New research says have a beer after your next workout
February 21, 2008
I’ve been known to have a beer or two after climbing, so it’s encouraging to read that I may not necessarily be hurting my fitness.
New research suggests that beer may be a decent source of hydration after a workout.
Researchers from Granada University in Spain published results from a recent study that tested the hydration powers of water versus beer, and a results were surprising.
After students performed strenuous exercise until exhaustion in 104 degree Fahrenheit temperatures, one group was given two pints of beer while the other group drank the same amount of water. Both groups were then allowed to drink as much water as they wanted and their hydration levels were tested soon after. The tests revealed a slightly better measurement in the beer drinkers than those who drank water. Surprising? According to common principles of nutrition, this finding may be scientifically grounded.
Ok, so maybe beer is not the best solution, but knowing it may help you is still good news to me!
Popularity: 14% [?]
Crack climbing technique
December 7, 2007
You can never have too much insight from great climbers on their technique. Steph Davis has an article on her blog, High Places, discussing her techniques for climbing cracks (via splitterchoss.com).
The key to pure crack climbing, as with every type of climbing, is the feet. I like to start from the basics, which with cracks, is the hand crack. Hand cracks are the nicest, easiest thing you can climb, so you can focus on body position and movement technique, rather than the more precise jamming. If you have never done a handjam, it will feel alien and bizarre at first, but just slide your hand straight into the crack, and flex it, especially the meaty area under your thumb. It will stick, and that’s a handjam. I always say, if I fall out of a handjam, I deserve it :), so I tend to run it out if I’m in solid handjams.
Photo by Dru!
Popularity: 26% [?]
Moon Fingerboard
October 3, 2007
I just read the hangboard review in the new issue of Climbing and the Moon Fingerboard has really caught my eye. From Moon:
As with all Moon products our design philosophy is definately less is more and the Moon fingerboard is no exception. Do not be conned into buying a fancy fingerboard at a high price. The Moon fingerboard is all you need. It contains all the differents types of holds you need to train on to get stronger for all types of climbing from half joint finger edges through to incut fingerjugs, 2 finger pockets through to 4 finger pockets and 2 different types of slopers. It’s a compact, simple design which if you used correctly will prove highly effective and will soon become your best friend.
I’m looking to add another hangboard to my tiny Metolius Slim Gym and the Moon board looks like it would complement my Metolius perfectly. Anyone have opinions on hangboards/fingerboards?
Popularity: 41% [?]
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% [?]
Rock climbing not linked to arthritis
November 13, 2006
A University of Tennessee study has shown that rock climbing does not increase the risk of osteoarthritis in the hands and fingers (Forbes). This is good news for climbers because even if the reverse were true and climbing did cause arthritis, we wouldn’t stop climbing anyway…
The researchers compared 27 rock climbers and 35 non-climbers to determine if the long-term stress placed on the hand and finger bones of climbers caused changes associated with osteoarthritis.
The study also examined whether climbing intensity and frequency of different styles of climbing might influence changes in hand and finger bones.
“Radiographs of both hands were taken for each participant and were scored for radiographic signs of osteoarthritis using an atlas method,” researcher Adam Sylvester, of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering at the university, said in a prepared statement.
“We compared 27 recreational rock climbers and 35 non-climbers for four measures of bone strength and dimensions and osteoarthritis. The results suggest that climbers are not at an increased risk of developing osteoarthritis compared with non-climbers,” Sylvester said.
He continued: “Climber’s finger and hand bones are, however, greater in cross-sectional area and total width, indicating that additional bone is being deposited on the external surface, not usually seen in adults. The strength of the finger and hand bones are correlated with styles of climbing that emphasize athletic difficulty. Significant predictors include the highest levels achieved in bouldering and sport climbing.”
The study was published in the November issue of the Journal of Anatomy.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Indoor climbing considered safer than soccer
October 8, 2006
A recent study found that indoor rock climbing has a low risk of injury and is 10 times safer than soccer. The study was published by the quarterly medical journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine (PDF) by the Wilderness Medical Society.
From the scotsman.com,
The study by German researchers was based on the rates and types of injury at the 2005 World Championships in rock climbing in Munich, Germany, which involved almost 500 climbers from 55 countries.
The championships had an injury rate of 3.1 per 1,000 hours compared to adult male national soccer competitions where players face an injury rate of 30.3 per 1,000 hours.
Over the course of the competition’s events that totaled 520 climbing days, only three of 18 medical problems were treated as significant injuries, including a broken ankle, back sprain and knee sprain, while the majority of the problems were just bruises.
An interesting study for the average person who thinks climbing is more risky than other sports, but what I would be more interested in reading is a study that compares the injury rate within the various climbing disciplines. Personally, I find I get more injuries when climbing indoors (especially bouldering) compared to climbing outside. With bouldering, I think the reason is obvious. If you’re bouldering outside, all the problems are spread out across more time, usually the whole day. When bouldering indoors, a climber typically compress the same amount of problems (or more) into a 2 hour session. This simply stresses the body much more.
joost.climbing.nl also has some additional reporting on this study.
Popularity: 14% [?]
How to walk a slackline
July 14, 2006
I’m skeptical that slacklining actually helps all that much for climbing, but we like to have fun with it anyway. Here’s an article from WikiHow on how to walk a slackline. RockClimbing.com also has a detailed article on one person’s slackline setup with nice pics.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Climbing tech tips
May 19, 2006
Climbing Magazine has all their tech tips nicely listed on their site now.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Climbing injuries and acupuncture
April 4, 2006
I stumbled across a provocative set of articles discussing the treatment of climbing injuries from an Eastern medical perspective (primarily using acupuncture). From Acupuncture Today, here are the links to these articles:
Treating Common Wrist and Finger Injuries and Integrating Medical Philosophies, Part One
Treating Common Wrist and Finger Injuries and Integrating Medical Philosophies, Part Two
I’m interested in hearing if anyone has tried using acupuncture to treat a climbing injury. Several years ago I tried acupuncture for a lingering finger injury and I did not have much success. I’ve been told, though, that acupuncture is highly dependent on the skills of the practitioner.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Eric Horst’s Performance Training blog
January 4, 2006
Eric Horst has a great blog hosted on the MountainZone.com conglomerate. Not sure how I missed this as Eric has blog archives dating to last May. I probably missed it because it is on the MountainZone site. Nothing against them, but I’ve never been a big fan of these all-in-one outdoor sports sites. Just my personal bias, but I suspect climbers just want climbing info not everything else under the sun. Nonetheless, there are some training posts well worth reading and I hope to go through these in more depth over the next few days. At least now that I’ve found his site, I can continue to read Horst’s thoughts. I’ve been a big fans of his books (Training for Climbing, How to Climb 5.12, Rock Climbing Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland, Flash Training), so this is a great find.
UPDATE: If I had been keeping up with the climbing RSS feeds in my reader, I would have noticed that WiredNut posted this blog about a month ago!
Popularity: 5% [?]
Back to writing
November 25, 2005
I’ve been missing in action for the past month or so primarily due to work demands. I also unfortunately injured my thumb bouldering and it still hasn’t quite healed yet. So, having not really been able to climb for over a month now has been driving me nuts. The worst part is that I missed some beautiful weather in late October at the New. The rest of my body definitely needed the rest though, so I should probably stop complaining and just be happy it wasn’t a worse injury. More frequent posting will start again!
Popularity: 12% [?]
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