Well - I've just got back from a bouldering session at Plas y Brenin (ok, I was supposed to be somewhere else - but that's another story!) and something happened which has inspired me to get this blog together. A guy came in, did the standard arm windmills, touched his toes, jumped on a really easy problem and climbed it quickly and easily - the whole thing took perhaps 2 minutes. Then he got straight on to a harsh fingery problem. Half way up, fingers tensed up on a small crimpy hold, he took a few deep breaths and, with an almighty strained grunt, pulled hard and fast, then - POP! I think pretty much everyone heard the sound which was most likely (judging by the symptoms afterwards) the sound of a nasty pulley rupture in his ring finger. It's gonna be out of action for a few months now...

Our hands and forearms often take the brunt of our efforts at the climbing wall or on hard climbs and bouldering problems and yet we generally spend very little time warming up and stretching these particular bits of our bodies. Be nice to your body. Make sure you're warm before you start anything which is near your limit - jog about, star jump, do some easy climbing, concentrate on getting your blood pumping and your body moving. Don't just jump straight in - work up to it.

There's plenty of stretching/warmup information out there - go look it up - but, for the moment, here's some hand and forearm stretches that you can use before, during, and after climbing (or any other time, for that matter!). Do each stretch slowly and gently - don't force it - and focus on relaxing and breathing deeply. If you try to force a stretch, your muscles will rebel and tighten up. Get warm first, then do the following...

1. Interlace your fingers and rotate your hands and wrists clockwise, then anti-clockwise, 10 times each way.

2. Stretch your fingers out until you feel the tension. Hold it for 10 seconds.

3. Make a fist with both hands and squeeze for 10 seconds, then relax.

4. Put both arms out straight in front of you and bend your hands back at the wrist (straight fingers). Hold for 10 seconds, then relax, then another 10 seconds.

5. Keep your arms out straight, bend your hands down from the wrist. Hold for 10 seconds, relax, then again.

6. Hold each of your fingers and thumbs and rotate 5 times in each direction. Do this one gently.

7. Pull each of your fingers and thumbs - again, keep it gentle and hold for a couple of seconds each.

8. Relax your shoulders, let your arms hang down, and shake your arms and hands. Remember to keep breathing and concentrate on relaxing.

9. Put your hands together in front of you, fingers upwards, and gently push your palms together until you feel the stretch. Hold for 10 seconds.

10. Stay in the previous stretch and slowly rotate your hands to point your fingers downwards. Hold for another 10 seconds.

11. Move your fingers back upwards again and push your fingers to one side - hold for 5 seconds - then the other side for another 5 seconds.

So - warm up, do some stretching, and listen to your body when you climb. Don't get hurt!!