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petey23
Mar 23, 2007, 6:26 AM
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I've never been one for any kind of workouts other than just straight up aerobic stuff, some weight lifting and climbing. I've never done a workout tape before and always viewed them with a bit of disdain. Surely a 20 min hard run would be better for you than 8 minutes of stretching and 12 minutes of abs and some lifts during a 20 minute exercise video.
Nonetheless, my girlfriend does workout tapes. I laughed when I saw a pilates one, and while some of the moves are pretty ridiculous looking, I couldn't do some of them.
I don't have the best body control or balance, admittedly. Years of running and swimming made me awkward or something.
I'm starting to wonder if I could benefit (in terms of balance/coordination gained) from yoga, pilates or something of the like.
I don't have much interest in sport climbing, bouldering or anything like that. Mostly I ice climb and I'd like to be able to lead 10's on gear at some point.....so ridiculously hard moves aren't my thing. But I'm sure it would still benefit.
The question is, would my time be better spent elsewhere? 20 minutes of yoga 3x per week, or an extra hour in the gym, doing 6 routes? Or 3 20 minute sessions on my home woodie or crack machine or doing pullups or even just biking hard?
I don't have enough time to work out as much as I'd like as it is....so it would ahve to be WORTH IT for me to do it, but do people feel that it is for someone with my primary interests? Or should I stick to other stuff and stretch a bit more after my runs and climbing sessions?
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bent_gate
Mar 23, 2007, 6:52 AM
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I find yoga helps for increased flexibility for doing high steps and other moves for 11 and up. If you're not looking to Sport Climb, or Boulder, I don't see what help Yoga would be for you other than just general conditioning. Flexibility is pretty important for preventing injuries, so if you aren't doing something for that right now, you should consider doing it to prevent general injuries. So it will only help your climbing from an injury prevention standpoint.
But if general conditioning and flexibility are not an issue, just get out and practice your Ice and Trad climbing. And if your stuck in the climbing gym, you won't need to do more than laps (practicing technique) to be able to climb 10s.
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akclimbergrl
Mar 23, 2007, 8:31 AM
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Yoga helps a lot for climbing and some other sports as well. It does not help w/ just flexibility, but also w/ concentration and breathing. doing yoga either bfore climbing or after helps a lot. its a mind booster and gets you warmed up for a climb. Our climbing team does it every day after we climb and its a great cool down.
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sweetchuck
Mar 23, 2007, 11:50 AM
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Yoga is great for balance as well. It helps you not only to be strong, and not only to be flexible, but to be strong over the whole range of your flexibility. I also find that a lot of the moves, where you have to hold your position for a long time translates well to climbing where you might have to hold an uncomfortable position while placing gear or scratching your head. You can also get a wicked strong core from yoga, and very good body control (think precision foot placement and movement). Compare that to running, how's that going to help your climbing.
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granite_grrl
Mar 23, 2007, 11:50 AM
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I agree hat its probobly better for generaly conditioning than for sport specific training. I firmly beleive that its a very good tool for injury prevention by balancing out your muscles and gaining flexability.
I started taking classes again 2x weekly about a month ago. I cannot beleive how its helping me recover from my accident last summer. It really works the smaller stabalizing muscles which are hard to work with just weights.
Even though I'm probobly not stong enough yet I would like to check out the level 2 class at my studio this weekend. I guess some of the stuff they're working on are wheel pose pushups, headstands and handstands. And handstands are just cool.
But only 20 min of yoga? You'd barely get through the sun salutations in that time. It may not be worth it if that's its for the amount of time you can invest in it. But the best thing you can do is take a class a few times and see what you think.
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primus
Mar 23, 2007, 2:21 PM
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A year-and-a-half ago, I started taking Yoga classes. At first, they kicked my ass, but after a while, I started to really improve my core strength and flexibility. I noticed three things in my climbing:
First, my balance and ability to hold strenuous body positions requiring lower back and core muscle strength increased dramatically.
Second, I found that I felt more resilient against injury. On one occasion I took a bigger fall and ended up basically horizontal. When the rope came taut, it really wrenched my body--like I was being folded in half backwards. All the muscles in my upper thighs and abdominals were sore for a couple of days and I'm convinced I would've been in much worse shape had those muscles not been in as good of condition as they were.
Third, and this one applies to other areas outside of climbing, I feel that Yoga put my mind in a better state throughout the day. I practice in the early morning before sunrise and have found it to be a very peaceful, invigorating way to start the day.
Hope this helps.
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granite_grrl
Mar 23, 2007, 3:01 PM
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primus wrote: Third, and this one applies to other areas outside of climbing, I feel that Yoga put my mind in a better state throughout the day. I practice in the early morning before sunrise and have found it to be a very peaceful, invigorating way to start the day.
Mmmm, yes. Yoga is a wonderful experiance beyond its crosstraining aspects to climbing.
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iceisnice
Mar 23, 2007, 3:33 PM
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if you are into ice and alpine (which it sounds like from your post) then screw yoga and pilates. if you enjoy it, then do it. but don't expect any gains ESPECIALLY in alpine. you need to make yourself indestructable. yoga and pilates is WAY to passive. start running hills with packs, purposefully dehydrating yourself to see how you function, lift weights (no, i mean REALLY lift weights), climb in shitty conditions (stay at the crag when everyone else is running to the car because of rain), climb in boots with gloves on.........in the summer. that's the crap you need to do, not some form of glorified stretching. 
