7 Ways Yoga Can Benefit Your Climbing

Have you ever found yourself halfway up a climb, and suddenly, you must use a high foot? But, as you go to move, you feel your hip twinge or quad cramp. Or, you left the climbing gym with your back and neck muscles so tight that you spent the next week massaging out the knots. If you have faced a scenario(s) similar to these, introducing yoga into your routine will likely benefit your climbing.

If you are skeptical of the cross-over benefits between yoga and rock climbing, consider this: most rock gyms offer yoga classes. Yoga can benefit your climbing two-fold: physically and mentally. This article will focus primarily on the physical benefits a consistent yoga practice offers, including mind-body connection, muscle activation, flexibility and mobility, breathing, strength and stability, proprioception, and recovery. Let’s break down and discuss why each of these gains will help you progress in climbing.

7 Yoga Benefits for Climbing

1. Mind-Body Connection

Everyone can rock climb, but some are undeniably more graceful climbers. Part of their gracefulness depends upon a solid mind-body connection, enabling them to engage specific muscles for different moves actively. That may include activating their core muscles to maintain body tension or flexing their biceps and lats to stick a deadpoint.

2. Muscle Activation

To strengthen your mind-body connection, you must first learn how to activate your muscles. Yoga practices are excellent because the poses often require flexion and engagement of particular muscle groups. Additionally, yoga instructors have fine-tuned their ability to coach you in activities of the respective muscles with verbal and physical cues.

3. Flexibility and Mobility

Remember that high foot you couldn't reach on a climb? Yoga can help by boosting your flexibility (passive ROM) and mobility (active ROM). Being physically strong will only take you so far in climbing, with many advanced movements demanding extensive shoulder, hip, and ankle mobility. The more mobile you are, the less energy you need to maneuver on a rock climb. Imagine effortlessly doing the splits on a climb.

4. Breathing

Many rock climbers won't realize they aren't breathing or taking short, shallow breaths while climbing. Both of these decrease your climbing efficiency. As mindful movement practice, yoga allows you to draw attention to your breathing. Vinyasa is a specific type of yoga that links one breath with one movement. The breathing patterns these flows teach directly apply to climbing. When you can learn to steady your breath through each move on a climb, you will conserve energy (i.e., less likely to overgrip and more likely to think about using your feet).

5. Strength and Stability

In yoga, you practice various poses by holding them for a cycle of breaths or seconds. These isometric holds can help increase your strength, benefiting your rock climbing. Holding onto the rock as you plan or prepare for the next move will be less tiring, and you might even consciously use your breath to remain calm.

Stability in sports refers to the coordination of tissues and neuromuscular systems to maintain the position of a joint. In rock climbing, your ankles, hips, and shoulders are the joints where stability is essential. When it comes to rock climbing, stable ankles are critical for ascending slab climbs and performing toe hooking, while stable hips help you use heel hooks effectively. Stable shoulders are essential for executing mantles and gastons while also preventing injury in those positions.

6. Proprioception

Proprioception: A fancy word for body awareness and the key of all top-level climbers. The more aware of where your body is in space and how it moves about the space around you, the easier you will find it to commit to moves on the climbing wall. Yoga fosters proprioception through the mind-body connection. Applying the same principles on the wall becomes easier as you learn how your body moves and takes up space.

Advanced yoga movements like handstands or other inversions require a strong sense of proprioception, which translates to coordination-climbing movements like dynos, running starts, or double clutches.

7. Recovery

Thus far, we've covered the physical benefits of yoga from strength-based or inversion-based practices. However, there are many different styles of yoga, and some focus solely on restoration or meditation. Rest days or active recovery days are essential to progress in any sport, rock climbing included. Opting for a revitalizing or meditative practice on these days will benefit your next climbing session by ensuring you recover well and are ready to climb hard. It may also satisfy any restlessness from taking rest or a non-climbing day.

Remember, yoga is for everyone, and there's a practice out there that will appeal to you. Take the time to explore the classes offered at your local climbing gym or yoga studio, or even try a follow-along yoga flow on YouTube. Stick with a practice that resonates with you, and you'll likely see improvements in your mind-body connection, muscle activation, flexibility and mobility, breathing, strength and stability, proprioception, and recovery. Don't hesitate to share your experiences in the comments below!