The Key to the Numbers Game: How Not to Lose Strength with Age

Sticking the first move on Biggie Shorty V10.

If we are going to take issue with First Female Ascents (FFAs), then let’s also take a look at categorizing climbing and climbers by age. Those questioning the validity of FFAs argue FFAs set women back because we tell women they have lower aptitude or potential than men; that a route sent for the first time by a female after a first ascent (FA) by a man is special or noteworthy. They argue women’s limits are the same as men so why is an FFA noteworthy? We shouldn’t be surprised or shocked when a female sends something that was FAed by a male. see discussion by Paige Claasen

I take the same exception to limiting climbers by age. I’ve read a few articles recently where performance expectations are divided up by age groups, as if there are inherent differences between climbers of different ages. see Climbstrong or Neil Gresham  or another Gresham

Do mature climbers need to train less dynamically compared to younger athletes? To me, it is all too similar to how we used to think about differences between the genders; men are dynamic and powerful; risky, women are static and fingery; hesitant. Performance Rock and Ice, written in the 1990s has a whole chapter on the differences in aptitude for power between men and women. I think we now know this type of wrongful thinking previously limited women (look at the very successful powerful women on the circuit today, AP below) and I believe ageism also limits climbers.

Climbing training articles also refer to research that indicates elite strength athletes start losing 3% strength /year during their 30s (and 1% thereafter). I’m going to assume these numbers come from actual research but I couldn’t find any supporting literature. Even if true, does research pertaining to elite strength athletes actually apply to rock climbers? There is a difference between elite strength athletes and rock climbers especially in terms of strength as it relates to ageing.

Here’s Mike sending Instinct sit V10.

The problem with applying peak performance research of elite (and often male) strength athletes to climbers, is, I would wager, any climber, elite or novice is nowhere near, and never will be near, their peak muscle strength potential (not to be confused with climbing strength potential).

Let’s define what I mean by muscle strength potential. It is an athlete’s lifetime genetic aptitude for muscle strength that usually occurs in the mid to late 20s.  In order to approach maximum potential, strength athletes devote a large amount of time and energy to strength training, sacrifice most other normal life pursuits, have specific restricted nutrition requirements, and have ridiculous motivation until they finally come very close to their aptitude.

From my observation, rock climbers do not even come close to devoting that much of their attention to muscle strength gains. To improve as a rock climber, hours and hours must be devoted to skills development alone. Some of our most elite climbers might have never engaged in a single squat or bench press in their entire lives and some apparently eat donuts for nutrition! So do rock climbers ever approach their lifetime muscle strength potential to ever see a strength decline from their peak? Very likely never. Why do I care? Because this means that thankfully, we as climbers don’t have to worry about losing any percentage of our hard-earned strength each year. We can actually get physically stronger throughout our entire lifetime because we never come close to our actual muscle strength potential. This is good news for those of us past our lifetime peak that could stand to have a little more muscle strength.

Strength athletes on the other hand will succumb to age related factors because they come very close to their peak in muscle strength. They may lose strength on the order of about 3%/ year in their 30s and 1% thereafter assuming these numbers are correct. Since this percentage is presumably based on a regression equation of some robust sample size (most of this type of sport’s research is based on very few subjects, sometimes <10), some subjects would be under and some would be over the curve. i.e., some of the subjects may not have lost any strength, and some lost more than expected. Is it appropriate to apply this regression equation to climbers who are not strength training? I don’t think so.

Imagine a very simplistic hypothetical best case scenario (figure below) of a normal person who begins climbing at 15 (red line). They begin at 40% of their current muscle strength potential and amazingly increase their muscle strength at 1.5% per year throughout their life by climbing. (Note: I am not referring to climbing strength). The climber continues to make strength gains of 1.5% per year into their 40s and beyond. Their maximum lifetime potential has decreased by 3% per year after 30 and then stabilizes at a decline of 1% per year after age 40 (grey line). The hypothetical climber gets stronger until age 72, when finally they will not be able to realize any more strength progression because they have met the cap on their own potential which has been steadily declining, i.e., you can still make huge strength gains even if your potential has declined.

