Confidence in Movement

I’ve written a bit about beta and sequence before, but now I’m going to follow a slightly different train of thought: committing to your idea. I’ve been in countless situations where I’m stuck on a move, the clock is winding down, and I just have to go. In those situations, you really only have one option: pick a move and go for it. I have videos of myself doing the strangest-looking moves, ranging from ninja-swinging my feet around to physically grabbing my ankle and placing my foot on a difficult hold to skipping sections of routes using enormous lock-offs. When your options are limited and the clock is ticking, if an option looks plausible, do it, and have confidence in it. If you decide that the easiest way to do a route is to dyno past the technical section, do it! Just make sure you commit to it–if you get scared and suddenly decide that your beta won’t work, you’re stuck. If you start a movement, you have to have confidence and push through it as hard as you can even if you don’t think it will work. Sometimes, you might be surprised.

In complicated situations, you gotta do what you gotta do. If you know your foot has to get up there, but you can’t just lift it, there is NO SHAME in using a hand to move it. If you have to contort yourself into the most awkward position imaginable in order to control a hold, go for it. No one will judge you if you actually try it, and people will think you’re incredible if you actually do it.

Commit to what you think you can do, and everything else will fall in!

Stay strong and stay safe!

Julia

Being Creative: A Short Introduction to Sequence

Climbing isn’t just right-hand-left-hand-right-hand-left-hand all the way up the wall. When you first start to climb, maybe your 5.6s and V0-‘s are like that. But as you progress, so do the routes, and suddenly you have to start thinking more and more. Some people look at a pair of gnarly slopers and say, huh, I guess I’ll just have to move through that quickly, because there’s no way I can hold those for more than a second. However, a more experienced climber might look at that same section and say, those slopers look WAY too hard for the grade. Let’s look at the feet… Oh, hey! Double heel hooks! Fabulous, I’m gonna rest there! Same route. Same holds. Different strategies. Climbing is all about doing the routes in the easiest way possible. If that way encompasses some crazy no-hands rest or skipping eight holds, go for it. The particular moves you make when you’re climbing and the holds you use, also known as your beta, can be specific to you. My favorite way to look at it is that if it works, it’s good beta. Also, it’s fun, because when you’re competing and you do something weird like hang from your toes, you can hear the entire crowd gasp simultaneously (and also hear your friends laughing at you). There’s no wrong way to “send” a route. Literally. If you got to the top, you did it right. Gold star. A+ for you. You could have dangled from one arm for ten minutes, and if you still controlled the end of the route, you did it right. That is something that is very important to remember. Personally, I like to look at a route two ways: I like to try to find the intended sequence set by the route setter, and then I try to find the way that I’ll probably do it. Sometimes those things are the same. Often, they are not. Just because the route setter wanted you to do this or Sally from across the gym did that, doesn’t mean you have to do it. You do you, and if it works, you did right. Stay safe and stay strong! Julia

The Struggle with Skin (and emergency-recovery hints)

I spend too much time dangling from my hands to not care for my skin properly. After that famous video in which Daniel Woods, bouldering aficionado, only washed dishes/showered while wearing rubber gloves, a lot of people have questioned exactly how far climbers go to keep their skin in perfect condition–do we all shower wearing surgical gloves? What happens when our skin isn’t perfect? Do we just not climb?

I, for one, have only worn surgical gloves in water once, and that was when I was going swimming and trying to catch frogs in the woods outside my friend’s house in Washington. I make a point of bringing up that particular video, however, whenever my mom tries to get me to do the dishes.

Kidding.

However, there is definitely an “ideal” when it comes to the condition of your hands. Before major competitions, yes, I do make a point of not going swimming or doing dishes in hot water. Why? Because both of those activities soften the skin of your hands. The chlorine in the pool does catastrophic things to your callouses, and hot water tends to soften anything you put in it. Another no-no before competitions–and in fact, ever, if you want to be able to train well–is lotion. That stuff is DESIGNED to make your skin baby-smooth. Remember the first time you went climbing, or any time you’ve done an activity that involves putting continuous friction on your hands? Remember the blisters and the agony and the groans of your peers as they struggled along with you? That’s what it’s like when you put normal lotion on your hands and then go climbing. Just don’t. There is no need to put yourself through that again.

If I don’t have an impending competition, my general strategy is to keep my skin in the best condition possible without going out of my way or changing my daily routine too drastically. I must have tried ten different brands of climbing salves and recovery creams before finally settling on the one that works best for me: Joshua Tree. I know many people prefer ClimbOn, but frankly, it seemed to have half of the effect of JTree when I left both salves on overnight after difficult practices. Of course, your skin treatment is completely a matter of personal preference. I’ll leave links to some of my favorites at the bottom of this post.

