muscles fail, you literally peel off the bar through lack of ability to hold a second longer without giving up. While hanging, drop one arm and shake out your forearm for 5 seconds, then trade arms. Do this strength exercise from a seated position. Muscles need to break down in order to improve in order to get stronger. Climbing is a versatile sport that demands more than just strong fingers and forearms. From your forearms to your feet, you fire up a lot of different muscles when you climb. Benefits: Opens and stretches shoulders, which will help prevent stiffness after putting them to work while climbing. “Stretching is more than holding a particular position for a certain amount of time, or a dull necessary evil attached to a vague promise of “injury prevention”. This aids in preventing tenosynovitis and elbow tendinitis. If you are sitting at work, you can get a similar result by pushing against the edge of your … I do this kneeling on the floor with my hands flat and facing me with forearms out, then slowly lean back and hold for around 20 seconds. While almost all climbers would benefit from a general stretching routine to help increase flexibility and protect range of motion, target forearm stretches can be hugely beneficial in helping deal with the abuse our sport puts on these muscle groups. Copyright 2020 TrainingBeta | All Rights Reserved |, Forearm Stretches – The Self Coached Climber, Sport-Specific Flexibility with Alli Rainey, The Importance of Flexibility for Climbing, 3 Technique Habits That Undermine Your Performance – Part Three, Hip Mobility for Rock Climbers to Improve High Stepping & Frogging, Transcript Highlight Episode 137: Kris Hampton on Learning New Movements, Transcript Highlight Episode 138: Marina Inoue on Being Short, Transcript Highlight: Bechtel, Hampton, Randall – What We Should Be Training at Home. Strengthening your forearm extensors can help prevent tendonitis, forearm tightness, and wrist injuries. In an effort to make sure you are stretching correctly, the authors take you through three general concerns that should be kept in mind when performing any stretch. Here are some poses that focus on climbing muscles: These stretches will help loosen the muscles of the forearm, top, and bottom, preventing tennis elbow and related injuries. You keep this for at least 30 seconds and repeat all exercises three times. As a climber, you need strength and endurance in your grip as well as strengthening individual fingers, especially the thumb. Several forearm exercises below combine to make a very productive forearm workout. Get deeper into the stretch by taking your right arm and swinging it out in a circular motion, reaching out to your left extended arm. We provide resources and information about training for routes, bouldering, finger strength, mental training, nutrition for climbers, and everything in between. Click through below for the full article, and once you’ve learned all about effective forearm stretches give them a try. Wait until your muscle soreness has gone away before working on strength again. In this post, The Adventure Junkies will walk you through the best exercises for rock climbing… Watch the video below for some useful forearm exercises for climbing. The Forearm Stretch stretches out forearms and fingers (see Photo B). We offer climbing training programs, climbing training classes, nutrition classes, regular blog posts, interviews on The TrainingBeta Podcast, personal coaching for climbing, and nutrition for climbers. The forearm muscles are very complex and consist of many individual muscle strands. 1. 4. This exercise best simulates the actual forces and stress on forearms during climbing. You'll be amazed how quickly your strength improves. Every crimp, pinch, jam, and slap employs these muscles, so they are susceptible to overuse injuries like chronic deep muscle soreness, elbow tendonitis, and compartment syndrome. They can be summarized as: Following these basic rules will allow you to think through any stretch and make sure you are maximizing is effectiveness. (video still courtesy of selfcoachedclimber.com). USA Climbing. Do 3 sets. Build full-body muscle, get athletic, and challenge your mind at the climbing wall. Finger Strengthening Exercise. Aim: to extend your forearm muscles and stretch your biceps and triceps to avoid elbow injuries while climbing and decrease the possibility of a flash pump How-to: In a standing position, bring your arms together in front of your chest (your hands should be at your waist). There is value in both types of exercises. Here’s a list of the muscles or muscle groups most used in rock climbing: Forearm muscles: brachioradialis, pronator teres, flexor carpi, palmaris longus, flexor carpi ulnaris and flexor carpi radialis. Forearm curls. 2 simple stretches, 3 sets x 20 seconds of each after each dose of eccentrics. Of course, there are numerous other workouts that you can also use as rock climbing exercises at home but these are the best for you to perform when you have a limited amount of space and time available at your disposal. The forearms (flexor muscles) are extremely stressed when climbing. You repeat the exercises at least three times a week. Gorilla Pose — Stretch for Wrist Extensors. You can do these stretches either in the air or on the ground. To apply these concepts to the forearm specifically, Hague and Hunter outlines two stretches that respectively cover both the  forearm/wrist flexors and extensors. Then get back on and do it 3 more times. In fact, only doing pull-ups will often give you muscle imbalances that could lead to injury. Another version of above forearm strength exercise targets endurance a little more than you get with the static hang: Examples of Post-Climbing Static Stretches 1. Do at least four sets. Think about it, the first thing to go is your grip. Just like butts to powerlifters, the strongest forearms in the world aren’t posing on stage at the Mr. Olympia but gripping the rock that climbers pull on every day. Climbing sport routes and indoor climbing routes take 5 to 10 minutes. A static stretch, this pose helps ease tension from the muscles located at the top side of your forearms. For climbers, Wirtz says some of the important areas to focus on are the chest, back, hips, hamstrings, and forearms. To help you learn effective forearm stretches, here’s an article and video by Dan Hague and Douglas Hunter of The Self Coached Climber all about how to best stretch both the extensors and flexors of the wrist and forearm. Finger flexor stretch; Finger extensor stretch We want to add more movements and different contractions. Working your flexors in your forearms (the ones we use for climbing) is just as important as working the extensors (the antagonist muscles located on top of the forearm). Meglio wants to support you in your climbing journey by providing high-quality and durable products. Create. Don't climb or workout with sore forearms. 20 antagonist exercises for all climbers Compensatory training for the forearms. 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