This is a hypothetical representation of muscle strength aptitude compared to actual muscle strength throughout the lifetime of a climber. Muscle strength aptitude (grey line) of any person rises until peak aptitude at age 30, then declines by 3%/year from age 30-40,  and then 1% / year after age 40. You could image this y-axis to be a max weighted pull-up or any other strictly strength exercise as it changes by age (x-axis). A hypothetical climber that gains muscle strength through climbing and training for climbing (red line) could therefore hypothetically gain 1.5% strength per year and still never reach their lifetime potential for strength until age 72.

How About a Little Competition?

I was pretty convinced that I wouldn’t compete in the 2014 Triple Crown this year despite Mike’s year-long anticipation to crush our categories again.

Common mythical reasons people give about why they compete in Triple Crown:
1) Because it is fun – if you’re having fun at Triple Crown you need to try harder; if you don’t believe me, ask a pro
2) For the money – each year the award money drops a few hundred dollars; likely why the pros don’t show up
3) For the glory – media doesn’t cover Triple Crown anymore, probably because the pros don’t show up

Me trying REALLY hard on Spanky in the 2013 LRC Triple Crown. This boulder didn’t go down, not fun.

I was also disillusioned by the apparent overlooked cheating that happens in Triple Crown; competitors dabbing and calling it a send, forging signatures on sends, not turning scorecards in on time and not getting disqualified and for that matter, starting before everyone else starts. While the organizers have to be applauded for putting on a spectacular event, there is really no way to ensure cheating does not happen out in the boulderfield. This has bothered me in the past as I am very adamantly against cheating and don’t believe in the policy; “if you can’t beat em join em.” I wouldn’t feel good about myself. Neither should you. Please don’t ever cheat!

But this blog actually isn’t about cheating. It’s about why I decided to compete in Triple Crown.

After a summer of only bouldering and no training, my fitness was remarkably low. I recalled how last year, after months of circuiting my hardest outdoor boulder problems, I had an incredible power peak in Hueco. Gradually the prospect of competing in Triple Crown was becoming more interesting as the fall approached. The organizers were adding a fourth event at Rumbling Bald and Prana was offering an award of $2000 for women and men who won all four events.

Legitimate reasons to compete in Triple Crown:
1) Complete a long hard training phase of medium intensity volume to foster power endurance
2) Stay motivated to climb outside when it is still a little too warm to project hard boulders
3) Support the Southeastern Climber’s Coalition (sure why not?)

Then I discovered Lisa Rands was competing and the whole game changed. Last year, I didn’t have much competition besides Francesca Metcalf and a few other local strong women. No pros made the journey to compete in the heat. Winning both events last year was a little anti-climactic since the Hound Ears competition was cancelled and there were only two events. However, the prospect of competing against Lisa Rands, one of the strongest female boulderers, was the final deciding factor; I would definitely compete in Triple Crown. It would add to my motivation to develop the hardest circuits I could physically achieve.

My relationship with Lisa has been extensive and non-existent. Sometime within the first couple of years of my climbing career, I saw a photo of Lisa Rands on the cover of Climbing. She was bouldering V10 and I was in awe. I had no idea how strong I was back then because I had never bouldered outside but I knew it was nowhere close to V10. However, I knew if bouldering double digits was possible for another female, then it was possible for me.

Over the years, I have been in the same crag at the same time, and even under the same rock at the same time as Lisa, but I have never had a conversation with her. I am not sure why. People I know say she is an absolute sweetheart but when I see her I get nervous and have difficulty approaching her and she has not approached me either. One day I will have the opportunity to tell her in person the enormous effect she has had on my bouldering and how she opened my eyes early-on to my own potential. As for now, I would have the opportunity to relentlessly try and out-perform a pro.

Both Lisa and I are veterans at the old Triple Crown game. As far as my research can tell, Lisa has competed in at least 1 of the Triple Crown events 5 times over the last 10 years and I have competed in at least one event 5 times in the previous 8 years. Therefore, we are both familiar with the 10 problem style and the strategy it requires. For example, in order to be able to complete 10 problems, you have to lower your level of bouldering. As well, knowing your strengths and weaknesses is a huge benefit in a competition like this. For instance, I have crimp strength to last me days but my power fades away after about 3 hard powerful boulder problems. Therefore, I try to add as many high-scoring crimpy problems to my scorecard as possible and send the lower-score powerful problems I can do at the start. I suspect Lisa has both power and crimp strength that will last for days and she focuses on high-point power problems all day. I may never know unless I follow her around because it is the nature of the Triple Crown that no one but the judges know the exact problems each competitor completes.

