Strength training recap

Last week I enthusiastically wrote about starting a periodized training schedule. Truth is that I had already started it weeks before and this week I've completed the strength phase. The core exercise of this phase was doing isometric deadhangs on the fingerboard. I've approached it quite differently though compared to how I used to perform deadhang training. Previously I followed up the advice of Dave McLeod and Eva Lopez and aimed for a very small volume of very short, maximum intensity hangs (in my case a set of 12 single hangs I could hold for up to 8 seconds and then take several minutes of rest before the next hang). Such a routine aims for neurological adaptations exclusively.

In my current training program (based on the The Rock Climber's Training Manual by the Anderson brothers) neurological adaptations are primarily addressed in the power phase. In this case they are trained in the context dynamic movements, which is much more sports specific than isometric hangs and therefore makes a lot of sense to me. As the strength phase precedes the power phase, aiming for hypertrophy first is sensible and therefore a different approach to the exercises is required. So I switched to doing 'repeaters': sets of 7 second hangs separated by just 3 seconds of rest. Sets contain 6 or 7 hangs and are separated by 3 minute rests. With a harness, some weights and a pulley system the load can be carefully adjusted to aim for muscular failure at the last hang of each set and progressively increase the intensity through the strength phase. The basics are described elaborately in The Rock Climber's Training Manual and partly in this article plus video by Ned Feehally from Beastmaker fingerboards (see also the second part about the advanced routine).

The result of this regimen is a much higher training volume at a slightly reduced intensity, aiming for hypertrophy in the forearms (it should be noted though that most strength gains in this phase are still from neurological adaptations). I did 10 workouts, consisting of about an hour of progressive warming up (mostly by bouldering) followed by 13 sets of repeaters in varying grip positions (although I had to start with less, but could increase the volume quickly in the first 4 workouts) and finally some upper body and antagonist exercises. As predicted, I was able to increase the load consistently between the first workouts, but the gains started to diminish towards the end of the phase, which is the cue to progress to the power phase.

As hangboarding is extremely quantifiable, it's easy to keep track of progress and analyze workouts. I've made the following graphs from the data I collected during my trainings and they nicely show the progress through the strength phase. A list of the grip positions and their abbreviations can be found below.

Time Under Tension (T.U.T.) and Volume per workout. T.U.T. is the actual time spent hanging and volume equals the integral of total load over time. Initial gains in volume are mainly due to the increasing T.U.T., after workout 4 primarily due to increased load.

Added load for each grip position per workout. Negative numbers imply weight has been substracted. Chronological order (as shown by the legend) is important, as is demonstrated for example by the open handed 4 finger hangs: small hold, high load at the start of a workout and a lower load on bigger hold at the end due to fatigue. The initial decrease observed in load for the latter is because I started too high and had to keep adjusting it down during the first 5 workouts.

Total load equals body mass plus added mass and is actually a more interesting number than the added mass, as this is the total load the fingers have to support. Fluctuations in body mass are visible and explain for example the small volume drop in workout 9.

List of the grip positions (in chronological order):

1. 'Big sloper': open handed hang on big sloper
2. '4f open 18 mm': open handed, four finger hang on 18 mm edge
3. 'front 3 24 mm': open handed, index/middle/ring finger hang on 24 mm edge
4. 'back 3 24 mm': open handed, pinky/ring/middle finger hang on 24 mm edge
5. '4f h. crimp 24 mm': four finger half crimp hang on 24 mm edge
6. 'mid 2 28 mm': open handed, middle/ring finger hang on 28 mm pocket
7. '4f open 24 mm': open handed, four finger hang on 24 mm edge

Some valuably things I've learned during this strength training phase:

• Repeaters are punishing on the fingers and if a grip position is only slightly unergonomic, the results are devastating. Already after the second workout I had a mildly inflamed collateral ligament on the PIP joint of my left index finger due to a tweaky grip position. I performed an open front three hang (ring, middle and index finger) on a set of edges that's too close to the centre of my board, forcing a tilt in my arms (pushing the elbows out) and putting strain on the PIP joints of the index fingers. By responding quickly, taking a few days off and moving this particular hang to a different, wider set of holds allowed to continue training without further problems. The take away message: (almost) all boards have holds close to the centre that are potentially dangerous for two handed hangs. Try to position the hands above the shoulders to avoid injuries.
• Power breathing is a great way to enforce a state of high arousal and push trough the extremely uncomfortable final hang(s) and really reach muscular failure. I'm trying to apply it to hard climbing moves as well, but still struggle with the fact that coordination seems to suffer in a state of very high arousal. Maybe it simply needs some practice...
• Starting a strength phase turned out to be very exciting and the rapid initial gains were very motivating to push through the workouts. Towards the end of the phase, the workouts became more and more mentally challenging. Hangboarding works best when you dig deep, really deep and I've consistently managed to push myself to the point of being slightly dizzy and nauseated (thanks to power breathing). During the final workouts it became hard to keep doing this and I'm happy - almost relieved - to switch to a new phase now. Obviously periodization is not only beneficial for the body, but also for the mind!

Attic upgrade: Campus board!

I've almost finished the strength phase of my training cycle, doing a lot isometric deadhangs on the fingerboard. Next up is a power phase and the key concept for power training - plyometrics (i.e. going explosively from a forced eccentric contraction to a concentric contraction) - requires a special training tool to target the forearms: a campus board. The concept was developed by the legendary Wolfgang Güllich to train for his then futuristic, powerful test pieces in the Frankenjura. He was the first to apply plyometrics to forearm training and his campus board has been embraced by the climbing community ever since. Every gym has one nowadays. My attic didn't...

And now it does! Having a training plan that requires me to train on a campus board finally made me construct one. I contemplated doing it for months, but I've always avoided campus board training. I was put off by the relatively high risk of finger injuries that is inherent to the activity. But truth be told I really suck at campus board training, which didn't contribute to its appeal either. It should though, because apparently there's huge improvement potential in it for me. Two more hangboard sessions and I'll start training on the campus board for power. I can hardly wait now that the board is finished!

Constructing my own campus board allowed me to make all design decisions myself and I wanted it to be as good as it could possibly be. The biggest constraint was the available space in the attic. Additionally, it had to be mobile, as the only big enough space was right in front of my climbing wall. So it should be possible to put it up relatively easy after thoroughly warming up by bouldering and take it down afterwards, without sacrificing stability of the board to cope with the dynamic moves I'll be making on it. The result exceeds my expectations and it's ready to use.

The board is 1.90 m tall, allowing for 9 rungs at Moon spacing (22 cm centre-to-centre spacing). This should keep me busy for a while: the 1-5-9 is considered the ultimate expression of power and is a challenge for the elite (except for gravity defying machine Jan Hojer). Between rungs 3 and 9 I've added rungs at half spacing to allow for easier progress to larger campus distances. The board is 16.0 degrees off vertical. The guideline here is to aim for 15 to 20 degrees, where smaller angles tend to make the campus exercises harder.

What I dreaded the most was choosing the depth of the rungs. The smaller, the better, but it should still be possible to perform the exercises from them. Given more space, I could have installed two or three rows of rungs with varying depths, but that's not the case. A rule of thumb is that you should be able to do at least 5 pull ups on one rung. I knew I could easily do that from the smallest rung on my hangboard, which is 18 mm deep. That's not 16 degrees overhanging though... Eventually I decided to buy the rungs from same supplier as the rungs on the board in Cube Bouldergym: Woodpecker Holds from Poland. Ordering directly from the supplier was no problem at all and the service provided was great (and quick!). I knew for a fact that the quality of the rungs would be good and the curvature of the edges would be ergonomic and skin friendly. Additionally, in Cube I was able to test the different sizes Woodpecker makes: 20 mm, 25 mm and 30 mm. Of these, 25 mm seemed ideal for me. 30 mm feels difficult enough, but exceeds the size of a finger pad and is therefore tough on the calluses. 20 mm feels terribly hard, but 25 mm perfectly corresponds to a single finger pad and feels the most ergonomic. It still feels uncomfortably hard, but at least possible. And hey, isn't campus board training supposed to be hard?

