Tips for combatting climber's posture?

For the last month, I have been fairly diligent about trying to improve my posture, which, quite honestly, is close to the worst I have ever seen. Before I started climbing, my posture was not great due to never once being told to sit or stand up straight growing up, but the muscle imbalances created by climbing have certainly made it much worse.

Any ideas on exercises or stretches to do to help me reach my goal of looking like a decent human being? I have access to dumbells and am specifically interested in eliminating forward neck tilt and forward rolled shoulders.

Yoga

dumbell pullovers

They used to say that walking with a book on your head would improve your posture. For you, make that book, "Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills." That should do the trick!

FrankPS wrote:They used to say that walking with a book on your head would improve your posture. For you, make that book, "Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills." That should do the trick!

In this case, a more appropriate title would be "Sport Climbers: The Hunchbacks of the Hills"

Jake Jones wrote:Believe it or not, you can correct these things (to some degree, I don't know how far gone you actually are) by consciously making a habit to walk with your chin up, and head and shoulders rolled back. Sounds silly, I know, but once upon a time I was pigeon toed and had awful posture, and through constant deliberate self correction, I don't have those problems anymore. You just have to be really diligent and work at it all the time.

I have been doing that in addition to some work with weights, and it has made a big difference. Even when I stand with as perfect posture as I can muster, my body is still extremely disproportional, and I look hunched over.

Lift. I know that weight training may not be the best climbing training, but applying the principle that you work muscles both ways when lifting (both the push and pull)will give you better muscle balance. Mix in some push workouts (bench press, military press, fly's) to balance out all the upper body pulling you do climbing. Every exercise has a corresponding opposite- do pull ups AND military press, balance abs with lower back (deadlifts!), and so on.

JohnWesely wrote:For the last month, I have been fairly diligent about trying to improve my posture, which, quite honestly, is close to the worst I have ever seen. Before I started climbing, my posture was not great due to never once being told to sit or stand up straight growing up, but the muscle imbalances created by climbing have certainly made it much worse. Any ideas on exercises or stretches to do to help me reach my goal of looking like a decent human being? I have access to dumbells and am specifically interested in eliminating forward neck tilt and forward rolled shoulders.

Kudos to you for paying attention to this now. The climber's hunch can lead to all types of issues include shoulder dysfunction, thoraic immobility, neck issues etc. Also, bad posture is worsed if you are a desk jockey.
Lifting- as mentioned above not necessarily sport specific training but helpful for balance.
And I will put a vote in for Pilates. It is better than yoga for alignment and structural balance.

JohnWesely wrote:For the last month, I have been fairly diligent about trying to improve my posture, which, quite honestly, is close to the worst I have ever seen. Before I started climbing, my posture was not great due to never once being told to sit or stand up straight growing up, but the muscle imbalances created by climbing have certainly made it much worse. Any ideas on exercises or stretches to do to help me reach my goal of looking like a decent human being? I have access to dumbells and am specifically interested in eliminating forward neck tilt and forward rolled shoulders.

Running. Push-ups. Planks. Butterflies. Dips. Yoga.

Balance. Balance. Balance. Don't neglect the opposing muscle groups, my friend. They are essential in preventing hunchbackism and injury...

I have been lifting, but I only have access to dumbbells up to 25 lbs, which is fine right now because I am probably in the bottom fifth percentile for strength. With the dumbbells, I do chest flies, curls, shrugs, and reverse wrist curls. I used to do quite a few pushups but have stopped since I started lifting. What are some more exercises I could do with dumbells that would round out my extremely climbing specific frame?

JohnWesely wrote:I have been lifting, but I only have access to dumbbells up to 25 lbs, which is fine right now because I am probably in the bottom fifth percentile for strength. With the dumbbells, I do chest flies, curls, shrugs, and reverse wrist curls. I used to do quite a few pushups but have stopped since I started lifting. What are some more exercises I could do with dumbells that would round out my extremely climbing specific frame?

Well I said it above, but to repeat. Pullovers.

JohnWesely wrote:I have been lifting, but I only have access to dumbbells up to 25 lbs, which is fine right now because I am probably in the bottom fifth percentile for strength. With the dumbbells, I do chest flies, curls, shrugs, and reverse wrist curls. I used to do quite a few pushups but have stopped since I started lifting. What are some more exercises I could do with dumbells that would round out my extremely climbing specific frame?

I'm telling you man, don't stop doing to push-ups. They are essential. You can take those 25 lb dumbbells and set them on the floor, use them as handles to increase the range of motion widening the chest expansion.

You can also try overhead press. Take those 25 lb dumbbells, hold them on either side of your head, and lift them up, fully extending your arms. Repeat. This will round out the definition of the front part of the deltoids and upper chest and triceps. As, Scott says, pullovers are decent too. They engage the lats, triceps and core. Any exercise that you find that will focus on the front muscle groups. Do 'em. But the above are probably the most powerful and effective for your intent.