Lisa and I are similar in that we are both older climbers, me being 40 and her at 39, we both have huge support from our husbands, and we both live in Chattanooga and are therefore locals. However, 10 years ago, Lisa was making the cover of Climbing magazine by raising American female bouldering standards to V10 and beyond while I only started climbing this level in the past few years. During that 10 year interval, I was trying to climb as much as possible from distant bouldering locations while furthering my career in Ornithology while she was living in Bishop, one of the premier boulderfields of the nation.

Now, Lisa is focusing on her career. Check out this link on Lisa in Chattanoooga. Recently I have had the opportunity to work from home on my own schedule and focus on bouldering. I have improved. But have I improved enough to step up on the podium above Lisa? Not so far. She murdered me in Hound Ears 8417 points to 5176. I closed the gap somewhat in LRC but she came out on top with 9446 to my 8850. For complete results check out this link.

Lisa on Blacksmith V9 at 2014 LRC Triple Crown. Photo by Carlo Nasisse stolen from Lisa’s Facebook Page.

I had wanted to congratulate Lisa on both her wins because I gave it everything I had and she won effortlessly. But Lisa seems to also be a pro at disappearing. I rarely see her before, during, or after any comp. Just as she whisks in for a split second, then she is gone. I suppose if I were in her shoes, I would try to keep a low profile as well.

I do feel like I may be a pesky little itch in that part of Lisa’s back she can’t quite scratch. The itch isn’t really that big enough a deal to grab something longer than her hand to itch it, but it won’t go away on its own either. At least I hope my presence is challenging her in some way. She has the $2000 Prana Pulldozer on the line so I know she would like to win the next two events. Unbeknownst to her, Lisa is presenting me with one of the biggest climbing challenges of a lifetime; all I want to do is take Horse Pens over her. She is still inspiring women at all levels to achieve their best. Thank you Lisa!

Me trying Thugs and Bitches V8 at Horse Pens 40 in preparation for Triple Crown in a week. I always thought this problem was too hard to put in a circuit but I am trying harder things to up my game!

Style Points: Can Women Learn From Chris Chen

I first encountered strong women during my first season in Hueco in 2000. Most of the strongest women of the day were crushing double digits using a style that was slow, controlled, and static. The style was impressive to watch and I tried to emulate it. However, being a heavier climber at the time, I mostly just developed finger strength and had difficulty acquiring the lock-off strength required to climb hard boulders with such control.

This is me hanging onto a few small holds on Undertow V8 with only my fingers. Seeing this photo compared to Augie doing the same move completely locked off, forced me to realize for the first time I needed to develop more power.

I would say almost proudly to on-lookers trying to get me to move more dynamically or cut my feet, “All my weight is in my lower body, if I cut my feet, I’ll come right off the rock.” And indeed this was true because I made it true. I WAS proud that being a heavier climber, I could solve sequences by using finger strength, control, and core; sequences the guys would just jump through. I would scoff at the guys for having no technique and this somehow justified my own beautifully executed technique. Had I been more observant, with a more modest and honest attitude, and perhaps less protective of my style and aware of its limitations, I would have noticed the guys were executing the same series of moves with much less effort than I!!

I finally made some connections after reading a small section in 9 out of 10 climbers where Dave addresses smaller climbers as the “Lucky Little Ones.” I am an average-sized female being 5’5″ and anywhere between 114-118 lbs. but I believe Dave would consider me, and most women, little.

My interpretation of this section of the book is that Dave thinks those who choose a climbing style that matches their body type will be the most optimal climbers. This is why we see so many successful body types. Shorter people must be more dynamic than tall people so they can jump to and latch far-away-holds. Those who are tall will need to focus more on developing core so they can take advantage of their long limbs but heavier frames.

However, the optimal styles are difficult to develop in their corresponding body types. Tall people initially take advantage of being able to easily reach holds and fail to develop their core early on. They suddenly reach a plateau when their height can take them no further. Short people tend to develop a very static style, taking advantage of their easily developed core, but hindering their ability to make long moves. They can go years without realizing their static style is holding them back.

Women’s bouldering is advancing quite rapidly as women are adopting a more dynamic, powerful style that is required to excel for our smaller stature. This is an exciting time; powerhouses like Alex Puccio, Mina Leslie-Wujastyk, and Nina Williams are pushing the limits and sending multiple double-digit problems in a short amount of time, where women used to require a full-season siege to send these grades. Power and dynamic movement are the name of the game in women’s bouldering.

