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lime rind posted:My first day of climbing: complete! The climbing session was open for up to four people, but I ended up being the only one there. One straight hour of climbing certainly took its toll on my forearms. The next step is basically just to do it more. You will use your arms less and less as you get more practiced at it, but for now you are probably death gripping everything and it will wear you out quickly.
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Aug 16, 2014 22:40
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guppy posted:The next step is basically just to do it more. You will use your arms less and less as you get more practiced at it, but for now you are probably death gripping everything and it will wear you out quickly. Just climb. Do whatever seems fun and safe. Make some climbing friends. The range of both of those will expand quite a bit if you climb regularly for a while.
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Aug 17, 2014 01:05
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I'm relatively new and a bunch of people recommend The Self-Coached Climber. Found the first two chapters of the book are free to read on Google Books if anyone is curious (maybe worth adding to the OP?). Even just the first two chapters are a good intro. http://books.google.com/books?id=LV4O2YpzM-YC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Aug 18, 2014 06:07
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hostile apostle posted:I'm relatively new and a bunch of people recommend The Self-Coached Climber. Found the first two chapters of the book are free to read on Google Books if anyone is curious (maybe worth adding to the OP?). Even just the first two chapters are a good intro. Thanks for this - I've fallen in love with climbing after trying it out at the MD Earth Treks, so I was planning on getting a membership and climbing much more often. On that note, I was looking at what sort of gear to get since renting gear is going to get expensive quickly. Does anyone have experience with La Sportiva's Mythos? I tried them out today and found that they fit really comfortably, but being used to stiff-as-a-board rental shoes I was rather alarmed that I could actually bend my toes when I was testing them out on a board they had at the retail area. I'm guessing I tried on a size too big if that's the case?
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Aug 18, 2014 06:17
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Speaking as someone who rushed out and bought the self coached climber as soon as I got remotely interested in climbing, don't do this. Just climb for a bit and find out what your goals are. Also, SCC is very much focused on redpointing sport projects, and structuring your training for a specific point in the season. Whilst there is some good general info in there, there are better resources available for the vast majority of climbers.
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Aug 18, 2014 13:02
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chami posted:On that note, I was looking at what sort of gear to get since renting gear is going to get expensive quickly. Does anyone have experience with La Sportiva's Mythos? I tried them out today and found that they fit really comfortably, but being used to stiff-as-a-board rental shoes I was rather alarmed that I could actually bend my toes when I was testing them out on a board they had at the retail area. I'm guessing I tried on a size too big if that's the case? I have a pair of Mythos (relatively soft, with a flat sole) and a pair of Miura VS (very stiff, with an arched sole). The Mythos are very comfortable. I can wear them for hours on end without issue. They do have a fair amount of flex in the sole, but sometimes this is a good thing. They can be better for smearing because the flex on the sole will let you get more rubber in contact with the wall. I've also heard that they're good for crack climbing, but I don't have experience with that. With the Mythos, I can climb 90% of what I can climb in the Miuras. I got the Miura VS in the smallest size that would fit me. I can wear them for about half an hour before they get uncomfortable. When I put them on, I am much more confident in using the smallest footholds. It is much easier to use the point of my big toe to stand on tiny little edges. That being said, if I send a route in my Miuras, I usually find I can also send it in the Mythos once I know the route. I like having both, but if I had to choose just one is go with the Mythos. They're more comfortable, cheaper, and they're very capable. Also, I'm a little bit concerned because the Velcro on my Miuras is starting to wear through at the buckles. Probably my fault for scraping the buckles against the rock, but disappointing on a $170 shoe. I've had the Mythos resoled once, but the shoe itself is in great shape.
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Aug 18, 2014 18:13
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The mythos is a 20 year old design that's kept alive people with oddly shaped feet or strange fetishes for soft shoes that stretch out. Buy a modern shoe.
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Aug 18, 2014 19:04
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IMO Dave MacLeod's 9 out of 10 Climbers Make the Same Mistakes is the single best book to read if you want to improve as a climber. You'd probably get more out of it once you've been climbing for at least a few months though, and while it covers both it's less about physical training and more about the mental game. Eric J. Hörst's Training for Climbing is also a classic and has a lot more on the basics of strength training, I think it's better for a beginner than The Self-Coached Climber. If your ambitions go beyond the gym and into the mountains Mark Twight's Extreme Alpinism is the bible for "making yourself as indestructible as possible", covering both mental and physical training in a lot of depth but it gets fairly technical in places and is definitely not the right book if you're starting out or just looking to improve your redpoint grade. It has a lot of more general stuff that transfers well to endurance sports like cycling and running too. Finally Arno Ilgner's The Rock Warrior's Way is a book mainly about dealing with fear in climbing and I found it helpful, although at times it reads like a new agey self-help book and it took me some effort to get past that.
