Rock Climber Girl

Rock climbing blog for girls and women who rock climb by a pacific northwest rock climber who just happens to be a girl.

June 11, 2009 • 4:39 am 0

Wrist schmist, or how to train for climbing without using your arms (much)

Right now, I’m typing with one hand while the other soaks in an ice bath. I’ve been rehabbing my left bicep tendon, and my right index finger, for the last couple of weeks. Luckily, neither is serious, but both were overtrained and headed for serious if I didn’t back off, get some rest, and shift my focus to rehab exercises, stretching and conditioning.

Luckily, I have friends with stories, who can type with two hands.

Cue the amazing, bad ass Lydia. Read on for her story of climbing injury heartbreak, rehabilitation, and unfailing optimism. Plus, I’m the least yoga’d person I know, so enjoy the tips from Lydia that I could never give you myself! And, allow me one editorial comment… this is an example of why I don’t ski! Thank you for sharing your story, Lydia!

About Lydia… she climbs, hikes and designs and loves adventures with her dog Isabel. For more info, check out www.lydiawhitehead.com or follow her on Twitter.

It was end of January and I was just starting to feel the mid-winter blues. I couldn’t go outside to climb (unless I wanted to hike through snow and freeze my fingers and toes off, which I did not), so I’d begun a super regular regime of gym climbing and was excited at the prospect of being ready for harder climbs outside in the spring. To help with the winter blues and enjoy the outdoors, I thought I’d try a winter sport. So I went snowboarding for the first time with a friend of mine who’s a seasoned snowboarder.

And that’s when it happened.

I took a lesson to get comfortable with the basics and at the end, I strapped completely into the board (we’d practiced with just one foot strapped, to get used to the feeling of the board on snow) and proceeded to take a nasty backwards fall down the bunny hill.

Not one of my finer moments.

In the process of taking that spectacular fall (and oh, was it spectacular, feet up over the head and everything), I also managed to sprain my right wrist. Brilliant. My first thought was, Crap, I need this wrist to climb on! I’ve just been injured in a sport that isn’t even one I practice regularly! Oh funny sense of humor the universe has.

The pain was intense for the first hour, but after some ice and immobilization, it waned oh-so-slightly and I thought to myself, at this rate, I could probably be back climbing in a week or so. Optimist, I am.

The doctor had other ideas. The diagnosis was no climbing, no putting any weight on the wrist for any reason, move it as little as possible for 6-8 weeks. Which meant that Super Regular Climbing Regime for Maximum Spring Fitness® was out the window.

What now?

While I was totally bummed, I knew that I didn’t want the inability to use my wrist stop me from training for climbing. Instead, I decided I would do everything I could training-wise that didn’t require the use of my wrist. This, by the way, was frustrating, because at that point I really wanted to focus on strengthening my upper body. Let’s not talk about how many pull ups I could do at that time (pull ups are still a big challenge for me).

So, I put an emphasis on strengthening my core and working on my balance, both important things for climbing. Here’s what I did:

Yoga Poses

For balance, I started in Mountain Pose, moved to Tree Pose, then moved to Warrior III Pose. I returned to Mountain Pose and then repeated the sequence with the other foot. As it got easier, I held the poses longer and also practiced them with my eyes closed.

For core work, I held Full Boat Pose and slowly lowered to the floor into Corpse Pose. I then did Dolphin Plank Pose, and from there moved down into Locust Pose to strengthen my back.

Balance Ball Exercises
For back strength, I did something similar to Locust Pose, see here and here.

For core strength, I did ab crunches (on a balance ball, these are much more difficult!)

Aside from the above, I did regular floor crunches with variations, as well as lunges. I added more cardio by running at least 3 times per week (which was difficult to find motivation for, it was winter, remember?)

In training that way, I found that I was happy to be doing *something* to advance my climbing ability and I felt my balance and core did improve. It also made those six weeks seem to go by faster. And it brought me back to running, something I enjoy but had fallen out of the practice of doing.

