For most climbers, warming up is something you simply get through as quickly as possible.  Most seem to treat it as a necessary evil and take whatever possible shortcuts to cut down the amount of time they spend on it.  However, warming up is an extremely important step in any climbing or training session.  Not only does it reduce risk of injury and ready your body to try its hardest, but it also is the perfect time to focus on improving technique and climbing smoothly.

To help you reshape your warm up from something you simply rush through to a productive period of injury prevention and technique practice, here’s an article from the Friction Labs Blog by climber, trainer, and coach Will Anglin.  In this article, Will takes you through all of the necessary steps of an effective warmup and outlines exactly how much time you should be spending on each one.

“One of the most prevalent mistakes I see, time and time again, is a climber either not warming up at all or not warming up nearly enough. Done properly, a full warm up takes AT LEAST 30-40 minutes and can even take up to an hour or more. And that’s not a bad thing. Embrace it. Enjoy it.” – Will Anglin

Warming Up with Will Anglin – Overall Structure:

While there are lots of different stretches, exercises, and routines that can be used to warm up, all effective climbing warmups are comprised of the same basic steeps.  Here’s Will’s basic outline with his recommendations on time, type of exercise, and volume:

• Increase Body Temperature
  • Full-body exercise
  • Sweat!
• Dynamic Stretching
  • Hips/knees/ankles
  • Core
  • Shoulders/elbows
  • Wrists/fingers
• Easy Climbing
  • 10-20 minutes
  • 8-10 boulders
  • 4-5 routes
  • 150-200 moves
• Ramp-Up
  • 15-30 minutes
  • 5-8 boulders
  • 2-4 routes
  • 50-100 moves

Click through below to read about each of these steps in greater detail.  Remember, warming up may not be as fun as pulling your hardest on your project, but it is a necessary step that cannot be skipped.  Take the time to do it properly and you will have more productive sessions, reduce your risk of injury, and have a productive time to focus on improving your technique.

Full Article: Warming Up with Will Anglin

(photo courtesy of frictionlabs.com)

Other Articles You Might Like:

• The Science of Warming Up
• Angy Eiter – Warming Up for Climbing
• Dynamic Climbing Warm-Up
• Quadrupedal Movement and Its Benefits for Climbing