Lesson's learned - staying injury free

K Gowrote:

Sooo is crack climbing out then? I will say a majority of my injuries have been from crack climbing. Bummer, it's my favorite.

Funny enough the first time I ever messed up my shoulders was following Royal Arches with bad technique and too many thumbs down jams. How would I rate my crack technique that day? Two thumbs down! Anyways I didn’t even notice during the climb and thought I was just sore until I couldn’t put on or take off a shirt without wincing in the following days.

On the other hand, I actually think climbing hand cracks feels really good for elbow tendon issues. Totally anecdotal but I noticed that it gently works some of the same antagonist muscles as rehab/prehab for elbows.

I immediately read this thread as avoiding injuries caused by bad falls, probably because I’ve had a couple doozies in the last few years.  But it’s also really helpful to think about the over use and tweak injuries as well.  I haven’t put as much thought into these so I’ll speak on the bad falls injuries.  

It boils down to humility and being realistic.  I have backed off a lot this year and I’ve bragged about it to solidify that it was the right call.  

I think Kenny says it best

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7hx4gdlfamo&pp=ygULdGhlIGdhbWJsZXI%3D 

Great thread.  Useful advice.  
Declining invites to play basketball, soccer, etc. has helped. I feel like there are too many added variables and a wider range of ways to get nasty injuries in those activities. 

David Mileswrote:

1 on 1 off

1 on, 2-3 off for me. 

Like someone else said, a handful of easy climbs as a warmup works well, 10 minutes of cardio and some light lifting/bands before climbing anything is the best.

Alcohol- 2-3 drinks max or the next day is not going to be 100%. I feel hydration is key on the drinking though, if one drink affects you the next day you were dehydrated or have allergic reactions.

Nate Cwrote:

Great thread.  Useful advice.  
Declining invites to play basketball, soccer, etc. has helped. I feel like there are too many added variables and a wider range of ways to get nasty injuries in those activities. 

I've lost count of guys I know who have screwed up their knees (ACL tears) etc from a pickup B-ball or soccer game...something that wasn't a sport the routinely participated in. 

Jim Uwrote:

I've lost count of guys I know who have screwed up their knees (ACL tears) etc from a pickup B-ball or soccer game...something that wasn't a sport the routinely participated in. 

That's me, except it happened 15 years ago before I got into climbing. I still ski but no team sports at all. Trying to make my knee last until I'm 50ish at least but my doctor basically said I'll be a knee replacement candidate in a couple decades for sure. 

Half of all the old climbers, hikers, skiers and athletes I know have had shit wear out and or break requiring surgery.  Do what makes you smile.

I have not seen anyone say it, so: the older you are the more you need strength training. After, I dunno, 35 (?) full body strength training is what will decrease propensity for injuries. Get to 60 and it becomes manditory if you want to stay active in the mountains. But here is the wisdom: don’t wait until you get injured. (Ask me how I know this.)

Being smarter about not trying as hard as I can and climbing to failure every gym session. Emil's no hang routine on the Crimpd app 2x a day 6hrs apart has been great for my finger health. Hangboard warmups before climbing also.

Jim Uwrote:

start monitoring your sleep and watch what alcohol does to it....  short of the occasional dinner/drinks out or celebratory events I found myself abstaining from alcohol completely  

Many(but unfortunately not all) non-alcoholic beers have come a long way.  I even find myself preferring some of them as my go-to for a night out.

Sam Schwinghammerwrote:

Many(but unfortunately not all) non-alcoholic beers have come a long way.  I even find myself preferring some of them as my go-to for a night out.

The taste has improved, but no matter how many I drink, I can never seem to get a buzz going! A wise health decision no doubt, but an imperfect substitute for certain nights out. Don’t let that stop you from making the right choice here, but the wrong one does have a lingering appeal for some of us haha.

Mid 30s here and I've already learned that the body hates sudden changes in load type or intensity. Taking a few weeks to ramp is critical when I go indoors for the winter. Also if you feel yourself getting stronger really quickly with a new routine, it's a red flag that you're liable to get injured.

Nobody has mentioned the key ingredient to staying injury free, which is to eat .8 grams per pound of bodyweight of complete, properly-ratio'd, animal-based protein a day. Eat like this and once your body has recovered from your years-long deficit diet, you will be bulletproof.

Data: 5'9" tall weighing 185 pounds, 34 years old, injury-free, crunching my fingers moonboarding 3-4 days a week 2/3 hours sessions if not outdoor climbing. 

Data for 27 year old animal-protein-deficit-diet-me: 5'9" tall weighing 173 pounds. Chronically injured with 3/4 rotating injuries at once and only able to handle a single "hard" bouldering session a week, spending a lot of time toproping on easy routes and complaining that "I'm getting old." 

Your tendons and ligaments are made of protein, give them what they need to stay healthy.

Eric Marxwrote:

Nobody has mentioned the key ingredient to staying injury free, which is to eat .8 grams per pound of bodyweight of complete, properly-ratio'd, animal-based protein a day. Eat like this and once your body has recovered from your years-long deficit diet, you will be bulletproof.

How many days a week do you hit this?

Every day. If I miss one day every 2 weeks that would be a lot. It’s easy to fill the gap with a supplement on days where I’m too busy with kids/work/life but that’s rare too. Grassfed milk whey protein shake at 6pm gets you like 45g if im light on whole food proteins for the day. Once you construct a general diet which provides this, it really doesn’t take any effort to maintain it.

Mind you I went years probably getting .4g or something.

I'm probably at 0.4 or less right now...I find this very intriguing. 

grug gwrote:

I'm probably at 0.4 or less right now...I find this very intriguing. 

Most nutrition studies suggest 1-1.6 gram/kg body weight is enough, a little less than Eric recommended. And plant protein is more healthful, as a general rule.

Jabroni McChufferson wrote:

Maybe 

I know people are passionate about this stuff, but I don’t think my post is controversial, at least in peer reviewed research from reputable nutrition/sports medicine journals.

I guess nearly all science is a “maybe”, on some level, but my statement was based on the preponderance of current data

Permabetawrote:

Most nutrition studies suggest 1-1.6 gram/kg body weight is enough, a little less than Eric recommended. And plant protein is more healthful, as a general rule.

There was a study that was just published about all the plant based proteins having high lead (Pb) concentrations. 

So you can get lead poisoning from plant protein, cancer from animal protein, or vitamin deficiency from veganism. (To be clear to the MP psychopaths, this is a joke). 

grug gwrote:

There was a study that was just published about all the plant based proteins having high lead (Pb) concentrations. 

So you can get lead poisoning from plant protein, cancer from animal protein, or vitamin deficiency from veganism. (To be clear to the MP psychopaths, this is a joke). 

*Powders derived from plant protein, whose production concentrates impurities. Kinda like eating fish at the top of the food chain exposes one to potentially harmful levels of mercury and PCBs.

No one is getting heavy metal poisoning from eating whole fruits and veggies. OTOH, there are multiple studies which show correlation between animal protein consumption and several diseases (eg. cancer, CV disease, diabetes, kidney stones), and biologic plausibility for certain animal-derived amino acids accelerating aging.