Plateau Syndrome

All climbers are familiar with 'Plateau Syndrome': getting mentally (and physically) trapped on a ledge in a climb - often just before a hard crux section - that's so debilitatingly comfortable compared with what's to come, it feels impossible to step off and continue climbing. On a larger time scale, a similar thing can occur in training, the ledge being a training routine that we've executed so often that we became so good at it, that doing anything else (in which we logically suck badly by then) is so uncomfortable for the ego that we'd rather avoid it. It happened to me repeatedly.

Patterns

Having had quite a bit of time not climbing outdoors, I've been thinking a lot about the strong start and disappointing finish of the route climbing season. In the past years - I started climbing seriously in the summer of 2010 - I've progressed from climbing my first 7a to my first 8a (routes), but on the way I have experienced several plateaus, sometimes even regressions.

The first plateau occured around 7a/7a+ during the 2011 route climbing season. In December Cube bouldergym opened and I switched from three weekly route climbing session in Arque to three weekly bouldering sessions in Cube. Immediately at the start of the next season I climbed my first 7b and 7c. Sticking to this 'winning' bouldering diet seemed a logical choice.

The second plateau occured right there and then. It took more than a full year to climb another 7c and during the entire 2013 season I didn't manage to break through the ceiling. In januari 2014, after moving to a new house and not climbing for three months, I installed my woody and started bouldering there. Occasionally I did some hangboarding and I started including more full body exercises for antagonist training and joint stability. At the start of the 2014 route season I climbed my first 7c+ and 8a. Again, sticking to this new 'winning' routine seemed to be the logical way to go.

The third plateau occured right there again... I haven't managed to climb more 7c+ or 8a routes and struggled on 7c's during the remainder of the season. Are you seeing the pattern?

Changing routines (dashed green lines) breaks plateaus. Not included is the third plateau I've experienced this season.

It's easy to point out ones mistakes in hindsight and I've become exceedingly good at pointing out my own while failing to notice them consistently when I'm making them (let alone predict them beforehand...). Obviously, every step up I made followed a dramatic change in my climbing routine. When I switched to Cube, I jumped from 7a+ to 7c, when I starting training on the woody from 7c to 8a. It doesn't necessarily mean that climbing in Cube beats climbing in Arque (although as a training facility I tend to consider Cube more complete than Arque) and that climbing on the woody beats both. It's the change that matters and there's a solid body of sports science explaining (and proofing!) it perfectly clear.

Periodization

Every time a new routine has given me gains, I clinged onto it for dear life, failing to realize that the switch in routine rather than the routine itself made me progress. The result is that I kept doing the same thing over and over again for way too long and plateaued. It's an easy pitfall and I've stumbled into this mental trap several times now. To keep progressing, doing the same thing at an increasing intensity (progressive overload) is good up to the point where gains are diminishing (duh..). That's the time to switch activities to a new one that is sensitive to progressive overload and reap the rewards of supercompensation again. After switching a few times it's feasible to get back to the first activity again. The starting point will be lower than the previous highpoint, but applying progressive overload again should push it past that previous highpoint this time. This cyclic process is called 'periodization' and it's at the root of any good training regimen aiming at progress in any sports.

Periodization in climbing training as a cyclical process.
Adapted from 'The Rock Climber's Training Manual' by M.L. Anderson PhD and M.L. Anderson (2014)

My mistake in the past years has been thinking that my focus on bouldering and bouldery sports routes didn't require me to train endurance at all and that training by just bouldering was fine. With this monotonous approach a plateau is inevitable. I even failed to distinguish between strength and power and at least cycle between those two aspects. So it's (way past...) time to start applying periodization to my training and keep stepping out of my comfort zone to achieve the next step up. I've made myself a schedule for the coming months, covering one training cycle going through a strength phase, a power phase and a power endurance phase leading into a performance peak. I'll document everything in a training log, allowing me to evaluate afterwards and keep track of progress through the cycle. I can only hope the peak really occurs. I'll let you know in March...

Food for (vegetarian) climbers part 3: creatine

I promised to be a bit faster with this third post on food for veggies and to keep it shorter than the previous one. So here it is, within a few days and all about creatine. Luckily, the story on creatine is much shorter. I have to admit though that I cheated a bit: most of it was written already before publishing the previous post. Anyway, here we go.

About creatine

So for starters, what's creatine? It is an amino acid that our own body produces constantly. As all vertebrates produce creatine, we consume it when eating meat, raising creatine levels significantly above levels that our own body can produce. Consequently, vegetarians - like me - usually have lower creatine levels than meat eaters. Without dwelling into scientific details, let me explain why creatine can be important for athletes. Remember the three different systems that produce ATP - the fuel in our muscle cells - that I discussed in part 1? The 'phosphagen system', providing ATP at high rates for a short duration, needs creatine phosphate. It's the fastest energy supplying mechanism and the first our muscles will resort to. A higher level of creatine phosphate means a bigger capacity of the phosphagen system. And the body needs creatine to form creatine phosphate (open door, isn't it?). Additionally, creatine is believed to speed up the recovery process after training. In summary, effects of increased creatine levels are:

• An increased capacity of the fast energy supplying phosphagen system during high intensity exercises and therefore an increased ability to perform them. That means a few more push ups or bench presses per set if you're into that. By increasing the training volume you can handle (imaging doing the same number of exercises, but with a few more moves/repetitions in every single set), creatine will help you build up muscles. For climbers it could also mean an increase in power endurance. The more creatine phosphate we have stored in our muscles, the more very hard (crux our boulder) moves can be done relying on the phosphagen system before the glycogen lactid acid system has to take over and the pump clock starts to tick. In other words: higher creatine levels will increase strength, power and to some extent (indirectly) power endurance.
• Creatine is osmotically active and will draw more water into your muscles. This will make you heavier. It also aids in the regeneration and recovery of muscles. Faster recovery means that shorter rest periods between training session suffice and more training is possible (this relies on more effects than just water being drawn into the muscles).

Opinions collide on whether this is good for climbers or not. I'd say for climbers two effects of creatine supplementation are interesting: an increase in strength, power and anaerobic endurance and faster recovery, allowing more training. The third effect is less favorable: an increase in weight, partly due to water retention and partly due to the additional muscle mass your body might start building up if you milk the extra few reps that the extra creatine allows you to perform. As ultimately the strength-to-weight ratio is what matters in climbing, it becomes a trade off: will the additional weight drag you down or will the increased power and power endurance launch you to the next level? This balance will be different for everybody. The only way to find out if it works for you, is giving it a try. Finally I should mention that there are non-responders to creatine supplementation. Some people notice strong effects, some don't. Again, you'll have to try and see how it works for you. Nevertheless it is reasonable to assume that in a low-creatine diet (like a veggie diet) stronger effects from additional supplementation can be expected than in a high-creatine diet.

Legendary Wolfgang Güllich and Kurt Albert have pushed the bounderies of sports climbing like few others and make most climbers look like twigs. The strength to weight ratio of Güllich was good enough to climb the world's first 9a nevertheless... Simply looking at this picture makes me feel much less worried about my weight again.

As a vegetarian, I was inclined to expect a response to creatine supplementation. I spent days reading about possible side effects and health risks associated with it. It turned out that after being popularized in the early 90's (after reportedly paving the way to some Olympic gold medals), creatine became the most studied food supplement for athletes and stood all tests and scrutiny. Some early reports of kidney damage and other health effects were later discredited and in 2004 the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) published a report stating that a long-term oral intake of 3g creatine per day is risk-free. Curious about the results of the trade off between strength and weight and puzzled by the low training volume I could handle, I decided to give it a go. I ordered a can of high quality, pure creatine and started taking the prescribed daily 4g supplement.

