New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #33
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Donald Thompson wrote: I was a college wrestler in the late 70s to early 80s. Weight lifting was a big part of our training. We used the same facility as the football team and their steroid usage wasn't even particularly secret. The NCAA didn't test for them until 1986 and for guys trying to bulk up to make the NFL the temptation had to be awful since there was virtually no chance of getting caught. But what was once restricted to body builders and elite athletes seems to have exploded in the general population. Thankfully climbing seems like it would be one of the least likely sports to have a PED problem given the emphasis on weight control (though that has it's own issues). |
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I really appreciate the conversation here. It has helped me get my head on straight. I have decided to do a hybrid workout at the gym. I do believe it would be foolish to start barbell lifting without training, and there are no trainers close by. So until that time, I am back at my local gym and starting back on equipment I have experience with. I am already embarrassed by my lack of upper body strength so I am keeping a journal to see if I could make some progress. Phylp’s words really resonate. A good workout really feels good. if I were really inventive and committed, I could probably create a workout circuit in the park. But I get distracted and like to go explore things before you know it I’m just having fun. I’d like to ask a little more about warm-ups. I have a good idea of how to warm up in a gym but no idea how to warm up out on the rock. Even a vigorous approach does not get me ready for anything vertical. That first route is always a shock. I’m thinking of a route at brownie girl where the very first move has me quaking. One step up and I’m “oh shit!“. There’s a thin side pull and a straddle and a real sense of desperation. My experience is that even an easy route at Joshua Tree – – and I don’t call anything easy – – everything has to be clicking from the start. Balance, agility, pull, reflexes all have to be 100% right off the ground. And they’re never 100%. If it’s a slab route, the first lap staring at a blank wall I am always thinking oh hell no! I cannot do this! By the fifth lap, I hardly notice that nothing is there, any tiny crystal will do, just walk on up. Maybe I should call it “route shock”. —- Speaking of steroids. I don’t know what you guys and gals think. But for those of us older folks whose native hormones have completely gone missing, I call replenishment “hormone replacement” and it’s entirely acceptable and sometimes necessary. I’m always reading the dialogue between menopausal women, some of whom wouldn’t touch a hormone and some who see it as critical replacing what is no longer there. I was with the former group for 8+ years after a surgically induced menopause. Being and all natural woman I figured I could work it out with herbs, etc. But I finally realized that I was starving my body and all systems that were hormone dependent were falling apart. I have been using small doses of transdermal hormones ever since, including testosterone. I cannot imagine trying to climb or do much of anything without some hormones. As usual, I am at odds with Kaiser and other doctors. They would do the bare minimum hormone replacement and cut it off ASAP. I could give them a library of studies and it wouldn’t matter. I’ve seen testosterone replacement give some of the men I know a new life. |
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I’ve never taken steroids, it’s not good for you and causes anger issues. Maybe in 8 years I’ll change my mind… |
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Lori Milas wrote: My old friend and fellow boulderer, John Sherman, performing what might be the second ascent of my climb in the 1990s. My comment about pulling up of those screw heads at Glasgow AFB, plus my standard exercises at the time, were about it for training. I would drive the 500 miles or so down to the Needles when I got a chance, and solo a number of spires, usually finishing a day by stopping by the Thimble and playing on it. I climbed the easier route to the left a number of times and had seen what was required. Then one afternoon it all came together and something in me took over and up I went. No real planning. On occasion I would take along a young airman who was interested in the sport, and its possible that John Higgins was there. I have a memory of glancing down for an instant and seeing him attempting to spot me, but that might have been another trip. Memories fade. It was long ago. I was never a crack or chimney enthusiast, and Chouinard told me I shouldn't visit Yosemite. On one of the solitary trips to the Needles while in the USAF I started up the Conn route on Spire One, and turned back after having trouble in the tight chimney. On a later trip the Conns told me of John Reppy having done a spiral climb up and around a corner, so I soloed that. Thanks, John. John Reppy is a famous physicist. By the way, when I made the FFA of the Javelin, next to Spire one, I clipped into a bent bolt. I wonder if it's still there. It had been placed by John Evans, a body builder type who wrestled alligators in the Black Hills during the summer months. |
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My wife Paula (61) fell ice skating on Sunday and broke her hip. Three screws later, she is doing as well as can be expected and is hopefully coming home tomorrow. A setback for her; we were both doing Eric Horst’s six week training challenge and things were going well with both workouts and lifestyle changes (day 14 of no alcohol for both of us). Her goal for the year was (is) to do ten outdoor 5.12s including a 12c at our local crag. I was supposed to be chaperoning my 13 year old daughter’s ski club tomorrow, but we don’t need two invalids in the house so I bailed. We need to stick to a safe sport like climbing! |
