This section is intended to provide you with treatment and prevention advice. Elbows:
Reverse wrist curls: Hold a soup can or small weight (2-5 lbs) in your hand with your palm facing down. Slowly bend your wrist upward. Slowly lower the weight down into the starting position. Do 3 sets of 10. If this is too easy, use more weight and progress to more weight.
Wrist radial deviation: Put you wrist in the sideways position with your thumb up. Hold a light weight (2-5 lbs) and bend your wrist up, with the thumb reaching toward the ceiling. Slowly lower to the starting position. Do not move your forearm throughout this exercise. Do 3 sets of 10.
Forearm pronation and supination: Hold a light weight (2-5lbs) in your hand and bend your elbow 90°. Slowly rotate your hand with your palm upward and then palm down. Do 3 sets of 10. Make sure to stop if any of these exercises cause you pain. Use a lighter weight or a soup can. If they hurt to do with a soup can, then it is too soon. Rest another week and try again. When you can do these exercises with at least 5 lbs without pain you can return to climbing. Many people find that upper forearm straps help when they start climbing again. If you decide to use one, do so for the first 4-5 weeks and then attempt to wean yourself off of using it.
Deep elbow pain (brachialis tendonitis) 7-10 days of rest, ice massage and strengthening the biceps by bicep curls and reverse bicep curls (with the palm pointing to the floor) after the rest period seem to alleviate the problem. It has also been suggested that traversing may irritate the brachialis, so consider limiting this. Triceps Tendonitis
Kneeling push-ups - kneel on the floor with your hands directly underneath your shoulder. Slowly lower yourself to the floor and back up. Once you can do 2 sets of 15 without any pain, switch to normal pushups.
Dumbbell kickbacks - Start with a really light weight and do sets of 20.
French stretch - Stand with your fingers clasped together and your hands high above your head. Stretch by reaching down behind your head and trying to touch your upper back. Keep your elbow pointing towards the front. Hold this position for 20 seconds or so. Repeat 10 times.
Shoulders Please watch this video on the 6 essential shoulder exercises.
Training
While this site is not focused on training we can recommend a few sites.
Eric Horst - Eric is perhaps the most widely known and most experience trainer. He continues to learn and adapt his techniques based on solid scientific principles.
Marvin Climbing - While I've been climbing for a long time, I never considered serious training and thought the idea was a little silly. I was wrong. Specific, consistent training from a knowledgeable person is the best way to improve your climbing performance. I strongly recommend marvin. He is resourceful and the results are amazing. 3 letter grades in 8 months.