I’ve had my wrist back for a few months now, but I’ve kept most of those exercises in my training schedule. Now that I can climb again, I feel that I’m climbing with a bit more control and balance on the wall. Routes at the gym that were somewhat wobbly for me before the injury are less so now, which makes my heart do a tiny little fist pump and say “Yesssss!” I’m still no climbing bad ass, but I’ll take any improvement I can get.

Your results may vary, but this worked quite splendidly to get me through my climbing hiatus and keep me out of the injury doldrums.

Filed under: Guest Posts, Injuries and Rehab, Training

May 28, 2009 • 3:41 am 0

Bicep Tendonitis and rock climbing

Some of you have already heard that I’ve been nursing a bit of a shoulder injury. Several months ago, I became a bit obsessive about bodyweight push-ups (as in, not “girl” or “modified” pushups) and pushed them a wee bit too far. After doing a set to failure one night, I felt a twinge in my left shoulder. Being a rock climber, upon sensing shoulder pain, I panicked. Ice, rest, Aleve and massage helped with that acute stage, but even after the pain subsided after a few days, I couldn’t return to push-ups. I tried benching, instead, to do something less than bodyweight, but the pain returned. I finally found that dips on the dip bar don’t trigger the pain, which still occasionally popped up. My dear massage therapist / climber friend identified the location of the pain as my bicep, not the dreaded rotator cuff, so for a few months I just nursed it, hoping that dips would do enough to stabilize my shoulder that I could avoid it getting worse. Luckily, climbing didn’t really aggravate it, but not being able to do bench / push-ups definitely wasn’t helping my shoulder stability any.

Then, during my last trip to Index, I had an unusually long, nearly bodyweight hang on a jam on that side while on lead. By nighttime, my shoulder was extremely painful (front, side and back), and panic once again set in. As soon as business hours arrived, I called my family physician and she referred me to a physical therapist.

A nervous work week later, the back and side of my shoulder slowly felt better with ice and rest while I waited for my appointment. The front — the bicep tendon — still hurt, though.

I very nervously met John Estes at DaVinci Physical Therapy on Bainbridge Island last Friday. His demeanor was great, and while he’s not a climber himself, he impressed me immediately with his above-average understanding of the stresses that climbing places on the body. It doesn’t seem all that complicated to me, but I’ve been to several PTs since starting to climb, and have been really surprised by their lack of awareness of climbing movement and the impact on the body. The first few visits are usually educating the PT about climbing and its physical demands. John was “with it” right out of the gate.

His exam was thorough… I started out really nervous, because I was afraid that the testing would hurt and expose some sort of horrible problem, but each test showed no serious injury, which was reassuring. The final diagnosis is bicep tendinitis, aggravated by extremely weak rotator cuffs and deltoids relative to my, um, well defined trapezius muscles and biceps. More on my traps in a second.

I’m going to count myself lucky that I developed the bicep tendinitis, so that I get this chance to learn about my shoulders and back before managing to get myself in serious shoulder trouble. Had I not experienced this little setback, I probably would have kept on training, neglecting my rotator cuffs and mid-back until I wound up with a serious shoulder injury.

John prescribed an exercise routine (that link will download the PDF), including scapular stabilization, scapular flexion, scapular retraction, resisted external rotation, resisted horizontal abduction, and some stretching exercises to increase my range of motion. The bicep tendonitis is relatively mild, so unless it doesn’t improve quickly, we’ll emphasize building stability and strength. If the tendinitis doesn’t improve, then we’ll do more “treatment” of the bicep issue. That approach works for me, since I’m on a tight budget, and I’d rather do exercises at home and go to the PT (which is an hour from home) less often, if at all possible.

I’m astonished at how weak I am at the exercises prescribed, when I look like a freaking tank. The exercises are hard for me to do, so I look forward to getting stronger.