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Ward Smith wrote: Ugh. Sorry to there that. I guess bone density is something we need to start thinking about over 60. I'm not in a high risk demographic but still bouldering a lot in my 60s and occasionally taking hard falls. |
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Wishing Paula a speedy recovery, Ward. Ten outdoor 12s is an ambitious goal. |
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So sorry to hear about Paula's injury. Isa has a skating wreck a few days ago and is pretty banged up but nothing broken? John, when Isa and I climbed spire one we did the Reppy variation. That Chimney looked hideous. |
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Ward, very sorry to hear about Paula's injury. Helen and I wish her a speedy and full recovery. I agree that we need to stay away from things like skating and downhill skiing and stick to 'safe' sports like climbing ( excluding bouldering, Ward!!!)--actually just walking in our area in winter is dangerous!!! |
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Emil Briggs wrote: Ward, so sorry to hear about Paula! Like Lori, I have been on HRT since before I went through menopause. Just had a bone density screening last year, my bone density is the same as a premenopausal middle aged woman - and I'm 72. HRT is a subject I get furious about. Women used to routinely go on HRT after menopause, until a badly designed study using the wrong HRT drug (premarin - not right for three reasons), suggested that there was more risk than reward. Now, almost 20 years later, that data has mostly been debunked for all but some women (with certain genetic backgrounds), but the establishment has not yet caught up with the better info, so the AMA's guidelines still say "as little as possible for a short a time as possible". Family practice MDs typically won't prescribe it, fortunately there are a bunch of gynecologists who are all for it, though you have to search for them. Medicare won't cover it as a health maintenance regimen, I've been paying out of pocket for almost 20 years. |
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I figured Paula was much younger when we met at Hadley years back, I'm absolutely shocked that she is 61. I wouldn't have guessed 50. Ice is hard as fuck, I wear hip/butt pads after falling while taking video(dumbest move ever) about 2 years ago. I wish her a smooth recovery, back to kicking ass in no time. |
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Damn, Ward, that sucks. Hope the recovery is speedy. |
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Thanks for all the well wishes. Her bone density is actually good, she just fell super hard. They had her up and walking stairs today, and I am bringing her home tomorrow. I think that she is going to skip the bouldering from now on. I have had some experience recovering from a bad injury many years ago (age 29). I met Paula in the newly opened Boston Rock Gym as I was in a cast and she was a beginner, so we were both at the same grade. |
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I’m sorry Ward, going my best vibes to Paula. She was climbing so well Sunday |
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Ward wishing Paula a speedy recovery. Your brother is looking pretty fit these days. |
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Eric Engberg wrote: Paula always climbs "so well" ---and will again, hopefully very soon. |
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Keep forging ahead and with Paula! You’re both inspiring to all of us, Ward! Cool pic! I had used a Scarpa Invervo shell when I had broken my ankle years back. |
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John Gill… thank you so much for some backstory on The Thimble. I hope that wasn’t the millionth time you’ve been asked. It gave me a chance to pour over pictures of the SD Needles and those otherworldly spires. In the limited time I have to live and explore I’ve been invested in learning about the characters who populated Joshua Tree in the early climbing years. Mostly hooligans and renegades or as Guy said “the wrong crowd“. And even more so in Yosemite. But you sound like you were a perfectly respectable fellow. Rgold sounded like a perfectly respectable fellow. It seems as though scholars in the sciences and mathematics were drawn to climbing and were able to have jobs and go to school and even join the military and climb. Somehow, some of the climbers at Camp Four managed to sneak off and get degrees, but there was also the pride of eating out of garbage cans and doing without for prolonged periods of time. And there was plenty of LSD and other psychedelics, at least around here. If you drove 500 miles to visit your boulder there’s at least a little renegade there. It’s a strange experience to weave past and present. Every now and then I run across petroglyphs left by tribes who once lived here. But the other petroglyphs are bolts and routes that are mostly overgrown now established by climbers 50 to 70 years ago, a tribe in its own right. |
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Lori Milas wrote: Lori, some of those Yosemite 'hooligans and renegades' themselves, actually quite a few of them, went on to 'respectable' careers in business --a few extremely successfully, science and math, as educators, etc. I guess it could be called 'growing up'---though many remained ( and many still do) young--and a bit 'renegade'--at heart. |
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Alan Rubin wrote: One of the gifts of this thread has been to reflect upon the past – – and for me the 60s especially was wonderful – – and then to come full circle into the Third Act ready to do it again. I am vigorously claiming a second adolescence. After decades raising children and running a business and being so completely tethered, I’ve had a few years of breaking out of shackles. This is the thing I didn’t expect of retirement. I know it’s a brief window where there is sufficient health and strength to rock climb and get into mischief but I’ll take it. It’s a surprise to me that all the sexuality and adventure and laughter is still there. I’m not quite sure what comes NEXT but we have at least a prayer that it will be pretty darn good. |