Initial results of my increased creatine intake

In the first week of supplementation, I didn't notice any difference in my training. But towards the end of the second week, the first results were undeniable. I could clearly hold up better in my antagonist & fitness workouts and I could do significantly more hard bouldering within a short training session. Additionally, my (perceived) strength increased. That's all rather vague, unquantified and subjective, but here are some numbers to chew on: in the second week I was able to increase the additional load I could carry in a typical deadhang session on my fingerboard by 7 kg. That may not sound like a lot, but those familiar with deadhang training will know that (provided you're not new to hangboarding) gains here usually are very small, come tediously slowly and require inhuman patience and persistence. Clearly my strength to weight ratio had increased (as predicted by several studies, I measured a weight gain of about 1 kg in the first two weeks).

Weeks later I measured some more weight gains: adding up to about 3 kg in total. I think it's mostly gains in bigger core muscle groups that I regularly address in my training. Although my perceived strength and power increased, I also got the rather subjective and unquantifiable feeling that my power endurance suffered a bit, probably due to the additional weight. As it pushed me past the psychological barrier of 80 kg, I started trying harder to achieve a small caloric deficit and over nearly two months I lost about 2 kg again. I am almost back at my old weight now, but obviously I would have been lighter had I done the same without creatine supplementation. Focussing on power endurance training for a few weeks restored my power endurance to a level I haven't had the entire season, so overall I feel like the additional creatine gave me the sharp edge I missed before and hasn't given me significant disadvantages in the end. But again: most of this is hard to quantify and quite subjective.

In conclusion

Among many other nutrients, proteins and creatine affect climbing performance and our ability to endure and recover from hard training sessions. A vegetarian diet is prone to be low in both without some extra attention. Although it's relatively easy to consume plenty of proteins while refraining from meat for most, vegetarians have to rely only on the creatine their own bodies produce. I turned out to be a responder to creatine supplementation (but there are plenty of accounts of non-responders as well). I feel stronger and fitter during training, but haven't really had the chance to test these perceived gains on real rock. I'll let you know when I do. Based mostly on the deadhang statistics, it seems my strength to weight ratio has increased, tipping the balance to the beneficial effects of creatine. It might be different for you though. There's only one way to find out. That is, if you care to bother.

I would recommend a vegetarian diet to everyone. For me it has made weight control much easier and made me feel healthier. Cooking and eating became more interesting and it has affected my eating attitude positively. But with or without meat, making varied meals from clean, unprocessed ingredients is what's most important. For me starting to eat veggie simply triggered a change of mindset regarding food. I'll stick with it for sure, because it makes me feel good and healthy. But during periods of hard strength and power training I will supplement (just a bit of) extra proteins, as it seems to help my body recover. And for now I'll keep supplementing some creatine as well for the reasons described above. After a while I do intend to stop it briefly though and see what difference that makes. Despite all guidelines, studies and good advice about eating, the way an individual body responds to eating habits remains unpredictable, making dieting above all a matter experimenting. Only through trial and error you can find out what works for you and what doesn't. If you suspect that an eating habit is holding you back somehow, simply change it for a few weeks and evaluate the results. You might end up pleasantly surprised, just like me. 

Food for (vegetarian) climbers part 2: proteins

In my previous post on this topic - that I wrote so long ago you've probably already forgotten about it - I described my suspicion that my diet lacked some proteins and creatine to support my body going through the trainings I do. Without wanting to break with my principled decision to strongly reduce meat consumption, I decided to supplement some (whey) proteins and (synthesized) creatine for a little while and see for the results. To disentangle between the effects of both of them, I started supplementing protein a month before starting with creatine. In the following I'll focus on the importance of proteins and why different body types will have different needs. In the third (and final) post of this series I'll discuss creatine and the gains I got from supplementing it.

Protein 101

Most of us know that proteins (or 'amino acids') are the stuff that builds muscles. They are however the building blocks of much more - hairs, nails, bones, skin, most of our bodies actually. Not to mention the role they play in membranes and all kinds chemical processes in our bodies. There are 20 different amino acids that we need. Out of them 9 are 'essential', the other 11 can be synthesized in the body. Protein sources that contain adequate amounts of the 9 essential amino acids are commonly referred to as 'complete' proteins.

During a workout, muscles get damaged. The damage needs to be repaired afterwards and this is where proteins come in: they literally are the building blocks we need to repair our muscles. With the right intensity and number of repetitions of the exercise, muscles will even grow in this process (called 'hypertrophy'). It's the aim of strength athletes, whereas endurance athletes will generally stay quite far away from this exercise regimen. Too light exercise (anything aerobic) will change the vascular structure in muscles to enhance blood flow, but it won't promote excessive muscular protein synthesis. Too heavy exercise (something you can do for 1-3 repetitions) will mostly encourage neurological adaptations for better muscles recruitment. But somewhere in between, at an intensity you can sustain for about 6-8 repetitions, is the hotspot for muscle growth. Logically, training in this regimen will induce the highest protein need during the recovery process. Anyone engaging in athletic activity will increase his or her protein need, but strength athletes significantly more than endurance athletes.

Now let's step back for a second and remember my first post on this topic in which I 'claimed' that rock climbing is not an endurance activity. Apart from the implications on the metabolic needs on which I focussed in the first post, this also means that training for climbing includes a strong strength component. It's no coincidence that according to most advice any training program should include a lot of bouldering, whether you are a boulderer or not. Unless you are doing a threshold bouldering session or maximum effort campus exercises (both aim for neurological adaptations), you will either be in the hypertrophy range (if the exercises are hard enough) or at least beating up your muscles big time. So supplying your body the time and nutrients (proteins!) to recover from this assault is recommendable: alternatively you're just breaking down muscles. A little side note here is that the muscles that are driven to failure here are probably in the forearms. They are not the biggest muscle groups in our bodies and don't require as much protein as for example the back muscles. If you include a few sets of pull ups, push ups or other supplemental exercises in your workout however, you are pushing big muscles groups to get bigger.

Proteins: not only in meat...

So hard training climbers will have a relatively high protein need. Agree? Let me start debunking this: it's a myth that vegetarian food is per definition low in proteins. Of course if you're a lazy eater it's easy to omit the necessary proteins (and iron, and vitamins B for that matter). But hey, also non-veggie lazy eaters will consume a lot of crap and fail to include important nutrients. Some lucky individuals have a natural tendency to eat healthy and well balanced. But most of us - like me - have to think about we put in our mouths, resist a craving every once in a while and opt something that better fits the athletic demands we put on our bodies instead. Veggie or not. Although meat, chicken and fish are the common protein bombs that many athletes resort to, there are plenty of possibilities that fit in a vegetarian or even vegan diet as well. Dairy products are good sources of complete proteins and  combinations of nuts, legumes and grains can make for a complete set of proteins as well.

There are plenty of natural sources of protein and there is no direct need to supplement them. But finding clean, healthy sources of complete protein and include them in your diet without overdoing on carbohydrates particularly will require some commitment and won't be cheap. Protein supplements can be an easy quick fix for an otherwise good diet that lacks just that extra bit of proteins for periods of heavy exercise. Whey protein (a residue from the process of making cheese from milk) is an excellent source of complete proteins. Vegans could consider soy protein instead. That said, protein powders are (highly) processed and may be harder for the body to use than proteins obtained from clean whole foods. There are quite a few low quality powders out there, some with toxic levels of heavy metals. If the powder has been processed at high temperatures, the protein molecules will be denaturalized and much harder to digest. Pay attention to this when buying a supplement. Then again, most meat or fish you can get in a supermarket is highly processed as well and probably has many more health deteriorating effects than a high quality protein powder. Trying to use as many clean, unprocessed, natural sources of whole proteins as possible in your diet should be your aim. Use powders to supplement, not to replace.