One of the highlights of the whole thing was when John was talking through the results of his exam, and he pointed out my extremely strong Trapezius muscles relative to the rest of me. I do believe he called them “overdeveloped.” Even for a climber, my Traps are huge. My climbing partner calls my traps “Hulk Hogan muscles,” to give you some idea. John demonstrated two different climbing “postures:” one with his shoulders down and relaxed, and his Traps kicking in to lift the arms only once his elbows were past shoulder height; the second, totally tight and tense, with his shoulders darn near up around his ears, using his traps to lift his arms all the way up.

One guess what my natural / typical climbing “posture” is.

I’d say my natural climbing posture ranges from “tense” to “terrified.” John ok’d me to climb at sub-max during my rehab (good move — since climbers are notorious for NOT stopping climbing when we’re told to); but, prescribed climbing with a relaxed posture to let my back and shoulders do the work that my Traps have been doing all this time. I didn’t really get a chance to try that out bouldering last weekend, since I really mostly just kept it light since I was sore from my PT on Friday; I’m hoping to get into the gym at least once this week to do endurance work, and to give climbing with a relaxed posture a try. I was really excited about that particular insight he provided — even as a non-climber, he was able to diagnose one of my biggest climbing flaws… that I’m a totally stressed out, tense climber. I look forward to working on changing that!

I’ll post updates as I have new developments or additional insights, and please chime in with your own stories…

Filed under: Injuries and Rehab, Training

March 30, 2009 • 5:00 pm 0

In the gym… and a fear of falling update…

So, my March has been unusually light on outdoor climbing. I think partly, I was spoiled rotten to get to go to Red Rock once in January and again the first weekend in March (which is usually my season opener at Vantage or Smith) so my trip rhythm is just a little bit off. Combine that with work stress, and the more-than-usual recovery I needed after my second Red Rock trip, and I’ve been a mostly indoor climber lately.

Usually when I get back from a trip, the gym is a necessary evil. I know I need to do it, but the last thing I want to do is pull on plastic. I usually spend my first day back in the gym on the cracks, since they’re at least a little bit like climbing outside. I ease myself back onto routes, usually climbing a level or two below what I did before my trip and recovery, then work my way back up to climbing at max. I also keep up with my antagonist muscle training (dips, bench, push-ups) and abs, which I never bother to do when I’m actually on trips. That’s been the rhythm that’s kept me from getting frustrated, and kept me making forward progress, for the last two seasons or so.

Lately, though, I’ve been having an unusual amount of fun in the gym. It all started with a whipper…

I was in the gym with Climbing Partner… we’ve been making an effort to lead in the gym more than we had through the winter, to work on our lead heads for the outdoor season. The gym doesn’t directly translate, since the bolts are SO close together compared to outside, but still — it’s better than nothing. We had gotten in a good warm-up, and I’d just started doing sets of leads at about my lead onsight level, and some a bit harder. I hopped on a route at a grade that would typically be difficult but do-able for me with maybe one take; I made it two bolts, got scared, wasn’t feeling it, and lowered off. I cursed the route (“that’s no fun! It’s just stupid, and scary!”) indulged in a momentary bad attitude about it, then had a drink of water, had a snack, belayed my partner, and tied back in and sent the route. It wasn’t pretty — I was scared, and nervous, but stubborn, and I knew I had to reset my head, so I went at it. Afterward I felt proud of myself for turning it around, but I knew I needed to relax and work on my flow, so that I wasn’t just panic-ing my way up routes the rest of the night.

