How to solve the sore arm swelling when climbing!

We are already on the wall: a smooth climb and accurate control of each movement until suddenly an inevitable situation arises: Your arm is completely inflated. No matter how you adjust it, you don't want to continue climbing. The French called this phenomenon "bottle arm." A very appropriate description!

When you have difficulty passing through the line, your arm is inflated. This is an essential part of the sport. Directly related to your health level and climbing level! Here are a few climbers' experiences and techniques that can increase your level of climb and help you delay muscle fatigue and lactic acid buildup. Of course, the easiest way to slow down the expansion of the arm is to practice hard, plan for more climbing or return to pre-adolescent physique (children before puberty are not easy to arm soreness). At the same time, there are some tips. For many climbers, it will take time to comprehend or not to know these key details!


Post-training soreness image provided by: Oli Edwards

The purpose of this article is to make your moves more effective through some simple tactics, techniques, and changes to your climbing style. Ultimately and most importantly, it helps you to slow down the effects of sore arm swelling on you. The metabolic system of the child's body is not fully developed, and their physical reactions to exercise and training are also different.

What is soreness

Begin with a physical reaction. Swelling is generally thought to be swelling and congestion in your forearm. Frequently from numbness to intense pain, often mistakenly called lactic acid. The amount of lactic acid is a measure of muscle fatigue. However, it is not entirely based on it. In contrast, soreness is caused by a combination of factors in the muscles of the lower arm, such as the frequency of muscle contractions and the state of pressure in the blood vessels.


Swelling Bones Image courtesy of Chris Prescott Adventure Photography

Climbing is an unusual sport. Sometimes it is an anaerobic endurance challenge. This means that your forearm's small muscle group is the center of fatigue, not the cardiovascular system to control all!

Relax your grip

First of all, the easiest step to slow down the soreness of the arm is to relax your grip. This may seem simple, but people have an instinct for over-grabbing, especially when nervous or when there is some bouldering. On longer lines, the movements are more consistent and continuous. You don't need to be in a crimp state on the rock wall. You can relax, or you lose too much power and shedding.


Fully forced fingers Image courtesy of Steve Gorton

Excessive grasping can prolong the static contraction of your arm muscles, limit blood flow and limit the body's chemical adjustments. In other words, you will soon be in a state of fatigue. Do not press your thumb completely on the other fingers to do a full-crimp action. Instead, let go of your thumbs and reduce the pressure on your fingers.


Partially stressed fingers Image courtesy of Neil Gresham

Tip: Test your grip on large fulcrums while practicing on rock or rock. According to different terrains, learning is the most comfortable and the most effective way to grasp them.

Straighten your arm

You will often hear people say straighten your arm and your coach and friends will tell you this the first time you climb. This method is often forgotten when your arm is strong, tired or frightened. Hold the fulcrum and keep your arms straight. When your muscles contract less and your blood flow is less constrained, most of your body is at rest. The real power is your joints and skeletal system. Not a muscle system.

In climbing, most of your body's weight should be allocated to your thighs to bear. It has a stronger muscle group than your arm. On the steep rock wall, our weight is due to gravity, which causes our arms to be pulled downwards a lot. So we straighten our arms and bring the hips close to the rock wall through the core area of ​​the legs and the body to relieve The tension of our arms.

Constantly throwing arm

You may see some climbers constantly waving their arms in the air on the rock, and this kind of movement depends on the degree of soreness in your arm. This is not a distress signal, although it is the case for outsiders. It's just that the climber relaxes his arm muscles by throwing his arm and gets oxygenated blood flow supplements.

As mentioned earlier, contracting muscles is equivalent to restricting blood flow, so choose the larger and more comfortable point on the line to relax, straighten your arms and shoulders, and give them a little rest to promote blood circulation.


Swollen Swing Arm Image courtesy of Catherine Speakman

For the dumping arm, there is a discussion about whether to throw it down or throw it over. Some people think that raising their arms and lowering them will return blood to the arm and make it stronger. Actually, it depends on your state at the time. On the rock wall, your muscles are relaxed at the beginning. It is better than always keeping your muscles tight. When you try to throw your arm for the first time, it may have little or no effect, but if you enhance your endurance by regularly training climbing, there will usually be soreness that you will find in climbing. In the middle, you can ease and get rid of the soreness of the arm due to the dumped arm!