My daily routine involves simply rubbing JTree all over my hands before I go to bed. I have two big containers of it, one in my climbing bag and one by my bed. Sometimes I apply more than once a day, and sometimes I don’t feel the need to use any. It all depends on how hard I’ve been training, because every discipline of climbing leaves my skin in different conditions: speed (usually bloody and ripped-up), lead (ALWAYS bloody and ripped-up), toprope (slightly less bloody and ripped-up), or bouldering (sore sore sore sore ouch).

When I’m outdoor climbing, it’s a whole different matter. My skin is always a bloody mess and I’m constantly carrying my JTree. That, my friends, is where the Emergency Fixes come in.

Emergency Skin Fixes

Method One: This is a simple, quick, immediate fix for if you’re on the crag and you’ve got a flapper or an open cut. You just need some superglue. To use this, just smear the superglue over the affected area and let it dry before climbing again. It might not be painless, but it will keep whatever’s open closed and stop bleeding.

Method Two: I hate tape. I hate climbing with it, I hate the feeling of it, and it keeps me from doing what I do best: crimping. However, in certain cases it’s the best way to go. If it’s a fingertip wound, I go with glue or nothing, but anywhere else, tape is acceptable. This method is pretty self-explanatory, just make sure you’re using athletic tape. I promise that Scotch tape will get you absolutely nowhere.

Method Three: Superpowered Skin Salve! I got this from a climbing coach in an obscure corner of Montana. Vitamin E is good for your skin, yes? So, cracking open a vitamin E pill and rubbing it all over your skin… miraculous, yes? Yes. It is. Do this right after you’re done for the day, and by the next morning, your hands will be flawless.

Method Four: Ever heard someone tell you to “rub some dirt on it?” Don’t do that. It’s unsanitary. However, if your skin is bleeding, rubbing chalk in it (as long as you clean it later) is a fabulous way to stop the flow. Chalk is designed to dry sweat off of your hands–it works the same way with blood.

Those are the most handy fixes that I use. If you have any more, please drop me a message and I’ll post a follow-up to this post.

My Favorite Skin Salve Brands (links)

Joshua Tree

ClimbOn

Cross Fixe Hands

Metolius Climber’s Hand Repair Balm

Recipe #1: I Love to Eat (oats)

I love food. I know a lot of athletes like to go calorie-deficient or whatever, but I prefer to just eat well. My favorite food is peanut butter. I don’t usually snack, but when I do, I love cranberries and pine nuts. My weekly staple is quinoa with peppers and pine nuts and cranberries and feta and a little bit of lemon oil. I do all my own cooking and sometimes (like this morning) have to jump on my bike and head over to AJ’s or Fresh Vitamins and get the things I need for my recipes. As I’ve mentioned before, I have the Way of Gray e-book and a subscription to ClimbHealthy. I follow two dozen food accounts on Instagram, including my favorites, withpeanutbutterontop and peanutbutterpluschocolate. I eat like a queen.

Now, I have a lot of recipes amassed, between my own experimentation and all I’ve read. I’m going to be posting a lot of them in other posts, but I’m going to kick off with my favorite breakfast ever: variations of overnight oats.

Peanut Butter Oats

You need: Quaker oats, natural Greek yogurt, milk (or a milk substitute; I use almond/coconut Silk mix), peanut butter

Directions: Mix 1/2 cup of Quaker oats with 1/4 cup of yogurt and 1/4 cup of milk (you can adjust the ratios to taste; the more yogurt, the thicker it’ll end up). Then mix one tablespoon of peanut butter into that and combine all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Do this the night before you want it; then, refrigerate overnight. In the morning, you will have beautiful overnight oatmeal and it will be fantastical like unicorns.

Super Duper Gourmet Protein Glorious Fantastic Chocolate Peanut Butter Minty Flawless Amazing Overnight Oats

You need: Quaker oats, natural Greek yogurt, milk (or substitute), peanut butter, unsweetened cocoa powder, sweet cacao nibs*, hemp hearts*, chocolate or neutral whey protein, mint*, chia or flax*

*optional; you can use any combination of these ingredients

Directions: Mix 1/2 cup of Quaker oats with 1/4 cup of yogurt and 1/4 cup of milk (ratios subject to adjustment). Then mix in 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, 1 tablespoon of any or all of each of the listed ingredients, 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, and 1 tablespoon of protein powder. All measurements can be adjusted to taste. If the mixture is already thick after all of that, add more milk. Then refrigerate overnight and enjoy God’s gift to healthy humanity in the morning.

