New and experienced climbers over 50 #4

Señor Arroz wrote:

Jeff, I thought about going over there today. You going tomorrow? 

Yup I am come out to play

Jeffrey Constine wrote:

Yup I am come out to play

I was concerned that maybe the MCSP crowd had all discovered it. Misplaced concern, I guess. 

Señor Arroz wrote:

I was concerned that maybe the MCSP crowd had all discovered it. Misplaced concern, I guess. 

No one there 830 am tomorrow 

rgold wrote:

Helen, there's a whole progression of things one does leading up to the final result.  I don't think there would be any great obstacle in starting at the first step of the progression, and then just seeing how far along you can get.  The first step looks like this:

 It might be a little harder than it looks, as the point is to have your back straight and parallel to the ground.  You pull to this position, hold for a few seconds, drop back down to a hang, and repeat.  As you get better, hold for longer, and then start moving your knees away from your face without rounding out the back.

When you can hold this for, oh maybe eight seconds, the next stage is the single-leg stag position

There are perhaps three more stages to a full-on front lever, but when you make it to this stage you'll already have gained a huge amount of strength.  Let me know when you get there and maybe I'll post the next three steps...

Am I allowed to say you look rather intimidatingly fabulous? Sheesh, sir.

Challenge accepted! I'll see what it looks like next time I'm near something to hang off of. If you don't hear from me, I died laughing.

Best, Helen

I've been a reluctant journal-keeper with indoor climbing, and totally forget to write down what's happening outdoors.  Ryan took over the job with our sessions because I kept flaking--he documents everything we do--and now I do appreciate the record-keeping.  It's really the best way to see progress, set goals, and also to see where and why the slumps happen.  (I'm in one now).  So, in the interest of all this new training fever... you might be interested in purchasing this journal.  In my current journal I've also been adding health issues... things like blood sugar stability, colds, or just being off.  

Does anyone else have problems remembering exactly what you did outdoors?  After a week of roaming and climbing, when I am SURE I'll remember each and every route... it's all Greek to me when I try to log it all later.  So, maybe it's important to sit down and jot down a few notes after some of the spectacular climbs. (Maybe it would be different on whole-day multi pitch climbs... might be kinda hard to forget those.) 

"Designed for both indoors and outdoors, climbing or training, the Process Journal is a 3 month mindfulness/awareness journal. It was specifically created by our coaches as the simplest way to ensure that your climbing practice is producing the results that you're looking for.  Softcover 6"x9".  Currently only available in black."

Lori Milas wrote: 
Does anyone else have problems remembering exactly what you did outdoors?

I have known a lot of folks that document what they do, I admire their discipline.  I have never felt the need. I am here for today.  

Memory is a funny thing, I have a terrible time remembering someone's name.  But put me on a trail I haven't seen for 5 years and I will remember it.    

Lori Milas wrote: I've been a reluctant journal-keeper with indoor climbing, and totally forget to write down what's happening outdoors.  Ryan took over the job with our sessions because I kept flaking--he documents everything we do--and now I do appreciate the record-keeping.  It's really the best way to see progress, set goals, and also to see where and why the slumps happen.  (I'm in one now).  So, in the interest of all this new training fever... you might be interested in purchasing this journal.  In my current journal I've also been adding health issues... things like blood sugar stability, colds, or just being off.  

I use the MP App. Its easy and quick to tick a route and make a little note about the climb. It does not work for the gym, but I don't really care about that.

What I do when I am in a slump is go climb something super easy. Work on technique on super easy routes. 

If any of you other old farts need a partner in Feb. Plan on being in RR, Nv.  around the fifteenth staying in the campground some of the time. Lead 5.8 . Try not to over due it.

Learning how to rest from Adam Ondra:  pretty sure I can do the bottom one.    

Lori Milas wrote: Learning how to rest from Adam Ondra:  pretty sure I can do the bottom one.    

• That movie was pretty amazing! The guy can see things in his mind in a very unique way. And his ability to rest with hanging knee bars, along with skipping clips was kind of mind blowing. When I lead I am so happy to get to the next clip, I could not imagine blowing by them. I want to try a speed route to see if I can do it.... in a period of several minutes, not in 6 seconds.

