Climbing Quotient

Best of May Climbing Videos

2010-07-12T00:14:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-04T22:05:00.000-07:00

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.

The Voyage West: The Final Chapter

2010-07-01T20:38:00.001-07:00

OK, so better late than never, but here's the final installment of the voyage west blogs. It's hard for me to find time to blog, especially on the road, seems like I'm always moving from one thing to the next, and the blogging just has not been integrated into that flow...

Anyway, the more I reflect on the bouldering at Rocky Mountain National Park, the more I want to go back there on a regular basis. But I'd also love to check out other areas around there as well - Mt. Evans for sure, and other stuff. I have to say though, unless you have a local guide to help out, its difficult finding problems. Also, depending on the time of year, snowshoes are a must to get to certain areas. Taylor and I of course were snowshoe-less on our trip, so hiking up to Chaos Canyon proved to be difficult. Not only that, but as it is a true alpine setting, the weather is unpredictable, and packing the proper equipment can mean the difference between an enjoyable time bouldering, and being pelted by hail...

On our first attempt to get to Chaos, we were indeed pelted by hail. At the start of the 45 minute hike, we were shirtless, and borderline hot, as we climbed, it got colder, cloudier, and snowyer, until the sky opened up and dropped dime sized hail on us. We were completely unprepared, and had to make a quick decision - wait it out, or bail. Waiting it out meant waiting it out IN the weather, as there was no cover nearby, if we had made it to the field, we probably would have been fine, but that being our first trip up, we didn't know what else the hike had in store for us, so we decided to bail.

It's always difficult to get so close to an area, only to have to turn around. In all it took us about 2.5 hours of combined driving and hiking to get there, all for nothing. Oh well, next time I'll bring my showshoes and a bomber weatherproof shell. We ended up going to the Spot that night for a gym sesh, which was cool, as we'd never been there and it IS the spot...

OK, next day we tried it again - this time success! We found ourselves at some blocs just up from the Kind boulder, and then worked a bunch of stuff around the Kind area. What amazing rock, texture, features, landings, height, this rock has it all. For steep power bouldering, RMNP has got to be one of the best areas around. Taylor and I both flashed The Kind, and I did some variation of it that is supposedly V7/V8 - it felt hard, but probably more like a solid 7. I was stoked though, it took me about 20 minutes and it felt great, even carrying the finger injury, and having not bouldered for over a month probably.

In regards to the cities of Boulder and Denver, I have to be honest, I wasn't too impressed. Maybe I'm not giving Boulder a fair shake, but from all the rave reviews it got from folks, I was expecting a bit more. Granted I didn't have a chance to experience the night life there, but generally, ok, its a nice city, its got mountains, but what's the big deal? There are plenty of other places like that...

So at this point in the trip, I think Taylor and I were getting a little anxious to get to California. I was ready to start unpacking, and Taylor had some buddies he wanted to visit. So we headed out and made the final push through Utah, Nevada, Tahoe, and down into Mountain View. This is where the trip ends and my new life begins, so keep your RSS readers locked in for future updates! I owe some best of video posts, and I can feel some training articles coming on. Until next time!

Whew!

2010-06-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

Its been quite a month for me! I have made it across country, and have more or less (less) settled into my new apartment in Mountain View, CA. I owe what little audience I have a few blog posts, and they are coming, I promise! I just got Internet hooked up today at the crib, so those posts should be coming in the next day or so.

For now I'll just note that I've applied a new design to the blog, and I'm in the process of adding a Meebo bar to it, so you may notice that as you read this very post. Until soon.

Boulder!

2010-06-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

As the title of the post might suggest, we have landed in Boulder! We got in late this afternoon and had enough time to hit The Spot for a gym sesh at one of the most famous gyms in the world. It was a fun sesh, cool features, nice problems, but WTWT it is hot in Colorado! I hope the higher elevation areas keep the temps cooler for us to climb.

Last update I had suffered a partially ruptured A4 in my left ring finger, prognosis is the same, but I'm climbing through it for the duration of this trip. I just won't be able to crimp with the left hand. Also last update I was still psyched to send the route which hurt my finger - Blackalicious on the Rusty Cage Wall at Mondo Beyondo in Tensleep Canyon. It's a 5.12a and its burly! Totally sustained through the first 25 or 30 feet, then it eases up a little but stays interesting to the chains. I did manage to send, through bouts of stomach uneasiness (to say the least) and an injured finger. I'm happy with the send though, its one of the more difficult routes I've done I think.

The style of climbing at Tensleep is totally rad, almost futuristic. The routes don't tend to be very steep, but the movement is fantastic. There are so many foot options, and hand holds are incredibly varied, the variability of movement is extremely high. I found myself using lots of fancy foot technology, such as back flags, quite regularly. The routes tend to be quite powerful, and beautifully sustained. I got my ass handed to me on Happiness in Slavery 12b, the moves were so hard! All the way through!

I can't speak highly enough of Tensleep as a modern sport climbing crag. Besides that it is remote, the place is top notch in all regards! GO!

Tensleep, Tendon!

2010-06-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

ARGH! I've injured the A4 tendon on my left ring finger. The timing could be worse, but I'm very disappointed. I was just starting to get familiar with the climbing style here at Tensleep Canyon, and was starting to try some really hard moves. Before I get into those details, we've got some catching up to do with our super heroes.

When we last left Gabe and Taylor, they were fighting the heat in Kentucky. We gave the climbing there one last try on Sunday morning, and even catching the best temps, holding on was work not pleasure. Too hot, too humid, not to mention lots of bugs. We did have a great time in Kentucky hanging out with Ashtray and Wood Hippie. Ashtray recommended we go directly to Tensleep. He warned us against Maple Canyon as it would be the shedding season for the cobbles there, and he convinced us that Tensleep was the place to be - good camping, great rock, cool temps.

So after our final climbing session in the hot and humid south, we headed back to camp, broke it, packed, and took a shower with a bag shower device - this was quite nice!. Fresh dressed and ready to hit the road, we set out on our 25+ hour road trip.

The drive from Kentucky to Tensleep was predicted by Google to take 25 hours. The route goes through Indiana, Southern Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota, before hitting Wyoming. We decided to attempt it in a straight shot. I think I drove the first 5 or so hours, getting us most of the way through Indiana. Taylor then took over and brought us a lot of the way through Iowa. I took over for one more shift. At this point it was late at night, and the shifts were getting shorter and more difficult. I drove for two or three more hours through South Dakota before we stopped at a random unmanned gas pump and caught about 3 hours of z's. Taylor at this point had had a good amount of sleep, and rallied to take us to Wyoming. I took us the home stretch for the final 3 hours. At this point, a 3 hour drive feels like a piece of cake! We traveled for a total of 28 hours, including stops for food and one nap.

We finally drove into Tensleep Canyon with enough light remaining to reveal the beauty and immensity of this place. The canyon is massive, and beautiful, and as we later learned, there are developed walls all up and down it. The drive in reminded me of the drive into Yosemite from the southern entrance, driving past huge granite domes. Tensleep Canyon is like an Endless Wall of limestone - if Endless Wall were 10 miles long and was on both side of the canyon. Taylor and I jested that there may be potential for a million routes here, and I'm not sure we are far off.

There is free camping in Tensleep, and we found a free site that was OK on our first night. Further exploration granted a much improved site two nights later. We are in the prairie between canyon walls, next to Tensleep Creek, with a really nice campsite.

The next day we went into town and hit Dirty Sally's Ice Cream Shop - purveyor of the local climbing guide. I love the Tensleep guidebook. The author, Aaron Huey, has been described as "weird" by more than one person who we've run into. The guidebook is hilarious, containing an overall theme of communist propaganda, and including tons of random diagrams and images - loosely related to war or communism, usually.

The guide uses an icon system to describe routes - a kitty = 3 stars, porn or sexy ladies = 4 stars, american flag, machine gun, grenade = 5 stars. There are numerous other icons to describe other traits of routes - run out, long, sharp, etc.

A wall that looked like it had some good projects for us, as well as a 5 star warmup was the Slavery Wall at the Mondo Beyondo area. The hike from the road at the base of the canyon to the cliff lines at the top are quite severe, but are over soon enough. The views at the walls are breathtaking, usually there are good stances. The routes are bolted in a contemporary style - early and often, and the anchors on trade routes are sport anchors - no draws required. The climbing style is totally modern, in regards to the physical movement and the way the crag is developed. After a couple of days climbing here, one can get very comfortable taking falls on the clean walls.

It was fortunate that we ended up at the Slavery Wall on our first day, as it rained, but the routes we were climbing stayed dry. Not too much stuff stays dry here in the rain, but it doesn't rain that much! We both sent a short/bouldery 12a. We both failed on a pumpy 11c, and Taylor started a love affair with some insane 5.14 project - I'll let him spray about that...

Day two we had a leisurely morning and headed to the Slavery Wall in the afternoon. We warmed up on a five star 5.10 - Bong Water. This route goes up through a huge water runnel and the final 3 bolts involve pure stem moves! This was very cool and very airy. Taylor gave a burn on the project, and I onsighted an 11b to warm up a bit more.

