Summer Sports and Yoga | Rock Climbing {Lakewood, CO}

The sun is shining here in Colorado and we are all working hard to cross everything off of our summer bucket list! Yoga is such a great compliment to all the fun summer activities. Yoga helps us warm up our bodies and then allows us to cool down before and after high impact activities. Today in our Summer Sports and Yoga blog series, we will discuss how yoga can help you step up your rock climbing game!

One quick and simple stretch to do before and after you climb, is a combined wrist extension stretch with all fingers pointing in and down. Follow these steps to gain the optimum benefit of the stretch:
1. Bend your elbows to 90 degrees and bring your forearms to eye level.
2.Bend your wrists so your fingers are pointing down with both thumbs closest to you.
3. Press the outsides of both hands into one another as you start to feel the outside of the wrists open up.
​*To deepen this stretch, slowly start to press your elbows down until you feel a deep enough stretch.

Cow face pose is a great pose to help you step up your climbing game! Cow face is a hip opener that will also stretch and strengthen your shoulders, if taken with the arm variation shown below. Use cow face pose to help open your hips and shoulders before and after you send it up a big wall! 
*Beginner Tip: if you can't grab onto opposing fingertips, hold on to a strap with both hands!

Hopefully you feel like Spider-Man when you are grabbing on some rock, and you can even feel like Spider-Man when opening up your hips! Having open hips will help you maneuver all those tricky holds. Spider-Man pose is a great option either before or after you climb!

One pose to help you stretch out your feet after they've been crammed in your climbing shoes all day is screaming toes pose. Don't be too scared by them name, this pose provides a deep release of the back of the toes. Come to a kneeling position with your toes tucked under your seat and feel the stretch in your feet!

We all hope your are having a wonderful! Don't forget to save time for some yoga during these warm summer months!