Yoga and climbing go hand in hand. Both provide constant encouragement to improve our physical and spiritual beings through challenges. They both rely on controlling our minds to achieve our new ascends.
How Does Yoga Help You with Climbing?
Warm up: you can activate your body through Yoga.
Abdominals: you must have strong abs because, in conjunction with the back, they support your grips. When you move an arm or a leg, it is the abdominals which help you maintain balance.
Mobility: When you climb, you shouldn’t have stiffened muscles or joints. Thanks to Yoga you can regain the mobility that you had as a child.
Concentration: Yoga helps to learn and enjoy the slowness of movements. It is important to make sure our grips are safe, focusing on making good supports, etc. instead of rushing our way to the top. Without keeping our concentration on every move, it will be difficult reaching the summit.
Relaxation: It is necessary to keep relaxed, especially when we face difficult challenges. Relaxation and breathing techniques are taught in Yoga.
Proprioception: It is the ability to perceive the position of the body independently of the vision. Yoga exercises related to balance are very good for improving proprioception.
Coordination: What better than Yoga to make your body’s movements fluid and coordinated?
Pulmonary capacity: Pranayama teaches you to take long and deep breaths, using the three types of breathing: abdominal, thoracic and clavicular.
Preventing Injuries: Since Yoga keeps your body strong and flexible, it helps to prevent injuries. Yoga works on your whole body, not only upper or lower body, helping you perform your daily chores and climb a mountain.
Mental strength: As a climber, you know there will be times when you need to ask more of your body, especially when it reaches its limit. It is then when you need to use a very important resource: your mental strength. Through Yoga, you can train your mind to draw strength from anywhere available to reach your goal.
Yoga Postures for Climbers
The asanas climbers may benefit most are:
Bakasana (Crow’s Pose)
Bakasana is great for climbing since it requires balance, strength in arms, legs, abs, pectorals, shoulders, and back. It also needs to have high breathing control and focus.
Virabhadrasana (Warrior’s Postures)
All three variants of Virabhadrasana give you balance and teach you to pace the movements. Slow, deep breaths are required to perform and keep the Warrior poses.
(Gupta) Virasana (Hero’s Posture)
Virasana is a good Yoga asana for climbers because it opens the hips and provides the amplitude necessary to raise the leg laterally.
Ustrasana (Camel Pose)
In Ustrasana, we work the trunk as it strengthens the abdominals and the lower back.
Tadasana (Tree Posture)
Standing asanas are good for keeping your back straight and acquiring the good habit of being aware of our position while keeping your balance.
Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Posture)
Its main benefit is to improve the hamstring and hip flexibility in the stretched front leg. You can use a Yoga Block to perform the asana to help your chest open. A block also can aid you to have a straight spine.
It is an ideal warm-up Yoga sequence to activate the whole body. It consists of seven postures. There are different variations (A and B are the most common). Just remember to perform the same sequence with both sides of the body for alignment and balance.
Yoga and Climbing have a lot in common so it is completely okay to pack your bags, put on your yoga leggings and head on the road. Have fun.