I then turned my attention to a 12a on the Rusty Cage that follows a variety of two finger pockets for about 35 or 40 feet. The onsight attempt fizzled out at the 2nd bolt - the movement is sequential, and the sequence was slightly cryptic. I pulled past the crux on the first burn and continued with the rest of the route - hanging two or three more times to reach the chains. I was lowered down then, bit by bit to link sections together. I got my sequence for the top and middle, and then started working the crux. I found a new hold for the left hand - a small two finger pocket, which I could only get about half a pad into. This caused me to want to crimp the hold, and to make a powerful move off of it to a high right hand. As soon as I loaded my body to make the move, there was a loud pop! My finger! I did the move, but my day was done, and I won't be crimping with my left hand for several months!

Oh also - Tensleep is remote! I have no mobile phone signal in the canyon or even in town! Taylor has to drive into town to get a weak signal. We drove to the next town over - Worland to catch some Internet access at the Rams Horn Cafe. The pie here is good, and so is the coffee. So in the end I do think I've injured the A4 relatively badly. I'm going to attempt to climb, as long as I don't have to crimp, I should be OK, and after the trip I promise I'll take three months off! Please just let me climb for one more week!

I'm going back to do that 12a that got me - I'll just have to use my index and middle fingers for my two finger team, BRING IT.

Kentucky!

2010-05-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

Taylor and I have made it as far as the sticks of Kentucky. We've setup camp at the infamous Ashtray compound near the gorge, and are wondering how long we can take the heat. Highs of 85 have left the rock climbing feeling kinda crappy! We did get a nice full day in at the New, whereTaylor onsighted Tony the Tiger, and I flashed it. It was a fight for both of us and it felt good to get a good send under our belts.

We stopped in for a quick session at the Motherlode yesterday where we felt out a couple of potential projects - Buff the Wood for Taylor and Stain for myself. Buff the Wood has a couple of very long moves, especially for me. Going to the poor crimp rail at the bottom I'm using an undercling and its FULL extension for me to reach the good spot with my right hand. Taylor could lock off and go up with his left - this is a good route for him.

I got up to the third bolt on Stain onsight and grabbed the draw to clip in. There is one more move off of tiny crimps to a huge jug out right before the clip, and there is definitely potential to deck from here. The next bolt is quite run out as well, this line has got some spice! After feeling out both lines, I'm thinking Buff the Wood might be better for me now...

Today we are taking an active rest day, its pretty hot! Ugh! 82 in the shade! We're gonna hit curbside and do some 10's, 11's, and possibly a 12 or two. Tomorrow is a big day, starting at Roadside where Taylor will attempt an onsight for flash of Ro, then either Military Wall or the Lode.

Thats the update for now, see you next rest day!

Progression

2010-05-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

Its been a surreal week for me, I was so busy preparing for my move that it isn't until now that I've been able to reflect on what exactly what is happening. I had a nice midnight jog and I passed so many familiar elements of my life in Raleigh - drunks at Rum Runners (ugh), late night burgers at Mojo's, Mike's car wash (his guys were out doing parking), Berkley Cafe - the owner Jim was hanging out outside. It felt like the city was saying goodbye.

Now preparations are over, and adventure begins with a 4:30 am wake up call, less than four hours from now. I depart for Mountain View at 6:40 am and I have until Tuesday night to find an apartment.

I red-eye Tuesday night to arrive in Raleigh Wednesday morning, and am immediately bouncing, with Taylor, right to Fayetteville for a couple days at the New, before the main event - the Red. Looks like its going to be a bit hot, but at least it'll be dry. If we can't take the heat we'll head out to Boulder early to catch some cooler temps. After Boulder we hit Maple Canyon, before a pitstop in Tahoe on the home stretch to Mountain View.

This is the beginning.

A Beautiful Day at Moore's Wall

2010-04-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

Back to Moore's Wall again! This time we came back with some video! This is cool because it shows _my_ problem, LOL =), plus a few other classics. It was also one of the most beautiful days I've ever seen up there, such a clear sky, the crag looked amazing and the view of Sauratown was never more crystal clear. I LOVE MOORE'S!!!

My day ended up including the following problems:

Warm Up V2 - this problem needs a name, its on the right face next to Gymrat Kevin
Gymrat Kevin V4
New Warmup area big boulder traverse V4?
New Warmup area big boulder straight up V5?
New Warmup area first boulder overhang V5?
two failed attempts on Tsunami V7 (but oh so close both times)
Stewart's Roof V5
The Nick V6
Stickman left exit V4
LOL =) (I guess V5)
Locksmith finish on Masterlock V6?
Got Your Back V4
and three laps on The Pit V5

Thanks so much to Aaron for the video! Aaron did some hard problems too, though we didn't capture any for posterity. Eric also did The Nick V6, which was his second 6 outside, way to go E!

Go here for a full screen video.

I did order a flip camera like two months ago and its been on back order since, wish I could have gotten more video this season, oh well...

Moore's Wall Warm Up Area Part 3

2010-04-05T05:23:00.001-07:00

So yesterday we went to Moore's (AGAIN). Its amazing how many times I've been there, and yet I can have a whole day where I do nothing but new problems (for me). Its a testament to how big the area is. My understanding of the volume of boulder problems to climb has really exploded this year. I think the new warm up area we've been exploring is quite exciting, as it offers a number of high quality problems in the V2 to V6 range. Though it has been previously developed, its new to us and its been a blast!

I was feeling a spring in my step so I did some serious trucking up to the fire road, only to be greeted by a ranger asking for my climbing permit! GARR! Even for just bouldering! Yes! No! I didn't have one! I dropped my pad and trucked it right back down to the kiosk to get a permit, and ran right back up the trail, smoking myself in the process. I kept it going though and made it to the warm ups within a breath of losing consciousness. Make sure to get a permit when you go to Moore's to climb or boulder!

Before we got down to any serious business, Adam led us up to the big boulder on the right side of the fire road, which is a couple hundred yards before the Sentinel Buttress trail. On the back side of this boulder there are some good tennis shoe warm up problems, and the wall can be traversed in tennies. It was a good way to get the blood flowing and get the body warmed up a bit, and it prepared us for some moderate pulling.

The real climbing started at the New Warm Up Area. Though I had proposed the name of the Satellites, since its kind of a satellite area, I think New Warm Up Area is more logical and thats what we've been calling it. Adam, Taylor, and myself started on the first arete you come to when walking over to the boulders. There's kind of a narrow overhanging face which you walk right up to from the trail. The right arete of this face goes at about V2 or V3. Starting from around the corner a bit on the left, there's a big flat undercling jug. Move off of this jug to the face and up the pinches and top out straight up for about a V5 or V6.

We then moved over to the big boulder, which has tall vertical lines on its left side, and a short roof on the right/trail-facing side. The short roof seemed to have several lines, but we started with the obvious one. A bit of a left to right traverse on obvious chalked holds, then a really hard top out! Adam was able to bag this one, its probably about a V5. With a little beta and slightly better temps the top might not feel so hard.

The next goal was Governing Dynamics, and the rail problem to its left, before ending with the North End. None of us had ever done Governing before, and we came into the problem having heard two things about the it - its totally sweet, and its totally horrible. We first did the V4-ish rail to the left, which I found to be quite fun, and a great warm up or training problem. You can make it as hard as you want, using a lot of tension with the feet and core.

On to Governing, the problem starts with obvious underclings on a block about waist height. You plant two bad feet then go up left hand to an edge, then somehow move out right to slopers and then a jug. I thought the tension in the first move alone was worth doing the problem, very cool. Folks use a lot of different beta to get out right, but I think we all settled on a heel-toe cam as the best beta. I don't know about V6, might be more like a 5, but its still a cool problem. Here's a shot of Governing from 0friction.

So after finishing there, we attempted to bushwhack straight to the North End. Let me just say that I do not recommend this! If somebody were feeling industrious, they could blaze a total of about 100 yards through rhodos to link up with a faint game trail above and to the left of the Vandal boulder. As it stands, its not a super fun hike, but passable. Start from the opposite side of the Vandal boulder problem, facing the big wall, take a straight left, then go up where it looks thinnest (good luck spotting that). Head up and kind of left, the trail goes right into a 4 foot high boulder, climb the boulder and just above is the game trail, take this all the way up to the main trail, and be happy its all over! With all the bushwhacking and hiking we did, we were totally beat by the time we got to Plafond Deceiver, and nap time was on.

It was amazingly peaceful laying on our crash pads gazing up at the circling buzzards, and the peregrines performing mid-air acrobatics! We only caught glimpses of their brilliant flying abilities, but I was impressed, nevertheless. It was a bit hot, but in the shade and laying on a crash pad, and with the mid-air entertainment, the scene couldn't have been more serene. It was a wonderful day.

We finished by running laps on the roof section of Plafond, sick moves! I'd never been down here before and I'm super psyched to come back. What's the line on the left side of the roof called? That thing is rad! Gotta get back!

Best of March Climbing Videos

2010-04-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

After furious months of January and February, the video front was a little slow in March. I imagine things will heat up in April with the onset of sport season.

Daniel Woods sends Desperanza

Not the greatest video, but such a notable send that it had to be included. Many have tried, only DW has sent - the "full" line of a tensiony, steep, power endurance climbing at the start, into a series of ridiculously small crimps, still on the roof, through the middle, and ending with a weird hang and drop.

Chris Sharma Interview

Obligatory...

Junior Sport Climbing Comp at Peak Experiences

Featuring TRC's own "Little Jason". If he can reach it, he can hold it! Bonus Little Jason video.

Ashima Shirashi on Power of Silence

An 8 year old sending V10! I don't think its the last we'll see of little Ashima.

Carlo Traversi on Black Lung

A nice video dealing with the prospect of projecting a very hard boulder problem.

