Many climbers tend to become mentally confused and lose proper technique when tackling near-limit routes, leading to quick exhaustion and falls. Of course, maintaining correct movement even before exhaustion requires long-term, conscious training. This can be done indoors with a partner supervising each other:
1. Choose some moderately difficult routes, pre-determine rest points and mark them. Move swiftly and smoothly between rest points. Except at rest points, do not stay at any hold for more than a certain time (e.g., 5 seconds or less); for small holds, pass through quickly while trying different grip techniques to find the most efficient one and conserve energy.
2. Between each grip, stretch your fingers and wrists. As you reach for a hold, imagine flicking a drop of water off your fingertips. This action helps blood flow back into the forearm veins, and its cumulative effect can effectively delay the time it takes for your forearms to engorge with blood.
3. Most people rest by letting their arms hang loosely at their sides while gently shaking them. Here’s another gravity-assisted method: Let your arms hang naturally and shake them for 5 seconds (or longer), then raise them above shoulder level with elbows slightly bent and shake for another 5 seconds (or longer), alternating between the two actions. Explanation of the benefits: Forearm swelling is mainly caused by lactic acid buildup and poor blood circulation. Hanging and shaking helps blood flow to the forearms, but it doesn’t help return blood to the heart because the arms are below heart level. Poor venous return means metabolic waste—lactic acid—can’t be efficiently carried away, leading to continuous muscle tension and swelling, which eventually blocks blood flow to the forearms, prevents energy metabolism, and causes exhaustion. By raising your arms, you use gravity to your advantage (arms above heart level), helping blood return quickly, carrying away large amounts of lactic acid, relaxing the muscles, allowing fresh blood in, and enabling normal energy metabolism. ----- P.S.: The effect is said to be significant—give it a try.