I got on to lead a known, trusted route one tick easier that I’ve toproped about three hundred times. OK, that’s a slight exaggeration, but it’s a route I’ve done a bunch. I started up, feeling good, relaxed, having fun. I flowed, I climbed, I clipped bolts, and then, about a bolt from the top…

“uh…

I don’t remember this…

um…

wow, I’m unbelievably pumped…”

I moved out right to a slopey envelope slot, but my feet just felt off. I downclimbed a move to an easier rest, and tried again. My feet were still off. If I trusted the envelope slot, and got my other hand up to the next good edge, I’d make a clip off that edge. I was way too pumped to try to clip off the envelope slot, so if I trusted it to move up, I was risking a few-foot lead fall since I was just above the bolt. I decided I’d rather try than take, thinking that usually when I try I stick it and the risk is worth it, and plus – my belayer will catch me… so I moved out to the envelope slot, tried to push up with my still-not-right feet and I fell.

I fell so fast, and with so much surprise (even though I should have seen it coming) that I didn’t even get a warning out to my belayer. He caught me, surprised himself since we’ve been climbing together for a year plus and I’m not sure I’ve ever taken a real lead fall on him before. I climbed up to my high point and tried it again, and fell again. By that point, I was STOKED. Two lead falls, not scared, still relaxed, still having fun, and ready for more. I figured out the footwork (I was missing a hold entirely) and finished the route.

It was awesome.

I have always struggled with my fear of falling. I’ve done test falls, which actually haven’t helped a whole lot… yes, I gain the muscle memory that falls can be safe, but for some reason, test falls don’t help my head. They make me scared. That night in the gym was a breakthrough for me… real training falls, caught by my belayer, were what I needed in order to be less afraid and to more accurately calculate my risk in a given situation.

The very next time I went into the gym, a Girl Scout group was there for an intro class. One of my friends asked if I’d do a lead climb demonstration and take a lead fall for the girls… I was stoked to get to do both. I didn’t get in a solid warmup… just one route at way sub-max… and then tied in for a climb I’d onsighted on toprope before and climbed many times on toprope since. I started up the route, plan in place with my trusty belayer that I’d get to a safe high spot then fall at the last clip before the anchors… it would be a nice dramatic fall on safe terrain for the girls to see. I clipped the first, then second bolt, and worked my way up, feeling that I wasn’t warm, and getting a bit pumpy, but staying calm and having fun. I got about 2/3 of the way up and realized… um… I’ve toproped this a bunch of times, but never lead it. And, it’s HARD.

I made it up to just below where I’d planned to take a fall, and I was so pumped I could hardly hold on. I had to make a dynamic move up to the next hold, and I went for it and again — fell with so much surprise that I don’t think I got a “falling” out, but I do think I made a little “peep” of surprise. My belayer caught me, I smiled broadly and shook out my arms, then got back on and finished after de-pumping just enough to pull the move. When I got to the ground, some of the Girl Scouts were shaking their heads, “I’ll NEVER do that, how scary!” (things I used to say, myself but don’t bother with any more)… but I saw a handful of shining, smiling faces, bright-eyed girls, who you could see by the look on their faces were thinking, “I can’t WAIT to do that.”

It was so satisfying that things fell into place for me to be able to do that. Those Girl Scouts (and, the friend who asked me to do the demo) had no idea what a big deal it was for me. But, now I’m having fun on lead in the gym, and am pushing my limits and taking falls, finally. I’m getting on hard projects onsight, and I can feel that it’s going to make me stronger physically and mentally. It’s been good for my trust in my climbing partners, and plus, it’s just so much FUN. I can’t wait to see how I feel outside… I’m not going to go purposely signing up for any whippers, but I do look forward to pushing my limits just a bit more than I have been up until now.

How is your gym training going this season? If you’re a “faller,” how did you get there? If you’re not yet, what are the challenges you’re dealing with? Please join in, in the comments!

Filed under: In the gym, Training

February 19, 2009 • 3:29 am 0

Is blogging about climbing bad for your tendons? Coping with climbing injuries.

Chatting with other climbing blogger friends online today, including Tom, Narc, and Jon it dawned on me… we were all trading injury rehab and treatment tips, all morning. Trading links about rehab exercises, frustrations with doctors and physical therapists giving the standard “stop climbing” advice, and links to Dave Macleod’s cold water bath for finger (and maybe elbow) recovery. Steph Davis even chimed in with advice from her M.D. brother. It got me to thinking…

Is blogging about climbing bad for your tendons?

