Warming up for ARC

[tj]

I'm starting tonight with my first ARC and was wondering how folks warm up for them without wasting too much of their endurance. I'm probably going to barely get through 20 min (endurance is low since I haven't had much route climbing time lately) so I don't know how to best prep for the long sets. Thoughts?

[Charlie S]

Start on large holds and gradually work to have a sustainable forearm pump at 10 minutes. ARCing as a whole tends to feel like a warmup until after 10 minutes. Adjust the difficulty appropriately; you don't want to burn out too fast!

Another thing to do is really focus on footwork and movement drills during this time. It gets rid of some of the monotony and benefits you in more ways than simply endurance.

I found ARCing on small holds on vertical terrain gave me a better workout than slightly larger holds on overhanging terrain. Mostly because I couldn't hold on long enough to actually benefit the workout. This is ability specific, however.

[tj]

Awesome! Thanks! Very helpful suggestions. So you basically use the first part of the ARC as a warmup? I'm plotting which part of the gym I'm going to used based on terrain.

[Charlie S]

Yes. And then you can traverse (or walk quickly) to other parts of the wall to work on different terrain to temporarily increase or decrease intensity.

[Chris W]

I do something very similar and use my vertical wall for my first set, which is a warm up. My second set is on my 15 degree wall and can be quite a struggle.

[MartinK]

I do climbing specific stretching prior jumping on the wall. 10-15 minutes and it works fine for me. This is the routine I do www.dpmclimbing.com/articles/view/injury-prevention-climbing-warm