Climbing Injury

7 Tips to an Climbing Injury Free Season

Every climbers worst nightmare is being injured and the thought on not being able to climb. We know being injured is never fun, especially during your areas peak climbing season. So because I know what it is like to be injured and unable to climb I put together this list to help you stay injury free during your climbing season.

We hope you enjoy it.

1. Warm up and Stretch: Every climbing session should start with a warm up and a stretching routine. Warming up allows your body’s core temperature to rise which helps some physiological systems. Make sure that you also cool down after your climbing session. Cooling down properly is something that a lot of climbers typically don’t do. This is your first step to preventing climbing injuries.

2. Working on your Balance: Balance is important in climbing and you should always be working to improve it. Some great methods to increasing balance are to do Yoga, work on a slackline, and practice single legged exercises. Some examples of one legged exercises are the one legged squat and the lunge.

3. Climbing Time: Don’t train to frequently. The amount of time you spend out on the rock or in the gym should not exceed four days a week.

4. Rest: Giving your muscles, joints, and tendons time to rest is one of the most important things you can do to stay injury free. Climbers put extremely high demands on their bodies and need time to recover. You should rest at least 3-4 days a week. An take an extended break every 3 months or so. Some climbers have a climbing injury simply because they don’t rest. I know it is hard, but you’ll be better in the long run.

5. Be Safe: Safety is so important in climbing. Be sure to double and triple check all your gear, your knots, belay setup, and anchors. Do not be careless in safety checks; carelessness is a major cause of climbing accidents.

6. Preparation: This starts before your climbing season comes around. Be sure that your training corresponds with your climbing goals. If you have set some big new goals make sure you train properly so that you don’t injure yourself on routes or boulder problems out on real rock.

7. Hands and Fingers: Making sure that your hands and fingers remain in good shape is essential. You should never climb on an injured finger. It would do you much better to wait until it heals to start climbing again. Also, if you have any tendon problems be sure to use tape to support these tendons. Your goal however should only be to use the tape for a short while so that you can get back to developing finger tendon strength.

I hope this little article helps you stay climbing injury free. Stay tuned for more articles on common injuries and how to avoid them or speed up the recovery process.

Climb strong climb safe,

Rock Climbing For Life