I inquired, out to the universe, whether that could be possible, and the affirmative response came from Ryan in Boulder. Ryan was uninjured, as a climber, until he started blogging at The Boulder Diaries.

I jest, a bit, but it is that time of year, again. We’ve all spent a long winter in the climbing gym, as a sad, sorry substitute for real rock. We’ve been pulling hard, and lifting hard, and working hard to get in shape for our winter real-rock excursions, and, the upcoming training season.

Over Valentines day dinner with some of my climber girlfriends, we sat down at the restaurant and proceeded to spend the first twenty minutes talking about the various experiences we’ve all had with elbow tendinitis and recovery. Climbing Partner has been fighting off some finger injuries… just as his right hand healed, now he’s having trouble with one of the fingers on his left hand. Ever since just before my last Red Rock trip, I’ve been babying my left rotator cuff… and after a good bench and climbing session on Monday, which I should be recovered from by now, instead I noticed this morning that it hurt to lift my arm to shampoo my hair. I’m not worried — I just need to hit on a rehab / balancing / stability routine that helps instead of hurting, and my shoulder isn’t interfering with my climbing. So far. And, goodness willing, it won’t.

I have the world’s best massage therapist (who doubles as an awesome climbing partner), Amy Moorhead, at Old Town Massage in Silverdale (hi, Amy!). But I keep trying to develop a good, healthy, long term relationship with a climbing-experienced physical therapist, since those of us blessed (at least for the moment) with health insurance can benefit from PT early on, before the injuries become too serious. I know, if I could just find a good PT, he or she could help me sort out this little shoulder hiccup in a jiffy. To date, though, I’ve had a hard time finding PTs who are willing to do some homework on climbers and climbing, and have been less satisfied with my climbing-injury-related PT than, for example, my biking-injury-related PT.

If there’s a climbing-oriented physical therapist in the audience, please feel free to post your contact info in the comments so that other climbers can find you.

For now, I’m going to try to find a time to get in with Amy for a massage, and continue my search for a decent local PT, but I’m also going to try to take it a little easier in the gym for the next couple of weeks so that I can really enjoy my Red Rock trip coming up. After that, hopefully I’ll be able to spend much more of my time on real rock than in the gym. While I tend to bang myself up more outside than indoors, I also tend to have fewer repetitive-stress type injuries when climbing out side. Partly, I think it’s because I get a good cardiovascular warm-up doing the approach; and then, I pace myself well through a day outside (something I don’t always do in the gym).

But first, it’s time to ice my shoulder. And, soak my hands in ice water for as long as I can stand. And while I try very hard to not take any kind of pills that might hamper my natural recovery, it’s feeling like an ibuprofen night, washed down with some extra omega-3s and a huge glass of water.

What are your tips and tricks for preventing and coping with injuries? Are there professionals in your community who are skilled and experienced with climbers, who you recommend? Please, share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments, below!

Filed under: Injuries and Rehab, Training

January 6, 2009 • 5:14 pm 0

Tuesday, no training update

I’m not going to post a full training update today, since I’ve mostly taken the last week off (I climbed last Monday, and yesterday, but rested in between). So, nothing new to report on the training front, other than perhaps that the training is working. Tonight’s a rest night and I have a busy work day today, then I hope to get back into the gym on Wednesday for some climbing for fun — maybe bouldering — and to get in a campus workout. Mmmmm… my hands are sweating just thinking about doing my campus board workout…

How’s your training going? Any roadblocks? Are you getting back into it after the holidays, or taking some needed rest? Please add your comments, below!

Filed under: Training

December 30, 2008 • 5:15 pm 0

Tuesday Training Update: Campus Workout, Dips, and Sticky Hands

In another half-assed attempt at imposing some order on my blogging, I’ll make a stab at posting a training update on Tuesdays. One of my climbing partners and I have been reading up and studying up on climbing-specific training, including campus board workouts and hangboard or fingerboard workouts.

