Young inspiration from the big Comps, by Stevie Haston

Most of you hate climbing Comps, even the guys and girls who compete couldn’t sit through the links that are listed below. But they were sent to me by my mate Jurgen, a comp guy, and I been looking at them ever since. I will go out climbing in a bit and I will fail because I didn’t climb like these boys, and yes I am going to say it like these girls too.

The first two links are the big Cham competition, which obviously I used to see, and I now miss. Take notice these Links are very long and a normal person won’t want to watch all of them. I actually like the Mc who gets everything wrong including the height of Mont Blanc.

Cham 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS5Q0ftZo2s

Cham 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en7MFGALgCA

Arco Final

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew-mNbukl9M&feature=relmfu

Boulder Wold Cup Vienna 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQb7Zt0z_KY

So there you are a valuable resource for you to look at. If I may point out a few things for you to watch: the precision footwork, the strength through the whole body, lots of straight arms, the total concentration to the end.  One of the ways to get better in climbing is to watch better climbers, and absorb like a sponge the good juice. If you manage to absorb all this you might burst. If nothing else, this is a tremendous example of how humans can excel at something most humans and indeed most climbers think is stupid. I of course think all this film gold, and a stepping stone to star routes. Thanks Jurgen, Jurgen is a climbing coach, but I also wish him luck in his comps, thanks for everything.

Bored with training, by stevie Haston.

 Gollum, doing shoulder shrugs.

 Leonidus, the pimp who can't crimp.

Miguel, giving instructions to his disobedient Brachioradialis.

Training today is not right, but it don't matter, better than nothing. Shoulder is sticking. Its raining, no mojo, starving but some how heavier! 

After warm up got, a one arm on a campus rung! Since I am obviously Pablo the Porker, this is a good indication that I have got some where, but where? I need to be way lighter, but the Dark side of training has engulfed me. Today I will punish myself and do volume, in an attempt to get trim, not Get Carter. 

I will do power pulls with weights on various edges. 

Weights starting at 100 lbs, dropping down never more than three reps. 

Core work will be some levers, front and back. Then Windscreen wipers with ankle weights, till I cry 'Hernia my darling, you have come to me'.     

Good example of a safe finger training position

Finish off with shoulder press and then kneeing the Kick bag with double ankle weights. then leg raises front kick and side kick.

Later that day...... 

50 years ago by Stevie Haston

50 years ago Algeria took its independence from France, after  a long terrible protracted war. 50 years sounds like a long time, until you have lived them and then when you have lived them 50 years sounds like the prelude to the rest of your life. France has been around a lot longer than me and is now beyond such atrocities as Algeria. Algeria is not mentioned much in France because we are still ashamed to this day, a million people died for the right to govern their own country.

The previous owner of the house I live in was awarded a medal for fighting the Germans in the first world war, the so called Great War. It’s a funny thought because I sometimes think I hear his footsteps. If you know anything of history you might know that the French did not contest the game in the second world war, preferring to give up their liberty and fraternize with the evil Hun, for the preservation of the city of Paris. Not all French men did this some carried on and were called the Resistance. Both my wife’s Granddads were  such men. Anyway it’s funny how you can disobey your countries orders and later be called a hero, but you can also be shot for it by the same government. At my nearest cliff there is a memorial to the Resistance who were ambushed and killed locally, I run by and salute them occasionally. Anyway today I visited the local war memorial not because I approve of Frances Wars, but because I was very sad about all the people dying around the world for very little, or no reason. I live in France, but I am a member of the world, and can’t believe that we are making the same mistakes as Algeria again. So 50 years go by and it is as nothing, we just change the venue for the game and now it is Afghanistan and Iraq. And for some, humanity and reason fly out the window, and it just turns into recreational violence, it’s just television, and entertainment.

Real training and real climbing standards, by Stevie Haston

Not having a great few weeks, the training is going slooooooow.

That’s what training does-it goes sloooow. But this slow time has at least giving me time to think, and re-think. I have with a bit of thought re arranged my finger board set ups, which are helping my Shoulder Impingement, this is a great success, and I advise people to look a bit more closely at their training to minimize self inflicted damage.

As for real standards, this is interesting because there are two criteria for climbing hard, but which if looked at closely, are at odds with each other. Climbs are basically either hard because the holds are small, or hard because there is a lot of gymnastic climbing, the two if taken to their extreme ends are mutually exclusive. This is leading to a great deal of confusion in climbing and stupid reporting in the climbing press.

