Climbing yogis or yogic climbers swear by it: yoga helps you to climb more difficult routes. In this article, I would like to focus on two - for me - very valuable aspects of regular yoga practice for my climbing.
I did yoga today. Online yoga, of course. I'm not really a yogi, but since the Covid measures, I've been treating myself to a regular morning yoga session, almost every day.
In the first few sessions, it was hard to resist: my body was too tired from working out at home and the thought of flopping back onto the couch with my first coffee was too tempting. In the meantime, the morning session has become a routine and I realize how many benefits I gain from climbing. These include, for example
Promoting mobility Compensation for stressed or neglected parts of the body Improving body awareness and motor skills mental strength better regeneration more body tension Strengthening
For me, however, there are two aspects in particular: On the one hand, yoga gives you the opportunity to train with a full range of motion (ROM), and on the other hand, you improve your breathing and, as a result, your concentration and ability to perform mentally and physically with pinpoint accuracy.
Extend Side Angle - tension and balance are required here, photo: Steinblock Boulderhallen GmbH, Dominik Hadwoger
Be the smoothest version of yourself
Imagine you're hanging on really bad holds and there's only one solution to get you out of trouble: a hook that's bomb, but stupidly really high up. This means that you have to bring your foot or heel high up (agility) and then push your weight up over this kick (strength). In this situation, you develop strength at the limit of your individual mobility. (A prominent example of this is Margo Hayes in her ascent of "La Rambla").
Yoga could therefore be described as the basis of "supple" climbing, as strength exercises are performed here at the limit of maximum mobility.
Crow - the crow demands core strength, shoulder strength and balance from its practitioners, photo: Ländle Yoga
Training over the maximum possible range of motion
In training science, this is similar to ROM (range of motion) training. This means that you strengthen the muscle over the entire range of motion that is available to you individually based on your musculature and joint structure. Training in full ROM means contracting the muscle from maximum stretch to maximum shortening.
This type of training has great advantages for building strength, as the muscles are activated over their entire length, stretching under load stimulates muscle growth and the reflex stimuli from the muscle stretch reflex cause additional contraction. In short: the combination of stretching and activation is ideal for creating a larger and stronger muscle.
Downward facing dog - A must for every climber. No other exercise stretches the muscles used by climbing so effectively! Photo: Steinblock Boulderhallen GmbH, Dominik Hadwoger
In yoga, you often (individually) assume maximum stretching positions, whereby strength is used in these end positions in order to hold the position or supplement it with other exercises.
In short: yoga makes us more flexible on the one hand, but all the stronger in this flexibility on the other.
Yoga teacher Nici from Ländle Yoga recommends the following exercises for climbers who love a challenge:
Peacock or Sanskrit mayurasana
Side Crow: side crow or Eka-Pada-Koundinyasana; even more difficult on the SUP board.
Rock Star: also known as Wild Thing or Camatkarasana; practiced here by Nici Scheichl.
Other recommended exercises:
Side Plank Reverse plank Handstand variations Headstand variations
Side Plank Pose - As if it wasn't hard enough already, the extension of the exercise is quite a challenge, photo: Ländle Yoga
Breathing - a central element for both yoga and climbing
The second argument in favor of regular yoga is breathing, which plays a central role in both yoga and climbing.
The yoga background for this is pranayama (yoga breathing), which stands for prana (life energy) and yama (control). In simple terms, pranayama is a way of controlling life energy.
In a yoga class, you are guided by a teacher to breathe correctly, but when climbing we have to teach ourselves.
Correct breathing needs to be learned
If you want to practise correct breathing, you can follow the structure of a yoga session. Step one is to focus on the inner self, which is achieved through deep abdominal breathing. In step two, you try to bring the right breathing structure to the movement under load in order to climb more efficiently and thus make breathing an important part of a successful climb.
Let's ignore the trivial factor that we need to breathe in order not to turn blue and focus on the fact that we can also use the flow of breath to control our movement and concentration and to direct tension and relaxation.
Photo: Martina Scheichl
-> Correct breathing shifts the focus from "Get the party started ..." in the ear to the rock: perceiving kicks, anticipating movements, etc. A positive power of perception, strength and the conviction that you can make the ascent sets in.
Timing your breathing
You can also time your breathing and adapt it to the load, which harmonizes your movements and makes them more fluid. You also learn this through regular yoga practice. I have tried to make the breathing profile of climbing comprehensible for you.
Easy moves and resting points: Breathing should be deep. The so-called abdominal breathing plays a role here, especially when you are trying to recover on a good hold. Heavy moves: Breathing becomes faster (and ideally also the climbing movement). It often becomes shallower in this situation. But be careful: so-called chest breathing leads to acidosis over a longer period of time, as the lactate, which forms anyway, is also more difficult to remove. So even if you breathe faster, make sure that your breaths are deep. Crux and maximum pulls: You tend to hold your breath during maximum pulls. This often happens because holding your breath allows you to exert maximum tension, which makes you feel more stable. The disadvantage of this is that it produces "waste products" such as lactate, which is subsequently less easily removed. This is massively detrimental to overall performance. Sports scientists therefore advise you to exhale even during powerful strokes. Tasks for improving your breathing Pay attention to abdominal breathing, even in everyday life: inhale deeply - hold your breath - exhale deeply (works best when lying down, e.g. before falling asleep). Alternate breathing: Breathe in on the left, hold your breath, breathe out on the right, breathe in on the right, hold your breath, breathe out on the left ... (hold the other nostril closed with your thumb or middle finger, place your index finger on your forehead). Rapid breathing: Inhale slowly and exhale through your nose in quick bursts.
Finally, if you are still not convinced by the arguments in favor of yoga, please watch the video of Adam Ondra's walk through "Silence". Then hopefully you'll know what to do. With this in mind: happy yoga!
