Ever look at someone and think “that person must be a climber, because they have the absolute worst posture I’ve ever seen”? Wide, forward curving shoulders practically squeezing their ears, and arms hanging forward of their body with fingers stilled curled around invisible holds, all on top of skinny little legs. Disproportionately large upper back muscles and forearm muscles dominate their physique.
Although climbing has the potential to involve more body parts than many other athletic endeavors, it’s still not a very balanced sport. Generally neglected are the push muscles and mechanics, the back core (think low back), and hip and shoulder flexibility. When we think “push” we tend to focus on the chest, since much of our climbing activity takes place in the upper back. We often forget about the mechanics involved in our forearms and hands. One of the results of constant flexing of the muscles involved in gripping is shortened connective tissue on one side of the joints. Ever notice how much effort it takes to actually straighten out your fingers?
Photo: Shannon Lamb
This may seem like no big deal, but limited range of motion in your joints makes you more susceptible to injury, and is likely to affect things like arthritis and general mobility later in your life. The same concept applies to the hips and shoulders. High-stepping and heel-hooking lead to tight hip flexors and hamstrings. Any time a muscle is contracted in the flexed position, it’s trained to become shorter. Common sense dictates that short muscles are more prone to tears and strains than long muscles. And we tend to use our abdominal muscles so much, especially climbing steep terrain, that they become out of balance with the muscles that support our low back, leaving that area vulnerable.
One of the simplest sequences in yoga, the Sun Salutation A, consists of 10 movements known as “vinyasas” that when performed together address most of these adverse effects of climbing. “Sun A” as it’s affectionately known, is part of the warm-up portion of an Ashtanga yoga practice. There’s no reason it can’t be done on its own, to warm up for climbing, or as a warm-down or opposition training session. Each movement is associated with a component of the breath (inhalation or exhalation) to enhance the natural contraction or relaxation of the muscles involved.To begin, stand with your feet together and your arms by your sides. Think about relaxing your shoulders while gently rolling them back and down. Engage your abdominal muscles by pulling them in and up, and keep them engaged throughout the entire sequence.
Photo: Brad Carroll
- Lift your arms out to the side and up over your head (inhale).
- Try to keep your shoulders relaxed even though you’re reaching upward, then fold forward (exhale). Let the fold come from your hips, not your low back. It doesn’t matter how far forward you can fold. You’re attempting to undo something that took a while to get the way it is. The more you do it, the further you’ll get.
- Now comes the back core part. From your forward fold, lift up just enough to start to feel your back arch and the low back muscles engage (inhale). Remember, your tummy muscles are still working, too.
- Then plant your hands on the ground in front of your feet with your fingers spread wide (yes, you can bend your knees), and somehow get yourself to the top of a push-up (exhale). Progressively difficult options including stepping back, hopping back with both feet at the same time, “floating” back, or lifting into a handstand and floating back from there. Floating is like hopping, but more static and controlled. The back core is lifting while the front core is stabilizing. When you “get it” it feels like you’re flying and looks like slow motion in realtime. It’s pretty darn awesome. Once you get to the top of your push-up, you’ll lower to the bottom of your push-up (keep exhaling…this is all still part of the same vinyasa), but it’s not the same push-up you did for the Presidential Physical Fitness Test in elementary school. Keep your elbows right against your sides while trying to keep your shoulders away from your ears. Look at the ground out in front of you the whole way down. Lower to just a few inches off the ground,
- then start to pull your chest forward so you roll over onto the tops of your feet as you lift your chest and roll your shoulders back (inhale). Let your head be part of it, too. Lift your gaze at the very end of the movement.
- Next, roll back onto your toes as you lower your chest toward the ground, press back with your arms, and lift your butt up (exhale). When it’s all done, you’ll be in an upside-down “V” shape with your chest moving toward your toes. This is downward facing dog. Pay attention to your hands here. Your middle finger should be pointing straight forward, with all your fingers spread as wide apart as possible. Press down through the length of your fingers (this may be easier said than done), and sort of squeeze your arms toward one another. Push up and out of your shoulders so your upper body and torso feel like one straight line. Try to relax your calf muscles and let your heels drop toward the ground. Traditionally we spend five breaths-worth of time here, so take a minute and really check it out.
- After those five breaths it’s time to come back to standing, so look forward and come to your tip-toes (inhale), then step or “float” your feet back up between your hands (exhale). In this direction the float starts with springing from the legs, and then you lift the tailbone (again with that low back muscle contraction) and use your abs to pull your legs forward. Think of closing a hinge with a little resistance.
- Lift halfway and reinforce the low back activity,
- then fold forward and let the low back release. Moving from the hips, rise to standing as you raise your arms overhead (inhale).
- Bring your palms together and down in front of your chest (exhale).
Rinse. Repeat. Five Sun A’s should take less than 10 minutes. You can do that. Try it two or three days a week. Maybe come to a class at the gym. You don’t have to practice for hours a day and sell all of your worldly possessions to reap the benefits of yoga. And not being able to touch your toes isn’t an excuse, it’s a reason!
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