Hey, Camp Fans!
Everything Summer Camp is here to help pump you up. Well, we can give you a few tips anyhow. Summer camp is certain to be chock full of strenuous activities that challenge your stamina, flexibility, and strength. That’s why I’ve been posting about fitness every Monday this month—to help you do what it takes to see that you’re fit for the rigorous lifestyle of summer camp.
The first post covered a number of exercises that are helpful for multiple, traditional sports and other athletic activities at summer camp. Last week I gave helpful exercises specific to horseback riding.
Now let’s talk about rock climbing. There’s no better practice than actually climbing—no argument here. But even before practicing, there are great exercises you can do off the wall. There are a number of different ways you’ll want to have conditioned your body to be the best climber you can be. After all, climbing makes good use of all different parts of your body in all different kinds of ways. It breaks down like this:
Upper Body Strength
Climbing, of course, takes a world of Upper Body Strength to hoist yourself into higher and higher positions. Any kind of muscle-building exercises will work—push-ups, pull-ups (if you have a bar available), or weightlifting (if you have the proper weights) are great ways to build strength in your arms and shoulders. Even more intricate of an exercise are Hand Grips. These will help develop the muscles in your fingers for difficult-to-hold-onto-rocks.
Lower Body Strength
Sometimes when climbing, you’ll need your legs to make impossible strides upward and to push the rest of your body to the next point of pausing. Jogging is always a great way to build up those leg muscles. You’ll also want to incorporate some of the exercises we recommended for horse riding like Front Squats and Forward Lunges. Exercises like these are sure to sculpt your leg muscles for the job.
Flexibility
Stretches alone are a great means of training your body to be able to make far reaches and gliding steps. Sitting with your legs outstretched and touching your toes is one great way to extend the span of your stretching. For those with a chin-up bar available, you can practice what is called a ‘Deadhang’ in which you hold yourself up by your fingers. If you have a Finger-Board, that would be most convenient.
Rock climbing is fun, but extremely strenuous work. Make sure you’re ready for it when you head off to summer camp. Make sure to tune in next Monday to get great exercises for swimming and, as always, thanks for reading.
- John