Chris Sharmas and Adam Ondras

As I briefly mention in the introduction to this post, different body types have different protein needs. Let me take a black and white approach here and divide the climbing community in two groups: the wiry, light Adam Ondras and the muscular, heavy Chris Sharmas. Of course there's a lot in between, but for the sake of the argument let's simplify things a bit. In the end, both the Adam Ondras and the Chris Sharmas strive for a high strength to weight ratio and enough (power) endurance to get them to the top of their route. The Adam Ondras may rely a bit more on endurance and their ability to hold on to super small intermediary holds and the Chris Sharmas may rely a bit more on power and their ability to throw themselves from big hold to big hold, but in the end a similar set of skills should get them up the same routes. They'll have totally different bodies doing this though and consequently they will have different nutritional needs as well. The Chris Sharmas need to carry more weight up with bigger muscles and will need more energy (even in a rest state a more muscular body consumes more energy!). They'll have bigger muscles to regenerate after training and will need more nutrients to facilitate this.

Spot the differences...

You can't choose whether you'll be in the Sharma group or in the Ondra camp: genetics did that for you (it has a lot to do with the balance between slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers, which is mostly genetically determined and different for all of us). Most strong climbers happen to be in the Ondra group: it seems to be a favorable body composition for climbing. But I am in the Sharma group: when I train I build up muscle mass and become heavy and strong. So if you are a climber, statistically the odds are that you have a lower protein need than I do.

But how much protein do we need? Is there a guideline? Obviously, we need enough to recover from our training. Getting too muscular and heavy is not desirable though, but that's something you should target primarily in the way you train and not in the way you eat. In my view your eating behavior should always support your training behavior. In other sports strength athletes often live by the rule of consuming 1.4 to 1.8 grams of protein per kg of body weight. Some claim that much less is more than enough and that many athletes overdo their protein intake. It is even said that too much protein can be hard on the kidneys and liver, but there's no scientific evidence to back this up. Although science has repeatedly shown positive effects on performance and muscle regeneration when athletes supplement additional proteins, it fails to give anything more than a rough guideline about how much exactly is needed. To discover what works for you, you simply have to try and learn through trial and error.

I'll give you another reason not to overdo it though: there's energy in proteins as well. Our bodies extract about 4 kCal from every gram of protein, which is about the same as from a gram of carbohydrates. Consuming a 20 gram portion of proteins yields as much energy as eating 20 grams of sugar! I'd strongly advice against counting calories for anyone, but just bear in mind that eating more protein than you need will eventually build body fat, not muscle. Don't overdo it. On the bright side: protein also dulls hunger (quite contrary to many carbs, such as sugar) and may end up making you lighter simply by killing your appetite and saving you the occasional sugar craving.

To be continued...
In the end, even in exactly the same training regimen every individual body will have different nutritional needs. How much protein exactly you need is something for you to find out by trial and error. I've decided to experiment a bit and increased my protein consumption by about 25 grams per day. It immediately affected how my body responded to training: I recovered faster and quickly (within a month) saw a more defined musculature on my body without gaining weight (which I like to interpret as a gain in muscle mass and a reduction of body fat). I'll play a bit more with the amount and timing of supplementation, but I feel like sticking to it at least during strength and power oriented training phases. In the next (and final) post of this series I'll write about creatine supplementation. It might take a while again, but stay tuned!

Six euros well spent

There's not much to mention on the outdoor front unfortunately... I've had limited chances to get out and I didn't use them quite as well as I should have. Let's not talk about it. I started noticing that my endurance and stamina (the possible volume of a session) are suffering badly from my regimen of short, strength and power oriented boulder trainings. I've been doing them almost exclusively for (way) too long: the gains are diminishing and the neglected aspects such as volume and endurance are hitting rock bottom. On top of that, tweaking my diet to support hypertrophy (yes, I know, I still have to finish an article about it...) made me measurably stronger (my deadhang performance took quite a leap, I'll write about that too), but also about 3 kg heavier. I feel like it helped my maximum strength, but it had a detrimental effect on more endurance oriented exercises. Although I do feel stronger than ever on short bursts, it's time to translate the power and strength gains to power endurance. Additionally, training for some stamina will help me make the most of future outdoor sessions.

So I started hitting the gym again once a week to refamiliarize with pumped forearms. For me, the best place to do that probably is Arque: the gym where time stands still and all routes are nothing but endurance and fitness tests. There's no place on earth where I climb as badly as in Arque and I can't image climbing much further out of my comfort zone. Lots of improvement potential and excellent training! Additionally, I devised a 25 move power endurance circuit on my woody and started doing laps on it. Tough! In the steep lead walls of Arque I realized that clipping quickdraws is very taxing for me: I tend to waste a lot of energy there and get pumped extremely fast. This conclusion led me to install a four hangers for quickdraws on my woody. With a harness and a short rope (three meters) I now (try to) include several clips in my power endurance circuit. It's the best 6 euros I've spent in a long time. Relatively easy sections suddenly became much, much harder and super sustained. As all holds are small, the board is steep and all footholds are sloping, holding clipping positions turned out to be a real challenge. After three training sessions, I'm not even close to completing my power endurance circuit once with clipping, whereas I can repeat it eight times more or less to the finish without.

Getting stuck in a routine is an easy pitfall and I stumbled into it again, face first. It's past time to change my game again. I've marked a few dates in my calendar at which I'm supposed to switch routines and enter a new training phase again. All is geared to achieving a peak in lead climbing performance during the holiday break in Februari. In theory it looks good. Now let's see what it really does...

Berdorf again...

August was cursed. At least that's what we thought. On the first of September exactly the skies cleared up and rain stopped to fall. After waiting for a dry spell for weeks, Koen, Frans and I didn't waste any time and drove to Berdorf, our moods lightened up by the good weather forecasts and a happy Vienna. When we arrived just after midday however, everything looked suspiciously wet. Although it was sunny now, it turned out that it had rained heavily for four hours straight in the morning. Ironically, it had all fallen from a cloud that was so small that it was barely visible on the precipitation radar. Apparently the August curse didn't limit itself to August as much as we thought it did...

It took us some time to accept the fact that all routes - including the overhangs - were wet and to set our minds to easier climbing. Failing to climb a 6a+ warmup route wasn't exactly the start I had hoped for... Stubbornly I fumbled around a bit in a hard combination on sector Nikita, but got shut down by the hard roof boulder of Ayrton. The crucial pinch was wet and despite attempts to dry it, water kept seeping through the rock as if it were a sponge. Switching to easier climbing made the trip very enjoyable though. I even managed to do the last 7a I had left in Berdorf ('La Sans Nom') in my first attempt on sunday afternoon. Save for a final few 6th grade routes (6 to be precise), there's only really hard stuff left for me in Berdorf now... Time to visit some other climbing areas!

I'll miss the superb campground next to the crag, pizzeria 'Venezia' in Echternacherbrück, the 'Kebab House' in Echternach, the enchanting forest of the Müllerthal and running through all the little canyons and rock formations during my morning walks with Vienna though. Maybe we'll go back soon after all. There are still some very good hard routes waiting to be climbed... Who knows!

I can only hope September and October will be dry. A few more opportunities to add some ascents to this sports climbing season would be great. I'll check in here soon again, either to write about more rock trips, or to share the second part of the nutrition series. So stay tuned!

Food for vegetarian climbers part 1: is climbing an endurance sport?

I've been eating almost exclusively vegetarian food for quite a while. About a year before I started my effort to become good at climbing (in 2010), I became a vegetarian. To be very precise (and unnecessarily complicated), I am what is called an 'ovo-lacto vegetarian'. In normal language that means I refrain from eating meat and fish, but I do consume eggs and dairy products. I've been reasonably conscious about ingesting enough iron, proteins and vitamins B (B12 in particular). Failing to do so is a common pitfall for veggies, especially for those who refuse to eat eggs and/or dairy as well. Through the years, I've drawn comfort from a wealth of online articles reassuring me that a sports diet without meat is very well possible and according to many even a lot healthier than a diet that includes meat. I can recommend a visit to the 'No Meat Athlete' blog to anyone who considers cutting down on meat. My steady progress through the grades seemed to confirm I was eating well enough to fuel my climbing efforts.