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iceisnice
Mar 23, 2007, 3:35 PM
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also, it sounds like you don't have a lot of time to workout, here's a tip.....................if its not kicking your ass, its a waste of time.
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lena_chita
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Mar 23, 2007, 4:16 PM
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It really depends on what you mean by "really works". Yoga definitely improves balance, flexibility and coordination as well as breathing and the ability to stay focused. All of which, IMO, are very important for climbing. But it isn't like doing yoga tape once a week will magicly make you be able to stand on smaller jibs, do handjams or smear better.
If you have to take time away from actual climbing to do yoga, than I would say that it may not be all that helpful for improving your climbing, especially if your climbing time per week is 2-3 times for couple hours each. BUT-- if you can fit an hour of yoga in your week and not take time away from climbing? Definitely do it! And IMO even people with litle free time on their hands can do that-- if you only have 1 hour, you aren't going to drive to the gym, spend 30 min at the gym and drive back. But you could do a yoga tape at home in that hour...
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Tree_wrangler
Mar 23, 2007, 5:33 PM
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Yoga is an excellent, all-around body maintenance tool.
You might consider exploring Tai Chi instead though, since it will likely be more rewarding in terms of benefits while climbing. The essential philosophies surrounding the activity deal with total, conscious control of your "sphere of influence". There is a much greater emphasis on movement in the exercise, rather than holding static poses. I.e., a lot of time is spent on concepts involving a shifting center of gravity coinciding with long reaches, etc. in what would normally be awkward movements.
Getting really involved in Coiphuera (spelling?) or Shaolin Kungfu (good luck finding instruction) would yield benefits in your climbing and personal life as well.
On the other hand, it's much easier to learn yoga from video than the exercises I just mentioned.
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bigfatrock
Mar 27, 2007, 3:28 PM
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It has really helped me with balance, flexibility and recovery from a back injury. I take a 1.5 hr class once or twice a week during lunch. My recommendation is you TAKE A CLASS, don't watch a video. You won't know if you are doing the poses right or not and your form is very important. The instructor can also "modify" poses for you since you lack flexibility and balance.
There are a number of poses that have to be modified for me to benefit from. If you have a good instructor he/or she will ensure you are doing things right. My instructor is hands on and will move you into the right spot if you aren't able to get it yourself.
I'm one of the most inflexible guys you will ever meet, I have never been able to touch my toes and likely never will be able to, but I am closer to being able to. My instructor seems to thing it will happen though, but I'm not quite seeing it. But I can say 100% for sure my balance has improved and I am slightly more flexible.
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hugin
Mar 27, 2007, 3:29 PM
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I don't know about yoga from a tape. It's a great workout, and the right kind of yoga will train balance and grace in movement as well as strength and stability in stillness. But, 20 minutes isn't enough - you won't be able to really get the benefits you need out of it (mental endurance) without doing a full session (90-120 minutes). Beyond that, it helps to have a teacher correct your form and be responsive to your energy during the class. I'd suggest that you free up a couple of hours to find a drop-in class once a week for a month, and see how you like it. Then, decide whether it will benefit you, and whether you really can do it at home without an instructor watching you.
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markc
Mar 27, 2007, 3:51 PM
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hugin wrote: I don't know about yoga from a tape. It's a great workout, and the right kind of yoga will train balance and grace in movement as well as strength and stability in stillness. But, 20 minutes isn't enough - you won't be able to really get the benefits you need out of it (mental endurance) without doing a full session (90-120 minutes). Beyond that, it helps to have a teacher correct your form and be responsive to your energy during the class. I'd suggest that you free up a couple of hours to find a drop-in class once a week for a month, and see how you like it. Then, decide whether it will benefit you, and whether you really can do it at home without an instructor watching you.
I agree with you and bigfatrock on the need for good instruction. Once the OP feels comfortable with standard poses and an awareness of how they feel, any incorporation of videos at home will be more beneficial. Receiving adjustments to my posture and modifications of poses was essential for me when I started doing yoga.
An hour and 15 minutes to 1.5 hours has been more typical for sessions I've attended. While I don't recommend it, I've known some to skip final relaxation and trim a good 10 - 15 minutes.
Yoga helped with my balance, flexibility, and ability to relax and focus on breathing in difficult positions. Just because I have discomfort in my core doesn't mean I need to hold tension in my face or limbs. Learning how to observe your body and avoid some of those conditioned responses can help in multiple areas. The extent of your practice and the sorts of climbing you do will dictate how beneficial it is.
(This post was edited by markc on Mar 27, 2007, 3:52 PM)
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ksolem
Mar 30, 2007, 2:44 AM
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iceisnice might have a point about having to torture yourself to train for hard alpine routes, but he is missing the boat entirely by writing off Pilates and Yoga as "glorified stretching." I hereby extend an invitation to him to come on up to Core Conditioning, where I teach Pilates. We'll see how strong he really is.
Also, I doubt that he is in his 50's yet. Sure, you can train for certain things by abusing yourself. For one thing it is good to know where your limits are. Then go beyond. It is also good to do things like Yoga and / or Pilates to balance your body.
I would rather take a healthy and well balanced body into battle, over a tortured and abused one any day.
edit: Forget about learning Pilates from a tape. Doing the movements is not doing the exercises. You need a good teacher. PMA certified is good.
(This post was edited by ksolem on Mar 30, 2007, 2:58 AM)
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