Road to The Cross

this not a climbing-related post, but it does discuss health and fitness which certainaly have a place in climbing.  enjoy!


On Tuesday evening, March 19, 2013 I was introduced to CrossFit.  It wasn’t in a CrossFit Gym, otherwise known as a “Box”.  It was at Retro Fitness in Edison, NJ.  I had spoken to the head trainer a few days earlier telling her I was interested in CrossFit.  But my interest was more along the lines of wanting to try it out, as opposed to outright joining up.  As it turns out, two of the trainers at my gym (a boyfriend and girlfriend pair) were avid CrossFitters and were willing to give me a free 30-minute session, replicating a CrossFit-styled workout, and from there I could decide if I wanted to continue that approach over a series of paid sessions with them.  The goal I had in mind was becoming CrossFit ready within 8 weeks and then joining a box.  But first, I had to make it through the initial session to see if this was really for me. 

The first thing my trainers showed me was a lift called a Barbell Clean.  A Barbell Clean is essentially lifting the bar off of the ground and then doing an explosive lower body and shrug movement that will bring the bar to a racked position across your shoulders and at the same time, you drop into a deep squatting position.  If it sounds a bit complicated, it’s because it is.  But being able to Clean is a fundamental component of CrossFit since many of the lifts are Olympic- style and frankly speaking, you got to be able to get the weight you are going to lift off of the ground buddy.  I went over the mechanics and motions of this lift, using an unweighted Olympic Barbell, for a few awkward minutes. Of course I didn’t figure out how to do it, but I at least got my first lesson on how to do it. 

With just over 20 minutes left my trainers wanted to get right into the actual workout.  My workout would consist of 20 Kettlebell Sumo High Pulls, 20 Kettlebell Thrusters, and 20 Burpees done AMRAP style (as many rounds as possible).  I was familiar with these exercises so I didn’t need any instruction and would have a full 20 minutes to exercise.

Ten minutes later, I had completed only one round and was sitting on the floor telling them that I could not do any more.  I got through the Sumo High Pulls rather quickly but struggled about halfway through the set of Thrusters, and was dragging ass throughout the Burpees set.  They offered to cut the repetitions in half and I reluctantly agreed to continue.  In my heart, I truly wanted to keep going but I was physically destroyed.  After finishing round 2, which ended up taking about as long as round 1 even with there being less reps, my trainers gave me a concerned look asking if I thought this was the sort of thing I would want to do.  And I think they were both surprised when I told them absolutely.  Despite the pain, the dizziness, and the nausea I knew that I was going to give this my all. 

I have always been an active person and even during the lazier times in my life I have always been in “decent” shape.  I may not have always been in fighting shape, but I wasn’t going to fail a physical at the doctor’s office or end up broken if I had to a day of hard physical work.  Throughout my life I ran sporadically, and even sometimes regularly. I’m obviously outdoorsy and spend a good deal of time hiking, rock and ice climbing.  I had been in the Army, done martial arts, and for a period of about 3 years in my late 20’s I was dedicated to boxing and during that time was in the best shape of my life.  But around age 30, when I got engaged, married, bought a house, and my son was born, life slowed down and my activity level slowed down as well.  I didn’t become inactive, but was definitely a lot less active and while not overweight I was carrying a few more pounds than I was used to. 

As I approach my mid-30s, and see how most people my age are beginning to soften up, I knew now would be the time to make the lifestyle changes necessary to stay healthy, look young, feel good, and maintain athletic ability.  I know that as a man gets older, it’s harder to build and maintain muscle so implementing weight-training (something I never really got into) would be very important at this stage of my life.  But I didn’t want to come into the gym and just lift weights.  The activities I did throughout my life were all “active”.  I knew that I would have to keep that element of sport involved in order to keep myself from getting bored.  I had my impressions about CrossFit being high-intensity and very sport-like.  When I found out that a huge element of CrossFit is weight-training, including Olympic-style lifting, I knew that this would match perfectly with my existing exercise personality. 

It’s been about eight weeks since my first CrossFit workout and my strength and cardio fitness has improved dramatically.  I found out I could squat more than my own body weight and nearly bench press that amount.  My running pace and distance has increased, Thrusters are my specialty and I can finally get through sets of Burpees without flopping like a fish (but NOBODY will ever love doing Burpees).  Every week I’ve done 2-3 CrossFit workouts, 1-2 distance runs, and would often include an “active rest day” on the weekend where I would go hiking or rock climbing.  Now today, Tuesday, May 14, 2013 I can finally say I am ready for my first ever visit and workout at a CrossFit Box.     

