The Warm Down: Neglected But Needed
The warm down is the least appreciated (and least used) element in a workout. Coaches and climbers alike frequently neglect it. This is unfortunate. The warm down won’t prepare you for training like the warm-up, nor will it directly contribute to your performance gains like the training sets. However, it performs a valuable function that should not be overlooked.
Why We Warm-Up
The main goal of a standard warm-up is to gradually loosen the muscles. This reduces the risk of injury and flash pump for lower difficulty workouts like hypertrophy and stamina training. Lower difficulty allows for higher volume. This means more time on the wall, which is excellent for warming up and limbering larger muscles.
Muscle By-Products
All training has negative by-products. The most notable by-products include damaged muscle fibers and a build-up of chemical by-products in the muscles themselves. This is where a climber would get ‘pumped.’ The cure for both of these is increased blood-flow. The more blood that gets to the damaged areas the faster they will be repaired and, hopefully, improved.
Unfortunately, contracted muscles are another consequence of a good workout. They all clamp down on their respective capillaries, restricting the flow of blood they need to get on with the repair process. If left in this state (right after your last hard set), it can take 24 hours or more for enough muscle to relax and restore normal flow.
If you’ve ever been sorer the day after a good workout than you were the day of, this is the primary reason why.
Alleviate Next Day Muscle Soreness
Luckily there is a way to mitigate the worst of these effects with the warm down. Much like your PE teacher’s advice to “walk it off” after a hard run, the warm down involves easy climbing at the end of your workout. This is typically for about 5-10 minutes.
The idea is that continuing to climb at low difficulty (roughly the same as for standard warm-ups) forces your body to increase blood flow to tired muscles. Keeping them warm initiates the healing process. This prevents cramping and excessive contractions from squeezing off blood flow for an extended period of time.
Warm downs cannot prevent all of the soreness and stiffness that follows a workout. However, it can greatly reduce it. This in turn speeds up the healing process and reduces the risk of repetitive stress injuries.
Warm Down Exercise
Here is a great guideline for a warm down. Your difficulty should be VB -V2. Your volume should consist between 5-10 minutes or 50-100 easy climbing moves .
All material is reprinted with the permission of the author. Copyright 2022 David H. Rowland. All rights reserved.