Nevertheless I've started doubting the completeness of my diet after subjecting myself to a more strength and power oriented training schedule at the beginning of this year, without seeing significant performance gains  (either in or outside the trainings) or body composition changes for months. Instead I often started feeling tired, fatigued, sometimes even unmotivated and I experienced more bad days than good days when I had the chance to hit the crag. Within my limited understanding of sports science, there were two plausible explanations for my 'problem': either I was overtraining or I wasn't eating well enough to enable good recovery from my trainings. Most of the symptoms seemed to fit the former. I refused to accept it: the step up in training was small and my training load wasn't unreasonably high for a climber who has done several years of fairly consequent training. And I couldn't imagine that both explanations were unrelated: in both cases the real problem is that the body fails to recover well enough from a training before the next one starts. With better food, faster recovery is possible and overtraining is harder to achieve. So once again I started reading, hoping to reassure myself that my diet was just fine.

Climbing is not an endurance sport
This time I noticed a subtlety that I missed previously: all articles explaining how carefully picking your ingredients (enough spinach, broccoli, nuts, legumes etc.) can result in a complete sports diet that has many health benefits over a diet including meat, are aimed at endurance athletes. And although sports climbers talk a lot about 'endurance' and target this in their trainings, I'd like to make a case here that climbing (and not just bouldering) isn't an endurance sport at all. Let me explain. The term 'endurance sport' usually refers to aerobic activities, such as long distance running, cycling etc. Hard sports climbing and bouldering are almost exclusively anaerobic activities. Aerobic and anaerobic activities rely on completely different energy supplies. The 'fuel' in our muscle cells is called ATP: adenosine triphosphate. Whenever a cell needs energy, it starts breaking down ATP. A phosphate complex splits off, releasing a lot of energy from the bond and leaving adenosine diphosphate (APD) behind. After about three seconds of very hard work, the cell runs out of ATP. When that happens, the cell needs to restore ADP to ATP to continue delivering work. There are three systems that are able to do this, but at very different rates and durations:

1. Aerobic respiration (slow). In the presence of oxygen (supplied via the blood flow), glucose (stored in the form of glycogen - chains of glucose molecules - in muscles) is broken down completely into carbon dioxide and water and the energy released is used to form ATP. The mechanism is slow, but as long as the blood flow can supply enough oxygen, it can accommodate moderate activity continuously for hours.
2. Glycogen lactic acid system (fast). When a higher demand is placed on ATP levels and there's insufficient oxygen, glucose gets only partly broken down. It provides enough energy to synthesize ATP, but lactid acid is created, causing the acidity in the muscles to skyrocket quickly. The lactid acid causes temporal muscular fatigue and is the cause of the all familiar 'pump' that hits us in what we like to call 'endurance' climbs. Once relying on the glycogen lactic acid system for energy, we have about two minutes of exercise left.
3. Phosphagen system (very fast). For very fast ATP replenishment, muscle cells contain the compound creatine phosphate. When the bond between the phosphate group and creatine breaks, a lot of energy is released and binds the phosphate group with ADP to form ATP. This mechanism supplies ATP extremely fast and can facilitate very high intensity activities. The catch is that it can only do so for a short time: after about ten seconds the creatine phosphate storage is depleted.

The first system involves oxygen and is called aerobic, the other two don't involve oxygen and are therefore called anaerobic (the term 'anaerobic system' is also often used to describe just the glycogen lactic acid system). Although easy parts of sports climbing routes may require only the aerobic respiration to deliver energy, sports routes typically consists of hard, sustained sections that mainly rely on the (anaerobic) glycogen lactid acid system. Crux sections and bouldering will even be in the phosphagen system regime. So let's be very careful in calling climbing an endurance sport and applying knowledge, customs, diets etc from other endurance activities to climbing. On a cellular level, they are very different. That means they have different nutritional requirements as well.

Additionally, when doing very tough, powerful exercises (like hard bouldering or redpointing) the muscles get damaged. Many small ruptures occur (called 'microtrauma') and in the subsequent recovery process the muscles regenerate. When the exercises were hard enough, the muscles will grow in this process: 'hypertrophy'. This can only happen when all the necessary nutrients are present. Obviously, activity that results in hypertrophy has a different nutritional requirement than typical aerobic endurance activities.

So what's the message?
This is where I'd like to end the first of three posts on food for climbing from the viewpoint of a vegetarian. My aim was to outline how hard sports climbing and bouldering are different from what we usually call endurance sports. They rely on different biochemical systems supplying the required energy and put a heavy demand on muscle regeneration. For all athletic activities, independent of their nature, great supplies of glycogen and an abundance of red blood cells are desirable. In red blood cells, oxygen is bound to the iron atoms in hemaglobin molecules and transported to the muscles. Obviously, failing to consume enough iron (a common pitfall for vegetarians who are sloppy about their diet) will limit the capacity to transport oxygen and decrease your athletic performance dramatically. But in hard climbing - as in all other anaerobic activities - there are some additional food dependancies, particularly on proteins to regenerate muscle tissue and on creatine to supply the phosphagen system with a proper storage of creatine phosphate. Both are abundant in meat and can be tricky to consume in large quantities in a vegetarian diet.

While reading about all this food stuff I started linking the lack of training results and my symptoms of unexpected overtraining to a lack of protein and creatine (I've safeguarded my iron consumption with a glass of Roosvicee Ferro daily ever since I cut down on the meat). Parts 2 and 3 of this series of food posts will deal with these two nutrients specifically. This summer I started supplementing them a bit and in the upcoming posts I will describe the first results I've got from them and why it will probably be completely different for you, even if you are a vegetarian too. Stay tuned!

Holiday recap

Just a few more days and the summer holidays are over. Due to several reasons I didn't get to climbing outdoors nearly as much as I'd wanted, but other things in life sometimes get in the way of our desires... On the bright side, I'm paving the way to a nearby future that gives me the flexibility to climb more and achieve my goals. If that means a little less rock climbing now, I consider it a good investment. That said, I did get out a bit and in particular two days in Berdorf with Frans stand out. I finally climbed an old Nemesis that somehow slipped through my fingers on a few occasions when I tried it at the end of previous visits: the beautiful 'Kaffisdous'. It's the final 7a+ I hadn't yet climbed in Berdorf and with an easy start and a hard 12 move power endurance finish it should be right up my alley, but long story short it turned out to be a real pain in the neck to climb it. Consequently, I was very happy to do it now with Frans. Followed by an unexpectedly quick ascent of the vertical 'Tapis Roulant' 7b+ with a very fingery boulder crux on my second attempt (while putting up the quickdraws...) and an ascent of the vertical technotour 'Superschlup' 7b (generously graded 7b+ in the guide with an ambiguous definition) on my first attempt, the results of this trip are the highlights of the holiday. Other short excursions to rock unfortunately didn't give the desired results. I've been puzzled by a bit of a summer dip similar to the one I experienced last year and started to suspect that food and sleep could play a big role in it. So I made some alterations in my diet and I'll write more on that soon! Additionally I'm implementing changes in the way I train, with more attention for general fitness, injury prevention and flexibility. Also more on that soon... Now, I'll set my mind to the next year of work, getting back behind the school desks myself and I'll dream about the places I'd like to visit while saving for a van that can get me there with the dogs. Meanwhile, I'll be training my ass off to shine whenever it's time again.