 

  

 

 

Some of the White Boards that illustrate my WODs or "Workout of The Day"

 

Acrohydrophobia

I decided I had enough.  I was roughly 70 feet above the deck, maybe another 20 feet shy of my partner belaying me off the GT ledge, but I wasn’t going any further.  A few moves below my current position the thought of wanting to come down entered my mind.  Not fearful of falling (I have complete trust in my partner and his skills) and not because I felt the climb was too difficult either.  All I did was look up.  I saw what looked like miles of vertical rock and a wide open sky and said to myself, “nah, I think I’ll pass”.  I wasn’t in a tailspin of hysterical panic; I just didn’t want to go any higher.

That was Pitch 1 of Easy-V (5.3), a popular beginner lead climb found on the Arrow Wall in The Gunks.  I lowered off not feeling defeated nor was my desire to climb deflated, but I felt like I needed a few minutes to get my head in the game.  Today is my second day on rock this year.  A few weeks back I’m top-roping 30 feet off the ground and today I’m looking at 100 foot plus climbs with exposure.  I’m trying to adjust my mental altimeter as well as differentiate irrational fear from mental discomfort.  My partners, John and Ryan, have just rapped back down and the rope is threaded through the bolted anchors just above the first pitch of Arrow, 5.8 (pitch 1 is rated around 5.6).  I waste no time in getting back on the rock and manage to work through my anxiety and climb.  I get through it, and I'm already feeling better. 

 

Easy V follows crack on right, Arrow route on rock face above the short tree on left

 

Our next climb was Northern Pillar.  Pitch 1 is more of a short scramble to a wide ledge just above a 50 ft. slab.  From there, Pitch 2 of the climb follows a well-protected face for about 75 feet until you come into a cave-like corner with a belay/rappel tree.  As I started up Pitch 2 I felt a little stab of fear but kept my focus on the rock in front of me instead of looking up.  About halfway up the discomfort made its way back into my mind and was battling with my ambition to finish the climb.  For strength, I thought of my Dad.  My Father died a little over 6 months ago after a long and cruel bout with cancer.  My Father had never been much of an athlete or outdoorsy kind of guy due to being raised in the city.  He also had physical limitations from being overweight.  I can’t say whether or not my Dad would have tried climbing if he was able to, but I’d like to think he is watching over me while I climb and proud of me for overcoming my fears.  So instead of stopping when I got nervous I would say to myself, “this is for you Dad” and make the next move to go higher.  I made it up a bit shaken, but at the same time genuinely happy to be climbing.  Despite my nerves I wanted to be doing this.  And the 50 ft. slab section below, a height I would be very comfortable with, contained several interesting climbs as well as an easy route I was considering leading. 

 

Following 2nd Pitch of Northern Pillar



John belaying from the top of Northern Pillar



But sadly, this was where our day ended.  On the drive up it had been pouring rain and the forecast was calling for showers throughout the day.  When John and I got to the Gunks the rain had stopped and the rock was dry.  After climbing Arrow we felt a few drops on our walk over to Northern Pillar.  And it was just as Ryan finished Pitch 2 did the rain begin falling again.  Rappelling down the face my shoes slid off the rock as if it were ice.  Ryan had said Gunks rock becomes extremely slippery when wet and we all agreed that climbing in these conditions is out of the question.  One thing I had been fearing leading up to this day (besides heights) was the chance it would be ruined by rain.  A few days prior, the forecast was calling for sunshine and all three of us had confirmed the day would be a go.  But the day before the chance of rain had increased from 10 to 50 percent and all we could do was hope to spared or that it would only be a slight passing shower.      

 

Rappelling off of Northern Pillar as the rain falls



One of the reasons I decided to try rock climbing a few years ago was because of my fear of heights and wanting to conquer that fear.  Along with the physical demands of climbing rock, there’s also the technical aspect of safety and if you throw in a fear of heights you got yourself quite a cocktail of challenges to overcome.  Fear is ok.  Fear keeps you modest.  But when fear turns to panic and panic becomes a distraction your performance is affected.  And in climbing performance is not just about climbing, it’s also about safety.  I know my limitations and have no desire to push myself in situations where I could compromise my safety.  However, in order to grow as a climber, and a person you do need to face your fears and find the strength overcome them.  While I haven’t quite defeated my fear of heights (and I may never get over heights) I decided not to let my emotions inhibit me.  And I learned that for next time I all I got to do is a say a little prayer, keep calm, and climb on.           

