Greetings Northern Vertical family :)
In this write up I will share what I have learned about health and performance for rock climbing, but first I have a quick climbing tale to share before getting into the meat of topic.
During the summer of 2008, just after finishing up grad school, my climbing partner and I spent three amazing weeks in Yosemite Valley. My jaw dropped as we drove into the Vally seeing immense granite walls on either side.
We quickly got to the business climbing mega classics day in and day out. Phew…we needed a serious rest day. So we did just that, well, until approximately noon. We just could not stand it any longer. So we chose an easier climb, packed up, and off we went.
Our route, Higher Cathedral Spire, 5.9 is a multi pitch classic with an amazing spire summit and view of the Valley. We swapped leads, eventually arriving at my second lead of the climb. I looked at the topo and saw this striking inside corner that matched the topo, so off I went. The higher I climbed, the steeper and more challenging it got. I kept thinking, “this is not 5.9”.
As this pitch got slightly overhanging, clinging desperately to fingertips, my right should made a THUD sound, which created a deeply painful visceral feeling. By the grace of god I was able to hang on and finish the pitch.
By the time my partner arrived at the belay, I was experiencing an achy 7 out of 10 pain and when I tried to climb it got worse. Fortunately my partner was able to take over and I followed him to the summit, basically climbing 5.9 one handed. I just had to get to the top of the climb. I was 27 years old.
Later that day I walked in the Valley’s clinic like many climbers before me to find out what was going on with my shoulder. The doc asked some questions and basically said “you’ll be fine kid”. No imaging or anything. I blindly trusted.
Commence my professional climbing career…working for four well known New England guide services, Katahdin high-angle rescues, personal climbing and development on rock, ice and mixed terrain, and all the while I had a lot of issues with my body, mainly my right side.
I tried all the things: clean eating, massage and body-work, meditation, yoga, mobility exercises, resistance training, running… the list goes on. I was fit, but my muscles were getting so pumped so fast. When I tried climbing really hard routes I injured myself, or my muscles would get so painstakingly tight I would not feel fit and strong for guiding, so I basically has to shift away from really challenging myself.
In 2021 I had enough of the pain and tension. I literally could not climb and guide without feeling like my right side was a legit liability. For example, one day I was leading grade 5 ice climb and started shaking out repeatedly just 15 feet up. My guest, who is a regular said, “are you okay” and the reality was clearly NO.
There is this incredible healer not far from me who I saw. Dr. Mike Houseman is a chiropractor, acupuncturist and energy healer. I filled out his forms, which included a front and back drawing of the human body, with instructions to draw in where I had pain. Haha, basically I pointed everywhere.
Mike took X Rays of my spine and shoulders and the first thing he said was, “how long have you been climbing on a separated right shoulder”!!!!!!
In addition to that I had a rib head out, which for most people, would be debilitating pain. The latter was from trying Camden’s established 5.14a over and over again. Mike said that injury was the result of having in unstable shoulder.
His second question was, “how to you tolerate so much pain”. I quickly responded with, “child abuse” and he looked at me grimaced, so I said “kidding…”
I believe we tolerate our circumstances until we are ready to let them go. Think of them as lessons. So, what did I learn from the inception of injury through climbing full time, for 15 years with injury, and now on the other side?
First and foremost we must advocate for ourselves when it comes to proper medical care. Maybe health care professionals are doing their best, but at the end of the day it’s your body you have to live with. If you get an injury, make damn sure your structural body is stable as it should be. Because the body will quickly act to protect the injury. In my case, muscles in my back, chest and arms were picking up the slack taking on unnecessary load, because my should could not perform properly.
Our bodies are pretty amazing. The muscles are all connected and wrapped in a layer of tissue called fascia. Injury, high use and old age factor into muscles and fascia get, for lack of more medical terminology, out of wack. And the result is poor performance, pain, etc. You don’t want that, believe me.
So who can help you? I have used three professionals with huge results: chiropractor, acupuncturist and structural integration therapist. The later is going to help you move your body in the way it’s supposed to. Kind of amazing honestly.
