Thoughts on training

I went and checked out the Denver Bouldering Club the other day and i must say it was very nice. Great holds and a large  unencumbered walls make for a very good indoor climbing gym. Only the cost would keep me away.  Either way , Skyler and i had a good work out and managed to even take some pictures. While I'm talking about working out i have a few words to share on the subject. Recently i have seen a lot written about training and working out in general. Paul Robinson says to do this or Sharma does that…. I don't believe that any of this is wrong but i believe the point is missed by most. People are different, they way you go about getting strong will be different from other climbers. i assure you i know a dozen v2 climbers who would rip climbers like Paul Robinson ( no offence to him ) limb from limb. Crimp strength is a poor gauge of athleticism. So to avoid controversy i believe that general rules have to apply to training. These are my rules.

1. Have a ultimate goal. It must be held above all other parts of who you are. Partying and friends, success in any sport requires a selfish athlete. Your goal can only be accomplished by you.
   Pictured: Skyler Weekes
2. Execute. Work and work hard. A month of training is nothing, nor a year. it takes 10,000 hours to master something. stop talking about it and go to the gym. ( side note… i have been climbing for 11 years without any major breaks and at my best guess I'm in the neighborhood of 3-4000 hours of climbing).  Remeber that when you think you know everything about a sport. “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee

3. Want it. I know people who have climbed v11 in less than a year of climbing and friends who have climbed 5.14 hung over and malnourished, this does not mean you will do either. Rather you need to discover that you can try harder than you think and this is the only piece of training that really applies directly to your success at a sport. Remember that endurance is the ability to endure. Suffer well and often.

“I am learning to understand rather than immediately judge or to be judged. I cannot blindly follow the crowd and accept their approach. I will not allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowledge has transcended that and I have come to understand that life is best to be lived and not to be conceptualized. I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.”-Bruce Lee

Pictured: Skyler Weekes