Here’s Nina on a rampage sending 3 V10s in a day in Rocklands, South Africa!

A few months ago, I was at the Smile boulder in Joes Valley. A group of us were working out beta to BMOS, a V10 with a long crux move. Everyone else was solving the crux with a big heel-toe cam. I was unable to reach the next hold with the big heel-toe cam so I found a higher, but much more difficult heel-toe cam. I was somewhat frustrated that everyone else could use the bigger cam and thought, if I only I could use it too.

Then, Chris Chen hiked up the trail and joined us. People started asking him for his beta and he remarked they probably wouldn’t like his 5’5″ beta. Hmm, I thought, he is the same height as me; maybe I can use his beta.

I was completely astounded and could barely take my eyes off him when he simply jumped through the crux move where we were all using a heel-toe cam, latched the little crimper that everyone else was barely holding on to, cut his feet, and reeled back in. Then he proceeded to do the next move in exactly the same style, and the next move. And the next problem!

Here’s Chris and his friend Daniel Fong crushing it in Joe’s Valley that same trip. The two have opposite styles.

Years ago I would have waved Chris off as just another guy that can’t climb well, but the problem with this thinking is, this style works for some people. Chris Chen’s style is the embodiment of Dave’s advice for the “Lucky Little Ones” and I need to get what Chris has, somehow. Obviously, I tried his beta, but having a lack of experience with this dynamic, powerful style, I failed miserably.

I contacted Chris soon after this experience to ask him some questions so perhaps I and other Lucky Little Ones can learn from him. This is what I found out:

Chris sports small, strong fingers and is good at jumping between crimps. He says you can never have enough finger strength and he trains in his home gym to mimic the style of boulder problems that he wants to send outside; steep, big moves between holds, jumping between crimps, and locking small holds off. The walls at his home gym are tall with unbroken angles. Chris spends most of his time on the 45 degree wall which is sprayed down shotgun style with an assortment of holds in every bolt hole. It’s his favorite way to train! Developing body tension on a steep wall like this translates well to outdoor climbing. The best training sessions are when there’s a good crew in and they’re making up and knocking down problems quickly and just having fun moving on the wall. He learns from climbing with people of various body sizes and all skill levels. He often finds that, “on the 45 degree, it’s just much easier to cut your feet and control the swing than to try and keep your feet glued on. Plus, it feels cool flying around. Hah!”

Chris is 26, weighs in at 125-130lbs, and has a +0 ape index. He picked up climbing fairly recently in his last year of college. When asked about his body size, Chris says that it would be nice to have a couple more inches but he appreciates that his smaller size comes with his smaller fingers. He hears this comment, “oh it must help having small fingers” a lot from other male climbers at the crag, but he wonders how often these same people say, “I wish I were shorter!” There are pros and cons to every body size but in the end everyone just has to play the hand they’re dealt. While he wouldn’t mind a few inches now and again, being smaller helps with steeper climbing and generally being smaller comes with the advantage of being lighter. “Crimping has got to be much easier for me than my heavy friends.” And he says that if he can’t do a move that he can physically span the distance between holds, he just needs to be stronger, not taller.

Chris among a few different male body types, Fred Nicole and Cory French in Hueco Tanks.

I asked Chris if he could give us Lucky Little Women any advice for becoming more dynamic powerful climbers and he had a few things to say.

1) Train the way you intend to climb, be it in a gym or outside. The benefit of doing explosive moves in a gym is that it’s a safer environment to experiment in. Many gym problems are set to explore athletic movement rather than focus on the subtleties, smaller movements, body positioning, and micro adjustments one might find outside. If you’re going to climb somewhere like the Buttermilks, explosive, dynamic training won’t be as beneficial to success whereas it would translate well to a place like Joe’s Valley.

2) Core is extremely important and helps in every facet of climbing and tons of strong climbers will say that. A strong core can make up for a lot of other weaknesses.

3) Develop strong arms and explosive power by supplementing with campus boarding provided you don’t get injured.

4) Train smart and don’t overdo it, but still go hard.

5) And sometimes you just have to let your feet go! Many moves are surprisingly easier when you’re not trying to keep so much tension in keeping your feet on the wall.  Then again Chris says, “that’s all in my professional completely anecdotal opinion.”