Some Blocs in a creek near Boone somewhere

Pretty great looking rock and problems. Good quality video that shows the full lines.

Brion Voges in Bishop

Watch Voges crush everything in site in Bishop.

Two from the Rock Rodeo

Here's Daniel Woods on Barefoot on Sacred Ground, and Alex Puccio on Free Willy.

Shaxi Raxi

Sharma on a project in Spain. I find it inspirational to see people just going for it on super hard moves way above bolts!

Mescalito update 1

Mescalito update 2

Caldwell and Jorgeson back on the big wall.

Moore's Wall Warm Up Area Part 2

2010-03-28T05:05:00.000-07:00

Numbers went down yesterday at Moore's! Lots of people sending lots of problems!

To start the day off we went to the new warm up area. I wanted to at least show the V4 pinch problem to the guys, to see if they thought it was as good as I thought it was. Before that though, some other lines got cleaned and sent. Brian and Adam did a tall line up the vertical face of the tall boulder with the short roof. This is the second "main" boulder you come to after leaving the trail. The problem is on the face facing away from the trail, and it tops out just on the left side of the ridge of the boulder. They said it was about V3.

I did a problem starting on the far left side of the vertical face of the shorter boulder. It starts on a now-scarred jug, with bad feet. It goes up into a very cool left facing layback feature. Work the feature to the top which is an easy mantle, for a great V2.

We then went to the overhanging left face of this boulder, for the pinch problem. Everybody sent, and the V4 grade was confirmed, as was the quality of the line. Everybody loved it. Here's a pic from 0friciton -

On the right side of this face I did a line that starts on the jug for the previously mentioned V2, and a bad sloper for the left hand. The problem involves a series of insecure slaps with the left hand, pinches with the right, and knee bar and thigh squeeze jessery with the right leg. I did it second go and it feels about V5. Adam sent this problem as well. It eventually tops out on the front face of the boulder (right side of arete). After this we were on our way to Tsunami.

I've been notoriously trying to send Tsunami for about a year now. A series of injuries and other circumstances have definitely impacted my ability to work the line, but I was ready on this day. Still carrying a slightly sore left finger, I discovered a couple of weeks ago that I could do all the left hand moves with an open hand, thus saving my finger. I was psyched to do the line then, and gave it several good goes from the start, though did not send. On Saturday I knew all I had to do was figure out my beta for the top, dial it, then fire it from the start.

I figured out my beta for the top pretty quickly. Once I got my left hand on the sloper, it would be high right foot wide, lots of tension, right hand to the crimp, left foot to the left, left hand to the jug. I was ready to try from the start.

The first go felt OK, but my muscles just weren't ready to crimp so hard. It took me a few tries to really get warm and used to the crimping. On my third try I got to the sloper, but could not hold the swing. I took a nice long break, got myself psyched, and on the next go I cruised the bottom, hit the sloper and controlled the swing, desperately got my right hand on the crimp, and barely latched the jug flake at the end with my left! So close! I'm happy to have finally done this problem, seems like everybody else did it before me, but its finally done!

The group then moved over to the Valley, where Aaron and Jon needed to send Triple-X. Brian and Adam wanted to work Masterlock, so we split up for a while.

Aaron and Jon worked Triple-X hard! They both fell off the holding the swing move about 10 times. After a bit the Dorinskys rolled up to the spot, with Matt wanting to work Cuisan. Will and myself did a super low ball problem on the far right side of the overhang of the boulder. It starts on an orange jug and basically goes straight up and a little right. It climbs a lot better than it looks! We have no idea what this is called, but it has been done before, and here's a pic of somebody climbing Iron Chuff, the lowball is actually to the right of this.

Jon and Aaron took a break from Triple-X and went down to Turdslinger. I was hanging out with them and looking at the really short overhang just to the right of the Turdslinger boulder. I've looked at it a hundred times before I'm sure, but always just dismissed it as being too low and not worth climbing. For some reason, on this day, I got the spark to investigate more.

I got down under the roof and realized that most of the ground was just small rocks. I started pulling a few rocks out and thought that maybe I could pull out enough to dig out a start. About 20 minutes later, indeed there was room, and there are holds all over the roof! Its rad! The problem that ended up being done though didn't start on the lowest conceivable start. A lower start could be very hard.

Anyway, Greg ended up spotting the beta and sending it. It starts on opposing flat squeeze features, and there is a tiny crimp on the right hand. There is a spot right next to the right hand for a right heel. Pull off the ground and throw right hand to the hold on the lip, top out. One hard move, Greg said 6 or 7, I could barely pull on, I'm thinking 8 or 9. We'll call it V7 for now, and we're naming it "How Low Can You Go?". To go with the Hip Hop theme of the adjacent boulder, and the nature of the line.

How Low Can You Go

About the time that was going on, Adam did Iron Chuff, Aaron did Triple-X, Matt did Cuisan, I think Brian did Cuisan. Earlier in the day Greg and Brian both sent Masterlock. I had to leave a bit early so some other stuff probably got done too, but regardless it was a big day at Moore's!

Moore's Wall Warm Up Area

2010-03-17T16:04:00.000-07:00

A weekend ago Chris and I went to Moore's Wall on a beautiful Sunday. The goals were Tsunami and the Vandal, but what I found interesting was the new-to-us "satellite" area off of the Sentinel Buttress trail. Immediately after the Tsunami trail on the right there is an obvious trail-side boulder which is OK for warming up for Tsunami. There are about four or five natural lines on this boulder alone, but the find was a bit further off the trail.

Just above this first boulder is an adjacent, shorter boulder, take a left straight off the trail and go directly behind this boulder. Follow a rough trail to a really cool looking boulder on the left which has some high lines on overhanging rock, we didn't climb these today but we want to another time.

Go around this first boulder to the right and follow a trail that goes up and across the ridge line. There is a very large and impressive boulder about 150 yards away. We didn't climb these either, but there are at least a few lines here. To the left and down hill a bit are a pair of boulders with great warm up problems.

The first boulder is smaller, has an unclimbably-low roof on the right, but a nice medium height overhanging jug wall on the left. There are two lines or so squeezed onto this face, with easy tops.

The second boulder is medium height, and has an approach-facing, vertical face on nice rock. The face is hard to miss, and offers great warm up problems with easy top outs. The walk off is cake. Its really the only wall in Moore's that I know like it, as far as having quality lines in the V0 and V1 range. The downhill side of this boulder is overhanging, and features amazing pinch holds formed by the vertical grain of the rock. There is a *great* V4 sit start here, that finished up and to the left. A straight up variation is the real line, but it was dirty and wet when we were there. We cleaned all the tops quite a bit, hopefully the rains have helped clean more.

I'm psyched to go to the Satellites (unless John already knows what they're called) next time I'm at Moore's, to warm up and climb on good rock!

Best of February Climbing Videos

2010-03-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

Switzerland ]I[

Here's the final footage from Jamie Emerson's trip to Europe last winter. It seems Jamie has saved the best for last, with footage of Daniel Woods and Adam Ondra crushing some of the harder and more famous blocs in Switzerland.

Bloodline

Abbey Smith on a new? V8 on North Mountain, Hueco Tanks. Simply put an amazing feature, unique for Hueco?

Bishop Testpieces

Carlo Traversi on a couple of the proudest lines around. Great angle for the Buttermilker and a different angle for the Mandala that shows its angle.

Crimping Christ on a Cross

Sick line at Hueco.

Bridge Day!

Bonus video! For those of us who are familiar with the New, its cool to see some videos of Bridge Day.

Walk the Crag: Fern Buttress (NRG)

Here's Kenny Parker breaking down the classics of Fern Buttress, there certainly is some gorgeous rock at the New.

Rumbling Bald Tour of Classics

A video put together by Dalton and Nate featuring some of the harder classics at Rumbling Bald.

Iker Pou on Demencia Senil

A futuristic Chris Sharma route in Spain, sick video.

The Game

Some footage of Daniel Woods' new V16, Chad Greedy makes me laugh.

Southern Sampler

Some nice problems, mostly from Rocktown.

Dark Waters

Jon Glassberg climbing Dark Waters, his edits are always dope!

Sonnie Trotter on Direquiem

I like this for the video as much as the write up - a candid description of Sonnie's time in Scotland. The video is not the best quality, but the climber is damn good, the rock looks great, and the setting is pretty cool.

John Hurr on Kaya at LRC

A perfect line, a talented climber, a great edit.

Sprint Training for Athletes

2010-02-08T16:01:00.001-08:00

One form of training which I find to be almost universally ignored among climbers is sprint training. This is training that literally consists of sprinting. You might not think that this type of training would be helpful for climbing or other sports that don't involve running, but I've found it to be an invaluable component of my training program. Sprint training has the potential to build tremendous general cardiovascular fitness and anaerobic endurance, aerobic endurance, and leg muscle and joint strength. Athletics generally rely on a strong base - legs and ankles/feet, sprint training makes them super strong. But its the general anaerobic and aerobic fitness gained from sprinting that climbers are going to LOVE.

Improving overall anaerobic capacity improves the ability to climb through lactic acid build up in the forearms. This means with good overall fitness, you can climb longer! Not only that, but improving aerobic capacity, which is also trained with sprint training, improves the body's ability to process lactic acid, speeding recovery. This means that the more fit you are, the bigger each and every rest feels.

