Warming Up

Here’s an article on warming up before climbing which is something I do not like doing. I didn’t come to the climbing area to warm up – I came to climb. But this is good advice:

“…the first route you do should be so easy that as soon as you lower off, you can take a TR lap on it right away, correcting any mistakes you made the first time up, and putting yourself in the proper mind set and flow for the day. If the first route is too hard to do a second lap on without taking a rest in between, then it’s not a proper warm up.

…you should start on a route that is 2 to 4 number grades below your redpoint goal for the day. So if you are aiming for 12a, that might mean your first route is a 5.8 or 5.9. Andrew Bisharat says your last warm up should be about a number grade below your project level, his recommend progression for someone working 12b would be something like 10a, 10d, 11b.”

But this is impossible for me to do:

“And then comes a crucial part, take some rest! I usually wait about twenty to thirty minutes after warming up before getting on anything harder.”

A 30 minute wait! That is a long time. But I guess I could climb while I am waiting to recover. So it won’t seem so long.

P.S. I like this comment:

“Does a lion warm up before he tackles a gazelle? No.”