climb easier routes, but more of them£379 please
I'm no physiologist but...As far as I understand it if you do any exercise that will develop muscle fibres and grow the muscles it also causes them to shorten which will cause tightness in the muscle unless you stretch it. So I believe it's a good idea to do some stretching, as muscle tightness may not only be causing the circulation issue, but might also be cause other problems like the tennis elbow mentioned.I always get pumped on longer steep climbs, but never do on boudering or anything around vertical or slabby. I would have thought this is common for most people, it's the relatively longer routes where the problem lies.I've just had a physio diagnose my tennis elbow as being partially caused by my hunched shoulders and crap posture. Surprise surprise!
If you're not regularly massaging your forearms then I'd start and see if it helps. There's a good vid that shows a simple self-massge and trigger point release, will post it when i get home. Alternatively, try an armaid. I recently purchased one to see if it would help my tennis elbow which is caused by overtight extensors - it does. You can borrow mine for a few days to try it out. Lacrosse ball does the same but just a little more finnicky, still £85 cheaper ...
I find it strange to think of climbers not regularly massaging their forearms. I do it every day, all day, especially when I'm doing PE type training- either AeroPow or AnCap. My forearms are sore the next day so I automatically stretch and massage them throughout the day. When I'm doing strength training I don't tend to feel it in my forearms as much, more in the fingers so I massage my fingers constantly. It's like an itch. They feel abnormal so I can't help but do something. Sometimes its just a light 15-20 seconds of massage randomly throughout the day, and sometimes(when they're really sore) It's a dedicated several minutes on each arm several times during the day.
The two major muscles that flex your fingers and the two muscles that flex your wrist (along with quite a few more) originate from a common tendon, which attaches to your medial epicondyle. Each muscle loads the tendon quite differently. The wrist flexor on the little-finger side, called flexor carpi ulnaris (FCU), is usually the pesky one. For the avid climber this has serious ramifications.Injury often has a lot to do with technique, and elbows are no exception. There are marked biomechanical differences in how the forearm muscles respond when crimping and open-hand¬ing. The load on the FCU when you are crimping is far greater than when slapping up slopers.Translation for the afflicted reducing the propensity for (or soon to be)—decrease the injury, climbing open-handed amount you crimp. A lot!Two groups of people crimp: beginners—because it feels stronger—and those who never grew out of it. Two groups of people crimp significantly less: those who naturally evolved, and those who injured themselves crimping.Some very specific training can help strengthen the affected tendon (see sidebar). Besides reducing the propensity for injury, climbing open-handed will automatically give you greater endurance (that’s another article on its own). Thus the benefit to your climbing career will be twofold.
Just found this about the Flexor Carpi Ulnaris. It basicly sums up my climbing exactly. http://www.drjuliansaunders.com/resources/feature_articles/dodgy_elbows/QuoteThe two major muscles that flex your fingers and the two muscles that flex your wrist (along with quite a few more) originate from a common tendon, which attaches to your medial epicondyle. Each muscle loads the tendon quite differently. The wrist flexor on the little-finger side, called flexor carpi ulnaris (FCU), is usually the pesky one. For the avid climber this has serious ramifications.Injury often has a lot to do with technique, and elbows are no exception. There are marked biomechanical differences in how the forearm muscles respond when crimping and open-hand¬ing. The load on the FCU when you are crimping is far greater than when slapping up slopers.Translation for the afflicted reducing the propensity for (or soon to be)—decrease the injury, climbing open-handed amount you crimp. A lot!Two groups of people crimp: beginners—because it feels stronger—and those who never grew out of it. Two groups of people crimp significantly less: those who naturally evolved, and those who injured themselves crimping.Some very specific training can help strengthen the affected tendon (see sidebar). Besides reducing the propensity for injury, climbing open-handed will automatically give you greater endurance (that’s another article on its own). Thus the benefit to your climbing career will be twofold.I've always crimped everything even when I first started climbing. I started outdoors on crimpy slabby lime routes and never really got into climbing indoors. It's actually a bit of a joke amongst my climbing friends that I literally crimp anything and everything, I've been caught crimping slopers plenty of times...I guess it must just be 4 years of crimp abuse that's left that muscle in a bit of a state. I may be onto something here, it never occurred to me that favoring the dirty crimps that my mates refused to pull on was actually a bad thing.Going to read up on some rehab for that area, and try and actually climb open handed for a change.Just thought I'd write this up in case anyone else had a similar problem.
and try and actually climb open handed for a change.