Teuto again

Here's a video of a few boulders I climbed during two visits to Teuto in the past weeks, ranging from approximately 6B to 7B. The most interesting ascent was that of 'Quicky' for sure, which was anything but quick. I tried this heinous sitstart from two terrible sidepulls quite a few times in the past two years, but never managed to even get my butt off the ground. This time I found the way to do it and it took only a few more attempts to catch the next hold. After that the climbing is much easier, about 6C boulder. I also made good progress in a very cool - archetypal Teuto - traverse project, not shown in the video. It's long, steep, crimpy and very sustained. I hope to get back on it soon and I'll try to make a video of it! First I'll be in Berdorf this weekend though. I hope it hasn't gotten too crowded there, but I fear the worst... On the other hand: enough hard potential projects left there, one must be free for sure!

Woody upgrade

I've been off the radar for a while. Honestly I've only climbed once in two weeks time... I spent my evenings correcting exams and snacking calories rather then burning them away. But that should change now, most of the work is done! To fuel my motivation, an amazing treat arrived yesterday: a great selection of Core climbing holds hand picked for a steep woody by Core co-owner Leo himself. When I told Matt (from Flow climbing) I was quite passively looking for a good set of slopers and pinches a while ago, he immediately contacted the guys at Core Climbing. I wasn't too confident he would succeed in meeting my quite unreasonable list of demands: slopers and pinches happen to be big, heavy and therefore expensive holds and I had quite a limited budget to offer. On top of that, it isn't easy to find a suitable set of sloping holds for an over 40 degrees overhanging board. Nevertheless, Matt was very confident. And he was right: a few e-mails and photos later a hand picked selection of pinches, slopers, small footholds and shiny new allen bolts - all selected for the purpose of setting roughly seventh grade boulders on my steep woody - was sent out. So today I unpacked a huge box stuffed with brightly coloured resin, happy as a child. A big thank you to Matt and Core is in place for their great help, outstanding service and seemingly endless patience in dealing with all my wishes and questions!

The goodies packed and unpacked, plastic-junky Coen giving them a first inspection.

About the holds then. I gave them a quick try in the afternoon and I am very pleased! Some are just good enough for big powerful moves, others are barely good enough to move from at all. Leo from Core has done a superb job selecting exactly the right holds. The texture of the holds is great too, they have a very rough and natural feel. The selection consist mostly of holds from the 'geometric' range: relatively simply shaped, ergonomic training holds. The 'geometric pinches' are awesome, the 'geometric mini wedges' (the red triangles, which aren't anything near 'mini') are brilliantly awkward and the 'geometric domes' are downright terrible to hold on to, as are the 'mini slopers' from the 'core' range. They target some of my weaker grip positions perfectly: I am mostly good at pulling hard from positive edges and none of these new holds come close to being positive. This upgrade of my woody has painfully reminded my of how much I suck at climbing on slopers and amped up my motivation for training hard again. It will draw me out of my comfort zone for sure and has dramatically increased the versatility of my board (and not to mention its colourfulness). Time to lock myself in the attic again, get my butt kicked by those horrible slopers and hopefully come out a stronger climber!

And ready to use!

Ups and downs

I promised to write again when there's something to write about. There is - or rather has been - already a week ago. Within a day after the last rain and quite literaly in the first rays of sunlight I went back to Teuto on Thursday evening. Belayed by Matt I managed to climb 'Banane ohne Rampe' (7c+), after almost four weeks of waiting to get back on it. It was very satisfying and like often on a hard readpoint it didn't feel very hard anymore when I climbed it. It's easy to forget how often I've fallen off and discredit the accomplishment... I shouldn't though, this is my second route higher than 7c and another confirmation I've breached that ceiling!

I didn't film my ascent of Banane ohne Rampe (it was quite dark), but here's a screenshot of a video I made while working it on the previous session. The picture shows the onset of the final hard move.

Last weekend the weather forecasts were incredibly good for the Twente/NRW region and Matt and I ventured to Ith for another day of rock climbing. Matt convinced me to visit the Bisperoder Klippen, which offers lots of easy climbing and a few interesting butresses with a selection of high quality harder routes. It's a quiet area, probably because of the long approach walk: about an hour. We were told about a shorter (but tricky to find) way though and decided to give that a shot. It ended up taking us over 80 minutes of wandering, but on the way back we were much more efficient. Let's consider it an investment in future visits. And there will be a future visit: as it turned out, the weather in Ith wasn't quite as good as it was nearer to home. After a failed onsight attempt on the first serious route - 'Zingulum' 9- (7b+) - it started raining quite heavily. It didn't stop for the rest of the day and although it's overhanging, the route got very damp. I'd like to blame the conditions for not sending Zingulum, but in all honesty I felt weak the entire day. I may not have done it in good conditions either... On top of that it turned out that there is an easier sequence than the one we used. I'll go back later to give it a shot! I guess I can't expect to peak on every day outside...

But right now, I'll have to wait. My students have finished their final exams and I'm busy correcting their work for the next two weeks. I'd be surprised if there's much time left for climbing. 

Meanwhile in the Netherlands

My two week holiday started great with climbing my first 8a route literally on the first day. Back home I celebrated in my mind of course, but the desire to get back to my Teuto project or try new hard routes grew. The remainder of the holiday turned out to be a disappointment with respect to climbing: the weather is terrible now and will only get worse in the week to come. On the few days with good weather my usual climbing partners were occupied, injured or in Spain, so last Saturday I went bouldering in Avalonia instead.  I hadn't been there for two months and I could make a quick ascent of my seventh 7B+ (and probably the most fingery one, deadhang training seems to be paying off at last). Nevertheless it couldn't give me the satisfaction I seek: when in route climbing mode I find it hard to switch back to bouldering. Or maybe I've just climbed in Ruhrtal too often and simply need a change of scenery. Problem is: most interesting bouldering destinations are quite a bit further from home... 

But in the next week massive amounts of rain will spoil all opportunities anyway. Back to training then! I'll abide my time and wait for the stars to align for the next ascent. In the meantime I'll prepare my body for the upcoming challenges pulling plastic in my attic or Cube bouldergym. I'll write again when there's something to write about. For now I have this small video of two boulders I climbed in Avalonia last weekend:

8a

Three and a half year ago, on September 23, 2010, I climbed my first 7a route in a small climbing area in Spain. Only four days earlier I struggled to climb my second 6c and in an optimistic blur I decided just to give it a shot. And it paid off, I climbed my first route in the 7th grade. It always seemed the realm of super hard climbing, only accessible through hard training, requiring near mutant physical abilities. And then all of the sudden I realized that a 7a was just a very hard 6c. Nothing magical about it. When I got back home, I set myself the goal to climb 8a and I started training. Last weekend, after many training sessions, a shift of emphasis towards bouldering, a broken ankle and lots and lots of failed attempts to conquer new terrain, I climbed that first 8a. Everything is possible!

Last weekend seemed to be the only time frame Koen and I could find in which we both had time to climb. So we ignored the dodgy weather forecasts and drove to Northern France. We both had unfinished business on the red sandstone cliffs of the Vosges Park. Last August I failed to climb 'Traité de Déversification' during a five day trip to Grotte du Brotsch and Koen spent six days across the past year to attempt 'La Taille et la Gamelle' in Kronthal. Two men, two 8a projects and two days to climb them. And a dog. Little London came along on her first camping trip to lighten up the mood and make us forget the redpoint pressure.

Long story short we were incredibly lucky with the weather and we both climbed our projects. I topped mine on Saturday at 16:30 after six failed attempts on the last hard move, Koen his on Sunday morning after working it a bit on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Already on my first attempt I felt that I was much stronger than last year and that climbing the route was possible now. It took some more tries and I even started doubting success again, but in the afternoon it happened. We drove to Kronthal to switch to Koens project. Although being tired from trying mine, he came very close. We both knew he could do it. Despite bad weather forecasts, it was dry and even sunny on Sunday and after a good night's sleep Koen made quick work of his project as well. We were over the moon. All our hard work and all our failures finally paid off in the same weekend. Below is the video I made of our ascents:

So what's next? The immediate urge to climb an 8a is tempered now, although I would like to climb more of them in the time to come. But first I'd like to climb more routes in the upper half of the 7th grade. Finishing Banane Ohne Rampe in Teuto would be a good start. I might even do some bouldering again, I'd be happy to. But who knows, I will run into that perfect next 8a project sooner or later. I simply don't know when I'll find myself on it, but one thing is certain: I'm not done yet and I will try to push the limit further again.

