Additionally, a solid grasp of rock climber muscles plays a pivotal role in injury prevention and management. By recognizing the muscles most prone to strain, climbers can take proactive measures to strengthen and protect them. They can also identify warning signs of overuse or acute injuries, allowing for early intervention, appropriate rest and recovery and hopefully avoiding common climbing injuries.
Most Used Muscles in Climbing
Multiple different muscle groups in the body are used during a bouldering or climbing session. Some of these help lift the body upwards whilst others do so via pushing movements.
The primary muscles that need to be strong are the forearms, lats, biceps, hip flexors, quads and calves. Let’s take a look at each of these in detail.
Upper Body Muscles
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The major muscles used for rock climbing in the upper body are the forearms and biceps.
Forearms
Finger strength is probably the key requirement for climbing. Whilst there is all that upwards pulling you have to be able to keep your grip on the holds. As you improve and the difficulty of routes increases, those holds get smaller and smaller requiring more and more forearm strength and endurance.
Those new to the sport will find these muscles get tired rather quickly as they are not commonly developed in our sedentary modern lifestyles. It’s quite normal not to be able to feel your fingers after the first session. You’ll be shocked to see you won’t even be able to form a fist, let alone hold anything for a while.
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One way to lessen the exertion on these muscles is with good form and technique, utilizing the other bigger muscles of the body as much as possible. Stronger shoulders, upper back and core will all contribute to transferring muscle exertion from the forearms to these other muscle groups contributing to higher performance.
The key forearm muscles involved in the gripping and holding action are:
- Flexor carpi ulnaris (or the superficial flexor muscle)
- Flexor carpi radialis
- Flexor digitorum superficialis (aka superficial finger flexor)
- Flexor digitorum profundus (aka deep finger flexor)
- Flexor pollicis Longus (aka long thumbbender)
These muscles work together in unison, giving you the endurance and grip to lift your body upward.
Biceps
These are the main muscles in the upper arm. Biceps flex the arms as you exert pressure and pull them. They also bring the body closer to the wall.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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