Initiated

I was hangdogging. 

Both of my feet smeared in narrow stem stance, my knees were dropped inward and my back was arched to avoid the bulge of rock in my face.  My right hand stretched out on a slopping hold that was just barely keeping my body from peeling off of the wall while my left hand was reaching up for a small incut just a few inches from my fingertips.  I worked my left foot up and dropped my knee further to gain some height, knowing that even if I got to the hold I probably couldn’t pull myself up on it.  I managed to reach it, called for my partner to pull in the slack, and hung.  This was second attempt at this route, its long and reachy moves on a steep face with very few positive holds and almost no feet was kicking my ass.   A few more starts and pauses and I had managed to clear the crux start.  The pump from climbing like poison in my forearms, my fingers felt shredded and cold. 

I missed rock climbing.  I missed the smell of stone and dirt.  I missed being outside without having to wear two jackets and swap gloves between climbs and belays.  I missed the warmth of the sun.  I missed working up an honest sweat and having a breeze cool me off.  I missed the feeling of rock, its unforgiving hardness and gritty texture.  I missed looking up at a route and imagining sequences and positions.  It had been a long four months of winter.  Ice Climbing is a definitely something I enjoy.  Gym Climbing, eh…not so much.  My true love of climbing has and always will be on good old honest rock.

Along with it being my first time out this year, it was also my friend Laurie’s first time climbing outside.  I had brought Laurie along with me on my unsuccessful attempt to climb the New Year Wall a few months back, so I had been carrying around this burden of guilt to get this girl a chance to climb.  We had a short day, only climbing a couple of routes at The Bullet Crag.  But given the challenging nature of these boulder-like Toprope climbs, we managed to have a decent day in terms of physical exertion.  Temps were in the low 60s and the sun was shining bright.  It was a bit chilly when we started as we were shaded from the sun (and the rock was very cold at first) but by the time we left around 2pm the sun was high and hot and I had managed to work up a good sweat on the uphill trail heading back to the car enjoying that good feeling of honest worn out tiredness you can really only get from hiking and climbing on a warm sunny day.    

 

Welcome back gnarly knuckles!

 

Living - Training - Crimping

“All human plans are subject to ruthless revision by Nature, or Fate, or whatever one preferred to call the powers behind the Universe.” Arthur C. Clarke

Two weeks ago I set some goals for myself.  At the time I thought they were realistic and assumed they were attainable.  Here’s my report. 

Getting to the climbing gym twice a week isn’t realistic.  In the past two weeks I’ve been to the gym once.  Blame it on conflicting schedules with partners.  Blame it on every climbing gym being a 30-45 minute drive.  Blame it on me having no interest in bouldering by myself or wandering around the gym, interrupting roped climbing duos to ask for a belay.  Blame it on being busy with a full-time job, a stressful commute, maintaining a happy marriage, taking care of a 15-month old, having two dogs, owning a home, visiting friends and family, and being on-and-off sick with a cold since early February.       

But as far as my goal of training outside of the climbing gym I have had some success.  One thing I’ve been working on is my finger strength by doing dead-hangs of lock-offs by crimping off of a half inch of door molding.  What are “dead-hangs”?  Nothing more than hanging off something with your arms fully extended.  What are “lock-offs”?  Same thing as a dead-hang but now your arms are bent.  Imagine the starting position of a pull-up (dead-hang) and the position your arms are in when your chin is over the bar (lock-off).  Now, what is crimping?  Crimping is a hold employed whenever your fingertips are on an edge (see pic).  Using a door’s molding to train crimping is actually a very common practice among climbers.  This is something I now do every day while at work.  I also brought in a grip-strengthener, gyroscopic ball, and a 5 pound weight I use to for wrist curls and weighted pinches.  Every day, at least twice a day, for no more than 5 minutes, I run through the routine. 

NOTE: full body weight dead-hangs and lock-offs while crimping is actually very dangerous and meant only for advanced climbers.  A safe alternative approach is to keep your feet on the ground and to pull on the crimp instead, slowly working your way up in terms of weight resistance.

 

After my last (and only) visit to the gym, I noticed almost immediately that crimp strength is one of my weakest aspects.  There are many variations of climbing holds (pinches, knobs, jugs, edges) that require all sorts of grips.  But I feel that crimping is definitely one of the most stressful because of the pressure it puts on your fingers, especially the “full crimp”.  So having a chance to train this particular grip outside of the gym should have some benefit on my climbing.  Unfortunately not getting to the gym to climb isn’t helping me in terms of movement, rhythm, balance, technique and endurance.  But at least I’m focusing on a weak point and noticed I have gotten better using the “half crimp”, as I was so accustomed to using the more powerful “full crimp” which isn’t always the most economical choice.    