The disclaimer — I didn’t even start sport-specific training until now… just around my fourth anniversary as a climber, because I didn’t have the tendons for it until just now. Before you do any sport-specific training, read up, learn how to do it right, and make sure that you’re doing exercises that are appropriate to your fitness level and climbing experience.

Last Friday I did my first proper campus board workout. One, properly performed ladder move (basically, 1-3 on the biggest boards) on each side, up and down, lead to failure (if I could even finish the “back down.” It was AWESOME. It’s as much mental as physical, since the first time I tried it (less fatigued) I was way weaker than the last set (more fatigued). I’m going to carefully campus train about once a week, on a day where I can take a solid rest for a couple of days after.

I also added dips into my workout a couple of months ago. We have a dip bar at the gym that I use, but I’m pleased to see this is something else I can do with my rock rings, according to that link. I had been doing lightweight, high rep benching, and pushups, but wanted to mix up the routine. Climbing Partner swears by dips, so I started to try them. My first few attempts were pretty pitiful… but now I’m up to three sets of ten. They feel good for everything from my back to my elbows, and my upper back is definitely stronger for them. I try to do my dips at least once a week, but some weeks I focus more on pushups or bench… it just depends.

In addition to the physical training (I think I forgot to mention that I’m also climbing a ton in the gym)… I got some great technique feedback on Friday from Climbing Partner. He observed that I spend a lot of time repositioning my hands when I’m climbing hard. I exert unnecessary energy to get my hand position *just right* when I should be placing my hands confidently in the right place instead. I did some “sticky hands” drilling, where I had to “stick” each hand placement, without adjustment them, right where I placed it on first touch of each hold. After just a couple of moves, my climbing speed went up, and I suddenly felt the benefit of the momentum I’d been losing by climbing so slowly. My movement felt much more efficient, and more dynamic… like I was flowing up the route using my momentum, instead of moving from hold to hold. Just by climbing more efficiently with my hands, I was able to complete a route on toprope that has been my nemesis for the last couple of months — making it my newest lead project. I made an effort to apply the same principal to my bouldering this evening, and felt a big difference.

I’ve never (before climbing) been a very good athlete, but that’s definitely changed. I actually really enjoy training for climbing… the hardest part is forcing myself to take rest days.

How’s your training going? Chime in, by commenting below.

Filed under: In the gym, Training

December 21, 2008 • 4:18 am 0

Thinking about projecting

I’m very much an onsight climber. I’m happiest when I spot a route that inspires me, I rack up, walk up to it, and crush it clean. I am most at ease, and feel a sense of accomplishment from my onsights. I like the preparation… the route reading, the power and sense of “hang on” that comes with the inspiration I’ve gotten by looking at the route, and I’ve got a pretty good eye for what I can onsight, and what looks more iffy to me. So, I wind up doing mostly onsight climbing, and very rarely stick to a project long enough for a redpoint. Redpointing, or projecting, is frustrating for me… I am less comfortable with the peaks and valleys of projecting… the two steps forward, one step (or more) backward that I feel when I’m projecting hard routes. My onsight attempt is generally my strongest… after that, everything just feels… so… HARD. But, in the last year or so I’ve gotten through my last plateau, I’ve had a ton of fun climbing, and now, I find myself inspired to project.

Today, I went into the gym, and Alex had set a new 11b-ish route. I’m toproping 11a’s in the gym, and working them on lead (but don’t get too excited – I still climb 5.9 and 10- outside). He thought it would be a great, not easy, route for me, so I warmed up really slowly, all the while working the route out by sight during my turns belaying. It really did catch my eye… I could see the moves, and didn’t see any stoppers, so got excited about my onsight attempt. Finally, I got a chance to walk up the route… telling myself… “I can do this…” as I prepared to toprope the climb.