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Aug 18, 2014 19:40
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big scary monsters posted:IMO Dave MacLeod's 9 out of 10 Climbers Make the Same Mistakes is the single best book to read if you want to improve as a climber. Yeah, this. Good post.
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Aug 18, 2014 20:00
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I led my first E1 on Saturday. Had a hang on the gear about three moves from the top so dogged the route a bit, but still very satisfied. My climbing partner took a helmet camera up the last route we climbed that day, another E1. He's very good at placing wires and leading near his technical limit, so if you wanted to learn about trad protection and the psychological aspect of leading, you might find it interesting. He's on the crux at about 9 minutes. http://youtu.be/JcumQLZWAv0
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Aug 18, 2014 21:46
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Thanks for all the advice! Thanks for the advice and links, everyone! I'll be reading through them when I get home. Speleothing posted:The mythos is a 20 year old design that's kept alive people with oddly shaped feet or strange fetishes for soft shoes that stretch out. I read that the Mythos tends to stretch to your foot since it's leather, but what makes it different or inferior to "modern" shoes? Not as aggressive of a toebox or something? What shoe line would you recommend then for someone who will mostly be doing top rope and bouldering?
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Aug 18, 2014 23:16
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chami posted:Thanks for all the advice! I would try out a bunch. I climb at EarthTreks also, and they will happily let you try on shoes and take them for a spin on the wall. They also have vendor demo days sometimes where you can try on a bunch of stuff (including models the gym doesn't stock) and get a better price on them.
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Aug 18, 2014 23:20
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chami posted:Thanks for all the advice! First question is how "big" your feet are, more in terms of total volume and wideness than length. For a smaller-volume/narrower foot, I tend to recommend trying out more EU-designed shoes: Sportiva, Scarpa, Tenaya. For a fatter foot, I tend to think of 5.10 or Evolv as the most prominent options. For me, the biggest difference between these two different "styles" is how the heel fits. When I put on most Sportivas, it's like a vacuum cup to my heel. With most 5.10s, it feels baggy and insecure. Next, think about what kind of climbing you'll be doing. Sounds like mostly gym climbing, bouldering and TR. What kind of terrain? mostly overhanging? mostly vert? a little bit of everything? what these questions get at is how aggressively downturned you want the shoe, how stiff vs. sensititive, and even the fastening system. my guess is you're probably going to be climbing a little bit of everything, mostly in the gym. with that in mind, i'd go for a shoe that is slightly downturned with either velcro straps or even just a straight slipper -- easy to remove in between burns at the gym. there's really no reason to leave your shoes on the entire team you're at the gym, or even in between routes, other than convenience (hence opting for an easy-to-remove shoe). if you get a shoe that is comfortable for 30+ minutes, it's probably leaving some performance on the table. if you're aiming at doing a lot of slabby multipitch, that might be something that's actually desirable, so always bring it back to your own needs/ambitions. you don't want to downsize so radically that your feet are screaming after you've done two moves, but you want your shoes to be tight, with as little dead space as possible (hence the importance of finding a shoe that fits your foot's shape, first and foremost) the shoe that immediately comes to my mind is the sportiva katana velcro. slightly downturned to help pull you into the wall when you're on overhangs, easy velcro straps for quick removal, and pretty moderate in terms of stiffness vs. sensitivity. like i said, the beefier 5.10/evolv "style" shoes don't fit me well, so I don't have a personal recommendation, but I know a lot of people that swear by the Anasazi (also available as velcro) as the best all arounder, fwiw these are just tips and things to keep in mind. you really do have to just try on a bunch of pairs, and go with what feels best. if you try a pair on and have some lingering thought "this kind of pinches my ankle, but i guess it's all right...", don't buy that pair. among the myriad brands, models and variants of shoes that are available today, there is guaranteed to be a pair that will feet your feet like a glove and that's what you should hold out for
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Aug 19, 2014 00:08
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chami posted:I read that the Mythos tends to stretch to your foot since it's leather, but what makes it different or inferior to "modern" shoes? Not as aggressive of a toebox or something? What shoe line would you recommend then for someone who will mostly be doing top rope and bouldering? It's not just stretching to your foot, it's also getting sweaty and losing it'd shape overall. It will stretch out of shape because there's nothing holding the leather in shape. If you buy them, you must get them at least two, possibly three full sizes down. This is essentially the minimum to get a power position out of your foot. Unlike a modern design which will have an appropriate curve and stiffness, and will use its rubber to hold the leather in shape. I would only recommend the Mythos to a new climber if they were super-dedicated to multi-pitch, crack climbing, on a strict budget, and had funny shaped feet. Try on more shoes. Look into the Tenaya brand in particular.
