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I used to rock climb a bit. I enjoyed it but did not care for messing around with ropes, and also tend to stick better to activities I can do solo.
Yesterday I took a bouldering class at a local climbing gym that rejoices in the name of The Cliffs of Id.
Speaking of excellent names, not to mention a canny sense of their clientele, it had the Huitlacoche Taco Truck parked in the parking lot.
I was in a class with two girls of about 10-12 who just flew up the routes, plus the mom of one of them who had an easier time than me as she had a longer reach. For a while I thought the other girl was also her daughter, while the mom thought she was mine; we eventually discovered that she was a very self-possessed person who had come on her own. I used to climb and scramble a lot at that age, alone and on local easy low cliffs and crags. I could really see the advantage of being extremely flexible, extremely light, and apparently composed almost entirely of muscle.
I made it up one V0 and fell off the next two tries, the second time because it was a different route that I struggled with and the third time on the same route as the first and because my muscles completely gave out halfway up. So this is exactly what I was looking for: something extremely strenuous that I can actually max out my strength on without (too much, hopefully) risk of back injury or repetitive strain, self-directed, something I can do by myself, engrossing, absorbing, and not prohibitively expensive or prohibitively far away.
Also hopefully I will get better at it with practice. I had thought I was pretty physically fit in the sense of "can lift a fair amount of weight, can do very strenuous hikes, etc" but I nearly fell over after completing that one climb. (And today I feel like I got hit by a truck.)
I invite anyone who'd like to geek out in comments with any advice, helpful links, personal experiences, etc. I'd be particularly interested in tips on avoiding joint injuries, which I am extremely prone to no matter how careful I am with form. At the moment my knees, ankles, wrists, and elbows are the problem areas but I have had past trouble with pretty much every joint in my body.
Yesterday I took a bouldering class at a local climbing gym that rejoices in the name of The Cliffs of Id.
Speaking of excellent names, not to mention a canny sense of their clientele, it had the Huitlacoche Taco Truck parked in the parking lot.
I was in a class with two girls of about 10-12 who just flew up the routes, plus the mom of one of them who had an easier time than me as she had a longer reach. For a while I thought the other girl was also her daughter, while the mom thought she was mine; we eventually discovered that she was a very self-possessed person who had come on her own. I used to climb and scramble a lot at that age, alone and on local easy low cliffs and crags. I could really see the advantage of being extremely flexible, extremely light, and apparently composed almost entirely of muscle.
I made it up one V0 and fell off the next two tries, the second time because it was a different route that I struggled with and the third time on the same route as the first and because my muscles completely gave out halfway up. So this is exactly what I was looking for: something extremely strenuous that I can actually max out my strength on without (too much, hopefully) risk of back injury or repetitive strain, self-directed, something I can do by myself, engrossing, absorbing, and not prohibitively expensive or prohibitively far away.
Also hopefully I will get better at it with practice. I had thought I was pretty physically fit in the sense of "can lift a fair amount of weight, can do very strenuous hikes, etc" but I nearly fell over after completing that one climb. (And today I feel like I got hit by a truck.)
I invite anyone who'd like to geek out in comments with any advice, helpful links, personal experiences, etc. I'd be particularly interested in tips on avoiding joint injuries, which I am extremely prone to no matter how careful I am with form. At the moment my knees, ankles, wrists, and elbows are the problem areas but I have had past trouble with pretty much every joint in my body.
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That is a very good name.
Speaking of excellent names, not to mention a canny sense of their clientele, it had the Huitlacoche Taco Truck parked in the parking lot.
And now I want huitlacoche.
I have no advice, but I'm glad you had a good time!
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You might also check out reddit. There's climbing reddits, and they often talk about injuries, how to avoid them, what it takes to make one heal, etc.
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I will be spamming these comments as I think of stuff
without (too much, hopefully) risk of back injury
I recommend learning to fall really well (I assume you got told the basics?), and also getting into the habit of downclimbing when possible/convenient (which is good for strength and stamina anyway). Between those, you can minimize any jarring of your back.
(Barring unexpected accidents, obviously.)
Stuff that helped me hugely when I was starting:
The Self-Coached Climber -- AWESOME explanations of movement principles if you are a person who learns best by reading about things then trying them out
Neil Gresham's Masterclass Part 1, which the makers have now kindly placed on YouTube for free. Ignore the stuff about training, it's not stuff that you should be doing in your first year or couple of years climbing anyway, AND is now massively outdated and unsound anyway, but the demonstrations of movement principles are sound and useful. Production style is extremely Of Its Era.