The goal with anaerobic training is to force the body into overall oxygen debt. Though it is possible to fail on climbs because of lack of overall fitness, its usually the grip that gives out first. Its not easy to force oxygen debt using climbing - enter sprint training.

When I do a sprint workout I generally run for one or two miles to start. Its important to be warm, as sprinting is a near maximal intensity exercise. I'll run fast in bits to get the muscles more loosened up, before starting the sprints. I usually do one or two sets of sprint "intervals". A sprint interval consists of sprinting, interspersed with rests. A good rest to use is a jog of equal length as the sprints. Other rests could be to shadow box, climb a boulder problem, do yoga, etc. Living downtown, I have convenient landmarks with which to control my intervals - city blocks. So I'll sprint one city block, then jog the next, then sprint, jog, etc. If you have access to a track, a good substitute is "straights and curves". I usually do one set of four sprints, and if I'm feeling frisky, I'll rest 10-15 minutes then do another set. The workout might go like this:

* warm up

* jog 1-2 miles

* sprint intervals - 100 yards run/100 yards jog/100 run/100 jog/100 run/100 jog/100 run/100 jog

* rest 10-15 minutes

* sprint intervals - 100 run/100 jog/100 run/100 jog/100 run/100 jog/100 run/100 jog

* cool down

I find that if I do this workout once or twice per month, I have a spring in my step, my joints in my legs feel healthy, and my overall cardiovascular fitness is NEVER the limiting factor of my climbing. If you take climbing seriously, you should be sprinting at least once per month. Given that it doesn't take a lot of time to reap the benefits, there's no excuse! A regular running schedule (with or without sprinting) will always benefit climbing performance...

I will say that one should not jump into sprint training if running is not a regular part of the routine yet. To ramp up to a workout like this, jog 2-3 miles, 3 times per week, for about a month.

This is just one form of "interval" training. One popular, sport specific, interval training routine climbers use is the 4x4.

Best of January Climbing VIdeos

2010-01-31T13:29:00.000-08:00

Dead Point Magazine relaunched their Web site at the start of the New Year, and with it they released a ton of new videos! Sick! With the flood of videos DPM dominates the top video list for January.

Joe Kinder - Down in Flames

Joe Kinder has been in Hueco, I guess to escape the cold, but surprisingly to me, he sounds like he has rediscovered bouldering and is psyched on it! This video is him sending a problem "for a route climber" as Joe said on his blog. Its long, its got super cool moves, its V12, the video is simple, nuff said.

Moore's Wall Classics

Representing my home city and gym, Louder Than 11 produced this excellent short featuring three classic Rodney Biddle lines - Orange Crush, Tsunami, and The Vandal. Rodney is in the vid speaking and climing, the other climbers are Rami Annab and Nate Draughn.

Organic Beer

Sick problem at the Gunks.

Carlo Traversi in Arkansas

Here's a nice video of Carlo Traversi on a couple of Fred's Cave lines and something else. The shots give a good feeling for what the cave feels like, and how the problems climb.

Paul Robinson in Arkansas

Here's a short that shows Paul Robinson on a couple of hard Arkansas problems. The shots of Wood Grain Grippin' really give an appreciation for the bloc.

Daniel Woods in Europe

Here's Daniel Woods doing a hard FA in Austria, and then a couple other cool problems.

Jamie Emerson's Switzerland Part I
Jamie Emerson's Switzerland Part ][

You may remember that Jamie Emerson went on a several weeks long trip to Switzerland last year, hes putting up leftover footage in three parts on his blog.

Iron Palm Open

A pull up contest at the Hueco Rock Ranch put on by Jason Kehl, an entertaining video.

James Kasey in the Hollow Mountain Cave

I'd love to climb at the Hollow Mountain Cave in the Grampians in Australia at some point in my life. The thing is crazy. Impressive problems, but V15? Come on! Give it a route grade...

Illinois' Biggest Sloper

BONUS! This one was originally up on Momentum Video Magazine a year or so ago, cool video, and that sloper is HUGE!

Gabe's Paella

2010-01-31T11:36:00.000-08:00

OK a complete break from the norm, here's a recipe I adapted from an iPhone app, I feel comfortable calling it my own at this point, given all the modifications I've made. This is a great meal for freezing or serving a bunch of folks.

serves 4-6

Ingredients

* 2 whole chicken breasts

* some andouille sausage (a little less than the chicken)

* salt/pepper/paprika

* extra virgin olive oil

* 1 green bell pepper

* 3/4 cup of chopped onion (about half a largish onion)

* minced garlic

* 2 cups long grain brown rice (or whatever rice you prefer)

* 2 cans (~ 30 ounces) chicken broth

* 1 cup white wine

* saffron

* 1 can (14.5 ounces) stewed tomatoes

* chopped fresh parsley (optional garnish)

Directions

* Start the rice first

* put the rice and all the broth and wine into a big pot

* throw some chopped garlic in there

* bring to boil

* reduce heat and allow to slowly simmer

* put some olive oil in a pan for cooking the chicken, sausage, and vegetables

* put some chopped garlic in the oil

* bring to medium heat

* cut chicken into 1 inch pieces

* make dry rub with salt pepper and paprika, rub onto chicken to taste

* cook chicken in pan to golden color, throw in with rice when ready

* cut sausage, cook in pan to crusty edges, throw in with rice when ready

* chop veggies, rub with salt/pepper/paprika, cook in oil to taste, add to rice when ready

* throw stewed tomatoes in with rice

* put some saffron in with rice

* cook and stir occasionally until the whole thing has a nice consistency, you don't want the mixture to bee too watery, and you don't want your chicken to get too dry

Pilot Mountain Bouldering

2010-01-24T09:20:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Chris and I headed up to Pilot Mountain to meet up with some folks and have a mellow day of roped climbing. We even geared up with that in mind, and started down the trail. We decided we wanted to take a look at the trail-side boulder, since I had never even looked at it. As we came around the bloc to see the overhanging side, dry as a bone, we started feeling holds. One thing lead to another and before you know it we were hiking back to the car to get pads.

We did just about every possible variation on the trail-side boulder, including fun problems from V0 to about V2. From this boulder we wanted to check out the stuff above the trail, specifically a V4 which Chris had heard about from JP. To get to the V4, hike directly uphill from the trail-side boulder. Not directly away from the cliff, and not 90 degrees up from the trail, but up the hill.

We hiked up to find a really cool looking overhanging line, that appeared to top out through mossy slopers. We got to cleaning and what we ended up with we think is a V6. It starts way at the back of the roof, two moves lower than any chalk we saw. You have to make two body tension moves to establish on obvious jugs, from which a big left hand throw is made to a sloper, feet adjust, then bump left hand to a sloper with a nub which is actually pretty good. From there you work yourself up to be established on two pretty good sidepulls, crank a seriously high right foot, then make a series of three left hand bumps, all of which are tenuous, and the last of which makes the climber fly violently towards an amazing pinch feature, like some sort of Kung-Fu move, from which the problem is basically over.

Chris was able to do the problem in about 45 minutes, I think I would have sent but on one of my full out burns I ripped a little edge off of one of the left hand holds at the top, I came flying off the problem along with the little edge. I never felt as strong on it after that, the problem is seriously power endurance intensive, and the top moves may not be the most difficult, but on link they are definitely the crux. This is a 5 star problem.

There appears to be an alternate finish which goes to the left, I feel that the lower start and more direct finish completed by Chris is a more logical line, we'll definitely be back to check out a finish that goes to the left. Its conceivable that starting on the obvious jugs in the middle of the line we did, and finishing left would result in a V4. There also appears to be potential for one or two additional lines just to the left, on the same boulder. Not to mention the numerous other boulders in the near vicinity, which we did not explore in depth.

At this point we were basically committed to a day of bouldering, and working the V6 line on the roof gave us perma-grin for the rest of the day, what a quality problem! We went down the ridge trail until the fork, and turned left, where the trail turns to head back up the bottom of the ridge. A few hundred yards back up the hill there is a trail which cuts down the mountain, and is marked with a sign that warns hikers of strenuous hiking. This is the trail for the boulders below.

The hike is really not too bad, though we did stash our rope gear before going down. It was probably less than a 5 minute hike from the trailhead at the bottom of the crag. Neither of us had ever been to the main concentration of boulders at Pilot Mountain, and we were quite surprised with the quality and quantity! The lower boulder field has some of the most high quality rock I've seen anywhere at Pilot! There were tall lines, great rock, steep lines, featured vertical faces with good tops, and more, and all in a very concentrated area.

Chris did some highballs on the obvious juggy highball boulder which faces the trail, before we turned our attention to what we think is a V7 on a short steep face. The face is obvious, is just uphill adjacent to the trail, and is in the row with the main group of boulders in the field. The line we worked started towards the right side of the roof, all the way at the back. One move to a left hand crimp leads to a very barn door move to a right hand pinchy sloper, and from there Chris was the only one of us able to top out, using a fully dynamic throw, feet flying everywhere, to a left hand just over the lip, sick!

We ended up discovering two great lines, one V6, one V7, and we'll definitely be heading back to Pilot to unlock more!

Here's a list of most of the problems we did...