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Aug 19, 2014 00:12
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Speleothing posted:It's not just stretching to your foot, it's also getting sweaty and losing it'd shape overall. It will stretch out of shape because there's nothing holding the leather in shape. If you buy them, you must get them at least two, possibly three full sizes down. This is essentially the minimum to get a power position out of your foot. Unlike a modern design which will have an appropriate curve and stiffness, and will use its rubber to hold the leather in shape. I think the general consensus amongst myself and friends who have Mythos is that they (and many leather upper shoes) stretch out about 1/2 to perhaps 1 size from what you bought them at. I don't think they'd stretch 2-3 sizes. A new climber shouldn't get them because they're really nice and your less than stellar footwork will burn out the toe quickly.
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Aug 19, 2014 16:12
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Frown Town posted:I'm going to visiting Seattle Aug 19-24 with the BF (who is somewhat new to climbing, but making good newbie gains)-- I'm unlikely to do much outdoor climbing stuff during that trip (unless there are some easier things to boulder that don't involve loving up my ankles), but we are most definitely stopping by Seattle Bouldering Project. Let me know if you want some people to climb with during that week! Almost missed this. Welcome to Seattle! I sent you a PM, I'm down to climb whenever.
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Aug 19, 2014 17:28
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Thanks guys! I'll hold off on the purchase so I can try out more shoes in person.
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Aug 20, 2014 05:33
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I overdid it a little on Monday night, not in the sense of injuring myself but my grip still hasn't fully returned. I'm supposed to climb again tomorrow night. Hopefully I'll be fit again before then, but any suggestions on helping it along? I'm already stretching my wrists back, which feels great and all but I'm still not fit to climb.
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Aug 20, 2014 11:58
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guppy posted:I overdid it a little on Monday night, not in the sense of injuring myself but my grip still hasn't fully returned. I'm supposed to climb again tomorrow night. Hopefully I'll be fit again before then, but any suggestions on helping it along? I'm already stretching my wrists back, which feels great and all but I'm still not fit to climb. try rubbing a lacrosse ball (or any sort of hard rubber ball) into your forearms. really dig it in, just all over. and tomorrow, make sure you do a nice, long warm up
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Aug 20, 2014 17:34
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Sharks Eat Bear posted:First question is how "big" your feet are, more in terms of total volume and wideness than length. For a smaller-volume/narrower foot, I tend to recommend trying out more EU-designed shoes: Sportiva, Scarpa, Tenaya. For a fatter foot, I tend to think of 5.10 or Evolv as the most prominent options. For me, the biggest difference between these two different "styles" is how the heel fits. When I put on most Sportivas, it's like a vacuum cup to my heel. With most 5.10s, it feels baggy and insecure. One other thing, if you can fit into women's sizes and have a narrow foot, consider Sportiva/Scarpa/Tenaya women's shoes. They tend to be narrower still than the men's versions. At my climbing gym they actually call them "low volume" instead of "women's" so that men won't feel weird about trying them out. Unfortunately if you've got very long feet you're unlikely to find ones that fit...
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Aug 20, 2014 17:42
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Smoked a couple V4s at the gym tonight. Also nailed a bunch of V3s I had my eye on. Wish I could get outside this weekend but with family in town doubtful... Maybe Tuesday after work. 10b/c here I come, shouldn't really be a problem since I have been on sighting every 10a in sight.
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Aug 21, 2014 04:01
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Was sending 5.10+ a month ago pretty consistently, then I broke the pinkie toe on my right foot. Tried bouldering last night and couldn't send a v1. I hate this feeling.
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Aug 21, 2014 04:28
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It's going to be a long weekend here and I'm going out to do some multipitch trad for the first time in probably three years (I spent a while away from climbing and I mainly boulder these days). We're planning to have fun climbing some classics on big granite slabs rather than pushing the grades, but I am still a little nervous that I won't have a head for leading any more. Here's an interesting video from DMM on breaking slings: https://vimeo.com/27293337
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Aug 21, 2014 14:22
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The IFSC Bouldering World Championship finals are today. Semifinals were early this morning and they already have the video up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJJSPdsjupw The finals will be streamed at http://www.ifsc-climbing.org/ or they'll probably get that uploaded pretty quickly as well. Their Youtube channel is great if you become as addicted as I did. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2MGuhIaOP6YLpUx106kTQw
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Aug 23, 2014 17:55
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Ondra is a monster.
