Training Questions Answered Part III

Concrete goals are essential to a successful fitness program. Now is a transitional time. After ice climbing all winter, it is time to rock climb and the mountaineering guiding season is fast approaching. Ice climbing fitness and rock climbing fitness translate surprisingly poorly. While both require a strong upper body, the mountaineering guiding season requires a total shift to cardio and leg strength.

The point is identify your objective. Find something concrete. For example, "I am working on my cardio and leg strength for my upcoming trip to climb Denali" or "I am working my core and back so I can be comfortable carrying a heavy pack on Mount Rainier." Goals such as "I want to be more fit" are hard to follow through on, hard to measure, and not that fun to pursue.

Once you have identified your goals tailor your workouts to focus on those muscle groups. Don't neglect holistic training and your flexibility but that kind of focus can help you get your training underway. now reconcile that with the ideas of Fun, Variety, and Personality along with advice from a professional and you should be well on your way to realizing your goals.

Check out this article about fitness myths it is geared towards women but is mostly relevant to everyone: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/19905329/detail.html

Training Questions Answered Part II

Sometimes rest days are forced. I am sitting in a cafe near Las Vegas waiting for tomorrows forecasted 65 and sunny to go back to the incredible climbing in Red Rock Canyon, NV.

So you think you have a workout routine you can live with. Its got variety, its pretty fun and it suits your personality. Thats great!

Now, we need to make sure you are really making the most of your time. Are you at a high enough heart rate for long enough? Are you pushing yourself to lift a little more than is comfortable? Most importantly, are you doing the exercises properly so you don't hurt yourself and so you receive maximum benefit?

This stuff is REALLY important. Too often people wonder why they are having such a hard time climbing after all their training. Often though they spent many hours in the gym much of that time was wasted with inefficient or not-strenuous-enough exercise.

The best thing to do is to talk to a trainer. Tell them your goals, climbing or otherwise and try to find a workout routine that fits the criteria discussed in my last post and have your trainer show you how to do the exercises properly.

This may sound expensive but consider it the up front cost to avoid the time and money that you will waste in poor shape for you climbing trip or in physical therapy for your injury.

Training Questions Answered Part 1

I often get questions about training for climbing. Unfortunately, these questions often come during a trip when it is too late. Hopefully, I can address some common questions about training for Rainier or other mountaineering trips or training for rock climbing or ice climbing. I will try to keep it simple and general. Please comment with any questions you might have so I can address them.

I'll start with some general training ideas that can help you create a program that is right for you.

Fun: Most importantly you must enjoy your training. Too many people think they have to endure suffering and boredom to get fit. The best workout, however, is the one you genuinely enjoy. If you resent your work out routine getting fit will be that much harder.

Variety: If you do that same workout all the time you will over develop some muscles and underdeveloped others this leads to injuries like tendonitis and shin splints. Also, lifting machines tend to focus on major muscle groups that make you look good when they are big while neglecting all the small stabilizer muscles that support your major muscles like your back and ankles when you are carrying a pack. If these stabilizer muscles are weak you exaust the major muscles much faster as they try to compensate.

Personality: I don't like to keep track too closely to weights, reps, times, or milage. I get a vague sense of how much I am doing or how far I am going. I run, lift and do pushups until I feel worked and then maybe do a little more. on the other hand I have a friend who makes excel spreadsheets of every weeks work out. if you are like me, team up with someone like that. the information is useful. if you are on your own make sure you have a good enough sense that you can track progress but don't stress over it. Like I said before, enjoy your work out!

ROCK!

Time to switch from ice to rock! I took a trip out to Indian Creek near Moab, UT and it was terrific. If it were not for the snow on the opposite (shady) side of the canyon i would have thought it was May. Climbing and belying in t-shirts was a nice change from the ice season.

Rock climbing in Indian creek is incredibly wild and unique. Endless rows of parallel sided cracks split the massive Wingate sandstone buttresses as far as the eye can see. It always takes me a climb or two to remember how great the friction on sandstone is. Trust your feet! The cracks are so good "splitter" is synonymous for great in any context as in 'splitter weather', 'splitter conditions', 'splitter dinner'. Ok maybe not the last one. check out the photos and I think you'll get it.

Back on crack,

Eitan

Training

We always say that the best way to train for climbing is to climb. However in the spring and fall when it is too cold to rock climb and too warm to ice climb, or for a nice change of pace a training regimen can be essential and rejuvenating. The goal is to come into the climbing season "guns blazing" as my friend Pat likes to say, rather than having to start from scratch.

All winter I have been attending CrossFit at Hypoxia Gym. A training regimen that provides a high intensity work out for a short period of time. After warming up the work out is only about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes at around maximum heart rate.

Crossfit has definitely made me stronger but also much tighter. So I have added Yoga at Inner Mountain Yoga to loosen up my muscles and focus my breathing. Only a couple classes in and I already feel much looser and frankly healthier.

Oh yeah, and did I mention skiing, the skiing is good too!

Pumping iron and sun salutations,

Eitan

A Great Place to Learn

Ouray's ice climbing is not only terrific it is a great classroom. Not only does this climbing college boast climbs of all difficulties, these climbs are as short as fifty feet and also some of the longest in the lower 48.

"But..." you say, "every ice climbing destination brags about that!" What those other destinations dont have is a finely tuned thermostat. The temperatures get cold at night which makes the ice grow but here the days are mild and sometimes even warm allowing climbers of all abilities to focus on climbing and worry less about battling the cold!

These photos are from some of Ouray's top classrooms for getting out and up on ice.

School is in session,

Eitan

Photos top to bottom: Stairway to Heaven WI 4 8 Pitches, Whorehouse Hoses WI4 4 pitches, Frozen nozzle at the Ouray Ice Park, First Gulley WI3 4 pitches

Classic Rock...and Ice

All around the world are what climbers call "classic" routes a classic route is a test piece, a proving grounds and, most importantly, really good climbing. Good climbing includes good views, fun moves, and an exciting challenge.

There are so many routes in the world of varying quality, it can be hard to wade through the hundreds of pages of routes in a guide book, not to mention the possibilities for first ascents. Classic climbs are often the ones that you heard of around a campfire in a campground or that friends tell you, "you have to do it!"

One of the best parts about a classic route is the way that when you talk to anyone about the route, old friend or new, their eyes light up in a way that is reserved only for very special experiences. Because of the popularity of many classic routes we get to share this connection with other climbers all over the country and even the world. It is this connection, this set of shared experiences that is the foundation for local and even global climbing communities.

Drinking the Kool-Aid,

Eitan

Enjoy the photos of some classic routes! Top to bottom: Ames Ice Hose, CO, Stairway to Heaven, CO, and Black Orpheus, NV