{"id":32283,"date":"2024-04-19T13:32:19","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T17:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philarockgym.com\/?p=32283"},"modified":"2024-04-19T13:33:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T17:33:10","slug":"why-climbers-need-warm-ups-before-a-workout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philarockgym.com\/why-climbers-need-warm-ups-before-a-workout\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Climbers Need Warm-Ups Before a Workout"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
The foundation of a good workout starts with a good warm-up. This is a principle\u202fthat we have all likely heard in various forms, dozens or hundreds of times from our coaches and other fitness experts. The trouble is that it’s much less likely\u202f that anyone has ever explained why.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
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The purpose of a warm-up is to do two things. First create better blood flow to your muscles and to facilitate more effective use of energy. Second to prime your muscles and connective tissue to be prepared for heavier loads than your\u202ftypical daily activity.\u202f<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
For climbers, warm-ups are important in the first case to help prevent the dreaded flash pump.<\/p>
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A flash pump is\u202fa common occurrence for both boulderers and route climbers. It tends to happen anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes into trying a harder climb, without a proper warm-up.<\/p>
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This typically results in a rapid onset “pump”. This causes \u202fyour forearm muscles to tighten up the burn to increase exponentially (even leading\u202foccasionally to the \u201cscreaming barfies”). Your grip strength will also decline quickly to near zero.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
The biological mechanisms behind this\u202fare fairly complex, and beyond the scope of this article. But, in simple terms,\u202fgoing from 0 to 60 in a workout (i.e., skipping a proper warm-up) tends to shock\u202fyour system into overcompensating.<\/p>
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“Cold” muscles are easier to injure. So, the theory goes that when you jump right into difficult, and sustained, climbing\u202fyour muscles can “over-activate”. This results in more muscle fibers contracting than is necessary for any given move. Contracted muscles tend to squeeze shut\u202fcapillaries and other blood vessels that both replace energy stores in your\u202fmuscles and remove byproducts that interfere with resetting those muscles\u202ffor new contractions.\u00a0<\/p>
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The results are as you continue\u202fto climb, more and more muscle fibers contract and stay contracted. In turn, this reduces blood flow which causes more muscle fibers to contract to compensate and so on – a vicious cycle. This is of course true any time you\u202fget pumped. In a flash pump, it simply happens much faster. It is at the beginning of your workout rather than, as you would prefer, toward the end.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
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In the second case, as we have said,\u202f”cold” muscles and connective tissue, are more easily damaged than “warm” ones.\u202fAgain, the physiological reasons for this are somewhat complex, But, put simply, cold muscles and connective tissue are less elastic than warm ones. So, when they are loaded – suddenly or severely – they\u202ftend to snap, rather than stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
To recap, a good warm-up should\u202faccomplish two goals. First, to create better blood flow and stave off the\u202fflash pump. Second, to warm up muscles and connective tissue so that they will stretch rather than snap when loaded.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\u00a0All material is reprinted with the permission of the author. Copyright 2022 David H. Rowland. All rights reserved.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Why Warm-Ups? The foundation of a good workout starts with a good warm-up. This is a principle\u202fthat we have all likely heard in various forms, dozens or hundreds of times Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":29418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technique"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n