Trail-side boulder

* V0 - start just left of the vertical break in the rock on the face to the left of the overhang, finish straight up

* V1 - start just to the right of the vertical break, on the shield feature, go left and top out as previous

* V2 - start on the shield, finish straight up

* V2 - start to the right of the shield, finish straight up

* V2 - start on the right center of the overhang on a right hand slopey edge and a left hand sidepull, go straight up

* V2 - start on the right side of the overhang, finish straight up

Above the trail boulder

* V6 five star problem

Steep face boulder

* V2 on the left side of the overhang, up obvious jugs

* V7 on the right side of the overhang

Bouldering Circuits, Stamina Training, and Technical Training

2010-01-18T08:12:00.000-08:00

I love getting a circuit together. Having sent a good group of problems or routes in an area, it is possible to then use those problems and routes to put together a circuit for the purpose of training stamina as well as technique. The famous boulderer John Gill used to not do a problem just to get to the top, but would do problems until he had their moves mastered. In this way he refined his technique until the moves could not be done more gracefully or efficiently. This approach to climbing helps to build patterns, or engrams, for future movement, and this helps when on new problems and onsight climbing. The refined techniques and grooved movement will help the climber to produce a refined and efficient move on the first go on a new problem or route. So when I'm doing a circuit, I'm not simply getting up the problems, I'm attempting to master them.

I'm trying to do each move in as much a controlled and refined way as possible. Climbing this way is more intense and demands more of the core. Not only that, but this is a very effective way to internalize climbing moves. It is very difficult to refine one's technique when climbing at the limit, technique is much better improved on easier moves and indeed on moves which have been done by the climber.

From a purely physical perspective, training the body to give moderately high efforts many times in one workout is great preparation for projecting one hard problem. The body gets used to giving many hard efforts, with adequate rest between. This is why stamina training is great preparation for projecting, and pushing new grades.

As anybody who has climbed both in a gym and outside any significant amount knows, climbing on real rock is just not the same as climbing on plastic. This is why I like to do stamina training both in the gym and on real rock.

Another article on stamina training: Stamina Training for Climbing.

Intermediate Moore's Wall Valley Circuit

2010-01-16T03:42:00.001-08:00

We climbed in the Valley yesterday. The goals were Cuisan and The Vandal. We ended up working on Cuisan and Iron Chuff for all we could handle, and we finished climbing on some vertical problems on the boulder across from Turdslinger. I also took another look at Governing Dynamics, and after climbing in the Valley going on four years now I finally feel I have a decent understanding of the field - but whats the problem that climbs up the rail to the left of Governing Dynamics?

An intermediate bouldering circuit in the Valley would be a fantastic workout...

8 V3's/V4's
* Turdslinger
* Beyonce
* Jay-Z (is Jay-Z a 4?)
* Triple X
* V3 on vertical face
*
*
*

4 V5's
* Boy Love
* Iron Chuff
* Rail next to Governing Dynamics?
* V5 on vertical face
* Two Bowls of Menudo
* Governing Dynamics

2 V6's
* V6 on vertical face
* Proper Modulation

1 V7
* Cuisan
* Vandal Squat
* Bounce

There are lots of V5's and not as many V4's, substitute two V5's for three V4's and thats a pretty good circuit.

* Turdslinger V4
* Beyonce V4
* Jay-Z
* Vertical V3
* Vertical V5
* Vertical V6
* Menudo
* Governing Dynamics
* rail to left of Governing
* Triple X
* Boy Love
* Iron Chuff
* Proper Modulation
* Vandal squat or Cuisan

Good luck on the Vandal (or Cuisan) after doing all those other problems! It might be a better idea to do Cuisan or Bounce as the first problem at the Triple X boulder, then finish on Proper Modulation and skip the Vandal.

Competition Problems up for ABS Regionals at Triangle Rock Club in Raleigh

2010-01-13T19:32:00.000-08:00

Indeed the comp problems are up, and the few I did were awesome!

The approach to setting the problems is uncommon for the Triangle Rock Club, but this is the ABS Regionals. Each problem has a lane for itself, so the walls are sparse, but the quality makes up for any lack of quantity. The setters have done an outstanding job.

Brent from Peak Experiences in Richmond has proven his setting talent to me in the past, and he has verified my opinion of his setting with his job for the comp. His attention to detail, strive for perfection, and his enthusiasm for feedback and suggestions really made it fun for me to run a few problems which he set.

Other setters representing for the TRC are Shane, Scott, and Jeremy, they all set great problems to their usual standard.

The first thing people are going to notice when they walk in the gym are the new volumes which Scott ,"Skinny", constructed. They are large irregular pyramids, with rad patterns painted on to them. They make the gym feel totally new!

That's not even to mention all the new holds Shane has been sitting on for the past couple months...

Unfortunately for gym members, there is no climbing on the comp problems until Monday. But be certain that the wait will be worth it! The problems are totally badass, and lots of thought and care went into each one. So check out the comp on Saturday if you want to see some 12 year olds flash your future projects, then rest up and get ready to crush starting on Monday!

HOT DOG STAND

2 Mile Moderate Obscure Circuit

2010-01-09T18:37:00.000-08:00

Today we did 9 problems which none of us had done before. We have no idea what we did. We know some boulders were chalked, and since talking to some old schoolers we've learned that all the lines had been done previously, which was not a surprise to us, despite the obscurity of the blocs we found and the lines we climbed.

We parked in the park proper by the lake. Walking from the lake to the 2 Mile area, we did three lines on the first obvious big boulder on the right. They are on the uphill side of the boulder, one is a fun heel hooking jug haul at about V3. One is a two move mantle Larry problem that is actually pretty fun and probably about V3. The last was a traverse along the lip of the mantle problem with pretty cool moves, toe hooking, heel hooking, underclings, slopers, more toe hooks. About V4. JP has since informed me that this is called the Lone Eagle boulder.

We then went uphill to some blocs about 200 yards before the Mr Roboto boulder, on the uphill/right side of the trail. JP tells me that this area is called the "Land of Giants", lo and behold there ARE giant blocs up there...

We did three lines on the most obvious white boulder just visible from the trail. The lines are logical lines in a row from the left side of a large, striking, trail-facing wall. The right side of this face was either very easy, high, dirty, or chossy, or some combination, and we did not climb it.

The left most line on this gorgeous face has a very strange low start, you end up going to a hard right hand gaston move, to some tricky but easier moves above, and finsing with a comfortable, high top out. It was about a V5. The next line was really great. It started on a detached block on the boulder, first move goes big with the right hand to an amazing pinch which is kind of behind you on the right. From there you gain underclings and a knee bar to help reach higher opposing side pulls and a fun and high top out, probably V4 and an absolute beauty. The third line from the left starts sitting on underclings and goes up to a chockstone! So cool! You move up to crimps and/or sidepulls to a long crux move going to a slopey dish with the left hand, and the move is barn door. A couple more hard moves go to a heady but OK topout, we thought it was probably a V6 from the sit, V5 if you start on the chockstone. This is a classic line.

This boulder has really cool features and provides opportunity for creativity, for the sake of argument we're calling it the White Giant Boulder. The right side of this face is very highball but in places does have some amazing looking rock with straight up face climbing, bad ass! Head point opportunity?

From this boulder we went directly uphill, to the downhill side of the adjacent boulder uphill on the right. There was a blocky short roof of very dark rock that climbs better than it looks, and is not hard to find. It has several fun lines on steep, juggy, and tensiony climbing. I'm calling the roof "Gulliver's Roof", as it is quite short, and nestled among quite tall boulders, it plays on the theme of "Gulliver's Travels".

We did a V4 and a V5 on the roof, and there's another line that looks like 4/5ish that exits on the vertical face to the left. On these holds is where we saw evidence of previous climbers, as there was chalk on the jugs in the roof.

Directly facing this roof is a huge boulder of maybe 40 feet, which has a striking orange face directly across from the roof. Luckily enough, this beautiful orange face on this huge bloc has a ledge that offers a top out at about 20 feet. We did a superb line, that is aesthetic and that offers excellent movement. It goes up gastons, underclings, crimps, sidepulls, to a heady but OK topout over a sketchy landing, a stunning line and probably V4, classic!

To finish the day, we sessioned on the Mr Roboto boulder and got out of the park just before 6pm closing.

Summary -

* Lone Eagle Roof V3
* Lone Eagle Mantle V3
* Lone Eagle Mantle Traverse V4

* White Giant left V5, center V4, right V6

* Gulliver's Roof right V4
* Gulliver's Roof direct V4

* Orange Face V3

Oh and 2 Mile was sunny, the weather was fantastic! Such a wonderful day of bouldering, and we all returned home totally worked. Some training stuff...

The ideal boulder pyramid for stamina training, for me, right now would be - 4 3/4's, 2 5's, 1 6, 1 7, 1 6, 2 5's, 4 3/4's

The roster from today is missing 2 3/4's, 3 5's, 1 6 and 1 7, the fill-ins:

Mr Roboto V4
Mr Roboto Extension (traverse all the way to the dyno on the left) V6?
Dyno on far left of Roboto boulder V3
Crimp Dyno problem just to right of obvious dyno problem V5
right of Euro Wall off width V5

Still missing 1 V5 and 1 V7. I think there's another 5 on the Euro Wall, and there may be a 5 on the dark blocky roof, but is there a 7 anywhere nearby?

Moore's Wall bouldering circuits

2010-01-07T08:36:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to come up with some bouldering circuits for stamina training at Moore's Wall, I think there could be a circuit for each of the primary areas - main area, valley, 2 mile.

