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Listen to Toy!

I am stoked as cat piss in a forest fire to do some bouldering this fall (on my wall AND.......*GASP*....outside). I JUST bought my first crash pad believe it or not! A big ol', fat-assed, keep-my-ass-from-falling-through-the-ground-all-the-way-to-Chna, Misty Mountain Magnum.

Anyway, to further add confusion, boulder indoors to intensely train your anaerobic endurance and then get your butt up as many routes as you can outdoors.

Mj

SikMonkey wrote:I am stoked as cat piss in a forest fire to do some bouldering this fall
Mj

Where the hell do you come up with these phrases? My favorite thus far is that coffee makes you "shit like a goose through a screen door."

You're actually going to travel away from the Red? Do you know that it requires camping [outside]? Just checking ... maybe I'll go too.

We all feel your pain. But I must ask. How hard is hard enough? When you break on through, (loose weight) and you will break through, will that be hard enough? Will you be OK with just "easy 5.13"? Chasing numbers can be like acquiring wealth. As long as someone else has more (power/buying power) you won't seem to have enough. How many of us have said, "If I could only climb 5.? or if I just had more money I would be happy"? Yet, when we get there we find that nothing has changed. Well OK, now you can do more cool routes and belayers are lining up to give you a catch as you make your next breakthrough and you just bought a new crag. Priceless! What was the question?

Good point, Sunshine. I have just noticed that almost everyone around me seems to be improving, and I have kind of stood still. One of the big things I have noticed about them (the improving group) is that they climb on plastic a fair bit.

That is the cool thing about climbing though. You can strive to continually improve, or you can just chill out and climb or you can do both!

As for everyone around you improving, remember why you are climbing in the first place. Is it to "keep up with the Joneses? or is it to get out and challenge yourself physically and/or mentally and enjoy a unique sport that not just anyone can partake in? I get into that mindset sometimes, worrying that I am being "left behind" and I will admit, it's hard to shake. Keep in mind that it is your ego (not saying that you are egotistical or anything) that puts thoughts like that into your head though.

Mj

Training can help no doubt. I find that folks that improve by climbing indoors though really like climbing indoors and are motivated by it. Climbers that genuinely hate the gym don't see the returns like the more motivated. If you are motivated to get better, you need to train (indoors or out, regardless of whether or not it is plastic or stone). I don't get to the cliff but 1 day a week at most. Sometimes I go long stretches without making it to the cliff at all, and I don't have a gym. So I spend way more time going to the cliff and "training". To me this is fun because I know I'll be stronger the next time I hit the cliff. At the end of the day, climb until failure. I have seen very quick returns this way. It's also a good training practice to onsight routes. I get more benefit from onsighting a route far below my limit than running laps on something I have dialed. That (lap running) has its place, but also has limits.

By the way this is the same reason motivated beginner climbers usually improve very quickly. They are always getting on route over their head (whatever that means) and falling all over them. They fall off very quickly, but they are very pumped when they do fall.

Just my 2 cents. Of course I suck so you may what to disregard all of the above!

If you are stuck at at level, and you have the drive to climb *harder* (numbers, pitches, problems, different styles, etc) then you have to change the way you are doing things. Maybe that means bouldering. Maybe it means yoga. Maybe technique/mental training. Maybe it means diet and hard core cardio. Or maybe it just means increasing what you are doing now. Or maybe it means taking a break. The only given, though, is that if you want things differnet then they are now, then something, somewhere, somehow, has to change. The tricky part is figuring out what that change is. I still think more power is the best way to break through to the next level, esp. for intermedate/advanced climbers.

i have found large amounts of heroine and a healthy diet that includes regular doses of epikak can really help you break on through..

Paul3eb wrote:i have found large amounts of heroine and a healthy diet that includes regular doses of epikak can really help you break on through..

I find I climb better around super hero women as well.