Right off the ground, it was hard. The start took me two tries — the first time I missed a key hand hold that I thought was a foot. Second try was a charm. I made it through the start, just the way I’d read and planned the sequence, and got to about the fourth bolt, feeling really strong, and feeling good and positive for how well I’d read the route from the ground. I made the move to a good horizontal pinch, then had to cross my other hand up to a hard, angled pinch and my endurance just gave out and I couldn’t hold the pinch. I took a good hangdog rest, then got back on… I fell again at the very top, and then made it to the finish hold. I felt worked… but enthusiastic and inspired. There were no stopper moves on the route… it’s just a matter of endurance… but it will definitely take me some work to get it done.

It got me thinking about what I look for in a project. Bouldering, I like hard moves and sequences that shut me down at the beginning and that get do-able in time. On routes, though, what I gravitate toward are routes where I can make all the moves, but just need to train my efficiency and endurance in order to put it all together. For this route, I definitely need to work my pinch strength, and my overall endurance. The plan will be some time on the pinch training wall at the gym (started today after training) and probably some 4×4 bouldering (4 routes in a row ending just short of pumped; 3 minutes rest; repeat x 4). That particular route was inspiring to me because I’m at the point where climbs that are hard for me usually throw me off because I screw up the sequence or a foot slips, or I just don’t know what to do… it was really nice to get on a route that just plain pumped me out, since that doesn’t happen very much anymore.

I wrapped up the day with three sets of dips, heavy finger rolls with two 25 lb weights on the bar, light weight wrist rolls and a half-assed attempt at pull-ups, chin-ups and frenchies… but by then I was so tired and hungry I wasn’t into the “ups” so called it a day. My forearms are super tired, which is refreshing… it’s been a long time since they’ve been this worked. I climbed and trained especially hard since the weather forecast is bad — so it may be a few days before I’m back in the gym. I knew I’d have a good long stretch to recover, and to daydream about that new project…

Your turn. What do you look for in a project? What inspires you? And, how do you train for a project? Please share your thoughts by commenting, below!

Filed under: In the gym, Training

December 19, 2008 • 8:20 pm 0

The snowed-in girl’s guide to training for climbing

The area I live in finally stopped being the “hole” in the donut, and became the donut itself in the recent winter storm very early Thursday morning. The upside… much needed rest and quality time with Hana. The downside… I’m a day off my regular climbing schedule so had planned to climb Thursday night. I went for a few walks during the day and road conditions ranged from bad to terrible; but my climbing partner (who has been snowed in at my house) and I tried to head out to the still-open climbing gym… to no avail. We made it a few blocks before having a little lesson in friction (or lack thereof) and safely parked his car and walked home.

I keep eyeing my car, thinking she’s good in the snow, and could probably get around just fine if I can get out of my steep, snow-covered driveway… but… it’s not just about my car, and my driveway… there are externalities to consider… like the garage and/or my neighbor’s car that my car may roll into if it lost traction on the way up. Or down. So, in an exercise in risk reduction, I’m staying in.

So how does a climber girl not go completely stir crazy when she’s snowed in? My ghetto climbergirl workout, that’s how.

What you’ll need:

Whatever you’ve got.

For me, what I’ve got is some resistance bands, a set of rock rings, some light hand weights, a yoga mat, the latest issue of Urban Climber, and my upstairs neighbor’s deck. Yes, his deck. More on that in a minute.

The whole thing takes awhile… I was probably at it for about an hour and a half yesterday… but also managed to get little things done during rests, so it’s not a constant hour and a half. I’ll tell you what I do, but you should tailor your workout to your own fitness and training needs.