I'm trying to make my circuit a pyramid of 4's, 5's, 6's and one 7, so that would be 8 4's, 4 5's, 2 6's, 1 7

Main area circuit

arete on house boulder V4
Gabe's traverse V4
Stewart's Roof V5
The Nick V6
Walker Texas Ranger V7
Stickman V4
LOL :) V5
Gabe's Arete V4
Lost Boyz V6
Got Your Back V4
V5P0 V5
The Pit V5
Hang and Drop on far left side of Masterlock boulder V4
left of Piss and Vinegar V4
arete on trailside boulder V4

Gabe's traverse is a contrived line that starts on the right side of the short wall on the house boulder (just left of the overhanging blunt arete), start on two sidepulls, make a crazy move over your head with the right hand to an obvious crimp, then continue left and up.

Gabe's arete is a silly little line that is on the left side of a wall that is up and to the right of Stickman. The wall is about 10 feet high and has 2 or 3 warm up problems, the arete line starts way down to the left in a kind of hole.

LOL :) is a line I did to the left of Stickman. I moved a big boulder out from that overhanging corner and it revealed a big ol' foot. The line starts on a right hand crimp, just to the left of the Stickman start, and a left hand micro crimp in the roof. It goes straight back with a left hand, then a big move to the stacked holds on Stickman, then directly overhead to the Stickman exit.

The trailside boulder is the one just off the trail up from Tsunami. The arete I'm referring to is the far left side, low ball start with a couple of interesting moves to a top out through some rhodo biz.

Please correct me if these lines have been done before!

JP suggested adding the Hustler to the circuit, I personally am not a fan, and I believe its a 5, which we've already filled the quota for 5's. Might be a good alternate 5 for some folks.

JP also suggested Anna Pornikova, I'm not familiar with this line.

Valley circuit

Turdslinger V4
right of Turdslinger (Jay-Z?) V4 (V5?)
Triple-X V4
Boylove V5
Iron Chuff V4
Proper Modulation (sit) V6
Vandal squat V7
Menudo V5
Stu's Face V5

I think I downgraded Triple-X here... Where's Stu's face (left of norskisist)?

need help! still needs - 4 4's, 1 5, 1 6

2 Mile circuit

1. Circus Roof V4
2. Mr Roboto V4
3. Nice 'un V4
4. right of offwidth on Euro Wall V5
5. Control V6
6. stuff on Stigmata boulder

need lots of help!

Stamina Training for Climbing

2008-11-29T15:50:00.000-08:00

Most folks are familiar with the two most commonly trained aspects of physical attributes - maximum strength and strength endurance. These two attributes contribute greatly to one's ability to perform difficult climbing. Another attribute which I find to be nearly as important, yet usually overlooked or even unknown, is stamina. Stamina is the body's ability to recover between efforts, or the ability to exert effort for an extended period of time.

This is an important ability to develop because it allows one to train harder or to work for a longer time at a higher level on projects or onsights. This is great training to do for the early part of a macro cycle, to prepare the body for higher loads of training in the middle part of a macro cycle, and higher loads from performance in the latter part of a macro cycle. This is also good training for consolidating grades or breaking through plateaus.

The workout consists of discreet efforts separated by good rests over a course of 90 to 120 minutes. A simple way to train for stamina is to do a bouldering pyramid, as follows. Pick one problem near your maximum red point grade, two problems one step down, four problems two steps down, and eight problems three steps down. The problems are then performed pyramid style:

* four V3's
* two V4's
* one V5
* one V6
* one V5
* two V4's
* four V3's

Attempt each problem until it is sent, but give no more than three attempts. Rest 3-5 minutes between each attempt. This workout should leave you feeling pretty worked, I would not recommend following up with a maximum strength workout for at least 48 hours.

4x4 Training for Climbing

2008-10-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite workouts is a really good climbing strength endurance pump out.

One thing to note about this type of training, is that lactic acid is toxic for the muscles. Long term exposure to lactic acid can be detrimental to strength gains. Additionally, one does not need to do this type of training for long periods to see gains, and diminishing returns can onset quickly. So this type of training should be moderated. I'll usually do these workouts leading into the peak of a macrocycle, once a week, for four or five weeks in a row. If I haven't been training endurance, and I'm going to get on some ropes, I'll usually do this workout several days before the first day on.

What happens when you do the 4x4 workout, is your are forcing your muscles into a severe anaerobic energy consumption mode, producing lots of lactic acid. The lactic acid builds up in your muscles and you get pumped. In doing this, your muscles build up a tolerance to the lactic acid, and the lactic acid reservoir grows. This means you can produce more lactic acid, as your reservoir is larger, delaying muscle failure, and your muscles will still be able to operate while you have lots of lactic acid in them. Feeling the difference in your muscles from one week to the next is pretty incredible. You can make dramatic gains in a short period of time. Climbing through pump is very enjoyable, and if this workout is executed with high enough intensity, an endorphin buzz will result. MMMMM... so nice.

So how does the actual workout go?

Pick 4 boulder problems 2-4 grades below your max (your max is what you can send given a reasonable amount of time on the problem, maybe 10-20 tries).
These problems should not be tweaky or tenuous, you should know the problems, and be able to send each one consistently, even when tired.

Perform each problem back to back, all four in a row. Do not rest between problems - do not top out, do chalk up if you want to, but do jog to the next start and get back on the wall! Time how long it takes to do one circuit (generally its in the area of 2 minutes).
Rest for the amount of time it took you to do your circuit.
Repeat 3 times. (4 laps on your problems, thus the 4x4).

If you cannot complete your circuit, choose easier problems. You want to finish your circuit - barely. If you fall before the halfway point of a problem, get back on from where you fell, if you fall more than halfway through, move on to the next problem.

With this exercise you will get extremely pumped, I do not recommend doing this until the end of a workout, because its a completely debilitating exercise.

You also will want to choose problems that resemble the type of problems or routes you want to climb outdoors. For me I want to climb steep routes at the Red, so thats what my 4x4 training focuses on- steep boulder problems. If you have a particular route in mind that you are projecting, you can try to choose problems that will resemble the route. Like if your route has a crux about halfway, choose a V1, V3, V2, V1 for your four problems, then you have a crux roughly halfway through.

Stick to this for just a few weeks and you will see a dramatic increase in your strength endurance, that will no doubt help on long problems and routes.

Strength Endurance Training

2008-09-27T06:25:00.000-07:00

Strength endurance is the ability for muscles to fuel themselves anaerobically for long periods of time. Hard sport climbing is a precise example of an exercise which requires great strength endurance, especially in the forearms.

Strength endurance for climbing is a combination of several factors:

1. maximum grip strength
2. lactic acid tolerance
3. capillary density

Capillary density is the most difficult thing to build up, especially if you are over the age of 20, we won't address that here.

To understand how maximum strength impacts strength endurance, we must understand a little bit about how the muscles work. At low levels of effort, muscles are able to flush out by products of energy production as fast as they are produced, this is important, as build up waste from muscle use is what ceases the chemical reaction used by muscles to do work. Up to about 30-40% of your maximum strength output, muscles operate aerobically. In climbing, we rarely operate in this aerobic zone with the primary climbing muscles. Once the anaerobic threshold is passed, lactic acid starts to build up in the muscles. This is what causes forearms to get "pumped". As muscle effort increases, so does lactic acid production. This build up of lactic acid is what causes muscles to finally fail. So if less effort can be put forth by the muscles, less lactic acid is produced, and muscles can give a sustained effort. Increasing maximum strength allows muscles to do the same exercise with less effort, this means muscles produce less lactic acid, and they can sustain the effort for a longer period of time.

Building maximum strength should always be a part of a training program, however if you want to see very fast gains in your strength endurance, you are going to want to increase your lactic acid tolerance, as well as the size of your lactic acid reservoir. This is what strength endurance training does.

The goals of strength endurance training are:

1. Raise the anaerobic threshold of muscles. This allows a climber to sustain climbing at a higher difficulty.
2. Raise the lactic acid tolerance of muscles. This allows muscles to perform even when lactic acid reservoirs are very high, or "climb through pump".
3. Increase the size of the lactic acid reservoirs of the muscles. This allows a climber to perform anaerobically with more intensity for a longer period of time, before becoming pumped.

There are many ways to exercise which can stimulate the above adaptations. One of the most famous, and one of my favorites, is the 4x4 (four-by-four), which will be the subject of the next post.

Gabe's Training Log

2008-07-23T07:00:00.001-07:00

I just figured out how to share my training log very easily, I've added a link to the right side of the page here, but also here it is:

Gabe's Training Log.

One note, each week is designated as a certain type, indicated by an abbreviation.

GPD - general preparatory developing
SPD - special preparatory developing
GPS - general preparatory stabilizing
SPS - special preparatory stabilizing

There are also times when the volume is bumped up significantly, these are called shock weeks. These different types of weeks have different purposes, and put together they make up mesocycles. This is called periodic training, and will be addressed in depth in a future post.

The Importance of Consistency in Athletic Training

2008-07-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

By far, the single most important aspect of a training program is consistency. The key to making long term physiological changes in the body is to train consistently over a long period of time. This does not mean one needs to train at a high intensity level all the time, or even every day. But one must not go through manic phases of training, followed by depressed phases. "Shocking" or "whipping" one's self into shape is not a good way to develop sustainable athletic performance.

It is sometimes good to take a prolonged break, and of course it is sometimes forced via injury. However, one should attempt to train at a sustainable level on a week by week basis. Utilizing a training log helps immensely to find a sustainable training volume and intensity. Training too hard leads to over training and burnout, and possibly injury. Training too little does not stimulate the body enough to progress or maintain fitness levels. A sweet spot must be found, and it should be an athlete's goal to train at this level week in and week out.