Now let’s talk about health. During those years I became so keenly aware of my health I decided to go back to school to become a certified health coach. This blog post is getting long so let me condense this into a short paragraph.
Breathing is the most important thing you do everyday so bring more awareness to your breath.
American food is absolutely toxic and making you sick. Source high quality, whole food, as locally as possible. STOP eating processed shit out of bags and boxes, stop eating sugar, stop drinking alcohol regularly. What you will soon discover is more energy, better sleep, and little to no aches and pains because for the first time in a long time you are not eating and drinking inflammation, poison and toxic chemicals, which are not allowed in other countries.
Drink lots of water. Coffee is not water. Juice is not water. And definitely stop drinking soda aka liquid death.
Move your body as often as possible. At the very least WALK daily.
When you can do these things day in and out, your body and mind awareness will begin to shift. You will be nourishing yourself, and in turn come back into balance.
I did all of the things above and it radically transformed my health and performance. Some of you know about how I ran a 50 mile ultramarathon on a whim without training, completing a trail that had never been done before. The above steps was how.
The one problem was this separated shoulder. With that missing link I was never going to perform at the climbing level I could. 2021 to 2022 we worked manually on fixing the problem but guiding and personal climbing, especially the latter, was too much load so my should could not repair. The following year I chose to stop climbing for myself so give my should time. This was the first time I stopped climbing in 24 years. And it worked!
Sometimes we have to give in and let go. Lessons learned!
I share all of this will you not sitting high on a perch, rather a friend and processional who cares about you and wants you to succeed. The steps above are not something most people can just launch into, this is what health coaches are for. If you want to radically elevate your health and performance in a smooth, step by step, individualized manner, I am more than happy to consult.
Coming full circle…Today: Thursday, September 12, 2024 I will be hiking up to one of my favorite Camden Crags with friends to climbs. This is not just any day though, I am attempting to climb what could be Camden’s hardest rock climb, which means it’s one of Maine’s hardest rock climbs.
It’s really not a big deal in the grand scheme, since after all it’s just another rock climb. However, this one has a lot of meaning to me. Finally, my body is operating like it was born to, and my physical, mental and emotional health at 42 years old has never been so high. I have finally healed.
Over the years I have developed and done the first ascent on 100 climbs throughout Maine in Acadia, Katahdin, Clifton, Tumbledown, Shagg, Grafton and my home climbing venue where most of these climbs exist: Camden. Recently I was exploring the left side of our popular sport climbing cliff - The Outback. There was an undeveloped section of cliff I decided to rappel into, and clean off the lichen, to see if there was any decent climbing to be had. Turns out there are four excellent climbs, and one of them really caught my attention.
True to the cliff, these new routes would become sport climbs. The one that caught my attention is steep, probably 110 degrees overhanging and the holds are very thin, mostly on the very tips of the fingers. During my early attempts at climbing this newly bolted route, my finger tips would bruise and get very calloused from the force.
My shoulder performed very well! I was slowing working out the moves. Turns out the moves are very sustained 5.13 climbing with no rests or chances to chalk up, just nonstop boulder problem after boulder problem. So far I have attempted to lead the route maybe seven or eight times, with several solo practice session on a fixed top rope.
One of my climbing partners, Michael Lowe asked me how hard is it? I told him I just don’t know because I have not been physically, structurally capable of climbing something this difficult. He tried to compare it to Chips for Tips, 5.13b which I established a year prior, which was confirmed by Mike Lee who climbed our existing 14a. Lowe asked me, “how long did it take you to climb Chips”? I said, “one practice session and one lead try”.
Climbing Chips was a cakewalk compared to my current project. And this is exactly the type of experience I was looking for; something so incredibly hard that I would have to show up absolutely perfect, top of my game, and still I could fail, because the reality is that each move is at my limit, making me scream to the depths of my lungs.
One of the neat things about this climb is two sections requires heel hooking. That combined with the primal quality of screams and my penchant for healing my body, I decided when I finally climb this project, finally getting the first ascent, I will call it: Primal Heeling. Not a bad double entendre.
The entirety of this process inspires me. This is not a one off, it is my lifestyle and welcome you to begin the process for yourself. It a steep journey but well worth the epic view!