The 7c ceiling

I've been held down by the 7c ceiling for quite a while now. My bouldering level suggests I should be able to climb harder routes and when I climb at 7c level I feel it's not the limit. But somehow it just doesn't happen. Two years ago I climbed my first 7c with 'Apocalypse', a short, bouldery roof climb in Berdorf. It was completely unexpected and just two days after climbing my first 7b. Now I think that Apocalypse is rather 7b+, which partly explains why I wasn't able to climb my next 7c for more than a year. Over ambitiously I tried to climbed 'Cima Ovest' 7c+ over two weekends in Berdorf, but logically failed to deliver. When I topped out three more 7c's last year, I tried something harder again: 'Traité de Deversification' 8a in Grotte du Brotsch. For 5 days I threw myself against it and came very close to an ascent, but ultimately I had to go home without success.

When I kicked off the present rope season a good month ago, I briefly tried 'Strontium 90' 7c+ in Ith. The friction of the sloper in the top crux turned out to be extremely conditions dependent, so I climbed (the eventually much more beautiful) 'Opium fürs Volk' instead. Closer to home in Teuto I quickly dispatched the direct start to 'Alien', yet another 7c. Last year I failed to climb it repeatedly, surprised by how much harder the two move crux felt after a slightly harder start without a resting position. Seeing Erik make quick progress in 'Banane ohne Rampe', I started trying it too. I expected it to be extremely hard as it gets 8a+ in the topo guide, but quickly discovered it was within my reach. It was given 7c+ by the first ascentionists (Peter and Jan Martin from Enschede) and provides just the challenge I need at this stage. I came back once on a brief evening session with Erik and fell twice on the last hard move. Last weekend I received a very last minute invitation from Matt to climb just two hours in the morning. After repeatedly falling of the last hard move again, I started arriving there progressively stronger and less fatigued. And then I stuck the move! Feeling a rush of anxiety, I grabbed the rope to clip the quickdraw between my knees only to find out that I somehow moved my leg between the rope and the draw. Confused, I let go and briefly considered skipping the clip altogether. Realising I'd risk a fatal fall to the ground then, I tried clipping again, this time awkwardly reaching underneath my leg and tangling the rope around it. Trying to get my leg out again, my feet cut loose. I still held on and readjusted my feet, but I felt all the strength flowing away. When I tried to reposition my hand to prepare for the final (easy) move, I finally fell...

Again I failed to break the 7c plateau. I know now that I am capable of doing it. It will happen soon. I'll get back on Banane ohne Rampe whenever I can and next week Koen and I will return to Grotte du Brotsch for two days and I will try Traité de Deversification once more. I'm scared to fail again and excited to get another chance to try it. It is a mental game and I love it. It simply isn't fun when it's easy!

So stay tuned for an update. Soon I might climb 7c+ or even 8a. In the meantime enjoy this video of my doing a chalkless (!) ascent of Alien direkt, 'just' another 7c:

Old project down, new project added...

The day started with a disappointment: due to time constraints we didn't go to Ettringen as planned... But Erik and I did find the time to drive to the Teutoburger Wald and climb there. Now that we can circumvent the strict no-chalk policy with a can of 'Friction+', we can try the hard routes there without worrying about getting finger injuries snapping of slippery holds. We walked straight to sector Schinder, which offers the hardest climbing of the area. Last year I tried the direct start to 'Alien' (making it 7c) and fell of the crux moves at least 20 times without climbing it. Although I knew I could do the powerful dynamic move, I got mentally blocked on it and failed to commit over and over again. Today - about eight months later - I made quick work of it though. It's good to feel powerful!

A screenshot from a video of me in Alien, after executing the crux move (yes, there is a chalkbag on my harness, but it's closed and I did not use any chalk. I carried it up to have a brush for cleaning the holds)

In the meantime Erik started unlocking the sequence of 'Banane ohne Rampe', a logical eliminate of Banane leaving out a big block for the feet, forcing you to climb a much harder line about one meter higher up. According to the first ascentionists Peter and Jan Martin the grade is about 7c+. Erik made good progress while I checked out a crazy combination of Alien and Banane (which involves a very hard slightly down-climbing traverse right after the crux of Alien) and discovered it was a bit harder than I expected. When I noticed that I could do the impossible looking top moves of Banane ohne Rampe relatively easily, I joined Erik on his quest to climb the route. Taking turns, Erik started making serious redpoint attempts while I got completely shut down by a move on small edges before the supposed crux. Lacking the mutant finger strength of Erik, I needed many attempts to find a solution that worked for me: a tricky deadpoint to a crimper. It took all energy that I had left. Eriks dedication paid off though and on an impressive attempt forcing him to dig deep he climbed Banane Ohne Rampe, his hardest ascent in 8 years. Inspiring for sure and very motivating!

A screenshot from a video of Erik looking strong on Banane Ohne Rampe.

One down

Matt and I (and three dogs very happy dogs) went back to Elefantenbäuche determined to get something done this time. As it happened to be quite warm and particularly humid, we thought that holding on to the very friction dependent sloper on Strontium 90 would be impossible and we focussed on Opium fürs Volk instead. To be honest, I expected to do it in two, maybe three attempts. It took more. Moving into the big undercut was much harder than I remembered and I fell twice on that move. The top crux spit me off twice as well, one time literally with a half pad of my fingertips on the jug over the lip... In the meantime, Matt wasn't more successful and we both started to feel the redpoint pressure, contemplating the painful option of having to go home without ticking off Opium fürs Volk.

Finishing the crux of Opium fürs Volk: one more bump up to go to the redeeming jug. Photo taken by Erik during the previous session.

Fifth attempt. Watching my fingers dry after applying the canned magic named 'Friction+' seemed an eternity. With no positions to chalk up on the route, starting with perfectly dry skin makes a big difference. I started concentrated and climbed through the start and the weird, balancy moves on the edges. Moving up to the undercut, my body position was slightly off though and I struggled to catch the hold, but lost my focus in the process. Instead of moving my left foot up first to push myself closer to the undercling, I immediately moved up my other hand, putting myself in a very strenuous position. Wasting even more energy, I corrected my mistake and stepped up. Making the foot moves to prepare for the crux, suddenly 'the flow' returned: I forgot about my tired forearms and focussed on the moves ahead. Almost unconsciously I executed the crux, that suddenly felt awkwardly easy. With a yell of relief I clipped the chains (actually there are just single bolts without backup and no chains in Ith - no 'Deutsche Grundlichkeit' here - but you get the point, right?). Strange how easy hard redpoints often feel on the successful ascent...

Folding up and fiddling with edges halfway up Opium fürs Volk.
Another photo taken by Erik during the previous session.

My success put some additional redpoint pressure on Matt, who usually deals better with the anxiety than I do and wraps ups projects a bit quicker. Not today though and he kept things exciting until his very last attempt. Having nearly given up he reluctantly forced himself to go up one final time. Somewhere he found the perseverance to hold on and sent Opium fürs Volk as well. The first hard(ish) route of the season is down at last! According to plan, more will follow. In the past week though I already missed two opportunities to go back to my 8a project in northern France. I hope I'll have another one soon. In the meantime, I'll try to make some more meters in the upper 7th grade to prepare myself for the 8th grade...

