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rockermike
Mountain climber
Berkeley
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 4, 2005 - 10:28pm PT
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I remember when I was 22 or so I could sit on my ass all winter then head out the first day of spring with 55 lb pack and hike 20 miles and 4000 vertical into the base of some god-auful climb in the north cascades, and still be ready to go at 4 AM the next morning. Now some 3 decades later I couldn't do 20 miles in one day period, even if I had spent the whole summer climbing. And I find that if I sit on my ass for even a couple of weeks all my conditioning and muscle tone has deteriorated.
What's a guy to do? Do old schoolers have any special conditioning programs? Special diets? Special drugs? Young girls? to keep going? Or do you just set lower expectations as the years go by?
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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technique,
denial,
and avoid sport climbing
and (edit: avoid) bouldering
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TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
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Talking 'bout what you did helps (vs. watching TV). Denial only works up to a point though. Then you just gotta go do it. Oh, wait a minute - I'm not an old timer, I just an old noob.
Oh, and the younger girls help big time. And no, you gotta raise your standards as far as they are concerned. They must be better than the old days. Preferably climb with two when possible. That way when you are doing 5.easy everyone just figures it's cause they're beginners.
When you're having that much fun, denial gets easier again.
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Hootervillian
climber
Lickskillet, AL
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Boulder constantly.
Edit: oh yeah and ski constantly.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Age: 53
Until my shoulder problems this spring my workout was:
Run three 9 minute miles 3-4x / week.
Swim 1.5 miles 3-4x / week.
Astanga Yoga 2x / week.
Climb as many pitches as possible / week.
Don't stuff cake hole...
Post-shoulder diagnosis I'm running and climbing (carefully) and still re-evaluating the swimming and yoga...
This was after starting all over at ground zero and losing 30 pounds to climb again. When I started I couldn't walk a mile, swim more than a lap, or touch my toes. Just start wherever you are in fitness and crank up the yardage and speed as you go. I found the running and Astanga to be key...
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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When I was 22 I couldn't hike 20 miles and wake up at 4 am and go climbing. Three decades later I can do even less. Today I took a long nap.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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what Karl said...
...rule number 1 is avoid injury.
As you age you can use your hard won experience and avoid the inefficiencies of youth. You are also used to feeling worked, so when it happens out there it's not a surprise, and you know how to deal with it.
I think taking advantage of what you know about your body is very important. You probably know exactly what you need to do to get into good enough shape, what to eat, how much to sleep, etc.
When you are strained, get the inflamation under control as soon as possible and keep it under control, you will accelerate your recovery.
Stretch and work on flexibility, strength isn't the only thing that you loose.
Finally luck has a lot to do with it... you inherit a lot of your destiny, you can anticipate physical troubles by considering the fate of your parents and grandparents.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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What Ed said about getting inflamation under control asap is key. Getting my shoulder inflammed on an ongoing basis was very problematic as I didn't really know it was for some time. Once I recognized what was going on it took about a month on anti-inflamatories to calm it all back down. Now I jump on it instantly...
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WBraun
climber
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I smoke a pack of cigarettes a day .....
Kinda of a dumb way to keep in shape?
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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I guess I'm on the cusp of being "old," and I think the trick is to never let yourself slip out of shape. I've always been an exercise addict so it's easy to stay busy--plus I keep changing interests to keep learning and stay challenged. I used to climb 300 days a year and lift weights and do yoga and all that jazz but now I just ride my mountain unicycle and ususally ride most all of Sat. and Sunday and practice after work for an hour, 3 or 4 times a week. Mountain unicycling is something any real balance athlete could get smoking good at and soon as I'm there I'll probably switch over to something else. I gave up all rec drugs nearly 20 years ago and rarely if ever drink hard stuff. I sleep a litle more than I used to, eat moderately well, and try and totally relax for at least an hour a day.
