How to warm up for bouldering without it eating half your session
Keep it to 10 to 15 minutes and make it specific. Spend a few minutes on easy cardio and arm, hip and wrist circles, climb easy boulders that get a little harder each time, and finish with a few moves like the ones you're about to train: steep, crimpy or dynamic. Before hard finger work, add a few short hangs building to about 80% effort, with 2 minutes between them. Stop before you're pumped. Skip climbing two of every grade from the bottom up, because that's a 45-minute session on its own.
In Blok Sessions the warm-up is the first part of a session you build for the time you have, and a guided session (Pro) shows each step on screen with the minutes counting down.
Start with the free six-week strength plan: a file for the app and seven short emails on how to run it.
Or start planning in your browser with a free account.
“Start on the easiest, two of each grade, 45 minutes”
That’s a whole session. A warm-up has three jobs: raise your pulse, get your joints and fingers moving, and get you ready for the moves you’re about to do. Laps of easy grades do the first two slowly and the third hardly at all. When you only have an hour, the warm-up should leave you ready for your hardest attempts, not tired before them.
A 15-minute warm-up, step by step
This is the full warm-up, floor and wall:
| Time | What you do |
|---|---|
| 3 to 5 minutes | Light cardio: a jog, jumping jacks or skipping |
| About 2 minutes | Arm, hip and wrist circles, about 30 seconds each |
| The rest | 6 to 10 very easy boulders, each a bit harder, with quiet, precise feet |
Then make the last two or three problems look like your main session. Warming up on slabs before a steep crimpy session only gets you half ready.
Match the warm-up to the session
- An easy or technique session: 10 minutes on the wall is enough. Easy problems, a little harder each time, and stop before you get pumped.
- Limit bouldering or a board session: ramp up until you’re just below your flash level, and make the last few climbs the same style as the main session.
- Hangboard or hard finger work: boulders that get harder, then a few short hangs that build up and stay well below your max. Don’t do max hangs or repeaters without this.
Short on time? Cut this, not that
- Cut the long easy laps. Once you’re warm, another round of easy problems is mileage, not warm-up.
- Keep the last few minutes that ramp up to today’s moves. They’re what make your first hard attempt a good one.
- Do the floor part on the way. If you cycle or walk briskly to the gym, your pulse is already up, so you can start with the circles.
- Do tendon glides while you wait for a problem to clear. They take no space.
Where it goes wrong
- Warming up into a pump. Easy climbing that leaves your forearms burning takes energy from the main session.
- Going straight to small crimps or hard hangs. Build up to them after easy climbing, every time.
- A warm-up that never gets hard. If your first limit attempt is your first hard move of the day, that attempt is wasted.
- A different warm-up every time. A routine you repeat is quicker to get through, and it makes test days comparable.
When to take longer
On a cold day, outside, or before your hardest limit attempts, 20 minutes is fine. The extra time goes on the harder end of the ramp, not on more easy laps.
The exercises
Warm-up on the wall
Easy problems, a little harder each time, until you're warm. Set the time you need.
Wall ramp
8-12 boulders from very easy to just below flash, ending in today's main style.
Boulder and hang ramp
Gradually harder boulders, then 2-3 submax hangs on a 20 mm edge, 2-3 min rest.
Finger recruitment warm-up
After easy climbing, 4-6 hangs of 5-10 s building to about 80% effort, 2 min rest.
Tendon glides
3 rounds of 45 s cycling five hand shapes: straight, tabletop, straight fist, hook fist, full fist.
Questions
How long should a bouldering warm-up be?
10 to 15 minutes for most sessions. An easy or technique day can get by on 10. Before limit bouldering or hard hangs, take the full 15 and finish with moves or hangs close to what you're about to train.
Do I need to stretch before bouldering?
Moving is enough before you climb. Arm, hip and wrist circles and easy climbing get you ready. Keep long stretches for the end of the session or a separate mobility session.
Can I warm up without a wall?
Yes. Light cardio, arm and wrist circles, tendon glides, then a few easy pulls on an edge with your feet on the floor, getting gradually harder. It works before a hangboard session at home or at the crag.
Is the guided warm-up free?
Building a session, warm-up included, is free. Guided sessions, where the timer runs each step on screen, are Pro, at €2.99 a month, €14.99 a year or €24.99 once.