I do recommend some down time once or twice per year. The downtime should not be longer than one week with no training at all. A second week of downtime would consist of very light exercises or participation in an altogether different sport. Then getting back into the primary sport should be a gradual progression, starting with very low volume and intensity levels, and ramping back up over a period of one or two months. Taking more than two weeks off of an athlete's primary sport will significantly contribute to the amount of time it takes to ramp training back to previous levels.

Through consistent training, the body will adapt to handle higher training volumes and intensities. This allows the athlete to consistently train harder, and progress performance. Taking long breaks lowers the amount of training the body can handle, and hampers athletic performance.

Specific to climbing, consistency is very important in developing strength of connective tissue. The limiting factor in many climbers' ability to train harder is the strength of connective tissue. It is imperative to train consistently in order to develop strength in these connective tissues.

When planning a training program, a rule of thumb to keep in mind is that the longer the training cycle, the longer the peak of the cycle can be sustained. So for example, consider a training cycle which ramps training intensity and volume up to 100% over a period of one month. The athlete may only be able to maintain this fitness level for one or two weeks at the most, before over training sets in, or a scaling back of intensity and volume is required. Contrast this with a training cycle which slowly ramps intensity and volume to a maximum level over a period of six months. The peak in this case can last for a month or longer, before training must be scaled back. And then the recovery period is shorter, and the volume and intensity can rise again without too much fear of injury or over training.

If it is necessary to take a one or two month break away from a sport, I would still recommend participation in said sport at a minimal level during this time period. This will at least maintain some familiarity of the sport within the body, and will maintain some minimum level of fitness specific to the sport, so that when training restarts in earnest, one has not lost all previously developed adaptations.

Being aware of training volume and intensity is very important in finding an optimal training level for an athlete. A training log is an invaluable tool here, and will help an athlete find that optimal training level for long term, consistent performance development.

Keeping a Training Log

2008-06-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

The importance of keeping a training log cannot be stressed enough, if one wants to take full advantage of training time and energy. Its easy to plan individual workouts for different goals - maximum strength, technical proficiency, muscle hypertrophy, etc. But compiling individual workouts into a medium and long term training program takes thought and work. In order to analyze training stimuli and the body's adaptation to them, one must have a comprehensive history of workouts and commentary on them. Providing this training history is the task of the training log.

The exact format of the log will be defined by the individual, but there are some particular pieces of data which all training logs should contain. The log should contain an entry for each workout, what was performed in the workout, and the general volume and intensity of the activities performed. With just these few pieces of information, it will be easy for one to realize how much one has trained within a given time period. I like to measure volume and intensity on a one to five scale. A training entry for a workout might look like this:

warm up - yoga movements

technical
dyno practice

maximum strength
barbell biceps curl - 75x4, 75x5, 75x5
barbell triceps extension - 75x3, 75x4, 75x4

strength endurance
bouldering 4x4 - brown V6, pink V4, red/purple V4, blue V4

summary
it was very hot in the gym, also body didn't want to warm up, felt good once warm, slipped off holds during 4x4's due to heat and poor route selection - brown is slippery
volume - 3/5, intensity - 5/5

Here I've also included some prose commentary on the workout. Additionally if I've got some soreness or an injury, I track pain level on a one to ten scale. This is very valuable in detecting when an injury is healing or getting worse.

Simply keeping a log puts one in the frame of mind to think about the big training picture. Trends will start to become obvious and even predictable. It will start to become easy to plan a training program for reaching specific goals. Training at a level which is both sustainable and sufficient for improvement will become easy. Avoiding injury, working through injury, and just knowning when to rest, will be as simple as analyzing the training log for simple trends in volume and intensity of training, and pain levels.

A comprehensive training program sets short term (weeks to a month), medium term (a month to six months), and long term (years) goals. Training cycles are planned to reach these goals, and performance is measured and evaluated. None of this is possible without the training log. The training log is the foundation to a serious training program, and is an absolute necessity if you want to reach your potential.

footnote
Google Notebook is a great tool for keeping a training log! I have several notebooks related to training here, one for goals and a tick list, one is simply an index of training resources and information, and another is the training log. With the log, I keep each week as one note.

Recovering From Workouts

2008-06-11T19:45:00.000-07:00

So we've talked about maximum strength workouts, and hypertrophy workouts. Other types of workouts which will be addressed at some point are strength endurance, aerobic, power(speed), and stamina workouts. Each different type of workout works the body in a different way, and requires some different sources of energy. It makes sense then, that the different types of workouts also require different recovery periods. To get the most out of workouts, it would not be a good idea to do hypertrophy workouts working the same muscles on back to back days, in fact this would be counter productive. Not allowing the body enough time to recover is a horrible thing! You can have a great diet, get plenty of sleep, and work your tail off, but if you don't give your body time to recover, you will not see gains, and you may even lose some ability.

Following is a breakdown of the type of workout, and the amount of time it takes to recover the ability to perform other types of workouts. This information can be an invaluable guide when planning your workout schedule.

after maximum strength
speed - 72 hours
anaerobic - 48 - 72 hours
aerobic - 24 hours

after aerobic endurance
speed - 6 hours
anaerobic - 24 hours
aerobic - 60 hours

after anaerobic endurance
speed - 24 hours
anaerobic - 48 hours
aerobic - 6 hours

after speed
speed - 48 hours
anaerobic - 24 hours
aerobic - 6 hours

So now when planning your workouts, you know it would be a bad idea to lift weights with the same muscles on back to back days, as anaerobic endurance workouts (hypertrophy, to an extent maximum strength) require 48 hours to recover the ability to do another anaerobic endurance workout (with the same muscles).

Workouts can be planned to do different muscles groups on different days, or different types of workouts on different days. Here's a sample one week workout plan:

Monday - rest
Tuesday - speed (power)
Wednesday - anaerobic endurance (hypertrophy)
Thursday - active rest (jogging/aerobic)
Friday - speed (power)
Saturday - technical (climbing)
Sunday - technical (climbing)

Scheduling workouts this way is just the beginning of planning a training program. The volume and intensity of the work performed is another crucial point to consider, and will be addressed in the next post.

As a side note, I highly recommend at least one full rest day per week, with another active rest day recommended.

Much of this information is sourced from the book, Science of Sports Training, by Thomas Kurz.

Training for Muscle Hypertrophy

2008-05-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

So in a previous post, I covered training for maximum strength. Training for maximum strength is not the same as training for muscle size. Different training goals require different types of workouts. So if your goal is to get stronger, why would you ever do hypertrophy training? At some point, recruitment (maximum strength) training has diminishing returns. When the body is able to recruit a very high percentage of the muscle for work, continuing to train for maximum strength will be counter productive. At this point, in order to get stronger, we must increase the size of the muscle, thus increasing the total amount of muscle fibers. Having more muscle fibers available will make training for maximum strength effective again. A nice bonus is your muscles get bigger, and hey, who doesn't want big muscles?

So how do we train for muscle hypertrophy? Its actually quite easy. This workout is not extremely physically demanding, and does not take a long time to perform. Muscles trained will be very spent immediately following the workout, and will probably be very sore about 14 - 30 hours after the workout.

The sweet spot for muscle hypertrophy is 9-12 reps to failure. This means you must fail between the 9th and 12th repetition of one set. Additionally, the rest between sets must be between one and two minutes long, preferably closer to one minute. I recommend to do three or four sets per exercise, and to do three to four exercises per workout. What happens with this workout is your muscle doesn't use all its fibers for any one repetition, rather it uses the "first available" muscle fibers. When these fibers get tired, other muscle fibers start to do work. This pattern continues until all muscle fibers are spent. At this point the muscle burns, and you know you've done a good hypertrophy workout. The body will adapt by building more muscle fibers, making the muscle larger, and increasing the total number of muscle fibers available for work.

I recommend to train a given muscle group for two to three weeks with hypertrophy, then to consolidate those gains with maximum strength training. With maximum strength training I feel its better to do compound exercises, that utilize lots of different muscles. With hypertrophy training I feel it is more appropriate and effective to do exercises that target muscles more specifically.

A workout might go like this:

* warm up
* dumb bell chest press - 50x12, 50x11, 50x9, 45x12
* dumb bell one arm triceps extension - 20x12, 20x11, 20x11, 20x9
* cable chest flies - 45x12, 45x11, 45x10
* stretch

I feel that stretching out is important with this type of workout, as lactic acid build up in the muscles is extreme. Stretching will help to circulate some of that lactic acid throughout the body, helping to metabolize it more quickly, which speeds recovery. Lactic acid is toxic for the body, and is ironically counter-productive for muscle growth. Another great way to speed recovery is to do an aerobic workout (jogging, swimming, etc) after the hypertrophy workout, either immediately or within the next twelve hours or so. This also helps to circulate the lactic acid throughout the body.

So we've covered two of the most important types of workouts - maximum strength and hypertrophy. What we haven't discussed is how often these workouts should be done, and how to structure a training program to see optimal benefits from the training. In the next few posts I'll cover recovery, diet, and some guidelines for putting together a training program.

Training for Maximum Finger Strength

2008-05-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, we talked about training muscles for maximum strength, specifically using weights. One reason I really like weight training is because it is very easy to control the load. The movements are controlled, repeatable, and symmetrical. This makes it very easy to see fast results with weight training, granted the training is done correctly. Training the fingers for maximum strength, specifically for the purpose of climbing, is not so simple. But we can look at the principles of muscle recruitment, and come up with ways to recruit muscles for finger strength.