Chris on another dynamic boulder at Joe’s Valley, Two Finger Variation V9.

Back in Shape

The Rusty Blackbird breeding season is always over seemingly almost as soon as it begins. The birds arrive in the wet forests of Northern New Hampshire, begin weaving pieces of grass into nests, keep their eggs warm, and fledge ugly, fuzzy young in a little more than 5 weeks. And every season, I do seemingly the impossible, with not enough help, and cram 2 months of fieldwork into these 5 weeks. Each day consists of early mornings, a fast pace, unpredictable scheduling and last minute planning. It is difficult to predict whether the nest you were going to band will still have nestlings, be predated by an Accipiter hawk, or have fledged already, or whether it will take an hour to find a bird’s nest, or all day. Every year we do more with less due to Carol’s unquenchable thirst to find more sites. During the 5 weeks, I took a total of 4 days off; the first 2 due to relentless rain, the second 2 due to extreme fatigue from working a too-long succession of 10 to 12 hour days. I do this job every year because I believe in the cause, even though I realize, much of the time I spend stalking the wetlands, is on a volunteer basis. No one can afford to pay songbird conservationists what they deserve. There is no money. But the data are needed to continue monitoring nest success and adult and nestling survivorship of this severely declining species.

This is a video Mike made of A Day in the Life of a Rusty Blackbird Field Biologist!!

I do receive immense pleasure from co-ordinating this project and ensuring it’s success. I have been a part of the project since it’s inception 6 years ago. It is worth the 5 weeks I must be away from bouldering. However, suffer my bouldering will do. Each season it takes me longer than the time off to get back into shape. When I arrived in Rocklands, South Africa a few days after the Rusty Blackbird field season ended, I was sorely faced with the realization that I could only boulder V5 maximum!

Now it has been 2 months of playing catch-up and I think I am back to where I left off when Mike and I left Joe’s Valley, Utah. I think it is time to start keeping up with the blog again.

Attempting my V8 nemesis Arch Baby.

Bouldering in Rocklands is difficult. I find the biggest hurdle to sending hard is skin. I must plan the problems I get involved with based on how much skin I have left on my fingers. I can not visit the boulder problems I excel at on a regular basis because they are skin intensive. One or two tries on a crimpy line takes off a whole week’s worth of skin growth!

But I think it is beneficial that I cannot boulder the crimp problems. I am attempting boulders that are not my strengths and they seem HARD!!! But I know from experience that repeated sessions on crimpy problems results in injury for me. And there is nothing like working weakness for improving my climbing. Hooray for being in shape in Rocklands!!

Mike on our mutual project Caroline. Graded V10, the problem is host to several hard pinches, and is a style that highlights a weakness in both our climbing.

Now if I could just send some of these burly, power endurance problems I am projecting!!! I have a month left to attain my prizes: Pendragon, Une Rhyme Stupide, No Late Tenders, Caroline!!!

When they said wild flower season, they meant WILD FLOWER SEASON!!!

 

Finding a Flicker Feather

At the beginning of this trip, Mike saw a bird fly across the road while we were driving and asked what it was. I didn’t see the bird so he described it to me. It was about the size of a Robin, seemed grayish overall and was red underneath. I asked him if it had spots on its breast and he said yes. It sounded like he could be describing a Robin but he claims to know what a Robin looks like and said it definitely was not a Robin. A little while later I saw it and identified it as a Red-shafted Flicker. I remembered from catching one during a bird-banding operation that they have really cool tail feathers in the hand because they have black and white spots and a bright red feather shaft. I told him I would find him a flicker feather and show it to him. I was thinking I would find one in the boulders because birds often lose their feathers. Oddly, I found the feather at Chick’s Rockin’ Roost, the only bar in Castle Dale! Although aptly named, I was completely thrown off when I discovered the feather I had been searching for pinned to the top-hat of the young bartender, Emily. I am not usually spiritual but I have my moments every few years and this was one of them. We struck up a conversation with Emily and discovered, although from Castle Country originally, she is a wanderer. She sleeps in her car as she travels throughout the United States and Mexico; a kindred spirit. Every year, Emily journeys back to Castle Country for a few weeks during wild asparagus season, then continues on. She thinks she will venture to the South next.

Wild Asparagus is in season!