If you don't already, do consider yoga. Or as I call it, stretching. Especially the "downward dog", "the plank" and other tricep, chest and core engaging poses.

Butterflies are great. Keep that up. Also, try to sleep on your back... not the fetal position. No joke. Take every opportunity you've got to stay straight.

Scott McMahon wrote: Well I said it above, but to repeat. Pullovers.

Is that also a lat exercise? I would prefer to not work the lats outside of climbing because they are probably the main reason I am so goofy looking.

Scott McMahon wrote: Well I said it above, but to repeat. Pullovers.

Scott, please explain. I haven't heard of this before.

JohnWesely wrote: Is that also a lat exercise? I would prefer to not work the lats outside of climbing because they are probably the main reason I am so goofy looking.

Not exclusively. It's also a popular exercise to expand and stretch your front / rib cage area.

While doing the exercise you can focus on how you're doing it. I go less on using the lats and more on a deep chest stretch.

Just did a quick google search for ya.
livestrong.com/article/4627…

google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=le…

Scott McMahon wrote:

Thanks. I wonder if you can do this on a ball instead of bench?

Jake Jones wrote: Sure can. As a matter of fact, it's a good way to work your core and stabilizers like obliques. That could be said about almost anything on a ball as opposed to a bench though. If you're not trying to bulk on muscle, which I doubt any of us are, then a ball is preferable. You won't be able to use as much weight, but it's a better overall workout and will work more than just the isolated group you're targeting with the specific exercise.

Amen to that...it cuts your strength in half almost, but symmetry, balance, core etc the ball is awesome. And you get a hell of a stretch too.

Scott and Jake... Thanks. I'm gonna get on that when I get home.

chufftard wrote:good posture in the work place is very important

If that woman worked at my job I'd be even less productive!

Working the mid and lower back muscles will help too - you can do that on a stability ball - called I's, T's, and Y's. You use really light weights for it - starting at 3 lbs (yes, even for guys :) ) . Same exercises I had to do for shoulder impingement caused by swimming. Focus on squeezing the shoulder blades together and down.

One of the components of bad posture for climbers and gymnasts and body-builders is that overdeveloped pectoralis muscles pull the shoulders forward. In spite of that, you get a bunch of recommendations that will only increase this imbalance by developing the pecs even more! Oh well, its the internet, you get what you pay for.

In any case, correcting the shoulder hunch by itself won't fix bad posture, as you can tell by slouching and then drawing your shoulders back---you're still slouching.

Some posture problems are related to weak abdominals, but this is unlikely in climbers and entirely absent in gymnasts and lifters. If exercise is going to fix your posture (it won't), then the thing to concentrate on are the muscles that straighten up your spine, the erector spinae.

The cobra pose in yoga is such an exercise, but probably the best thing for this are back hyperextensions done on a roman chair. Health clubs have all kinds of fancy machines that typically involve sitting in a chair and pushing back against resistance. A very simple exercise is to simply go from a slouching to erect posture repeatedly while holding dumbells in each hand. If your back is weak or if, for any reason, you feel the need for a gradual start, this exercise can be done in a chair at first. You have to concentrate on keeping the pelvis tilted forward while doing this; arching the back while contracting those muscles often leads to more problems than the ones you are trying to solve.

Of course the usual caveats about being careful, working in full control, and not overdoing it apply to back exercises in spades. Personally, I never go anywhere near the lifters prized but often misguided momentary muscular failure when doing any kind of back exercise. Light fatiguing of the muscles in question is the most I want to do.

In any casse, exercises by themselves won't correct bad posture, which is also a physiological habit. Changing any habit is devilishly hard, and this goes for posture as well. The first thing to understand, I think, is that the position of the head controls posture. If the head is forward, everything slouches over. Move the head back and everything straightens up. This does not mean you squash your chin into your neck like a soldier at attention; you have to look in a mirror in profile and see where your head should be in order for your posture to be erect but unstrained, and then have to self-consciously work on trying to keep your head in proper alignment, recognizing that you have spent years training yourself to position your head "incorrectly."

rgold wrote:One of the components of bad posture for climbers and gymnasts and body-builders is that overdeveloped pectoralis muscles pull the shoulders forward. In spite of that, you get a bunch of recommendations that will only increase this imbalance by developing the pecs even more!

My back muscles are much stronger than those in the front. I doubt there is a chest exercise I would perform above the bottom 10 percent of fit individuals for my bodyweight, but I would imagine the figure is reversed for lat pulldowns or weighted pull ups even though I never do them.

The exercises are just a component of posture improving program. I have been making a sustained and honest effort hold myself properly throughout the day.