Most people won’t understand or don’t want to understand, climbing is confusing enough they think. But try thinking about it. If you really wanted to pull on small holds you should just starve yourself to death-this is in fact the strategy of the majority of climbers above 8b. It produces a climber of either sex at a BMI of 18 or less. And when I say less, I mean like one competitor having to go to hospital after a major comp. Funny how that never made it into the news, isn’t it. So when you are down at a BMI of 17 there is no advantage in being male, that is you don’t need testosterone, cos in reality you ain’t got much muscle. In fact what you need are small fingers, and fast movement, so enter the androgynous youth competitor. If you think this is sour grapes, think again lots of climbers actually think climbing grades are ‘Whack’, but we are just too dumb to come up with anything better.

Now then when an athlete reaches their individual plateau at low weight, (it’s a little different for each one) they try to get a bit stronger, and in so doing they get heavier. The heavier you get, very obviously the less easy it is too pull on small holds, or should I say tiny holds. It’s actually a vicious circle, the most vicious circle of all.

Now then what people don’t understand is for certain routes the difference between the correct weight and ridiculously heavy is only a few kilograms.

I phoned up two mates for advice recently, and they both said the same thing-ditch the weight. Not ‘get stronger’ just ditch the weight bro’, one actually said ‘you fat fooking beast, at your weight I’d break my fingers.

This is very funny because I have been trying to ditch the weight, bro. To ditch the weight you must stop eating, and in my stupid, stupid way, I have forgotten that, that’s what it takes. It’s a hard sport, climbing is like gymnastics, but maybe worse, in gymnastics 50% of female competitors have eating disorders. In climbing we lie about it. Apparently we don’t have anybody in climbing with eating disorders, and yet I’m continually out climbed by some of the thinnest people I have ever seen in my life. I’m obviously suffering from the wrong eating disorder.

I had to starve for that one!

Today I went on a great project, but obviously am way too fat, I am a strong bloke, but being strong just doesn’t cut it. So I am going to lose more than 10 lbs, the more I lose the higher up the grade list I will get. It’s going to hurt, it’s going to hurt a lot, because I am going to try to lose some leg muscle too. And when I do all this losing of weight, fat and muscle, I will still not be anywhere close to the 17 BMI of elite climbers. And that my friends is reality, so it is very doubtful if I will ever get a hard route. The only plus side is that when I go climbing, the effort I am putting in, is the equivalent of a good climber with a weight belt on!   

More on Shoulder Impingement in climbers, by Stevie Haston

Looks like we have a lot of climbers out there with problems. First I am a climber not a Doctor, perhaps you should see a very, very good Doctor. Personally the idea that anybody knows more about my body than I do is absurd, but hey you might have one of those standard models that Doctors treat and study.

My left Shoulder needs an operation but I really don’t have the time, and I am scared a surgeon will do a less than perfect job, surgeons, even really good ones, are just humans, and not perfect.

To fully understand the Shoulder joint in climbing, try and put it in a climbing situation, and you will be forced to realize the limitations of this joint.

Stand up and try to raise your arms to touch at full extension above your head, like in the photo.

If you do this with your thumbs pointed down instead of up, your range of movement will be severely limited! This is what we do occasionally in climbing and it starts inflammation in a tendon, once the inflammation starts its very hard to get rid of because the tendon runs thru a narrow space, so rubs nearly all the time in climbing.

If you want to continue climbing you must try not to irritate this area. If you want to continue training you must try not to irritate this area. Easier said than done, obviously!

Here are a couple of things, see a very good Doctor, see a very good Physio.

Here are a few other things in no particular order. When throwing for  for a hold, be careful about which way  your thumb is pointing, as it has something to do with how your arm is orientated in the shoulder, and thus how much impingement you will suffer. When training be very careful of what you do. Some things will hurt you and not others, because you are different. Some moves, and therefore routes will hurt you. Some Gym apparatus will hurt you, certain bars and movements with these bars will hurt you. Choose other routes, and other bars. Nearly all fingerboards and campus boards offer the opportunity to hurt you in some way, careful attention to details is very important. Many Fingerboards and campus rungs are too narrow to hang with two hands if you are bigger than small. Or to put it more clearly, there is a better spacing for me, and other people whose shoulders are over a certain width. This has got nothing to do with pull ups, pull ups on the wrong spacing are very bad too.

Even if you are really lucky with the spacing on hangs and pull ups, you also have to be careful about many other things. Bench Press, Press ups, Dips, and Shoulder press, which must be trained as antagonistic muscles to a very strong back must all be undertaken with care, if you want to promote Shoulder care. Even Yoga must be done with due respect to your joints, and some Yoga I am afraid to say, is bad. Always try to understand what your shoulder is doing as just a tiny adjustment of the grip, or hand placement will often lessen the damage.

Sadly much of the difficulty in climbing is because it is not as user friendly as many people think. That is part of the challenge in climbing, getting more out of your body and mind. Getting around problems and in some cases avoiding problems that hurt too much!

If people are doing weighted hangs and pull ups just because some people advocate them be careful on your hand width. If you are doing them on a campus rung it might be too narrow for your frame.  I like over 50 and under 60cm, my companion who is 5 foot 2 can manage with a campus rung, or a small finger board.

