09/07/2015
Hello!
I use to say that the abdominals are the most important muscles to work on in climbing sport. If the strength of the fingers have to be developed carefully (and once again…beginners should not work on it before 1,5 years at least of climbing), abdominals can be worked most of the time.
Your body tension, which makes the link between the lower part and the upper part of your body, will keep you closer from the wall. To be closer from the wall will make your unload more weight on your feet… and unload more weigh on your feet will make you hold smaller grips or use less energy.
In case of dynamic moves, to keep contracted your abdominals will fix your body tension. That will also give you more time to move from on hand holds to another one, without feeling the hard reality of the effect of the gravity on your bottom =D. In these kinds of moves, to keep your abdominals contracted will give you also the necessary half second to feel the hold and take it correctly.
I have to admit that I hate to work on the basic abdominals … I think there are kind of boring and painful… despite useful (don’t get me wrong), but I use to give up after the 23rd one…
The good new is that it exist some other abdominals exercises. They have the advantage of being more similar to climbing moves. They also request less time as they are more intense. In the following video you will see some of these exercises. Sorry, it’s in French…but the video is clear enough. Be careful with these exercises, a good position of your body is necessary, so be concentrated, and do it progressively. Don’t be jealous, the girl in the video is one of the best female climbers of the 90/00.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg_xqHyHCyk&feature=youtu.be
For those who prefer the basic, long and painful abs exercises, here are 2 other videos from the French national speed climbing team, where you can find some variations of moves…
They suggest to do all the exercises in a row, 4 times with 2min rest in between.. I pay you a beer if you can make it! But they are also good inspiration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9KSJvfZj24&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqfUufRJ91o&feature=youtu.be
One last thing, I know that it's difficult to focus on many things when climbing, but it you want your abs to be useful, think about contracting them in the hard moves, especially in slight steep walls. At the beginning, you body might naturally not contract them.
Cette vidéo de La Fabrique Verticale présente quelques exercices à réaliser avec des anneaux, pour améliorer votre gainage.
