Hooper’s Beta Ep. 37

Intro:

Congrats! You made it to level 3. You are no longer a gumby when it comes to core strength and stability for climbing ;).

If you're wondering why you're here doing planks, or if you're struggling with these, or you just simply found this link and didn't know there was a level one, head on back and start there: https://youtu.be/PEG1rX7l2vQ

Exercise hints/tips for Level 3:

1. Plank Bird Dog - Similar to the bird dog you may know, this modification is quite challenging but really works on a great core skill related to climbing. Start in a plank position, and extend one opposite arm/leg overhead. Hold until you feel stable or for 3-5 seconds, then switch sides. You’ll notice once you lose the points of contact you will start to sway and the way we can control it is with the core. This helps emulate the experience of climbing better that way when we get on the wall, our brain and body are well connected and know how to prevent those barn doors. (This is part of my warm up every time before I climb!)

2. Plank Row - a further advancement to the plank shoulder taps, now we are adding weight and a row. This is a very challenging exercise which can be made harder with increasing weight. The weight causes your body to want to rotate, which you have to use the leg and core to prevent. Amazing at progressing your stability, think: preventing barn doors.

3. Lateral plank hip drop, leg lift, with reach through - the combo! This is combining all of the lateral plank moves into one challenging exercise. Start with the hip dips x2, perform a leg lift, then back down and rotate/reach through.

4. Plank Pull Downs - a great modification meant to simulate pulling such as with climbing. The external force challenges the core stability further while also working the lats. Make sure your band is safely attached to a secure object (or ask Emile to help! :))

5. Lateral plank with row - same concept as above but working the obliques more while engaging the rhomboids.

6. Elevated lateral plank with weight @ hip and dip - a great modification to get more oblique strength. I prefer to place the weight between my iliac crest (hip) and greater trochanter (outside part of the femur). Make sure to keep the core engaged and don’t just use your back.

7. Elevated lateral plank with in arm and reach through - ultimate! This not only works the strength of the obliques but also dynamic strength of the upper extremity. This is extremely challenging so be careful. This is a favorite of mine to work on as strengthening (compared to the bird dog which is a favorite pre-climb warm up)

8. Bird Dog Plank with hip and shoulder abduction - modifications to the bird dog plank involving different movements of the upper and lower extremities to further challenging our core stability to emulate more movements on the wall. Fantastic progressions!

9. Bird dog plank with hip and shoulder adduction - similar to above but amazing at learning to prevent those barn doors and helping to work on controlling step through moves. Highly recommend this to be including in your training or even warm up (eventually)

10. Bird dog plank with swimmer to knee touch - same as before but now adding more compression. Great at working on those high feet while climbing!

Conclusion:

Remember, these exercises are now much more dynamic and you need to have good control before considering adding any ways. Also, these are meant to be close to an order of ascending difficulty. This may not be the case for everyone, but try and safely advance in order.

Once you feel confident with these, work them into your training or warm up routine!

Disclaimer:

As always, exercises are to be performed assuming your own risk and should not be done if you feel you are at risk for injury. See a medical professional if you have concerns before starting new exercises.

Written and Presented by Jason Hooper, PT, DPT, OCS, CAFS

IG: @hoopersbetaofficial

Filming and Editing by Emile Modesitt

www.emilemodesitt.com

IG: @emile166