How to Stretch Before Climbing

Begin with a couple of minutes of light exercise to warm up your body. Jogging or jumping jacks are ideal for this.

Gently stretch your fingers and forearms by extending one arm and using your opposite hand to pull your fingers towards you, both with the hand facing up and with the hand hand facing down. Switch arms and repeat.

Stretch your shoulders and upper back by gripping one elbow above your head and gently pulling it towards your opposite side. Switch arms and repeat.

Stretch the backs of your legs by lying on your back and extending, one at a time, each leg up into the air. Push the heel towards the sky or ceiling so that you feel the stretch throughout the back of your leg. You can use your arms to pull your leg towards you. Alternately, if you do not have the space or inclination to lie down, you can cross one leg over the other while standing and bend over. This will stretch behind your back leg. Switch legs and repeat.

Stand approximately one foot away from a wall and place your hands flat against the wall. Take the toes of one foot and press them against the wall, keeping your heel on the ground. Lean into the wall, stretching your calf. Switch legs and repeat.

Identify any areas of your body that are especially tight or sore and spend additional time warming up and stretching them.

A good way to warm up before embarking on a long, hard climb is to traverse a climbing wall before going vertical. This consists of scaling the wall horizontally, with very little vertical motion. Some climbing gyms will have traversing routes marked out, but if not you can make up the route yourself.