Interviewed at local climbing gym by BigLickU
June 30, 2007
To get free climbing at my bouldering gym, I volunteer twice a month. The last evening I worked, two students visited for the first time while writing a story for a regional college web site called BigLickU.
A few of my comments were taken out of context (the gym does set routes and I most definitely did not call it “choose your own adventure”), but it’s an overall good article.
They took two short videos as well. Here is one of them. Feel the frustration of the first time climber:
Check out the full article here.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Are Tabatas the holy grail of training for climbing?
June 29, 2007
The May issue of Climbing Magazine has a training tech tip tucked away that my climbing partner recently pointed out to me.
This short article gives an overview of upper-body Tabatas, a technique that promises increases in both power and endurance - quite possibly the holy grail of training for climbing.
So, what are Tabatas? A Tabata set is 20 seconds of lifting followed by a ten second rest performed for two to four minutes.
Tabatas are named after Izumi Tabata, Ph.D., a former researcher at Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya.
Research has shown that
In Tabata’s study, the researchers found that guys who used the routine five days a week for six weeks improved their maximum aerobic capacity (a measure of your body’s ability to consume oxygen–the more oxygen you can take in, the longer and harder you’ll be able to run) by 14%. What’s more, it also improved anaerobic capacity (which measures your speed endurance, or the duration you’re able to sprint at full effort) by 28%. So the Tabata Protocol is the rare workout that benefits both endurance athletes and sprinters–hard to accomplish. Consider: A study of traditional aerobic training–running at 70% of aerobic capacity for 60 minutes–for the same number of weeks showed an improvement in aerobic capacity of 9.5% and no effect on anaerobic capacity.
The Climbing magazine article specifically recommends four exercises to use with Tabatas: bent rows, lat pulldowns, biceps curl, and wrist curls.
Popularity: 18% [?]
How can climbers avoid poison ivy?
June 28, 2007
The scourge of many climbers, poison ivy is often a mystery to us. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve witnessed several climbers arguing amongst themselves at the crag over what is or what is not poison ivy. Three leaves someone says. Well, look around, every damn plant here has three leaves! To add fuel to the fire, I often like to interject “um, just what does poison oak look like?”
After the latest round of this confusion, I did some research and found this site simply titled Poison Ivy. Apparently, poison ivy can be different colors, have shiny or dull leaves, and grows in very different ways.
So, to answer the question posed in the title of this post, I have no idea now how to avoid this stuff. Suggestions?
Popularity: 13% [?]
Climbing Blog Focus - Bivouac Blog
June 27, 2007
Today’s climbing blog is the Bivouac Blog by Anne Skidmore. I found Anne’s blog while looking at some climbing art done by Emilie Lee. Check out Emilie’s work - it’s amazing.
Anne’s blog is pretty new so let’s hope she keeps posting on more New England climbing topics.
Popularity: 7% [?]
How do you read All Climbing?
June 22, 2007
How do you read the All Climbing blog? Are you just visiting the web site directly? If so, you may be missing some new content. Two different ways to subscribe to this blog exist, so I thought it was a good time to highlight them.
You have two different options to subscribe to All Climbing: email and RSS feeds. Email subscribers receive no more than one email per day when content is posted. If there are no posts, you receive no email. If there are three posts in a day, you only receive one email from us. You get the picture. Subscribe to All Climbing via email here.
RSS feeds make subscribing even easier. Using your preferred feed reader, all new posts are pushed directly to you as soon as they’re written. Subscribe to All Climbing’s RSS feed here.
With either choice you get fresh climbing content from the All Climbing blog delivered directly to you without having to visit the web site.
Popularity: 15% [?]
Climbing Blog Focus - Patagonia’s The Cleanest Line
June 21, 2007
I’m starting off the new series with a blog that’s not quite pure climbing, but one from a company all climbers are familiar with - Patagonia.
The Cleanest Line is described by the company as a
weblog for the employees, friends and customers of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia.
The Cleanest Line has a heavy focus on environmental activism and outdoor activities. There’s little overt promotion of the company’s products on the site which is why I’ve included it in this series.
Also, check out a recent post their Dirtbag Grant Winners.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Climbing Blog Focus
June 20, 2007
I’m starting a new regular series of posts here at All Climbing called Climbing Blog Focus. It’s something I wanted to start last year, but wasn’t able to really get it going as there were so few real climbing blogs (especially ones updated regularly).
Finally, it appears that there are more and more dedicated climbing blogs so I can finally begin this series. My goal is to focus on a different climbing blog to give them more exposure and provide additional quality reading for my subscribers.
There’s no time table for each post in the series, but I’ll be getting them out as often as I can. The more diverse climbing writing and content I can promote the better.
If you author a climbing blog and would like me to include it in the series, please contact me with details. For this series, I prefer the contact form to comments on this post.
Popularity: 11% [?]
New Rumbling Bald Bouldering Guidebook Available This Fall
June 8, 2007
The Carolina Climbers Coalition reports that a new Rumbling Bald Bouldering guidebook will be available this fall at Southeast retailers.
Features include an full color format, nearly 900 boulder problems described, topos and photos of problems, and general area-specific information.
More info can be found here (PDF).
Popularity: 10% [?]
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