Three old men on the rocks

Having an unclimbed project gets on my nerves. I've managed to deal with the fact that there's an 8a closely within my reach waiting for me in Grotte du Brotsch for more than half a year now. Yet I'm obsessed enough with it to still be able to visualize every single move, hold and foothold on the route. Adding 'Strontium 90' to the project collection though was a bit too much to handle: I simply had to get back to it. Luckily, Matt is just as impatient as I am. This time Erik, psyched by the photo's and stories of our previous visit, came along as well, eager to try a 9+ that doesn't realy look that hard from the ground... Somehow that it deceived Matt and me yet again despite knowing how hard both cruxes felt on our previous attempts. Optimistically we shared Eriks hope of ticking off Strontium 90 today.

I'll spoil the ending: instead of finishing one project, we all ended up going home with two. To make things worse: I know I should have climbed the new project - 'Opium fürs Volk' (7c) - on my second attempt, but I wasted the power required for the crux move on an unnecessary clip...

Matt tackling the top crux of 'Strontium 90'. Note his fashionable hair band, doesn't he look just like Patrick Edlinger?

After a couple of attempts on Strontium 90 I felt fatigued again and my fingers were getting sore of the powerful, steep moves on the unergonomic pockets and edges of the first crux. I peeled off a layer of skin from my fingertips by trying the top crux just once. Wanting to do some different moves on different holds, I turned my attention to Opium fürs Volk, half a grade easier but steeper and more sustained, with the hardest move right at the end. After working my way up doing all the moves, I was blown away by its beauty. Every single move is interesting, technical and demanding, feeling much more like bouldering than typical sports climbing. Athletic throws, delicate balancing on small sidepulls (in an overhang!), pinching, beefy undercuts, heel hooks, compression moves and a deep lock-off are all packed within just 12 meters of rock.

Steep power endurance climbing in 'Opium fürs Volk'. Photo taken by Erik.

I completely forgot about Strontium 90 and gave it a serious attempt. I arrived at the crux near the top and still felt strong. An unclipped quickdraw dangled before my nose and the big undercling in my hands was the last good hold until after the crux. I decided to clip, but underestimated the steepness of the wall and as I wasted a few precious seconds on the clip, I felt the energy being drained from my forearms. I struggled to do the first crux move, heard myself scream and managed to do the second. But then I fell, empty. The next attempt was weaker, but (after a small midways rest) I climbed the top without clipping: much better! While Matt and Erik burned away their last energy by failing to climb an apparently silly hard old-school 8 (in Ith 7a's can be hard...), I rested to prepare for a final attempt. As soon as I set off, I found a good rhythm, moving fast, steady and precise. Within moments I found myself at the big undercut again. I skipped the clip, positioned my feet and made the big, dynamic lunge to catch a small, slopey dish with my left hand. I repositioned again and moved my right hand up into the compression position. My feet cut loose, but somehow I managed to hold the swing and get my right foot into the heel hook. With empty forearms, I bumped up my right hand. To my surprise, it caught the small two finger crimp and I didn't feel the weightless sensation of falling. I bumped up again, to the sloper. Again, I stuck it, not knowing where the strength still came from. One more move. Just one more bump up, less than 30 cm, to the redeeming jug. When I released my right hand to move up, if felt my body going down instead. On the last centimeters it failed on me and I started to fall into the void beneath me.

Compression climbing and heel hooking in the crux of 'Opium fürs Volk'. Photo taken by Erik.

Instead of being frustrated by another day without any successful attempts, I felt pleased again. Coming so close at the end of the day after being beaten up already by Strontium 90, I know I can do the route when I get back fresh and well-rested. Opium fürs Volk made me experience the battle to hold on for life when all muscles want to let go, to fight gravity when all the body wants to be pulled down again. After half a year of bouldering and trying to do the hardest possible moves, I had forgotten how indescribably intense and addictive the feeling is. For me, it's the essence of sports climbing and it's exactly for this reason that only climbing hard gives me the satisfaction that I seek. That said, a sustained sequence of 15 to 20 committing moves is enough for me. I like power endurance climbs and I'll leave the 30 meter pumpfests to others... I found a perfect one today and it's a treat to have this project to come back for!

Boulderers on a leash

Cautiously I scrutinize my knot and show it to Matt for a second opinion.

'Is this what it is supposed to look like?'

Matt shrugs his shoulders.

'Maybe... I does look familiar.'

I agree it does, so it's probably good. I chalk up my fingers. They are sweaty, betraying my nerves. I chalk them up again. There's no way back, I cannot chicken away anymore from the route in front of me on this dauntingly high wall.

'Ready?'

'Ready.'

I'm not. But off I go. One move. Two moves. Two becomes four, and four becomes eight. It feels like an eternity and it's hard to concentrate on so many movements.

'I'm so pumped!'

I yell down. I'm at least three meters above the ground when I pass the first bolt. One more move and the fear kicks in: I'm above the quickdraw... One little mistake and the fall could obviously kill me. But bravely I battle on reach the second bolt. And the third. And the fourth. A big rockover move follows, of course above the quickdraw again. Suddenly I face the terrifying runout that leads to the top. It's a slab that requires nerves of steel and precise footwork on footholds that are only just 30 centimeters deep... I keep my cool though and clip the chains of the first route of the day: a 6a+.

The last time I climbed on a rope was August 31, just over half a year ago. Yesterday Matt and I finally tied in again after a winter of exclusively bouldering. The days are getting longer, it's mostly sunny and temperatures are gradually rising above 10 degrees: it's time to try and translate this winters bouldering gains to more power endurance oriented climbs. And in what nearby place better to this than Ith? With a lot of gear and Vienna packed, we drove to 'Elefantenbäuche'. We've both never been there before but the name clearly points out what to expect and the Elefantenbäuche did not disappoint. It's one of the few remaining crags in Ith with a high concentration of hard routes.

The Elefantenbäuche deliver exactly what the name suggest: two 15m high impressive, bulging overhangs offering a selection of hard routes.

According to our guide book, a route called 'Strontium 90' is the best of the crag. At a grade of 7c+ it's not too off-putting to scare us away and we decided to give it a closer look. Long story short: it kicked our asses, bruised our egos and - weirdly - inspired us greatly. The route starts steep and as soon as your feet lift off the ground the climbing is hard. Powerful moves on small edges and strangely shaped pockets that look good but feel terrible lead to easier and less steep terrain. In a big hole a no hands rest is possible using a knee bar. The second part of the route is nearly vertical with a hard crux around two razor sharp mini crimps (just a few millimeters deep) and a perfectly beautiful, very bad sloper. Despite the availability of some good footholds, the sloper felt nearly impossible to hold on to, let alone make a move from. The crimps appeared to be hungry skin eaters, limiting the available amount of attempts drastically. Both cruxes are of similar difficulty (about 7A+/7B boulder I'd say), but they couldn't be any more different.

While struggling my way up Strontium 90 on top rope, I eventually managed to do all the moves. Matt did all but one (moving away from the sloper). Although it would most likely have been a better idea to work the moves some more on top rope, I felt a strong urge to try and make links on lead and get into that mindset again. I haven't even reached the second crux. I got scared on a move at the end of the first where you have to bump up dynamically from a mono to a high two-finger pocket, high enough above the quickdraw to give the feeling of a ground fall potential.  I know rationally that's not the case with a good belayer such as Matt, but nevertheless it shut me down. After convincing myself to man up I tried again. But I felt battered, beaten into submission by the uncompromising limestone overhang and couldn't pull off the moves anymore. Matt experienced exactly the same. Dusk set in and our bodies failed us. We had to pack our gear and start the long, steep walk back to reach the car before dark.

We were beaten up but somehow very satisfied at the same time. The limestone felt completely alien, the types of movement felt awkward and lead climbing felt almost uncomfortable. A typical first session of a new season. What did we expect? Cruising up the hardest route we've both ever done? As strong as I feel bouldering, as weak I felt on a rope yesterday. Route climbing is indeed a whole different game than bouldering, requiring a different set of skills. Should we have started the season with something easier? I think not. We got our asses kicked, we got humbled and above all we got inspired to sink our teeth into a hard project that will make us much better climbers than we are now. We will be back!