When doing research about getting started in bouldering, I regularly come across conflicting advice. Here is some clarification on three topics, to provide you with a smoother start to the sport.
What are three misconceptions a beginner should know about bouldering? It is important to warm up before climbing. However, stretching is not a warmup and it should only be done after your bouldering session. The best way to improve performance on the wall is not to tackle harder and harder problems, but to fully master easy problems before moving on to harder challenges. Being too strong as a beginner is not always helpful, as it can lead to technique issues as you progress to more challenging problems.
Misconceptions can slow your progress, or even lead to preventable injuries such as pulled muscles or inflamed tendons.
Misconception 1: Every Bouldering Session Should Start with Stretches
This advice is incorrect and can actually lead to injury (1).
Static stretching is what normally comes to mind when we think of stretching.
Static stretching is where an extended position is held for 30 to 90 seconds to increase flexibility. When done just before a sport activity, this type of stretching has been shown to decrease performance and lead to an increased risk of injury.
Experts hypothesize that static stretching can have a bad effect on performance because the body responds to overstretching by tightening the muscles in a protective response. If the static stretches are done immediately before the activity, this will decrease range of motion available during the activity. In bouldering, this can influence which holds you will be able to reach and use.
Doing static stretching before an activity has been shown to have no effect on reducing rates of injury. This may be due to freshly stretched muscles being more susceptible to overstretching. Since stretched muscles are also weaker, this will reduce the amount of power you can generate for bouldering moves, such as launching into a dyno.
Examples of static stretches would be typical fitness gym stretches such as quadriceps, hamstring and shoulder stretches, or stretching out the legs on a bench before running.
However, even though static stretching before a bouldering session is discouraged, some sort of warmup is definitely needed. Boulderers agree that jumping right into challenging problems leads to cramped muscles and poorer performance.
Instead of static stretching, every bouldering session should start with a warmup.
A warmup reduces the risk of injury by increasing blood flow and oxygen in the muscles. It also increases heart rate and body temperature, and prepares you mentally for the activity.
Warming up has a different purpose from stretching. Whereas stretching is meant to increase flexibility, a warmup activates the muscles and prepares them for a stronger and more powerful performance. The warm up should try to include all the muscles that you will be using during your bouldering session.
There are two popular warmup options: doing some dynamic stretching, or simply starting your bouldering session with a few very easy boulder problems.
- With dynamic stretching, the stretch is achieved through movement. Some examples of dynamic stretching include arm circles, butt kicks, treadmill. These activities will increase heart rate and get the blood flowing.
- The other warmup option is to perform a lower intensity version of the activity you will be doing. Some experts recommend this approach because it warms up the same muscles that will be used in the activity.
With bouldering, then, a great way to squeeze in a warmup is to start each session off with easy problems. Spend the first 20 minutes of your bouldering session doing very easy routes, such as VB or V0 problems, or with traverses with nice big jug handles. Use these easy problems to warm up and ease into your session.
Basically, any low-keyed dynamic activity will do the job by elevating heart rate and body temperature in preparation for your bouldering session.
The best time to do static stretching is immediately AFTER your bouldering session.
Static stretching is useful for increasing range of motion and flexibility, and should probably still be done. It’s just that the start of a bouldering session is not the best time.
It is much better timing to do static stretches immediately following a bouldering session. After you get down from the wall, your muscles are still warmed up with increased circulation, and your limbs have gained flexibility from being used. Warmed up muscles are more responsive to stretching, resulting in faster results with range of motion and flexibility.
That being said, the dynamic, or motion-based, type of stretching yields better results overall. People who do this type of stretching, which uses several muscle groups as part of greater movement, end up more flexible than those who use only static stretches (1).
The sequence in a bouldering session should be: dynamic warmup, bouldering, stretching.
Misconception 2: Doing Harder and Harder Problems Is the Way to Refine Your Technique
This advice is also incorrect.
The best way to improve your performance is to do a lot of practice on easier problems, rather than focusing on completing extremely hard ones.
If you want to improve your technique, and your bouldering in general, do the same relatively easy bouldering problem over and over. Do this until you can send it with ease and its moves have become second nature. Every time you repeat the problem, focus on how you can improve, and see if you can refine the route to send the problem more efficiently. The techniques you are perfecting will carry over to upgrade your performance on other, more difficult problems.
Therefore, instead of spending all of your bouldering session on very difficult problems, a better use of time is to become expert at basic skills before moving on harder problems. In other words, mastering a problem is a better goal than attempting a series of half-successful problems that are above your ability.
Misconception 3: You Must Be Strong to Do Bouldering
On the contrary, being very strong can actually hinder a person’s progression in bouldering.
Too much strength as a beginner leads to relying on muscle power instead of learning proper climbing technique. Later on, when problems are more difficult and holds are further apart, it is essential to have learned good technique and movement skills, and efficient body placement. At this point, muscle power alone will not be enough to get through the more advanced problems.
Austin Lee, sport climber and boulderer, tells us that if any strength training is needed, it should be done at the end of your bouldering session. For the basic strength needed in bouldering, his recommendation is that one should be able to do 5 pull-ups, and be able to hold a plank position for 30 seconds (2). If you do not meet these standards, this would indicate the need to make time for some strength work at the end of your sessions.
Related Questions
What is a good habit to get into when starting a bouldering problem? Before you jump on the wall, study the problem to have a good idea of the route and how you think you will handle it. Make sure you have a plan for your descent before starting to climb. Watch others to see how they approach the problem, keeping in mind their body type, size, and strength. Someone who is a lot smaller or larger will likely use different techniques than you would on any given problem.
Is there anything that I should avoid doing at all costs as a beginner? Avoid using crimping. Crimping, where only the tips of the fingers fit on the hold, has a very high risk of injury. In his book (3), boulderer Peter Beal tells us that crimping is the most injury-prone hand position used in bouldering. It should be used only after gaining experience and finger strength, and even then it should be used as sparingly as possible.
References
- http://archive.boston.com/news/science/articles/2010/04/15/experts_forget_pre_work_out_stretching/
- Austin Lee, Sport climber and boulderer for 15 years https://www.quora.com/What-should-an-absolute-beginner-know-about-indoor-bouldering-Is-there-any-practical-advice-that-is-useful-right-off-the-bat-as-in-never-do-x-or-always-be-sure-to-y
- BEAL, P. Bouldering: Movement, Tactics, and Problem Solving. The Mountaineers Books, 2011