I start inside my nice warm house, with warm up exercises… moving around just enough to warm myself up. Vacuuming, doing laundry, jumping jacks, whatever you feel like for a few minutes. Then I hit the yoga mat for my ab workout. Or, to be more accurate, Brandon’s AbBuster 5000 workout. Brandon now lives in Denver, but when he used to be up here he shared this awesome, painful, ab workout with us at the climbing gym. I’m not going to describe all the exercises since they’re easy to look up through google (edit – have added links where I could find them, since Mom wanted more details). On a good day, I do most of the workout in about 20 minutes. So… work those abs.

Then, everybody’s favorite… pushups. I do three sets of ten “real” pushups, now. I started with planks and/or “modified” pushups, though, and worked my way up. Wow – I’ve come a long way… when I first started training pushups, my wrist tendinitis was so bad I couldn’t do them flat handed — I had to do them on my fists. Now, training better, eating better, and resting better, my wrists rarely give me any trouble at all and my pushups are flat handed on the floor.

Next, now that your heart is really pumping (and your abs are screaming that they’ll never forgive you) you can work those climbing-specific activities. I do some (but not lots) of pullups on the various holds on my rock rings; I do more frenchies and/or lockoffs, and more of a hangboard-style dead hang workout to work my contact strength (hence the latest issue of Urban Climber, which has a fantastic hangboard workout by Ben Moon on page 65). I also use the beams on the underside of my upstairs neighbor’s deck as a poor-girl’s-hangboard and to bust out pull-ups for variety in addition to the rock rings.

Free weights and my home-made roll-up bar come in handy for the “old standbys” (see my elbow tendinitis post for details) I’ve been doing since rehabbing my newbie-climber overuse injuries.

Next is my Metolius Grip Saver Plus which I’ve also used off and on since my elbow tendinitis experience. The exercise I find most valuable is to squeeze the ball, stretch my hand out with the resistance of the little finger bands, then stretch my wrist up — it works my forearm and elbow and has helped my wrists a lot. I tried to take a blackberry cam video since that description isn’t very good… Hana loves the Gripsaver so much I have to keep it in a drawer she can’t open, since she really thinks it would taste good.

I’d like to add a weighted medicine ball to the workout, since I use one in the gym for tricep and ab exercises and like it. I don’t have one yet, so I sub my 5-lb free weight, but something about the body tension on the medicine ball makes some exercises feel more beneficial (especially the arm exercises).

Then, it’s back to the yoga mat for another 20 or so minutes of stretching.

My routine is largely influenced by Eric Horst’s Training For Climbing book (here (the old edition) on Google Books and here (the new edition on REI.com, and I wouldn’t do a hangboard, dead hang, or rock ring workout without reading Ben Moon’s workout and advice in Urban Climber. Be sure to warm up properly, cool down properly, and hydrate before, during and after your workout, and all the other standard disclaimers (check with your doctor before starting any workout program…) apply.

So – tools that I’m sure I underutilize: resistance bands, and my light free weights. How do you use them in your at-home workouts? And, what would you add to this lineup? Please comment!

Filed under: Gear, Training

• 8:20 pm 0

The snowed-in girl’s guide to training for climbing

The area I live in finally stopped being the “hole” in the donut, and became the donut itself in the recent winter storm very early Thursday morning. The upside… much needed rest and quality time with Hana. The downside… I’m a day off my regular climbing schedule so had planned to climb Thursday night. I went for a few walks during the day and road conditions ranged from bad to terrible; but my climbing partner (who has been snowed in at my house) and I tried to head out to the still-open climbing gym… to no avail. We made it a few blocks before having a little lesson in friction (or lack thereof) and safely parked his car and walked home.

I keep eyeing my car, thinking she’s good in the snow, and could probably get around just fine if I can get out of my steep, snow-covered driveway… but… it’s not just about my car, and my driveway… there are externalities to consider… like the garage and/or my neighbor’s car that my car may roll into if it lost traction on the way up. Or down. So, in an exercise in risk reduction, I’m staying in.

So how does a climber girl not go completely stir crazy when she’s snowed in? My ghetto climbergirl workout, that’s how.

What you’ll need:

Whatever you’ve got.