• Exercise

    Vertical Low Row on Lat Tower Back Training

    A strong, muscular back is important if you intend to carry a backpack, walk with trekking poles, ice climb, rock climb, or even ascending fixed lines with an ascender. With our longterm goal of the Seven Summits quest in mind, these are all important for each, if not every, one of the seven (or nine as the case may be). The image below shows me in a lockoff position rock climbing – wherein the handhold is gripped at about waist to chest level with a small amount of tension. One of my favorite exercises is a modification of a low row done vertically on a lat tower on my power…

    Comments Off on Vertical Low Row on Lat Tower Back Training
  • Motivation

    Too exhausted to Repin on Pinterest

    I was chatting with my wife Angie this morning on FB Messenger. She’s been skating really hard, having just completed one competition and on the way to another, with the goal of working in a double jump and getting her axel solid. She was having some recovery issues, and she said: Angie: you know you are exhausted when you are too tired to hit REPIN on Pinterest It was so fun talking about her recovery, and the usual stretching, ibuprofen, rolling, hot bath, consuming a few more calories, a few more quality carbs, a few more aminos. I got the sudden inspiration: Me: that is so totally worth being a…

  • Motivation

    What Type of Climber are You?

    Not a typical bodybuilding post, but I was reading a funny article about climber psychotyping with a clever approach. I got a good chuckle at the list, and found this one particularly applicable: “Trainers ostensibly train in order to climb harder, but can lose sight of climbing and become obsessed with the cleansing act of self-mortification through extreme physical activity. This subtype is common amongst mountaineers and alpinists, as masochistic tendencies is integral to these types of climbing.” COUCH CRUSHERS TO WIDGETEERS: 10 CLIMBING PERSONALITY TYPES IDENTIFIED – The Stone Mind blog So yeah. That’s totally true. Some days I’m training away and look out the window at a particularly…