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The rise of sport climbing as a popular Olympic sport has underscored the need for optimal warm-up regimes, especially for rock climbers. This randomized, counterbalanced crossover study investigated the effects of dynamic stretching warm-up (DW) with Thera-Band, vibration rolling warm-up (VR), and climbing-specific warm-up (CW) on the flexibility, muscle strength, and dynamic stability of upper limbs in 22 recreational rock climbers without musculoskeletal diseases. Participants underwent each warm-up method in a randomized order. Each warm-up session lasted 10 minutes. Flexibility was measured with a goniometer, muscle strength was measured with a hand-held dynamometer, and dynamic stability was measured with an Upper Quarter Y-balance test. The findings revealed that all three warm-up methods significantly enhanced range of motion (ROM) of shoulder flexion, internal rotation, external rotation, overhead flexibility, and dynamic stability (p < 0.05). Moreover, VR was notably more effective than DW and CW in augmenting shoulder flexion flexibility and external rotation. All warm-ups increased the maximal muscle strength of the elbow flexors and shoulder extensors, but did not in finger flexors. CW demonstrated superior change improvements in the maximal muscle strength of the shoulder external rotators compared to DW (p = 0.04). This study highlights our design, recommending all three warm-ups to enhance flexibility, muscle strength, and dynamic stability of the upper limbs. Specifically, VR is the most effective for improving flexibility, while CW provides superior gains in shoulder external rotator strength. These insights can help climbers and coaches develop targeted warm-up strategies to optimize performance. |