Also, once you have an idea of the basic movement principles, you can learn a lot from watching videos of really good climbers (this is not just an excuse to watch climbing films! serious climbing training people give this advice!). Trying to follow what they're doing and getting a sense of why it works will feed your brain's understanding of climbing movement.
Maybe for a bit later on (or now if you are in love and want to do ALL THE READING):
Better Bouldering by John Sherman (dude who invented V-grades, which he has regretted ever since). Tonnes of info on things like spotting for outdoor bouldering, which you do not yet need. Very pretty pictures, though.
Nine out of Ten Climbers Make The Same Mistakes -- you may recall "The Higher Common Sense" in Cold Comfort Farm; this is the Higher Common Sense of climbing training. I reread it every couple of years and notice all the pages I dog-eared on the last read because of the extremely sensible advice which I have somehow managed to avoid following in the interim.
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Re: I will be spamming these comments as I think of stuff
It might seem like jumping the gun, but given your injury-prone-ness maybe not -- and it has a lot on how to avoid getting injured in the first place.
Dave MacLeod (also author of "9 out of 10 Climbers") got a Master's degree in sports science basically in order to learn how to fix his injuries and climb better; he knows his shit.
Also he's climbed trad E11, sport 9a, and bouldered V14. And has done super-hard winter and mixed climbing.
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Re: I will be spamming these comments as I think of stuff
I will spam you with links and recs at the drop of a hat; I'm guessing that's pretty obvious.
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Lynn Hill bouldering in Hueco Tanks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsf6tkST7bI
Dawes on The Rasp (not bouldering, but maybe my favourite bit of climbing footage ever):
https://rydra-wong.dreamwidth.org/333183.html
Thomasina Pidgeon:
https://vimeo.com/32108499
Shauna Coxsey on Nuthin’ But Sunshine
https://vimeo.com/69282694
Mina Leslie Wujastyk on Careless Torque:
https://vimeo.com/60998984
Ondra’s first two 8Cs:
https://vimeo.com/34171412
Nina Williams goes highballing in Bishop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeIAwQfWN-U
Tomorrow I Will Be Gone (assorted British boulderers in Rocklands):
https://vimeo.com/31326082
To be continued ...
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Re: I will be spamming these comments as I think of stuff
Sacred Lands: A Story of Bouldering in Indian Creek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM7qXBTZgQc
Alex Puccio in Hueco Tanks:
https://vimeo.com/40393149
Puccio on Jade:
https://vimeo.com/118379754
Ashima Shiraishi on Crown of Aragon (v13) at age 10:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07xlubFkjwo
Ashima on Nuclear War (V14)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOH_HNwRjK0
Hazel Findlay on Rainbow of Recalcitrance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxJ8YChiQxE
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Re: I will be spamming these comments as I think of stuff
Progression -- https://senderfilms.com/productions/details/1244/Progression
Contains some excellent bouldering, but also works like a kind of prequel to The Dawn Wall and Free Solo. It has the first ever film segment on this super futuristic maybe-impossible project Tommy Caldwell has on El Cap! Kevin Jorgeson is an innocent highball boulderer who hasn't met Tommy yet! Kevin and Alex Honnold are two-thirds of "Team America", coming over here to test themselves against the gritstone!
Also introduces you to some important characters you've not met, including 16-year-old Adam Ondra.
Sample, featuring Team America trying to understand E-grades, and Kevin making the best reaction face ever at 1:31:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-OdxfCrXe4
The (extensive) DVD extras can be watched free at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/38737/128647607
Lisa Rands -- the Hit List -- can be found on eBay
One of the first really powerful women boulderers travels round the US crushing tall and burly boulder problems. That's it. It's great.
Life on Hold — https://www.amazon.com/Life-on-Hold/dp/B00H7ATJ30
If you enjoyed Tomorrow I Will Be Gone -- this is by the same people. Same deal (people climb hard things, gorgeous cinematography, decent music choices) but for gritstone and more so. I love it.
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Falling isn't the thing I'm worried about with my back. The things that tend to cause problems involve
very fast rotational movements (the kind of hip snap that's central to a lot of martial arts, unfortunately; I don't think this would come up in climbing at all) and heavy lifting. I do lift weights anyway but I have to be careful. However, I've never had back trouble from the sort of bodyweight type of lifting climbing involves.
Anyway, I'm hoping my back won't be an issue. I suspect that my elbows will, so I will be studying that pdf. Also my wrists have always been a weak point. There's a fair amount of stuff I'm strong enough to do otherwise but it's too hard on my wrists, like standard pushups. I was hoping bread kneading might help a bit with that.
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Yeah, you should be fairly safe in that respect.
