The 110% Alchemy Arm Sleeve to Treat Climber's Elbow

So pretty much as soon as I published my last post, discussing over training and the symptoms to look for, I promptly ignored that I wasn't sleeping well, continued to train, and developed a little tendonitis in my left elbow. Many climbers will be familiar with this condition - pain inside the elbow joint. Its caused by over training, typically, and is treated with rest, active recovery, and RICE (rest, ice, compress, elevate).

I'll quickly discuss why this is such a frequent injury for climbers. There's something called the medial epicondyl of the humerus, which is a junction where many tendons attach to bone, including the biceps and some of the tendons used to support flexion in the forearm (grabbing holds). When climbing, we typically rotate our hands towards the wall, which puts a little more extension on the forearm tendons attaching to the epicondyl, and though the arm may be straight or bent, we are almost always contracting the biceps, which pulls on the epicondyl in the opposite direction. Using a progressively more closed grip progressively puts more stress on the epicondyl. So to put it all together, if you climb a lot of crimps on faces, you are prone to "climber's elbow." I've also found that the campus board is an exercise that can focus a lot of stress on the epicondyl. With the campus board, the loads are obviously very high, and the wrist position and bent elbows focus a lot of the load on the epicondyl.

So back to my situation, I ignored my over-training symptoms, and continued with campus board sessions. I ended up with mild climber's elbow. The thing with any tendonitis is that you can't just keep training through it, or it will get worse. You have to let your body rest. But also you can't just rest 100%, as this doesn't stimulate the affected area to heal. So its a balance between continuing to train, and resting. I've found that you have to push injuries in a controlled way - don't be too shy about testing yourself when recovering from an injury. But the crucial point is to allow yourself time to recover between workouts. Depending on the injury, two or three days rest between workouts can be a very good idea.

I attempted to rest, and use active recovery, but my condition did not improve. Its a difficult area to ice as well, and easy to give up on an ice regimen, especially since I don't have a staffed training room supporting me...

At about this time I read a review in Climbing Magazine for the 110% Alchemy Arm Sleeve. I was willing to try it, given the glowing review, and given that I wanted to get back to training! Since it arrived, I've been using it following training sessions, and some mornings while I'm making coffee and brushing my teeth. Almost immediately my tendonitis symptoms became negligible and I've been back to a full training schedule with no lingering issues. This thing is a miracle, and if you suffer from climber's elbow you have to have this device!

Enjoy some totally unrelated pictures of +Adam Scheer in Bishop:

Pow Pow V8

Soul Slinger V9

Listening to Your Body to Avoid Overtraining

So, its been quite a while since I've posted! I've been itching to post again, and I've certainly learned a lot in the last couple of years, but probably the most important (and most cliche) is I've learned to listen to my body!

What does listening to your body get for you? Very importantly, it helps you avoid injury. Hand in hand with avoiding injury, it helps one to ride the natural peaks and valleys in your physical and mental capability to avoid overtraining. Its not possible for us to perform at our peak potential all the time. If we try to, we become prone to overtraining syndrome. Being in an overtrained state is very detrimental to athletic performance and general well being. Listening to our bodies can give us an indication of when our body is primed to tackle a tough project, and when it needs a few days of rest.

Why is it so important to avoid overtraining? It can take 3-6 weeks (or longer in extreme cases) to fully recover from an overtrained state. Long term fatigue is no joke, and not something you want to invite upon yourself! Sometimes by taking an extra day of rest, or dialing back the intensity for just a few training sessions, we can save ourselves weeks of recovery.

So back to that listening to your body thing, we hear it all the time, but what does that mean exactly? I think its really easy for people to listen very intently but not hear a thing! Its very helpful to have some things in mind that we should be listening for.

• athletic performance
• general mood and energy level
• level of alertness in the morning
• difficulty falling asleep
• sex drive
• shortness of breath from everyday activities
• achey body and joints
• for climbers especially - chronically inflamed finger joints

If you are usually flashing V5s, but lately are struggling on V4s, this is a pretty loud signal that your body needs a little break. It may be counter intuitive to stop training when you are performing poorly, but always keep in mind that quality exercise and training is far more valuable than a high quantity! Perfect practice makes perfect!

The indicator that I've found to be very reliable for myself is my general mood and energy level. If my motivation is high and my mood is positive, I know my body is probably ready for action. If I'm struggling to warm up, and not having fun, I know that its probably time for me to dial it back a bit.

Sleep is so important for recovery when training, and ironically when we get into an overtrained state, our bodies find it more difficult to sleep easy. Pay attention to your sleep cycles, if are having difficulty here, it could be a sign that its time for yet more sleep.

If you typically bound up stairs without shortness of breath or increased heart rate, and suddenly those same stairs don't feel so easy - watch out.

If you are waking up every day with achey joints, and especially for climbers - swollen fingers! Take it easy! Stop the campus board sessions, stop the weighted dead hangs, just go have some fun climbing and don't be so serious.

If you know me, you know that I'm fairly obsessed with planning my training and workouts, but sometimes you got to throw the hardcore training plan out the window in favor of just having fun - it gives your brain and body a break, and helps to avoid overtraining and injury. Just having fun in the gym or outside on rocks can renew your motivation to train and in the end training less might make you stronger than training more!

As always, quality over quantity, happy training.

Best of May Climbing Videos

If you take a look at the URL, you'll notice its changed. I've registered a hostname and "rebranded" the blog. Hope you like it. June best of is on the way.

A Day in Yosemite

Not even much climbing in this video, but its so well done, and Yosemite is so gorgeous...

Boulder World Cup Stop 1 - Greifense
The first in a series of really nice videos covering the World Cup competition.

Boulder World Cup Stop 2 - Vienna

The Sends: The Mother Superior
A 8B FA in Sweden, this is from a full length film. Great boulder, nice interview.

High Sierra Blocs Part 1
Part 2
I'm not sure exactly where this is, maybe Way Lake, but it looks awesome, and I wanna go!

Carlos Traversi Sends Jade
Obligatory. Interestingly, this bloc is settling at V14, maybe high end =).

Best of April Climbing Videos

Big Ass Campus Dyno

Neat.

Colette McInerney at Diverse

Diverse was a serious hot spot for Americans this past fall. Daniel Woods, Joe Kinder, and Colette McInerney all spent time there in the fall, among many Europeans of course. This video shows off the "easy" route at the wall - 8a/+ Satanique. Sweet line, and Colette makes it look good.

Lynn Hill in Hueco

A few things strike me about this video - 1. DOES LYNN HILL NOT HAVE SHOE SPONSOR??? She's wearing 5.10's and La Sportivas in this video. I find this unbelievable. 2. She makes V12 look ridiculously easy. 3. The quality of the video is outstanding, and I could watch Lynn Hill climb all day. Great video all around.

Chris Lindner and Kurt Smith in J-Tree

Chris Lindner doing a ridiculous looking route in Joshua Tree. This really can give you an appreciation for how hard people have been climbing for a long time now. The route features one of the weirdest moves I've ever seen.

More from Hueco

This video features maybe the two best V2's in the world, and one of the better V5's around.

Bonus video - Lynn Hill and Katie Brown team up in Yosemite

Here's a great look at some bad ass rock climbing in Yosemite, really nice camera work, nice voice overs. This is from 2005.