I hope you enjoy these!

Stay strong and stay safe,

Julia

The Training Challenge

How much is too much, and how much is not enough?

This question is one that all athletes perennially battle with. How much training will get me to where I want to be, but is not excessive? Can I ever train too much?

The answer to the second question is yes. As there is with most things, there is a happy medium in working out.  Sometimes, it’s good to reach your breaking point when you’re working out. When I’m doing a leg day, I never count reps. I just go until I physically cannot do another squat, then do three more, then call it a day. However, there is a fine line between working hard and overworking. I max out hard on leg and ab days, but on arm and finger days I go a little bit easier. You might ask why I do that–aren’t a climber’s arms and hands the most important part? The answer is it that they can be. But the reason I train them less is that they are smaller muscles and much more prone to injury. While I can do squats all day and not hurt myself, doing too many pull-ups will result in an injury. I train my arms and hands long enough to get stronger, and then I stop.

I’ve been climbing for two years. For the first six months, I barely trained. Actually, I barely cared. It was a new sport, and I was still trying to adjust after quitting figure skating, my eight-year passion. Because of skating, I had great back muscles and great legs, but barely any arm strength and mediocre ab strength. After failing miserably in the competition world for a little while, I began to pick up speed. I finally started to train, but as soon as that happened, I started getting rashes of little injuries. I would work my arms like crazy, go home, find out I’d pulled something, and then be forced to take time off. I never did cardio, only strength training, and then only in specific muscle groups. I was actually hindering myself by doing the very thing that was supposed to help me.

Of course, I was furious. Here I was, putting all of this extra time into training, and getting absolutely nothing out of it except injuries. So, after a short period of wallowing in self-pity, I started to do some research. With the help of several e-books, my coaches, a personal trainer, and some friends, I began to understand the concepts of muscle balance and imbalance. Most climbers encounter the problem of having such good abs and arms that their backs literally could not support them. Coming from my skating and karate background, I never had that problem; however, my downfall was my forearm imbalance. The insides of my forearms were so much stronger than the outsides that I was putting unnecessary strain on my tendons and muscles all the way up to my shoulders. Also, my biceps were decent but my triceps were subpar at best, causing imbalance in my upper arms.

After discovering all of this, I completely changed the way I worked out. I began factoring runs into my routine, at least nine miles per week. I do “morning warm-ups” before school, which include seven exercises targeting six muscle groups and one cardio boost. I climb five days a week and take one full rest day once every two weeks. I do weight training at the gym three days per week, and spend at least an hour a week on my hang board doing finger and forearm exercises.

Diet is also a huge part of training. Frankly, I’m not a believer in any sort of crash diet–actually, I oppose them. However, eating well is and having a good relationship with food is essential. Thanks to an e-book called Way of Gray, I’ve both cleaned up my diet and made it interesting, as well as adding a new cardio circuit to my routine based on that book. According to an article by ClimbHealthy, eating clean helps lower the risk of getting muscle and tendon injuries, and I agree. Training isn’t just about getting ripped, it’s about getting healthy.

Some people think it’s “cool” to push through the pain in a workout, but really, if your muscles are hurting in a not-good way, then stop. There is a line between working hard and overworking; it is when you cross into the “overworking” zone that you get hurt.

Yes, you can train too much. Yes, you can overwork. Yes, it is difficult to get it right. But once you do, it’s worth it.

Stay strong and stay safe ❤

Julia

Hello, Adventurers

Hi there!

My name is Julia. I’m a competitive rock climber and self-professed fitness guru. I’m here to share my story and take you on my journey with me, through my competition life and my obsession with banana smoothies, into the world of competitive climbing.

A bit about me: I’m nationally ranked 29th in the USA for rope climbing. Ropes is my preference, as opposed to bouldering. I’m a lead genie. Three things I love most in the world are lead climbing, lead falling, and ab day (yes, I will post workout plans. Apologies in advance). In my spare time I like to read Hemingway and experiment in the kitchen. If I could choose one place to live, it would be Utah, because they have fabulous gyms, brilliant skiing, Psicobloc, and a gorgeous running trail up to a bench where you can watch the sunrise at 5:30 AM (I can’t be the only person in the world who finds that enjoyable. Please no). My dog is the world’s worst walking partner, so although she is adorable, you will not be seeing any photos. She is a lump of clay when it comes to running.

So sit back, relax, and prepare for an onslaught of goofy blog posts interspersed with inspirational quotes and pictures of food. Let me show how I roll–hmm, sorry, climb.

Julia