At Home Mobility Workout for Climbers

Mobility has a significant impact on climbing!

Maneuvers demanding awkward body positions and extreme ranges of motion are commonly encountered when performing:

1. Stemming (requires hip abduction and external rotation)
2. Drop-knees (require hip and knee internal rotation)
3. Heel-hooks (require hip flexion allowing foot placement at shoulder/head level)
4. Mantles (require internal shoulder rotation)
5. Dead-points (require maximal reaching/grabbing tasks while in hypermobile positions)
6. High-steps/rockovers (require flexibility in various body parts concurrently)

Put simply the more mobile a climber is, the more efficiently they can complete difficult moves that require strength, balance, and stability through wide ranges of motion!

Additionally, regular stretching of the muscles most heavily recruited during climbing can help prevent injuries resulting from chronic strenuous gripping and pulling.

While COVID may be keeping you out of the fitness centre/climbing gym, you can still work on mobility for climbing at home without any equipment.

Try following 6 exercises to jump-start your mobility before we re-open!

1. Prone Angels (2 sets of 15 reps)
2. T-spine Reach and Rotate (2 sets of 15 reps, each side)
3. Inchworms (2 sets of 10 reps)
4. World’s Greatest (3 sets of 5 reps, each side)
5. Hamstring/hip flexor Combo (2 sets of 8 reps, each leg)
6. Wrist Circles (2 sets of 10 Clockwise (CW) AND Counter Clockwise (CCW) in each position)

References:

1. Mermier CM, Janot JM, Parker DL, Swan JG. Physiological and anthropometric determinants of sport climbing performance. Br J Sports Med. 2000;34(5):359-365. http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edswsc&AN=000089863400013&site=eds-live&scope=site.

2. Macdonald JH, Callender N. Athletic profile of highly accomplished boulderers. Wilderness Environ Med. 2011;22(2):140-143. http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rzh&AN=108229211&site=eds-live&scope=site. doi: 10.1016/j.wem.2010.11.012.

3. Michailov M. Study of some of the major factors of performance in climbing. Sport & Science. 2006, special edition;2:11-20.

4. Phillips KC, Sassaman JM, Smoliga JM. Optimizing rock climbing performance through sport-specific strength and conditioning. STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING JOURNAL. 2012;34(3):1-18. http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edswsc&AN=000304470700001&site=eds-live&scope=site.

5. 193. Rooks MD. Rock climbing injuries. Sports Medicine. 1997;23(4):261-270. http://articles.sirc.ca/search.cfm?id=417409; http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=SPH417409&site=eds-live&scope=site; http://articles.sirc.ca/search.cfm?id=417409.