Yoga After Climbing: Releasing Muscle Tension Outdoors

Rock climbing, indoors or out, works the finger flexors, arms, back and core intensively. At a corporate climbing event — winter or summer, indoor or outdoor — the large majority of participants come away with serious muscle soreness. This is where yoga comes in.

Why Are Climbing and Yoga a Natural Pair?

Climbing asks for strength, grip and endurance; yoga asks for flexibility, breath and the practice of letting go. Biomechanically the two balance each other. The muscles that shorten chronically in climbing — the finger flexors, biceps, upper trapezius and latissimus dorsi — are lengthened effectively by yoga's shoulder-opening and chest-expanding poses.

A 45–60 minute yoga session following a corporate climbing event produces two practical results: it reduces next-day soreness and it gives the experience mental closure.

Which Poses Should a Post-Climbing Session Cover?

• Gomukhasana (cow face arms): Opens the back of the shoulder and the triceps intensively, targeting exactly the areas that shorten in climbing

• Garudasana arms (eagle arms): Expands the muscle tissue of the upper back and around the scapula

• Prasarita Padottanasana (wide-legged forward fold): Lengthens the hamstrings and the back chain

• Supta Matsyendrasana (supine twist): Gently releases tension around the lumbar spine

• Legs up the wall: Speeds the clearing of lactate and relieves leg and foot fatigue

Outdoors or Indoors?

On natural rock the session usually finishes outdoors, and keeping the group on their mats in that same natural setting preserves the coherence of the experience. At indoor climbing walls, an adjoining hall or the venue's common area is enough. In both cases equipment (mat, block, strap) is provided by our instructor.

How Do You Add This Combination for Your Company?

Adding a yoga session to your corporate climbing event takes a single quote form. Look at our climbing experience page and add the note "including a yoga session" when you request a quote. Our instructor will be on site the same day, after the climbing.

For questions, use the quote form or call 0 850 270 0 260.