Downhill

Quit whining. Drink bourbon. Climb more.
anticlmber
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Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2003 12:34 am

Post by anticlmber »

[quote="rhunt"]I will add that branching out when you get older helps. LOL who needs climbing...sucks in the summer anyways!

quote]

i think anytime is a good time, although it is tough when your super driven by something. climbing does suck but its the best of the suckiest.
bazoqop
Posts: 231
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2005 4:16 am

Post by bazoqop »

I'm fifty two..My body's going down hill, but my ability to learn is still there. And I think that is what is most important.

I'm weaker now than when I was forty two, but you don't forget technique..you accumulate it..

It's a challenge to keep going, but it's a wonderful one.


I mean...what else have you got?
"Huh?"
TradMike
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Joined: Thu Nov 07, 2002 2:57 am

Post by TradMike »

You can build muscle mass well into your 80s. Not until then do you have to give up unless you gave up in your 40s. You will never recover if you take too many years off in your mid life. But if you keep an even keel, keep fit and avoid abusing the joints climbing can continue at a high level for many years. I've seen a person in their late 50s go from a newbie to a 5.13 climber within a couple years.
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caribe
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Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2005 1:37 am

Post by caribe »

- this is a great topic.

- guys like Ray will climb for a long time. he is an anal fucker. he watches what he eats and he is training to excel. furthermore he is worrying about longevity at 30 something. I was/ am similar. if cancer or accident does not take you down general wear such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes probably will not get you until rather advanced age . . . and then there is Alzheimer's.

- I had an odd experience about a year ago. I was in Miguels after cilmbing one crowded evening; there was something going on; I can't remember what (Alzheimer's). I left for Lex and popped into Walmart for some AA batteries. While walking the isles I had a haunting feeling that something was wrong. After a bit it hit me. Everyone was fat and very unfit. They were dragging feet and generally depressed!! I had just come out of a very different environment with very different social energy. The contrast was stark and well beyond age as a major factor to explain it. I think we get something out of climbing that is almost difficult to capture with words. Perhaps scientific charts and graphs of endorphin blood concentration as a function climbing might make a better description, but I doubt that also. 8)

Keep pulling pockets.
bazoqop
Posts: 231
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2005 4:16 am

Post by bazoqop »

caribe wrote:- this is a great topic.

- guys like Ray will climb for a long time. he is an anal fucker. he watches what he eats and he is training to excel. furthermore he is worrying about longevity at 30 something. I was/ am similar. if cancer or accident does not take you down general wear such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes probably will not get you until rather advanced age . . . and then there is Alzheimer's.

- I had an odd experience about a year ago. I was in Miguels after cilmbing one crowded evening; there was something going on; I can't remember what (Alzheimer's). I left for Lex and popped into Walmart for some AA batteries. While walking the isles I had a haunting feeling that something was wrong. After a bit it hit me. Everyone was fat and very unfit. They were dragging feet and generally depressed!! I had just come out of a very different environment with very different social energy. The contrast was stark and well beyond age as a major factor to explain it. I think we get something out of climbing that is almost difficult to capture with words. Perhaps scientific charts and graphs of endorphin blood concentration as a function climbing might make a better description, but I doubt that also. 8)

Keep pulling pockets.

Yeah man...great post.
"Huh?"
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pigsteak
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Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2003 6:49 pm

Post by pigsteak »

bazoqop wrote:
caribe wrote:- this is a great topic.

- guys like Ray will climb for a long time. he is an anal fucker. he watches what he eats and he is training to excel. furthermore he is worrying about longevity at 30 something. I was/ am similar. if cancer or accident does not take you down general wear such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes probably will not get you until rather advanced age . . . and then there is Alzheimer's.

- I had an odd experience about a year ago. I was in Miguels after cilmbing one crowded evening; there was something going on; I can't remember what (Alzheimer's). I left for Lex and popped into Walmart for some AA batteries. While walking the isles I had a haunting feeling that something was wrong. After a bit it hit me. Everyone was fat and very unfit. They were dragging feet and generally depressed!! I had just come out of a very different environment with very different social energy. The contrast was stark and well beyond age as a major factor to explain it. I think we get something out of climbing that is almost difficult to capture with words. Perhaps scientific charts and graphs of endorphin blood concentration as a function climbing might make a better description, but I doubt that also. 8)

Keep pulling pockets.

Yeah man...great post.
yeah man...great justification for ignoring getting old....way to be a biased stuck up professor and look down on those fat asses in wally world....you elitist snob. :D
Positive vibes brah...positive vibes.
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caribe
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Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2005 1:37 am

Post by caribe »

OK the secret is out. Nothing else matters except climbing harder than that dick, pigsteak. :|
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SCIN
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Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2002 1:19 pm

Post by SCIN »

anticlmber wrote: so would you stop climbing if you couldn't preform at a certain level?? like an old circus bear that can't get on the motor bike anymore. BANG, hole in the backyard.
No, as long as I'm challenging myself I think I'll have a good time. There are some routes I'd like to climb and sometimes I think that I'm running out of time before I'm good enough to climb them. Every weekend I go out I feel like it's the last weekend I'll be at the level I'm at so I have to rush to do my project. It's like this sense of urgency as I stare down the barrel at 40. Some mornings I'm barely able to bend over to put my shoes on so I know that one day the training and gym climbing I do will have to slow down.

I'm hoping that it'll be like a locomotive though. Meaning all the training and climbing I'm doing now will give me a big push to a certain grade then I'll coast for a few years using the initial momentum of the big push and will need only small boosts to either gain more speed or continue to roll along at my current level. I guess it really doesn't mean much though since it's only a grade but that grade is an indicator of my fitness level so it is definitely close to my heart. When I climb well, I feel good about myself. When I don't climb well, I don't necessarily feel bad about myself but I don't feel as good about myself. I just want to continue improving and I know it will one day be impossible and start to head in the other direction. At least I'm not a paid athlete though. I can't imagine the pressure those guys are under.
Yo Ray jack dynomite! Listen to my beat box! Bew ch ch pff BEW ch ch pfff! Sweet!

-Horatio
bazoqop
Posts: 231
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2005 4:16 am

Post by bazoqop »

I think you should just cut lose of that "climbing well" "climbing badly" and just enjoy what you're doing when you're doing it..

Because of family and work, I can't climb anywhere even remotely as much as I'd like to. But I still love it, and I think I always will..at least untill I'm in the ground.

But as far as climbing well when old...This guy is my hero. He's almost sixty ( maybe over sixty ) and he still does v10..

Image

More about this monster..
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/nyreg ... 7boul.html
"Huh?"
kneebar
Posts: 725
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 9:49 pm

Post by kneebar »

Anybody climbing in there 40's might find some of the posts quite amusing. I'm WELL into my 40's and other then a wicked-ass elbow problem, feel pretty good and plan on feeling great until who knows when. Stared climbing at 29 and still pushing for higher trad grades, sport is another story..... need to get that endurance back.

From a general health standpoint I felt about the same physically until I hit 43-44, just a slight slide from there each year. Mostly noticed it started to take more time to recover, few more aches and pains.

Scin, you are just an animal from what I have been told. If you start failing the grade, I would guess it would be from over doing it.
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