The whole idea is to force your body to recruit more muscle fibers for work. We do this by exposing the muscles to very high training loads, in the range of 80% to 90% of a maximal effort, for short sets, or short periods of time. The easiest way to accomplish this with the fingers is by using a fingerboard, or hangboard. Before we go too far I will say that I do not recommend for anybody who has been climbing less than a year to do any fingerboard training. This type of training is extremely stressful for connective tissue, and even if you are ready to do this type of training, it should be done in moderation. Lets not forget, its all about quality not quantity.

Before you start your workout, be sure to warm up properly. This is especially important with maximum strength workouts, as they are very stressful for connective tissue. To get stronger with every grip position, you will need to train every grip position. I recommend starting the workout with your weakest position, and progressing through all grip positions to your strongest, or stopping when you have gone past your peak level of muscle recruitment. In other words, if you feel yourself getting weaker, stop. It is counter productive to do maximum strength training if you are past your peak for muscle recruitment.

With each grip, the goal is to fail for each "repetition" or "hang" within about eight seconds, and you will want to do no more than five hangs for each set, meaning you would not be able to complete a sixth hang. If you are able to hang longer than 10 seconds, and/or do more than five repetitions, the load is insufficient for recruiting muscle. Since you will be training several different grip positions, I don't feel it is necessary to do more than two sets for each position. Just like any other form of recruitment training, this workout is physically, and neurologically taxing. You should take 3-5 minutes of rest between each set.

So a workout might go something like this:

* warm up
* 2 sets of slopers - 5 reps, 3 reps
* 2 sets of open hand - 4 reps, 3 reps
* 2 sets of pinch - 3 reps, 1 rep
* 2 sets of half(open) crimp - 5 reps, 4 reps
* 2 sets of full(closed) crimp - 5 reps, 4 reps
* cool down

So one question might be, if you can do all these hangs longer than 5 seconds, what should you do? Well you have to increase the resistance, this can be done several ways. One way would be to try the grip position with one hand, one would be to add weight using a weight vest or ankle weights or similar device.

Another question might be, if you can't do any of these hangs at all, what should you do? Well you have to decrease the resistance in this case, usually this is done by using your feet a little bit to help. If you are in the gym, there is a probably a kick board with some jibs on it, this should work just fine. If you are at home, you can put a chair underneath and in front of you as you hang, and put your feet on it.

If your fingers are healthy and your tendons are strong, I recommend doing this workout once a week. You will see dramatic gains in finger strength in one to two months.

With training for maximum strength, you can and will get to a point where you have "maxed out" your muscle recruitment, and you will begin to see diminishing returns on your training, when this happens, its time to make your muscles bigger, increasing the number of available muscle fibers for recruitment. This type of training is called hypertrophic training, and we will cover this in the next post!

Training for Maximum Strength

2008-04-27T17:31:00.000-07:00

Maximum strength is the ability to recruit many muscle fibers for work in a very short amount of time. When we use our muscles, not all muscle fibers fire at once. For sub-maximal efforts, a corresponding amount of muscle fiber is required to do work. The effort can be measured as a percentage of a maximal effort, and for the sake of argument, we can say this percentage is the amount of muscle fiber recruited. The more muscle fiber that can be recruited, the stronger the muscle is. So to increase maximum strength, one must recruit more muscle fibers.

With resistance training, your goals dictate the way exercises are performed. For recruiting muscle fibers, one must reach complete muscle failure in fewer than 6 repetitions, this corresponds to about 80% - 90% of a one repetition maximal effort. This is the sweet spot for recruiting muscle fibers. With these intense sets, long breaks are required between efforts, as they are very psychologically and neurologically demanding. I recommend resting anywhere from three to six minutes between sets, depending on the intensity of the sets. The idea here is to prepare your body for another near maximal effort. I find that four to five repetitions is sufficient for each exercise, and I would not perform more than three or four exercises in a workout. The most important factor in this type of workout is failing before six repetitions, if you complete five repetitions without assistance, resistance must be increased.

The body recruits muscle fibers on a short term and long term basis. With each set, your body will actually recruit more muscle fibers than the previous, until your body just gets tired and cannot output the same effort. Once you feel your body getting weaker with this type of workout, you should stop the exercise. What happens during this type of workout is you increase your muscle recruitment to a certain point, then you get tired and can't recruit more. You may actually find that your 2nd or 3rd set is stronger than your previous sets. It is counter productive to do this type of training on a given exercise after you have peaked your muscle recruitment.

Long term muscle recruitment happens over the course of several days. After this type of workout, you will be able to recruit more muscle fibers the next time, meaning your maximum strength will increase, given sufficient rest.

I recommend compound exercises for this type of workout - bench press, military press, clean and jerk, and standing barbell rows are all great exercises that utilize many muscle groups at the same time. This is important because it trains your nervous system to recruit many muscle fibers from many muscle groups at the same time. Isolating muscles all the time does not train your nervous system the same way.

A typical maximum strength workout might go something like this:
* warm up
* bench press, 185X5, 185X4, 190x3, 185x2
* clean and jerk, 125x4, 135x4, 135x3, 125x2
* cool down

These workouts tend to take a fairly long time because of the long rest required between sets. As always, but especially with this type of workout, quality is much more important than quantity.

Next time I'll address maximum strength training for finger strength.

Visualization

2008-04-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

While I was standing at the bottom of a route at the gym last night, going through my pre-climb routine, my belayer asked me, "so what are you doing right now?" My answer was, "I'm visualizing the moves." I explained how I planned on progressing up the route, move by move. But later on I realized there's actually quite a bit more going on in my brain than simply "visualizing the moves."

The first thing I look at is the holds- obviously. I try to picture the sequence of movements each section calls for. But simply picturing the movements is not enough. When "visualizing" the movements, you have to first literally picture yourself, or somebody else, doing the moves, then imagine yourself on the moves, what does each move look like when you are on the route, and what does each move feel like? Feeling the movements is key, because this is how our brain learns how to make your body move. If you can picture somebody doing the moves, then empathize how the moves feel, you've given yourself a great chance at doing the movements on your first try.

When first using visualization, it will be hard to picture the movements, and probably harder to feel them. But like all things, improvement comes with practice. I find that bouldering is an excellent exercise for practicing visualization. The sequences are shorter, and usually more novel, so unlocking individual sequences is more difficult, but more rewarding as well. Additionally you can boulder at your own pace without worrying about anybody else.

Practicing visualization before doing a route or problem will make it a habit. Eventually you will get to the point where it feels weird to climb without thinking about the sequences and movements first.

These same principles apply to any other sport, the key being the feeling of the movements which are to be performed.

The Warm Up

2008-04-27T17:27:00.000-07:00

What I see as one of the least understood aspects of training is one of the most important parts - the warm up! All too often I see people walk into the gym and get right into the main part of their workout, and all too often I hear the same people complaining about sore joints and poor performance. Warming up properly is key to having a meaningful workout, and is never to be overlooked.

A warm up has three distinct parts, joint lubrication, general warm up, and specific warm up. Anybody over the age of 25 is familiar with the feeling of creaky joints in the morning, you gotta work them out a little bit before you can move around comfortably. When you are working out your joints you are actually lubricating them. Our joints have fluids that allow moving parts to move, if you are going to be doing strenuous movements, you have got to make sure your joints are ready.

Joint Lubrication

When loosening up the joints, one should start at one set of extremities and finish at the other. You should finish with the extremities that have more importance for your sport. So for example if you are a climber, start by wiggling your toes, then rotate your ankles, then rotate your knees, then hips, then your back/spine, then shoulders, then neck, followed by elbows, wrists and fingers. This will prepare your joints for action.

General Warm Up

The general warm up serves to raise your core body temperature, and loosen up all your muscles. The body works more efficiently after it has been literally warmed up. When you are "warm" your body temperature actually raises slightly, your metabolism increases, your heart rate increases, your breathing rate increases. All these things enable your body to perform more efficiently than at rest. The goal of the general warm up is to reach this state.

The general warm up should consist of similar types of exercises as your sport. If you play a team sport, you will probably want to jog, and maybe shadow box or do push ups to get the muscles in your upper body warmed up. If you do a sport that requires flexibility, you'll want to do some exercises that incorporate some form of stretching that correlates to your sport. For climbing, I highly recommend yoga movements - warrior 3, downward dog, plank, side blank are all great.

One major misconception about warming up- sitting on your fanny and stretching is not a warm up! What sport involves sitting down and stretching? None that I can think of, so this should not be a part of your warm up. The goal of your warm up is to prepare you to play your sport, the warm up should be a steady progression of movements that work towards your sport specific movements, there is no room for sitting down and stretching, period. To illustrate, think of how you feel after you have sat down and stretched. When you stand, you have to do so slowly, and work the tension out of your muscles, does it feel like it warmed you up? Or have you become more stiff?

The general warm up should last between five and ten minutes. You should feel energized and ready for action.

Sport Specific Warm Up

Once your body is warm, you can begin your sport specific warm up. This involves movements specific to your sport. Start with a very low intensity and gradually work up to full speed. This part of your warm up should last between ten and fifteen minutes.

Summary

Your entire warm up, executed properly, will take anywhere from twenty to thirty minutes. If you think you can warm up in five minutes, you are either 15 years old, or wrong. Warming up properly greatly reduces chances for injury, and will prepare you to fully take advantage of your workout.