Climbing in the winter in New England is
a test of cold endurance and how many approaches you can walk to icy,
unclimbable top outs before you become discouraged. It can be difficult to stay
psyched when it’s fifteen degrees out and your project is under two feet of
snow. All those approaches lugging crash pads and extra layers are great for
your cardio, but doing three pull ups for your warmup and giving the lower half
of one boulder problem four burns isn’t going to keep you in top climbing
shape. Here are a few ideas to help keep you motivated and strong for when
spring finally arrives:
Don’t be afraid of the gym. Everyone
knows you love to climb outside and climbing on plastic is fake; however, the
strength you will build from running laps on 5.10s and crushing everything v4
and under in a session is quite real. Try to hit up the gym once a week (or
more if you have a membership). If you still want to climb outside or scout out
projects in the spring, by all means do! But pick a day when it’s blizzarding
or 5 degrees out to spend at least five hours playing around on plastic.
Along with going to the gym at least once
a week, make your gym sessions count. Don’t just play on the slackline and eat
snacks on the mats; climb. I like to warm up bouldering, working several routes
at my projecting level before trying to send everything V2 (or whatever grade
you can usually send in one to three burns) and down in the gym. Then I grab a
snack, my harness, and a nalgene and hit the ropes. This forces me to have good
technique when I’m tired, which I’ll need for multi pitch days in May. I start
out with some harder routes where I’ll likely fall a few times on the way up,
trying at least one climb that’s above my sending ability level to work on some
harder moves. Once I’m too exhausted to project harder routes I try to flash
5.9s and easy 5.10s, working on my form to climb with the least amount of
effort. Think legs. After about ten routes total, I move to the hangboards and
pull up bars to finish the session off messing around and doing flips on the
rings. It’s a fun way to burn yourself out at the end.
Do core three times a week: Monday,
Wednesday, Friday. It’s great cross training
and a perfect excuse to watch youtube videos, listen to your favorite
music, and/or watch the latest dpm.com videos to distract yourself from your
burning abs. Try eight minute abs or p90x abs (Erin highly recommends this
version of the p90x video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Ym423DqW0).
Become friends with your hangboard.
Bookmark the Metolius training guide on your computer, max our your speakers,
and tell yourself it’s ten minute to stronger tendons. Aim for two to three
times a week.
Watch inspiring videos. It sounds corny,
but whatever gets you psyched to climb, train, or simply dream about climbing,
watch it. You’re not going to climb well if you aren’t excited about the route
you’re working on, and you’re not going to put down your bag of cool ranch
Doritos and get off your couch to do pushups if you aren’t looking forward to climbing
in the Red over spring break.
Here’s a picture of Daniel Woods doing
something impressive to get you psyched.
Photo courtesy of Beau Kahler Photography
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