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Hey Everyone!,
So my hubby and I are both non-climbers, and we are making some plans to do some climbing toward the middle/end of the summer. I can’t wait so excited! I am just wondering what are some of the best things to do to be in shape for this? My husband has no problem in that area!(Army) Me however, I have always been athletic, but for the past two years, I’ve done little to no exercise other than chasing or toddler around lol. Since our child has gotten older, potty trained and all that stuff, he has more over nights with his grandparents. So now my hubby and I are going to have some time to do some fun stuff together. So we are going to ride our motorcycles up and just take some time doing some outdoor activities, that I have been missing so much being a stay at home mom , and not being able to do all the camping and outdoor stuff we use to, because of out small child. So let me know what’s up? What areas do I need to work on the most? What are the best workouts?
Thanks!, Britnie

Climb. Find your local gym and start climbing... there is no substitute really.

global cardio vascular base with upper ext strength. tread wall for 1000 hours would be a good start.
What is yours/ your husbands height and weight (bmi)? Depending, weight loss is probably one of the most beneficial things you can do to impact efficient climbing--> Strength to body mass ratio.

the lurkist wrote:global cardio vascular base with upper ext strength. tread wall for 1000 hours would be a good start.
What is yours/ your husbands height and weight (bmi)? Depending, weight loss is probably one of the most beneficial things you can do to impact efficient climbing--> Strength to body mass ratio.

Good advice, but more designed for someone that is interested in taking their climbing to the next level. Not really as applicable to someone that has never roped up in there life. Weight loss is a challenging proposition for most people in the US. As a physical therapist, I see people every day where the primary thing they could do to improve their condition was lose weight, and telling them that was like telling them to climb Everest. My point is you have to be pretty motivated to do the things you suggest and are typically beyond the commitment level of most.

What climb2core said. Lots of easy climbing will teach you the basic movement, balance, and strength necessary. Most importantly, have fun.

As far as weight loss goes, I gained 15 lbs over the 4 years I quit climbing. I lost it all just by climbing again regularly, with no other changes.

for a beginner like yourself, it will be the mental barriers that hold you back.. not the specific muscle groups or workouts, etc. just go climb in a gym until you learn to trust your life to your belayer

I too know the hurdles people face in weight loss. I was a PA in Occ Med for ten years and am now a doc in IM. I totally agree with you that for the average American (especially from the Southeast), the paradigm for what consitutes "wellness" and what consitutes "fitness" for the most part don't reflect true fitness or wellness as evidenced by the rampant obesity and attended co morbidities. So what I have noticed is that unlike active committed athletes (like climbers) most people have no conception of what a work out is. They have no clue the degree of suffering you have to be willing to embrace over a period of months to actually gain a level of fitness. What compounds this is unlike you or I who may get our of shape and then train back up, they have never attained any degree of physical fitness, cardio base, muscle mass developement. The start up to just to get to a point where they can train is understandably daunting. There was an interesting story on NPR last week about the Army and their realizations of incoming recruits and how bad the physical condition of these 18 yo is as a starting point of conditioning. They are having to go to low impact aerobics just to get these dough boys to a point where they can train them.
So, my point and hope is, when a neophyte comes to climbing, and looks around at the peer group of climbers, the cultural expectation of fitness with in the climbing community, and the level of fitness the stone requires just to get up the intro 5.7 let them know that a paradigm shift has to occur in their relationship with physical activity.

the lurkist wrote:I too know the hurdles people face in weight loss. I was a PA in Occ Med for ten years and am now a doc in IM. I totally agree with you that for the average American (especially from the Southeast), the paradigm for what consitutes "wellness" and what consitutes "fitness" for the most part don't reflect true fitness or wellness as evidenced by the rampant obesity and attended co morbidities. So what I have noticed is that unlike active committed athletes (like climbers) most people have no conception of what a work out is. They have no clue the degree of suffering you have to be willing to embrace over a period of months to actually gain a level of fitness. What compounds this is unlike you or I who may get our of shape and then train back up, they have never attained any degree of physical fitness, cardio base, muscle mass developement. The start up to just to get to a point where they can train is understandably daunting. There was an interesting story on NPR last week about the Army and their realizations of incoming recruits and how bad the physical condition of these 18 yo is as a starting point of conditioning. They are having to go to low impact aerobics just to get these dough boys to a point where they can train them.
So, my point and hope is, when a neophyte comes to climbing, and looks around at the peer group of climbers, the cultural expectation of fitness with in the climbing community, and the level of fitness the stone requires just to get up the intro 5.7 let them know that a paradigm shift has to occur in their relationship with physical activity.

Well said. So now the question becomes HOW do you affect that paradigm shift? I would suggest that it is not through telling them that they will have to put in 1000 hours on the treadwall, ask them what their BMI is, and significantly/permanently change their dietary intake. That is the equivalent of advising someone (out of shape) interested in taking up running by handing them a Marathon training schedule and start 2/3's of the way into it.

I would propose that they have to have a strong motivation for that shift to occur. Let them have fun with the sport and develop a passion for it and the rest will follow. My advice to patients that are interested in losing weight... seek out physical activities they like, become involved in the culture of that activity. That will create both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Just climb a lot and don't worry about training unless you're really bored in winter.

I agree with you both. The best training for climbing is climbing. Given that we are in January, the best way to emulate the movement of climbing is climbing on a treadwall. This is presupposing the person has already made the decision to begin conditioning for climbing as I understood brittanynoble to have done.
I really like what I read on a blog by Mike Anderson where he discusses the scenario of a neophyte off the couch person entering the ring with a conditioned MMA fighter, or going to a track and doing speed work sprint workouts, and the equivalency of going to a bouldering gym off the couch and trying to do relatively hard boulder problems. You will fuck your self up in all the above. The treadwall allows for the movement, facilitates the coordination, trains the core, and cardiovascular fitness, and allows for moderation of the resistance (make it a slab and big jugs) without getting injured. So, I stand by my advice of telling the rank amateur if there is a treadwall available and it is january, get into a three day a week habit of warm up, stretch, then 30-45 minutes broken up in to sets on a treadwall for several months. That person will be able to step outside and have much more success than almost any other conditioning program I can think of.