A Question of Balance

Six essential yoga poses for climbers

My physical therapist, a triathlete, recently told me that climbing puts more intense stress on my body than any other sport does. “Your lats are overdeveloped, your shoulders pull forward, your neck is strained, your hamstrings are tight,” she told me. “Just stop climbing.”

Of course, I won’t stop climbing. So what to do? Start stretching consistently, say climbers Olivia Hsu, a yoga instructor, and Heidi Wirtz, a long-time yoga practitioner. And the smartest way to stretch? Yoga.

“Yoga balances out climbing,” Hsu explains. She trains hard and climbs 5.13+, but in yoga she favors gentler poses that open her chest and stretch hamstrings, legs, and hips. “I can do the power postures,” she says, “but that doesn’t translate to injury prevention for climbing.”

Wirtz also find many benefits. “Yoga promotes balance, increases core strength, calms your mind, and teaches you how to be in your body,” she says. Wirtz initially practiced yoga to manage painful sciatica, but now incorporates it into her daily fitness routine.

Wirtz and Hsu recommend this series of six yoga poses for climbers to stretch all the major muscle groups and improve balance. Do them in the suggested order and “flow” them together into one session, moving from each posture back to Mountain pose, and then on to the next.

Maintain steady breathing throughout your practice. Inhale as you establish the posture, and then breathe deeply and rhythmically as you hold the pose. “As with climbing, before you initiate movement, relax and focus on your breath,” Wirtz says.

Beginning your yoga practice

• Start by expanding your full back with a deep breath and lengthening the sides of your body.
• Always begin with and return to Mountain pose.
• Hold each pose for 30 to 60 seconds.
• Do asymmetrical poses on each side.
• Don’t strive for maximum extension, especially if you are new to yoga.
• Focus on standing up tall, without sticking your buttocks or chest out.

Mountain

1. Stand with heels slightly apart, big toes touching. Balance your weight evenly by lifting and spreading your toes and rocking your body on your feet.
2. Lift your kneecaps, strengthen the inner arches of your feet, turn the upper thighs slightly inward, and draw your pubic bone and tailbone toward each other.
3. Lift your upper body without sticking your ribs out, stretch your shoulder blades back, and drop your shoulders.
4. Drop and straighten your arms, opening your palms in front of you.
5. Grow tall through the crown of your head, chin parallel to the floor.
6. Allow your tongue to be flat on the floor of your mouth.
7. Soften your eyes.

Body benefits:

• This is your basic yoga “ready” pose. It promotes stillness, relaxed strength, and “groundedness.” Think of yourself as a mountain.

Eagle

1. With knees slightly bent, lift your left foot and balance on your right.
2. Reach up with your arms and sink into your hips to create a sense of the spine lengthening and straightening.
3. Cross your left thigh over the right, left toes pointed to the floor. Then, try to wrap the top of your left foot around the lower right calf. Hips face forward.
4. Cross your forearms, placing your right above left, and bend the elbows. Press the inside of your left hand against the lower part of the palm of your right hand.
5. Raise the arms and bend at the elbows so that the upper arms are parallel to the ground, fingers stretched upward.

Body benefits:

• Stretches latissimus dorsi, trapezius, and deltoid muscles.

Climbing applications:

• Limber upper-body muscles have increased blood flow, which promotes faster recovery.
• Strengthens knees and ankles and improves overall balance, helping climbers stand on small holds.

Caution:

• People with knee pain should simply stand or cross one ankle over the other, leaving both feet touching the ground.