Blog

Climbing Without Rocks

• July 2012
• Climb

Hi Steph,

Over the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time climbing, and I have really loved it. I’m moving to Nashville in August, and I plan to keep climbing while living in Tennessee.

But, I’m working for a program called Teach for America, and I will be teaching summer school in the Mississippi Delta for the rest of June and July. I won’t be near any rocks or climbing gyms. How would you suggest staying in good climbing shape for 5 weeks without any rocks?

Thanks,
Ashlyn

Hi Ashlyn,
If you can’t climb at all, the best option is to think about finger (contact) strength and core strength, along with hip openers. Do you have access to a fingerboard? If so, this is a good opportunity to work on finger strength. You don’t need any equipment at all to work on core strength and hip openers. Any ab exercises that you like will give you a lot of results, if you can do them daily or every other day. For hip openers, I do some other stretching and yoga first (so I’m not jumping right into it), and then I lie down on the floor face down. I put my feet against a wall, and try to have my knees bent at a 90 degree angle (but this can be a bigger angle as you ease into it). So just imagine lying on your stomach in a frog position. If you are on a smooth floor, put thick socks or beanies under each knee. If you are on carpet, put a magazine under each knee. Now just lie there patiently for a while, and allow your hips to gradually open up. If you are already extremely flexible, this may not feel like much of a stretch, but if you have tight hips (like me), you will notice major benefits after doing this for several days.
Hope that helps!
Steph