Emily hit the Flicker with her car which is not that curious as we almost struck one low-flyer ourselves. She searched out the bird to euthanize it, and found it just as it took its last breaths. She took the unusual feather as a memento. Fifteen years ago I ventured from the Maritimes of Canada to El Paso, TX for my first outdoor bouldering experience. I was 25 years old and had recently graduated with my BS. Since I graduated, I traveled throughout North America taking on various bird research positions, including my own graduate work, and visiting bouldering destinations. When I think about it, I can’t believe how quickly everything has happened. It seems like yesterday.

This last sentence is a cliché; an over-used phrase to describe how quickly time goes by. But it describes exactly my sentiment. There is a reason such clichés are so widely used. “Youth is wasted on the young, time flies, if I only knew then what I know now.” I believe I have entered a phase in my life where I KNOW what these phrases mean, from not only the words, but from my own experience. When I was 25, I thought I understood, but looking back, I didn’t have a clue. I was fresh out of the longest period of my life, my 5-year forestry degree. University seemed to go on forever, year after year. By comparison, my PhD, which took exactly the same amount of time, but was completed 20 years later, flew by.

I read something once that explained why time seems to go by faster as you age. It is explained by the proportion of time that goes by, e.g., a year, to the amount of time you have already been alive. That ratio gets smaller and smaller as you get older, thus creating the feeling of time being shorter by comparison. This explains why the past 5 years seemed to go by much faster than the 5 years I was completing my undergraduate degree, it is proportionally a smaller amount of time. I can hardly imagine what the next 5 years will feel like.

My point, however, is this; in a minute, my 20s was a thing of the past even though I thought time was inching by. I thought I had a lot of time, but I did not. I have few regrets, but one thing I do regret is thinking I had lots of time to do what I wanted to do in climbing in my 20s, then suddenly I was 40. I still believe I have time to attain my goals, but with the wisdom of how time works; I am treating my 40s like I should have treated my 20s. I might suddenly turn 60, and wonder what happened to my 40s. I don’t have a five-year plan, I have a NOW plan.

Alcohol

On our way out to Utah, we made a stop in Denver to pick up some supplies at Trader Joes. We had good intentions when we bought 4 bottles and one 4-L box of wine. In the past, Mike and I have also had good intentions when we bought a bottle of wine for what we promise each other will only be one drink with dinner, but then proceed to drink the entire bottle hardly before dinner is even done cooking.

It was not any different when we arrived in Joe’s Valley and proceeded to drink a bottle of wine a night. We reveled in our gluttony for 5 nights until I strained my tendon and we decided to re-evaluate our drinking problem.

Mike’s Camp Bunny, seen from his dinner chair on nights tipsy and nights sober. Happy Easter!!

Why did we drink so heavily? Did consuming this much alcohol jive with our goals to bring our bouldering to the next level? Weren’t we trying to consider ourselves athletes?

I know as climbers we are not alone in our drinking habits. I have lived the climbing life-style long enough to know that alcohol and climbing can go hand-in-hand, sometimes seeming to have little effect on climbing productivity. Or do they? I wonder how many pro-climbers drink heavily. From my experience, it seems like not many.

We came to the conclusion that the drinking must come to an end. We have now been as many days alcohol-free as we were tipsy. Only on special occasions will we uncork one of the remaining 3 bottles of wine.

To date, neither of us have noticed any difference in our recovery rate, energy level, or climbing performance. Prolonged abstinence may not help us reach our goals, but it won’t hinder us either.

Too Cold, Are You Crazy?!

Almost every boulderer I know swoons over temperature in the 30s or 40s. Well, maybe it is almost every male boulderer; females seem to like warmer temps. Many men claim that the friction is much higher between their hands and the rock during the cold. However, I have noticed that my hands often skate off or “dry fire” from the holds on the coldest days. I also have a very difficult time keeping my core warm very long which results in difficulty making dynamic moves.

I have learned over the years, that I need the temperature to be at least 50°F to send my projects. Any colder than that and I find myself in a Catch 22. For projecting, I need about 15 to 20 minutes in between attempts to recover my muscles, however, when it is too cold, my body cools down too much negating everything I’ve done to warm-up properly. If I rest only a few minutes to keep warm, then I am not recovered enough to send. Thus, climbing in weather that is too cold for me is futile, if not dangerous, because a cold body is susceptible to injury.