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Aug 23, 2014 20:35
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I'm in Dallas for the next month. Would like to get a bit of climbing in while I'm here. There's got to be some Dallas goons floating around with some knowledge worth sharing or who could use a belay.
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Aug 25, 2014 01:33
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I finished my class series and can't wait to start climbing regularly. I haven't been this excited about picking up a sport since I got back into cycling, and I'm thinking of getting a hangboard to train at home since my old door frames aren't shaped well for using a pullup bar. How often do you guys climb vs lift weights vs other exercise? I definitely want to keep my lifting up and was wondering what kind of schedule to start with. I'm thinking one day a week climbing, 3/4 lifting. Does that sound reasonable? Are there any areas I should target more/less once I put climbing in the mix? Obviously I'll listen to what my body needs, but I was just wondering what everyone's routine looks like. Edit: I'm also open to suggestions, like I feel like swimming would be a good compliment to climbing because of the cardio and muscle groups used. FreakerByTheSpeaker fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Aug 26, 2014 |
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Aug 26, 2014 20:25
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FreakerByTheSpeaker posted:I finished my class series and can't wait to start climbing regularly. I haven't been this excited about picking up a sport since I got back into cycling, and I'm thinking of getting a hangboard to train at home since my old door frames aren't shaped well for using a pullup bar. What are your goals in relation to climbing? Obviously if you're new, you want to improve on some level, but how much of your life do you think this will consume? One day a week isn't much, to be honest. You're going to plateau pretty quickly once you learn some technique. What are your lifting goals? Most climbers I know don't do much with weights and when they do, it's very climbing specific muscle groups. Where's your cardio at right now? If you can run a mile in 7-8 minutes I'd say ditch the cardio as it doesn't translate to climbing improvement in most cases. Obviously cardio is nice for general fitness and that's important for sports in general, but your climbing most likely won't improve with more cardio unless you're really out of shape to begin with. If you're already interested in getting a hangboard (which is awesome), I highly recommend you read the Anderson brothers' book "The Rock Climber's Training Manual." It details training programs for every level of climber and they don't poo-poo the idea of hangboarding when you're a beginner.
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Aug 26, 2014 21:33
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FreakerByTheSpeaker posted:I finished my class series and can't wait to start climbing regularly. I haven't been this excited about picking up a sport since I got back into cycling, and I'm thinking of getting a hangboard to train at home since my old door frames aren't shaped well for using a pullup bar. depends on what you're after... if your goal is just to improve at climbing, and all other exercise would be seen as complementary/supplemental, then you should probably not be doing any lifting, aside from potentially a few supplemental exercises at the end of climbing sessions. if your goal is to improve your all-around fitness, with climbing as a core, but not primary, component, then it will depend on how much emphasis you want to place on each element of your fitness. my sense is that 1 day a week of climbing is pretty light, unless you really want it to be more of a "sometimes" hobby and performance/improvement doesn't matter. especially as a beginner, your biggest/easiest gains early on will probably be from improving technique, which just comes with practice. i'd suggest at least 2 days a week if you see climbing as more than a "sometimes" hobby (which is sounds like you do based on your excitement, which is awesome, because climbing is the best) re: swimming, in addition to the general considerations above about total workout volume, i've heard mixed feedback on swimming in general. some people say it's a great way to exercise the core and shoulders (rotator cuff), the latter of which is especially good for injury prevention. on the flip side, i've heard others say that it works too many of the same muscles as climbing and thus could contribute to overtraining and increase injury risk. my takeaway is: if you're passionate about swimming, keep swimming, but don't doing it expecting it to make you a better or more injury-resistant climber, necessarily
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Aug 26, 2014 21:35
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As a once a week climber myself you basically can get to 10c/d leading sport in a summer. This is based on not climbing the last three winters and climbing basically once a week outside during the summer. You do have to be pretty committed to climbing long outdoor sessions though. The other workouts I do is mountain bike and run, plus snowboard in the winter. Depending on how much climbing you have around you getting to high 10s can be all you need for a long time.
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Aug 26, 2014 21:46
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First clean V3 tonight! I don't boulder much so I've been trying to make this transition for a while now.