Good luck, I wish you more fun and success, and less Impingement.

Shoulder Impingement in climbers, by Stevie Haston

A very bad shoulder

Shoulder Impingement is very common in climbers, and will ruin your climbing and training. What can you do?

First off, if you do the wrong thing, you will make things worse. Wrong things to do; are see a doctor who hasn’t got a clue, likewise a bad physio, or indeed listen to me. If you are an American and a Doctor is recommending surgery, delay, and  rethink.

I have suffered from Shoulder Impingement all my life, despite having strong healthy shoulders, and tend to think of it as a normal consequence of moving my arms upwards against the normal mechanics of my body. My body is just not designed to do many of the things I try to do, especially in climbing!

If you have pain in the region of the front of the shoulder, underneath where the Collarbone meets the Shoulder and you have a problem reaching up, you probably have Shoulder Impingement. You could have other things wrong too! So don’t rely on what I am saying.

Let’s go with my problems, and my Yoga teacher wife, she has Shoulder Impingement too. We used to have a great Physio but don’t anymore, but the one thing he had trouble sorting out was our Shoulders. Indeed, Laurence has bursitis in one Shoulder, which has meant she has had to stop occasionally. We have worked around our Shoulder Impingement, or in my more simple way, we have simply tried to work with the poor structure that a Shoulder is.

CAT/COW

Shoulders are just not designed to reach up, mine it seems are pretty bad, maybe yours are too. A few signs that you have less than great shoulders would be a dislike of the Front crawl in swimming, an inability to do sitting press, or you hurt trying to throw things. In climbing we make many tough calls on our shoulders, that they were simply not designed to do.

We aren’t even designed to live past our mid twenties let alone jump for crimps way to one side, then take all the weight in an asymmetric swing, while trying to control rotation of the shoulder.

Anyway the purpose of this bit of writing is just so you know a little more. Here are a few things you can do:

see a great doctor

see a great physio

Warm up your musculature before work and sport, Stretch and or do some Yoga before work and Sport. It’s the latter for me that is very important for my Shoulders as I have pain. I am not prepared to stop, but my body will stop, or try to hinder me when I am climbing. Long reaches behind me, or worse a throw to the side behind me, and my shoulder will lock. If I have stretched properly beforehand I might make the moves, if I reach up and turn the humerus in its socket as I reach, I might also make the moves. I can’t do much if I am tense, and I will be tense if my neck muscles are tense.

Here are a few things to do, gentle Shoulder Shrugs.

Rolling shoulders backwards, stretch the neck and upper trapezious

Yoga Cat Cow stretch paying great importance to the alignment of the fingers in a vertical line with the body.

Cat.Cow

The dog stretch or triangle.

The Triangle

A great amount of advice is given about the Rotator cuff muscles and preventative exercise, if these work for you good, but don’t be surprised if they don’t. Anti inflammatories work a little bit, do not take pain killers for this condition, even if you have trouble sleeping.

Good luck and remember it is actually the shoulders problem not yours. Repeatedly trying the same throw or reach behind you is the surest way to make this condition worse. If you have a hard move like this, try it once, or twice, not one hundred times! 

This cheered me up, by Stevie up Haston

First recorded muscle up with an egg on a spoon, grade font 8A

Yesterday I did my little thing about Jean Pierre Bouvier, AKA the Fly. Two big web sites failed in their inept ways to even copy paste things correctly, bravo, 8a.nu and UKC. Then there was a lot of discussion of whether it was important, or even allowable, or whether he had the right to grade it. As JP was one fathers of traversing I will leave it to him to defend his brain child, but am still aghast at the ignorance of the newbees in our sport and the lack of good reporting on the web.

As my breakfast consists of either nothing or a boiled egg, I have been looking for  ways to spice it up. So looking thru You tube I found this total nugget of excersise excellence.

http://recordsetter.com/world-record/consecutive-egg-on-spoon-pullups-declined-one-arm-pushups/13471?autoplay=true#contentsection

What I like most about this, is her total pedantic rule setting, full marks girl! Nobody can argue with her rules and the pull ups are very good ones, brava. I am already thinking of challenging this record but have run out of eggs and superglue!

Here is another link to a hardish route being sent by 50+ years Bill Ramsey, its very nice, and I like Bills humour  and charm in the film. I am sure that Bill will try the egg method of training hopefully after a few beers. Cynthia I hope you are reading this too.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBSUouWliPk&feature=related

Please post your One arm, One finger, One egg on spoon, and one egg in your mouth vid to me, as I need a good laugh. I tried this and broke the egg and puked. 
So when you get tired of Crossfit, doing the 300 and any of the exercise nonsense I post remember eggs and extra strong beer, cheers.

Two bipolar animals after lunch time exercise&beer