You can also do tactical arm dumps: if you feel very tired and know that your left arm will perform a difficult move next, then you will need to find a relatively suitable right hand point to straighten the arm support suspension, and then Fully shake your left arm so that you can rest. For two arms, it's very difficult to balance the rest completely, but when you red point a line, mastering this knowledge is an advantage for you!


Vertical arm suspension, using legs and knees to reduce the force of the lower arm. Image credit: Inigo Taylor Climbing Photography

If you feel the soreness of your forearm before you climb it, during a series of climbing exercises, shaking the wrist quickly and briefly will also help to adjust the state. This has a psychological effect and makes you feel that your arm is constantly recovering.

Tip: Pick a simple line or traverse on the wall. You do ten moves, then stop at a more comfortable point, practice throwing arms, and practice alternating walls. Let the arm reduce the weight on the wall!

Learn to read the line and find rest

A very small number of climbers can watch the line conditions like climbing climbers and people on the red dot line before climbing, planning climbing sequences, resting points, hanging around points, and even very few people reading on the way. line. Before the onsight or red dot line, you have a rough awareness of the climbing sequence and a general understanding of the type of rock and familiarity with the movements. By finding a good rest position, you will increase your chances of success.


Using knees to reduce arm strength, core strength is important. Image Credit: Chris Prescott

Look at the type of rock you are climbing: steep, vertical, or large flat? From different perspectives, look for opportunities for different breaks. There is no hand on the flat or vertical wall. The foot rests your arm. You can adjust your rest by tilting your body close to the rock wall. If it is a steep rock wall, you can rest on feet, knees, etc.


Take a break and watch the line. Image courtesy of Will Carroll

Some experienced climbers can find the knees to support the rock, put your hips close to the rock wall, and release your arm's pressure through your core strength and leg muscles. Or use a presser foot to make a short break while balancing. During the break, take some time to see the next few moves and positions.


Rest on one knee and put your weight on your left knee. Image Credit: Chris Prescott

Finding the Climbing Rhythm: Balancing the Turtle and Rabbit

A good climber climbs up, not too fast or too slow. They know how to master pace and use the natural environment to climb. In a relatively easy set of actions, either fast or slow, you can do whatever you like, but in those smaller rocks or difficult movements, mastering and controlling the rhythm requires a lot of practice. At some small points, rapid and effective movement will prevent prolonged muscle contraction, thus delaying the soreness of the arm. Everyone has his own climbing style and rhythm. There is no standard right or wrong. According to his most comfortable pace, it is right.

For those slow-moving climbers, climbing too fast at critical moments may distract them and increase the chance of making mistakes. For those who are climbing fast, they prefer to gain strength through rapid passage. Ultimately, fast or slow This is a delicate balance rule, only more cautious climbers can win the game, as long as they have the ability to stay longer on the rock and find a break.

Practice your footwork: point and twist

A sloppy footwork wastes time and energy: Put your feet quickly and accurately on the next step. Inexperienced climbers have a tendency to put their feet very clumsy on the rock, instead of stepping on their toes, their feet standing casually on the wall, even worse, arching Feet.


The left figure is a better way to twist the body and the wrong step on the right. Image Credit: Chris Prescott

When you want to turn on the rock to adjust your body's center of gravity to reduce the strength of your arm, using the toe point on the front end of the climbing shoe is a magical function. Use our toes to move in different directions, just as ballet rotates with the toes. When you want to move with the foot point as the center axis, use the toe to move the body and direction to the next step. You will find it easy. Instead of letting most of your rock shoes reach the rock, it is wrong.


Bad footwork. Image courtesy of Will Carroll

Tip: Take the time to practice good footing. When you move, look down to see where your feet are, instead of looking up at the next move. Like a ballet dancer, try to use your toes to step on points, and use your toe tips to help you move to the ideal position.

Use physical bodily swing

Twist our toes by twisting the toes on the rock. Motivation is critical in effective climbing. In the process of moving, the body's power of homeopathy generated by the previous step moves to the next step. Swiping through a combination of dynamic motion and arm straightening will reduce the number of times the arm flexes the muscles to contract, thereby spending more time doing hanging postures. If you move statically, it will consume more time and effort.


Swing by the body to complete a series of actions. Image Credit: Chris Prescott

Tip: Step on the rock to make a series of consistent and graceful movements, complete by the body's swing, so as to practice more climbing dynamic feeling. Instead of moving slowly and carefully, there will be a concomitant effect on the movement.

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