Lori Milas wrote: 
Does anyone else have problems remembering exactly what you did outdoors?  After a week of roaming and climbing, when I am SURE I'll remember each and every route... it's all Greek to me when I try to log it all later.  So, maybe it's important to sit down and jot down a few notes after some of the spectacular climbs. (Maybe it would be different on whole-day multi pitch climbs... might be kinda hard to forget those.)

One of my biggest regrets (no kidding) is that I've never kept a journal of anything in my life, somehow believing (against all evidence) that I'd always remember everything. Luckily for me, my husband kept a journal that pretty well documents all his outdoor activities and I added entries to it when I did things without him. I used his journal to make a tick list of my "greatest hits" on my MP home page. But all the demonstrations and concerts of the 60s are just a blur now.

Tom Hickmann wrote:

• That movie was pretty amazing! The guy can see things in his mind in a very unique way. And his ability to rest with hanging knee bars, along with skipping clips was kind of mind blowing. When I lead I am so happy to get to the next clip, I could not imagine blowing by them. I want to try a speed route to see if I can do it.... in a period of several minutes, not in 6 seconds.

You go, Tom!  And yes, that movie was great. Now there are even more things I’ll never do! (I’m not speaking for you.   )

When I saw Adam repeatedly hang upside down I kept thinking this is great!....for a bat. But you know what? If it was a solid foothold, I mean someone had me by the ankles but good...I’d try it. Expanding this picture to see not only how his knee is wedged but also that foot behind him, every possible kind of horror injury could happen. Then he’d have something else to yell about. 
I do also love his routine of visualization and I believe as we get older we must more often whisper to our bodies what we see and what we are asking for, take the time to visualize it, and I believe the universe will bend over backwards to make it happen.   We can do much more than we ever believed possible. 

wendy weiss wrote:

One of my biggest regrets (no kidding) is that I've never kept a journal of anything in my life, somehow believing (against all evidence) that I'd always remember everything. 

Wendy, sorry you have regrets over journal keeping.  I purposefully choose not to remember everything exactly like it happened. One of the good things about not keeping a journal is you get to mix things up in your mind a bit.  

Dallas R wrote:

 One of the good things about not keeping a journal is you get to mix things up in your mind a bit.  

Artistic license, like I always say.....if you forgot it, forget it..... ;)

Come on, guys. I can't remember who was at which folk festival. Where did I see the Airplane? Was the tear gas after Kent State?

wendy weiss wrote: Come on, guys. I can't remember who was at which folk festival. Where did I see the Airplane? Was the tear gas after Kent State?

I'm going out on a limb here but I'm guessing you didn't go to those festivals to "remember stuff".... ;)

And....you probably didn't have enough clothes on to have a place to put a journal

And....if you had a journal the entries probably wouldn't make any sense if you tried to read it now

And....you would not have looked "hip" or "groovy" if you'd said something like,

"Hang on, I need to document Jimi's 15 minute solo during the last half of machine gun in my journal so I'll remember it when I'm old"

If it helps I lived through the last half of the 60s and don't remember any of it either.... ;)

wendy weiss wrote: Come on, guys. I can't remember who was at which folk festival. Where did I see the Airplane? Was the tear gas after Kent State?

So... I suspect a lot of us have some things in common.  I've been thinking about memory lately... but what's weird for me is that my memory of the days you speak of, Wendy,  is crystal clear.  I think I remember it all, maybe because it was so very intense, and precious.  It was foundational...

 I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to grow up in Glendale, just 11 miles from the Sunset Strip... an easy hitch away...and we were experts at writing absence notes from school so we could almost live on the Strip.  Whether we hung out at Venice Beach, or in Pasadena or friends' homes... it was a magical time. I can still remember Robert Plant's soaring voice at the start of a concert at the Forum, with all the lights off--it was just astonishing and clear... and I think he was maybe 20 at that time.  I can remember Jimmy Page's black velvet bell bottoms with the star on them.  Cream. the Airplane.  and yea... Viet Nam in the background, Kent State.