And even though the climbing gym isn’t around the corner, The Gym is.  I live less than a quarter mile from a health club and I’ve recently joined.  Up until now, I’ve been training out of my garage focused more on “maintenance” than making gains.  While I’m still a healthy young man, I feel now is the time for a deliberate effort to make health and fitness a routine part of my life as opposed to it being a here and there sort of thing.  Now, unlike most sports or physical activities climbing doesn’t work with traditional gym training.  You would think something like pull-ups would be a huge part of a climber’s physical regiment.  Not the case at all.  If climbing was based on pull-up strength I think 95% of all climbers would have to quit.  That being said, being in shape and strong is never a bad thing.

In a few more weeks I’ll be rock climbing outside again.  I’m still hoping to get in a few more days at the gym (let’s just forget this whole twice a week thing) but in the meantime I will continue to work on crimping as well as grip, finger, and forearm strength and endurance.  I have a hangboard at home and am going to start using that to add some variation in terms of holds for my dead-hang and lock-off routine.    

Ice – Plastic – Rock

I’m supposed to be ice climbing today.  I was almost able to go on Monday, Tuesday didn’t happen, Wednesday wasn’t possible and neither was Thursday.  Today was a sure thing but my partner, Vivek, had commitments that he just couldn’t break.  To his credit, he had tried all week to make something happen while I was the one dealing obligations. 

Forget ice, or at least try to.  Spring is a little more than three weeks away.  Sure, it’s cold today (like, PERFECT for ice climbing) but the 10-day forecast is calling for temps in the low 40s (along with miserable rain).  Ice Climbing’s limited window of opportunity is just about over.  It’s time now for Rock Climbing.  It’s time for chalk bags, callused finger tips, swollen forearms, and tight shoes.  It’s time to get back into shape.  It’s time to head back to the climbing gym. 

My goal is to climb two times a week for the next four weeks to restore and then begin to enhance my rock climbing abilities.  Along with climbing at the gym, I am going to incorporate a physical training regimen to include resistance training.  My focus will be Muscular Endurance, which calls for high repetitions using lighter weights (which can include “body weight” exercises).  This protocol enhances the body’s ability to produce and maintain force production for prolonged periods of time.  I’m not looking to “fight the climb” as much as I’m looking to “fight the pump” one gets while climbing.  Of course, one can argue a lot of this had to with technique and I will agree with that.  But there’s nothing wrong with having sport-specific strength and endurance, coupled with good technique.

I’d like to mention that I am a Certified Personal Trainer.  In addition to being a CPT, I am currently studying to be a Fitness Nutrition Specialist.  I completed my certification in August 2012, but have yet to work as a trainer (I already have a full-time job).  I’m going to be my very own strength and conditioning coach and client, so it would seem that the burden of success is doubled.  I plan on switching careers sometime this year to pursue health and fitness full time.  So this challenge that I put in front of myself is not only personal but professional.    

I’ll report back on what I’ve been doing, and what seems to be working or not working.  I’m not expecting to notice anything right away, but I think by the end of week two I’ll have a sense of how things are going.  I’m not going to measure my success in terms of climbing grades (though I do expect improvement) as I am more concerned with improvements related to strength and endurance.   

 

Circuits

"Toprope. I keep writing this, but I do not think it's possible to have much understanding of ice until you have done at least 150 pitches of it. I didn't learn this way, and I shudder to think of how many times I came close to maiming myself. I only truly learned to climb ice when I ran hundreds of laps on Toprope while training for ice climbing competitions.” – Will Gadd, from the Gravsports’ post titled “How Not to Suck”.   