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Aug 27, 2014 03:19
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guppy posted:First clean V3 tonight! I don't boulder much so I've been trying to make this transition for a while now. Congratulations! I pretty much spent a few hours just bouldering today and it's a ton of fun, even if I can only send little babby V1s so far.
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Aug 27, 2014 03:24
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I've been lazily climbing indoors twice per week for about 6 years and currently manage V7 indoors and sometimes outdoors. I think climbing more would just result in injury so if I want to get much better I'll need to do climbing-specific training.
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Aug 27, 2014 03:35
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French Canadian posted:I've been lazily climbing indoors twice per week for about 6 years and currently manage V7 indoors and sometimes outdoors. I think climbing more would just result in injury so if I want to get much better I'll need to do climbing-specific training. Do you climb outside too? If not, more than 2 days would definitely not result in injury if you're careful. You should be able to climb at least 4 days a week safely with your foundation.
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Aug 27, 2014 03:52
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ConspicuousEvil posted:Do you climb outside too? If not, more than 2 days would definitely not result in injury if you're careful. You should be able to climb at least 4 days a week safely with your foundation. I only climb outdoors in the spring and fall, mainly because there is skiing and cycling to do in the winter/summer. I mainly feel like my fingers don't recuperate fast enough for the difficulty of stuff I want to work on if I were to climb more frequently.
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Aug 27, 2014 07:27
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Hey y'all. I'm some loser who goes bouldering once a week and has noodlearms. Currently hacking my way through some of the V3s at a gym in Brooklyn, if anyone goes there. No real interest in getting seriously into it, but it's a cool thing and making slow but steady progress is pretty rad! Just sticking my head in to say hi and maybe learn a few things.
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Aug 27, 2014 18:39
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French Canadian posted:I only climb outdoors in the spring and fall, mainly because there is skiing and cycling to do in the winter/summer. I mainly feel like my fingers don't recuperate fast enough for the difficulty of stuff I want to work on if I were to climb more frequently. What's your pre and post climbing routine like? It could also be that you've just plateaued in terms of finger strength and need to start a hangboard routine.
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Aug 27, 2014 20:04
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I suppose I could have been more specific about my goals. I definitely want to get better at rock climbing, and maybe even just supplement it with lifting. If I could at least do some bouldering 2-3 times a week instead of lifting, I would be down but I didn't know how much your muscles/fingers can handle once you develop the specific strength to get going (holy Jesus if my forearms aren't shot for a few days after right now.) I live in Chicago, there isn't much opportunity for climbing that isn't at the gym, but if I could climb instead of lift except maybe a leg and/or chest/back day, that would be awesome.
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Aug 27, 2014 21:41
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FreakerByTheSpeaker posted:I suppose I could have been more specific about my goals. I definitely want to get better at rock climbing, and maybe even just supplement it with lifting. If I could at least do some bouldering 2-3 times a week instead of lifting, I would be down but I didn't know how much your muscles/fingers can handle once you develop the specific strength to get going (holy Jesus if my forearms aren't shot for a few days after right now.) Once you keep climbing and get used to it, you can definitely boulder 2-3 times a week. Right now I'm averaging around 4-5 days a week of climbing, mixed between roped and bouldering. Sometimes I'll feel wasted, but IMO it's useful to climb when you're not at your peak condition just to keep pushing yourself. Injury is always in the back of my mind though so I back off when my body tells me to, but so far my body's been holding up fine. Funnily enough the only real injury so far has been a 5" fall on a boulder problem. Completely unexpected slip off a slab, right onto my ankle. Ouch. Took a couple months to fully heal, probably would've been faster if I rested it completely but gently caress that. Been climbing nearly a year now and it's fun to see the progress I've made. My weight barely changed (lost 5 lbs) but I definitely feel leaner and stronger. Bouldering V4 and leading 5.10c/d, toproping 5.11c at the moment. Steadily on track to send a 5.12a by the end of the year, along with V5.
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Aug 27, 2014 22:01
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FreakerByTheSpeaker posted:I suppose I could have been more specific about my goals. I definitely want to get better at rock climbing, and maybe even just supplement it with lifting. If I could at least do some bouldering 2-3 times a week instead of lifting, I would be down but I didn't know how much your muscles/fingers can handle once you develop the specific strength to get going (holy Jesus if my forearms aren't shot for a few days after right now.) Pretty good stuff in Wisconsin and the red isn't too far away.
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Aug 27, 2014 22:23
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