Hey, I've been rock climbing and for the past 6 weeks I"ve been experiencing a shooting pain in my forearms when doing difficult crimps. My arms also sometimes start shaking after doing a particularly difficult climb.

I was wondering if you guys have any suggestions on warm up exercises and ways to speed up recovery for my muscles. I've been trying to go rock climbing every other day to give my muscles time to rest.

Any suggestions?

First off, your arms shaking are probably just a combination of lactic acid buildup (getting "pumped," since this is the beginner's forum), and of your body not really being all that used to climbing yet.

For warmups, do really easy, juggy traverses on huge holds. Sometimes, if like me your joints get stiff, do various stretches; I even like just hanging on a jug, and throwing a heel up to stretch out my quads. Dead hangs, again on huge holds, can be nice, too.

For more specificity, a good warmup for your fingers AFTER you've done all the general warmups above is this:
hold your arm out directly in front of you, with your palm facing outward and your fingers out (like a traffic cop signaling "stop!"). Take your other hand, and SLOWLY pull your fingers back toward yourself, kind of putting easy stretch in your tendons and forearms. You can also do this just one finger at a time as well (as shown around 35 seconds into this video), but be really careful not to strain anything.

Since you're a relatively new climber, and I'm assuming you're in the gym, it's a good idea to try NEVER to hold a small hold on a closed-handed crimp (fingers bent, thumb on top). Closed-hand crimps, while good for tiny holds, are more likely to result in injury, and do even less to build tendon strength than open-handed positions.


Finally, for recovery, take lots of rest days as mentioned above. Also, some more advanced climbers that I know will sometimes soak each forearm in a tub of ice water for ten minutes apiece at the end of a hard workout, which increases blood flow to the area, and thus quickens muscle rebuilding. This may be a bit much for a beginner, but I don't think it would hurt you to try it.

I hope that helps.

While I'm not a doctor I do have a good idea of how the human body works and soaking body parts in ice will not increase blood flow it in fact does the exact opposite it will slow blood flow to that body part. The Ice might make you feel better because it reduces swelling.

While I'm not a doctor I do have a good idea of how the human body works and soaking body parts in ice will not increase blood flow it in fact does the exact opposite it will slow blood flow to that body part. The Ice might make you feel better because it reduces swelling.

For warmups, do really easy, juggy traverses on huge holds. Sometimes, if like me your joints get stiff, do various stretches; I even like just hanging on a jug, and throwing a heel up to stretch out my quads. Dead hangs, again on huge holds, can be nice, too.

For more specificity, a good warmup for your fingers AFTER you've done all the general warmups above is this:
hold your arm out directly in front of you, with your palm facing outward and your fingers out (like a traffic cop signaling "stop!"). Take your other hand, and SLOWLY pull your fingers back toward yourself, kind of putting easy stretch in your tendons and forearms. You can also do this just one finger at a time as well (as shown around 35 seconds into this video), but be really careful not to strain anything.

Since you're a relatively new climber, and I'm assuming you're in the gym, it's a good idea to try NEVER to hold a small hold on a closed-handed crimp (fingers bent, thumb on top). Closed-hand crimps, while good for tiny holds, are more likely to result in injury, and do even less to build tendon strength than open-handed positions.


Finally, for recovery, take lots of rest days as mentioned above. Also, some more advanced climbers that I know will sometimes soak each forearm in a tub of ice water for ten minutes apiece at the end of a hard workout, which increases blood flow to the area, and thus quickens muscle rebuilding. This may be a bit much for a beginner, but I don't think it would hurt you to try it.

I hope that helps.