I suspect that my elbows will, so I will be studying that pdf.
It also provides a good excuse to have a sledgehammer lying about one's living room.
I was hoping bread kneading might help a bit with that.
Good call (I'm trying to teach myself to stir batter etc. ambidextrously, so my left wrist can share in any benefits going!). Rice buckets are also great.
Also, a Powerball might be worth a try, for general wrist rehab/prehab?
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So, look for some nice shoulder-opening stretches to do after climbing.
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Re: I will be spamming these comments as I think of stuff
It feels like very intense DOMS, not an actual injury. So, 1) got any good stretches to recommend for that part? 2) am I supposed to be getting DOMS there or is there something specific I'm liable to have done wrong for that to happen?
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Re: I will be spamming these comments as I think of stuff
Above or below the top of your pelvis?
Off the top of my head, I'd suggest trying gentle foam-rolling and seeing if that makes it feel better or worse (if worse, discontinue foam rolling, obviously). Also soaking everything in a hot bath.
2) am I supposed to be getting DOMS there or is there something specific I'm liable to have done wrong for that to happen?
Can't think of anything specific, and you're not "supposed" to per se, but climbing involves moving in a tonne of weird ways (all of which your body is totally infamiliar with right now), so having DOMS in places where you didn't even know you had places is pretty par for the course.
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I can't believe I did all that in literally three climbs, two not even completed, total climbing time probably ten minutes.
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COOL ISN'T IT.
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Re: I will be spamming these comments as I think of stuff
There is also immense appeal in being able to just pop in whenever I feel like it rather than having to get a group together and then spend ages trying to remember how to tie a knot, something I have always been monumentally bad at. In karate there is exactly one specific knot you need to tie, for your belt, and despite having tied it thousands of times I would have to re-do it several times, spend minutes trying to remember how to do it, etc, at least once a week.
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Yes! People who are serious route climbers will do bouldering as part of their training, just to boost strength and power.
But also! In my experience, it's an advantage to start weak (in terms of bouldering-specific strength), because it forces you to start learning technique early. Then your strength will catch up just from the bouldering, and then you'll have strength AND technique!
There is also immense appeal in being able to just pop in whenever I feel like it rather than having to get a group together and then spend ages trying to remember how to tie a knot
YUP. I now do trad routes outdoors as well as bouldering, but indoors, I pretty much always boulder. Works SO MUCH BETTER for me.
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Overuse injuries
So you can very easily have your muscles exerting much more force than your tendons are ready to cope with. Common hazards: "tweaked" fingers, elbow tendonitis.
Therefore: avoid anything like fingerboarding (let alone campusing) until you're through that first year or two. You'll get all the strength increases you need for climbing from climbing, at this point. Don't add any extra stresses!
Fingers: see the description of different grip positions that will be in the various books -- or in the Honnold talks Hollywood climbing video, from 6:14. Don't fall into the common beginner trap of half-crimping everything! Learn to open-hand stuff when possible!
(Also don't go to the other extreme like I did, open-hand absolutely everything, and end up having a shitty half-crimp grip and getting injuries from that, because it turns out you can do that too.)
Don't full-crimp stuff until you've a) been climbing for several years and b) have absolutely no choice. I'm not sure I've ever needed to full crimp? Maybe once or twice outside, but I couldn't swear to it? It puts MAXIMUM DESTRUCTO-FORCES through delicate connective tissues in your fingers and should be avoided whetnever possible (unless you have Honnold levels of climbing history and strength).
If your elbows start feeling dodgy, download this pdf; it contains magic:
http://drjuliansaunders.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/ri_dodgyelbow.pdf
(I see there's an update: http://drjuliansaunders.com/ask-dr-j-issue-223-dodgy-elbows-revisited/ )
I got elbow tendonosis in my first year, and cured it rapidly with that. Had one or two points since then when my elbows felt iffy, and a short stint of those exercises cleared everything up again. MAGIC.
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Joint injuries are a thing, especially as we get older, and as you don't have a lot of history climbing. If you lift, that helps, but the joints in question don't always get the same stress as in climbing. So take it SLOW.
I have had trouble with my elbows off and on for a few years: it's partly climbing, partly too much computer time. What helps for me is stretching out my arms/elbows/wrists by flexing my wrist all the way back and all the way forward, and holding it there for a count of 20.
The big issue with bouldering is your forearms will give out fast. However you will get stronger remarkably quickly -- if I make the effort to boulder a couple times per week, it really pays off in my roped climbing.
Congratulations in joining the gang, and don't forget to subscribe to
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BOULDERERS ARE HUNGRY.