But I know others who wear nothing but a t-shirt while I can barely take off my down jacket. Optimal temperature is a personal thing. While the bouldering season for most in the South is deep winter, for me, it is during late fall and early spring. I think it is important to find parts of the season that suit a climber best and plan the season accordingly.

 

Mike sending No Substance while I wait for it to warm up.

You could be focusing on training instead of standing around wondering why you aren’t sending your projects while others are taking advantage of perfect temperatures. Don’t be fooled by those trying to convince you of your craziness for being cold. If someone mocks your inability to tolerate the cold, just wait until it warms up and you can return the favor when they start complaining about greasing off while you are happily sticking to the same holds wondering what the problem is.

Rest or Rehab?

I used to completely quit bouldering whenever I incurred injury until the injury was completely pain-free. I waited for finger injuries to heal sometimes up to 6 months! In the mean-time, I did nothing to train and I would gain weight and lose muscle. I would resume climbing completely healed but my climbing level would drop very significantly, and it would take months to get back to my previous level. In retrospect, even if climbing with the injury delayed healing of the injury, even by a few months, at least I could maintain some level of climbing skill that wouldn’t take months to get back to again.

Brushing up my V11 project, Skid Mark, after the injury.

My approach changed a few years ago when I was trying to decide what to do with my latest injury. I read a blog by Dave MacLeod, and later his book (the climbing bible in my opinion). Climb through injuries is what he said. More and more I am reading that rest is even bad for an injury and that rehabilitation requires the injured tissue to be used. If what you are doing isn’t making the injury worse, it is helping. This philosophy greatly appeals to me, as no climber wants to quit climbing completely for months at a time. So I tried it and it has seemed to be working.

Trying out the moves on Death Scream, my V10 project, with the injury…

I climbed through three injuries this past season in the south. Had I taken time off for these injuries, I wouldn’t have competed in and won the Triple Crown. I wouldn’t have sent any of my double digit problems, and I would likely be climbing V3 right now.

A tweaked pointer finger was the first injury of the season; I couldn’t throw dynamically with my right hand so I just avoided any climb that involved this type of move. Eventually, sometime during training for Triple Crown, it resolved itself, even though training involved a crazy amount of volume since I needed to be able to do 10 hard problems. None of the climbs involved the right pointer finger.

I was injury free for a short while when I gave myself the craziest injury I’ve ever had. I was training at TBA and was trying to use a lot of momentum to do a very long move to a crimp when my right hand punched a hold in the way! I thought I broke my knuckle, and maybe I did because I still have pain there. I didn’t stop climbing on it even though it was extremely painful. Instead, I didn’t use the finger below the knuckle. Because I was only using two fingers, I then developed tendonitis. The finger fell weak and I turned my focus from my fingery projects to volume and problems where I didn’t need a lot of finger-specific strength. This approach happened to exploit weaknesses in my climbing and I worked on improving those weaknesses. As soon as my knuckle had healed to a point where I could be strong with my fingers again, I found myself peaking and sent two of my hardest projects to date. If I had waited on healing the knuckle first?

I was back to my crimpy projects again. But right away I developed elbow tendonitis in my right arm. I was climbing on Reflections when my foot cut and I felt a sharp pain in my elbow. Remarkably, the tendonitis would only flare up when I did horizontal moves to crimps with my right hand with little to no weight on my feet. So I avoided these climbs and didn’t return to Reflections. Almost every online climbing article warned to quit climbing for up to months or debilitative problems can develop! I asked around at TBA about tendonitis and was shocked to learn that almost everyone that trains in there has elbow tendonitis. And no one is worried about it, they’ve had it for years. And so I decided to climb through my first ever bought of elbow tendonitis. It got better and although I still feel it here and there, it is hardly an issue, I stay clear of things that irritate it.

So now here I am with yet another tendon injury from pulling on a 2 finger pocket. I am again confronted with the decision to rest or climb through it. Mike reminded me that injuries have not seemed to slow me down in the past and I am grateful for his positive thoughts. Everyone I come across in Joe’s Valley seems to have some kind of injury, they climb right on through it. Why does it work? Because what you lose by not climbing is far greater than what you gain by resting. So Climb on!!

Everyone in this shot has a finger injury and is still climbing on projects! Meira Shuman and I spotting Drexel Bakker at the warm-up boulders.