Training & Injuries

Living the life of a climber is not always endless days out with friends in perfect weather, doing your projects one after the other and discovering new areas with each outing. Unfortunately, well for me anyway, in order to improve and take the next step, I need to train, regularly. Now, I don’t dislike training, in fact, I’m in to it, but I still prefer climbing on rock and sending new problems, routes, projects.

But, with Canada only a few weeks away, and my power not what I would like it to be, I have sacrificed getting out as regularly and implemented a stringent training program. For me this involves fingerboarding, the board of pain and a bit of campusing, alternating each day, with one day off for rest out of seven. The results so far have been a little mixed, but I am hoping that I will peak just in time for Squamish. We shall see.

The other limiting factor for me is injury. I have had a pretty good run, until the last twelve months anyway. Since then I have had a full knee reconstruction, torn a tendon off the bone in my finger and injured a pulley. Now, this is part of getting older I suppose, but it is also about choices and not all of my choices have been particularly smart. Playing Australian Rules football = A large mistake. If you don’t know what the game is have a look on youtube. It is brutal, with a high incidence of injury. Safe to say I am now officially retired and focused only on my climbing. With any luck, these injuries are behind me now and I can focus on getting stronger and sending big over the coming months.