My back is screwed up for various reasons but I live with it. Perhaps the crucial thing is to keep your stoke alive--and no one can really tell you how to do that.
JL
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Dog
climber
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Amen Bob, amen to never getting outa shape!
Ride, climb or whatever like its your last day here on earth and then some.
Live everyday to its absolute fullest.
WillB
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James
Social climber
My Subconcious
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I'm just trying to change my approach
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CAMNOTCLIMB
Trad climber
novato ca
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as an old fart, I can tell you that it is best to never quit, just keep going. sure I slower and climb less but I still go out and do it.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Not so well lately, (kinda lame for a climber, but light-years ahead of my age bracket ‘at large’)
like those guys said;
1) don’t get out of shape (working on that one)
2) Take up new activities; When I worked in Vail for four years, not surprisingly, Telemark and skate skiing became my main, non-climbing, activities. When I broke my finger and was in a cast for two months. trailrunning got to be the thing. This last, hot, (to me anyway) summer in Northern Cal lead to more Mtn biking. There is an energy to doing something new, as long as you don’t get that hung up on excelling.
3) stretch, I manage to stretch most mornings.
Also
Stack the odds in your favor, make it easy to work out; have pull-up bars, exercise balls, iron mind squeezers, the wheel, etc. around your living space. Home climbing walls and gyms are a good thing. (As is living somewhere with local climbing, duh)
-I used to carry shoes, harness and a weight vest in my colorado work vehicle, so that I could stop in at the Red Mtn gym (RIP) in summit county at odd times during the day and do weighted laps on easy ground with the self belay unit.
As much as I’ve tried to take up different things for fun and health, it always comes back to climbing. For some reason that’s the one that I find the most fulfilling and motivating.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Ca
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I am 54 and wasn't climbing 5 years ago after a long career as a climber. Since then I have got back to being able to climb easy 12s pretty consistently. I boulder or climb in the gym at least twice a week and climb at least every other weekend (sport and trad). I also race on a 36 foot sailboat and that is very physical. I stretch some. I do tons of pushups to keep my shoulders in one piece and I have a good dumbell workout that I use to keep the front half of me even with the back half. I hike too. I can't run and I can't fall because of my back so I mostly traverse when bouldering or only do short problems or easy problems. I diet almost every day. Oh, and I take these wonderful new performance enhancing drugs. All you old guys should try them!
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Landgolier
climber
Arlington, VA
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I may not be an old fart, but I've watched my dad go from being a fairly active 44 year old to a sedentary 50 year old to now a really working to stay in shape 59 year old. Diet is his biggest challenge, I still can't get him to understand that a thick slice of cheese really does equal about 20-30 minutes on the treadmill. He grew up working on a farm where you could sweat it all off no matter what you had for breakfast and lunch.
Walking is way underrated, too, it takes a lot of time out of your day to do 60-90 minutes unless you live near lots of good, easy-moderate hiking, but it's the cure for the tree-trunk legs beneath a beer gut syndrome that I think a lot of strength sport athletes get as they get older. Walking just isn't on people's fitness map, they think "I can climb 11b and lay down a 5k in under 30 minutes when the knees are feeling cooperative, why should I walk?", but doing it daily is one of the only ways to keep your body reminded that calories are to be burned, not stored. Swimming and cycling work for this for some, as well, but others hit it too hard. Again, we're talking about 60-90 minutes at a relatively low % of max heart rate.
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TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
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Missus Blinny. Huh? I learned trad leading from someone 10 years past menopause, with ongoing bone loss to boot. She's still climbing (better than I can). OK. I am a guy, so maybe I'm missing something here.
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TradIsGood
Trad climber
Gunks end of country
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Sorry, did not mean to ask personal question. So, I won't expect you to explain why you still have a chalk bag 10 years later :)
But you're right about the fun part!
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Russ Walling
Social climber
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
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This one always stuck with me:
Walt Shipley: "Russ, I've never been in better shape..... I've never been in worse shape either."
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