It seemed then, and it still seems, that we were given something special.  A small window in which something pretty enormous happened.  However... that may just be me... my best friend, who experienced it all with me, let it go, and really thought it was just 'kid stuff'.  But I have felt that these kind of gifts are to be given--mostly by the way we live, and I KNOW that what we had, learned, experienced is important to others.  I work in a very conservative, button down, industry... but my peers and co-workers just know there's something different about what I bring to the table.  

I can remember almost every moment of a free Santana concert at Griffith Park in 1969.  But today, I will stare at a climbing wall, and be unable to describe 12 moves I just did on that wall.  I'm more than a little concerned about this... but I'm thinking it has something to do with 'presence'.  Working on it...   in the meantime, I'm so glad we have found each other. 

   

Have a nice day!

So, protein. (This is fair warning so you can just skip over this post if uninterested.)  I've continued to watch the studies.  Some months ago, when I first mentioned more protein, not much had been written about protein needs in older people (because how much can it take to sit in the Lazy Boy and watch PBS mysteries?).  But a lot had been written about athletes.  Now, there are studies about both.  Any time we vigorously exercise more than 150 minutes a week... we are in the 'extreme athlete' category... and need a lot more protein to build muscle.  Now... over 60 and muscle wasting is really accelerated.  That seems to be the 'age' when it all starts to go to hell.      This has become a real conscious effort for me, to stack a sandwich high with turkey before a workout, to cook more red meat, to actually measure protein intake daily.  I don't know how much more is needed for my situation as a diabetic... but I suspect it just adds on.  

"But there are certain situations that do warrant extra protein. "Anytime you're in an anabolic state or building muscle," Pipitone says, such as if you're an extreme endurance athlete, training for a marathon, or you're a body builder.
If you're moderately exercising for 150 minutes a week, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends, or less than that, you're probably not an extreme athlete.
Extreme athletes expend lots of energy breaking down and repairing and building muscles. Protein can give them the edge they need to speed along that process.
Vegans can benefit from protein supplements since they do not eat animal-based protein sources like meat, dairy, or eggs. And, for someone always on-the-go who may not have time for a meal, a protein snack bar can be a good option for occasional meal replacement.
Also, individuals recovering from surgery or an injury can also benefit from extra protein. So, too, can older people. At around age 60, "muscles really start to break down," says Kathryn Starr, an aging researcher at Duke University School of Medicine, "and because of that, in addition to the fact that as we get older our body's ability to break down protein is reduced, the protein needs of an older adult actually increases."
In fact, along with her colleague Connie Bales, Starr recently conducted a small studythat found that adding extra protein foods to the diet of obese older individuals who were trying to lose weight strengthened their muscles. Participants in the study were separated into two groups — one group was asked to eat 30 grams of protein per meal in the form of whole foods. That meant they were eating 90 grams of protein a day. The other group — the control group — was put on a typical low-calorie diet with about 50 to 60 grams of protein a day.
After six months, researchers found the high protein group had significantly improved their muscle function — almost twice as much as the control group.
"They were able to walk faster, had improved balance, and were also able to get up out of a chair faster than the control group," Starr says.
All 67 participants were over 60 years of age, and both groups lost about the same amount of weight.
Starr is now looking into whether high-protein diets also improve the quality of the muscle itself in seniors. She's using CT scans to measure muscle size and fat, and comparing seniors on a high-protein diet to those on regular diets. She says her findings should be available in a couple of months.
   

Lori Milas wrote:

I will stare at a climbing wall, and be unable to describe 12 moves I just did on that wall.  I'm more than a little concerned about this... but I'm thinking it has something to do with 'presence'.  Working on it...   in the meantime, I'm so glad we have found each other. 

   

Out of curiosity, do you remember the climbing you've done outdoors?

The thing about the gym is it all looks (and smells) the same.

Try attaching a mnemonic device to a climb. As you make each move put a word from song lyrics with it. Or even the music.

In-the-sun-shine-of-your-love
Gets you thru seven movements. Then you stand on the floor, look up and run it through your head.