On Monday I had a chance to climb at Asbestos Wall.  And don’t let its name suggest that this is some sort of toxic dump because it’s actually a great place to climb.  The cliff is roadside, with parking, and all the climbs are walk-up accessible.  It does have a negative side, given that it’s so user-friendly it can be very crowded.  And the cliff also faces south, so it’s hard for the ice to form let alone remain standing.  For this day I met up with a new partner, Vivek, who is very solid and has a few more years than me of ice climbing experience.  But given that it would be our first day together we chose Asbestos Wall to keep the approaching and rope-rigging aspects minimal.  Temperatures were just below freezing so even though the ice was “in” it was still very soft and sometimes wet.  A lot of the formations were thin curtains, just a day or two of freezing weather short of becoming strong enough to support a climber’s weight.  Not wanting to destroy these still-forming lines, we spent our day running laps on a 50-foot wide “frozen waterfall” section of solid ice.  We set up our first Toprope on the far right, climbed it up and down, and then stretched the line left using screws and quickdraws as “directional” pieces to free up more of the wall.  Eventually, we stretched it enough that we had to set up another Toprope on the left side, which we continued to run up and down until exhaustion.  Assuming the height of the wall was at the very least 30 feet, it’s safe to say that Vivek and I climbed close to 300 feet each in a matter of 4 hours (WI2+/3-).

Hiking, approaching, and rope-rigging are all things that are very time consuming. Even with experienced local guides, climbing only 4 routes in a day is usually the norm.  Granted you’re given more variety and the ability to access quality routes.  But most of the time I end up “following” the guide up a route (they are looking down on me, belaying from the top) so they don’t have a chance to really look at and critique my technique as I climb.  Although Vivek and I didn’t have a lot of variety, we were able to make up for it in terms of repetitions and training.  Given he was belaying me from the ground he had a chance to coach me on my footwork as I climbed (footwork is probably the weakest aspect of my ice climbing game).  I learned to flex my ankle to keep my foot straight when kicking the ice, as well as sitting down more which allows me to hang relaxed on my tools and let my weight rest on my feet.  And I am also getting more used to positioning my body as a triangle (hands/tools at about chest-width apart, feet out wider) which gives me a better base.  The mileage and advice for that day really made a difference as I found that I didn’t need to rest on the rope and my feet slipped a lot less.  I definitely feel like WI4 is now attainable and would like to put myself to the test next time I head out.       

One other thing to mention are the tools I used and the difference they can make.  I have a CassinX-Alp Ice Axes.  They’re pretty basic tools with a modest curve in the shaft and a heavy swing.  Good for a beginner on easy terrain.  I like these tools, and have no complaints.  Vivek had rented tools from Rock and Snow in New Paltz and chose the Petzl Nomic.  I had sampled these tools a few weeks back, climbing with my wife in Stony Clove.  They felt like million dollar tools then, and when I used them yesterday towards the end of the day, they felt like billion dollar tools.  There’s a saying that Nomics make you climb a grade better, and I really think that there’s some truth to that.  I feel the curve and weight are perfect.  They don’t require a hard swing which really saves a lot of energy.  With nothing more than a few light taps, the picks just stick and they hold. These tools are light, they feel incredible, and somehow seem to do all the work themselves.  My ice season is about to close but I am sure that I will own a pair of these tools by next year.     

 

Far Right Side

Center

Left Side

Unclimbed Wall to our right (top section was very weak)

 Top section of Unclimbed Wall to our right, note the hanging "curtain" of ice

 

Running to Squamish

My wife has become quite the ambitious runner.  She has her first 5K race coming up in March and has already been plotting her next challenge.  Not satisfied with low-mileage runs, she has just signed up for a Half-Marathon scheduled for August of this year.  As of today, February 1st, she has 189 days to prepare for this race which happens to be a few days after her 32nd birthday.  I am very proud of my wife for committing herself to this challenge.  She has literally taken to running full-speed.  As a former US Army soldier, I am no stranger to beating my feet.  These days, I'm a very modest runner putting down 2+ miles, two to three times a week.  My wife will eventually do an entire week's worth of my current running, and then some, in a day.  She literally started at zero about two months ago and is already up to 2.5 miles per run and rapidly improving her pace and distance.  I am so impressed and so inspired by this beautiful, amazing woman that I married. 

So, what does this have to do with Squamish?  Well first, for the unintroducted, Squamish is a world-class climbing destination.  Probably the premiere climbing location in all of Canada.  I know very little about this place but from what I've read, seen, and heard, I can say for certain that I will not be disappointed. 

When I found out my wife wanted to go to Vancouver to do this half-marathon I immediately gave her my support.  For one, I want to stand by her.  Two, visiting Vancouver ain't a bad thing.  Three, I assumed that there would be some worthwhile climbing nearby.  And when I found out Squamish is just a short drive from the city, I nearly fell out of my chair.  This is going to be a fantastic trip.  My wife gets her day to run (I will be waiting for her at the finish line with our Son).  I get the chance to climb one of the most amazing rocks in the world (while my wife and son explore the Provincial Park).  And we get to enjoy the city of Vancouver.

Stawamus Chief