Home Exercises

There are some exercises that team members can be doing at home to build up their core strength, antagonist muscles(muscles that support the climbing specific muscles), and push muscles. This will support and supplement their climbing endeavors. The videos below describe the proper form of each of the exercises. Work together to make sure form is perfect, once form is lost the team members should stop, take a break for a minute and repeat. Exercises should not be performed if the proper form cannot be achieved. Begin with the most basic version of the exercises to assure good form (ex: push ups/planks from knees) before progressing to harder versions of the exercises. These exercises can be performed 2-3 days per week.

*Note: Always remember to warm-up with at least 5-10 minutes of cardio before performing exercises.

Exercise 1 & 2: Plank / Side Plank (core)
Aim for planks: 3 sets of 1-minutes holds
Tip 1: begin with knee planks if it is too hard
Tip 2: aim for 1 minute, but if the form is lost before 1 minute, stop when form is lost
Tip 3: If 1 minute becomes too easy, aim to lift on leg off the ground without losing balance, hold for 10 seconds, then switch legs and continue alternating for 1 minute if form is maintained.

Exercise 1 & 2: Plank / Side Plank (core)
Aim for side planks: 3 sets of 30-second holds (on each side)
Tip 1: begin with knee planks if it is too hard
Tip 2: aim for 30 seconds, but if the form is lost before 30 seconds, stop when form is lost
Tip 3: If 30 seconds becomes too easy, aim for 45 seconds

Exercise 3: I,T,Y's  (antagonists)
Aim: 3 sets of 30-second holds for each letter
Tip 1: begin with soup cans as a 1 pound weight (these are small muscles and no-weight, or 1 pound is sufficient to build these up).
Tip 2: If you do not have a ball, these exercises can be performed 1 side at time while laying on the side of a bed.
Tip 3: Be sure not to scrunch the shoulders up, if shoulders start to scrunch, rest, then repeat later.

Exercise 4: Push Ups: (push muscles)
Aim: 3 sets 3-10 push-ups with PERFECT form
Tip 1: begin with wall push ups or knee push ups
Tip 2: Note: elbows are NOT out to the side at shoulder height, but rather drawn in towards the side, using the triceps and the trunk of the body to push/stabilize
Tip 3: Do not scrunch shoulders up to ears and do as many push ups/set as can be done with good form, once form is lost, rest.

Exercise 5: Step-Ups or Squats (push muscles)
Aim: 3 sets of 30
Tip 1: if you d not have boxes or items to use for step-ups, perform squats instead
Tip 2: If doing squats DO NOT use weights as in the videos, but begin with just body weight and good form, keeping the core tight and not over-arching the back.