Winter but not as we know it

...or is it actually just a normal start to winter, given the past few years? However that said, this week in Copenhagen we had our first snow just yesterday. Not much and no settling but snow still the same. Schizzle. There are reports coming in of conditions forming in the major areas too. Will Gadd has been getting out on thin early season ice in the Canadian Rockies and major ice lines are starting to firm up a bit in Colorado too according to Clint Cook and the San Juan guys. Good news if you live there. If you live in the UK though.... for now... keep praying. I'm so psyched about these stories of hope, I've gone and splashed out in celebration.

Yes that's right I bought 80 bottles of Lucozade.

Warming up

First thing to say is that I am definitely not the world expert on this. But I have struggled with the concept of the best way to warm up for the last few seasons and have seen first hand many of the worlds leading climbers doing their various routines. Learning from that, this is what I do now.

I get my heart rate up by cycling to the climbing wall. But this could be just a quick run before you start climbing. Nothing too prolonged and arduous but enough to get the heart rate up high for a several minutes, infact maybe as long as 20min. Then I try and loosen up. I'm not a huge advocate of static stretching although a bit of this might be necessary. I prefer to spend more time doing dynamic warming up, like circling my arms, wrists, ankles and shoulders, loosening up my hips and back from side to side. Some folks think 'windmilling' you arms and shoulders is bad. However I've watched Markus Bendler (world champion) do it everytime before a big comp. And he is pretty much the ultimate althlete in terms of mixed ice climbing, so I think I'd follow him rather than the doubters. Some static stretches for your arms, back and legs are good to do, but essentially drytool training is a very dynamic beast and static stretches just aren't enough. That said I do stretch my calves, hamstrings, triceps, biceps and back.

So now that my core is warmed up and my joints and limbs are looser, I warm up my hands and forearms. When all is said and done, they are the ones getting most hammered. I normally use spongey hand exercisers and a Powerball for several minutes. After this your hands, wrists and forearms should feel sufficiently woken up, maybe even with some minor pump. Another area that gets very stressed with any dynamic training is the elbow. Hence I always try to do at least 50 press-ups and 30 dips before I start training. The dips can be given various types of assistance in order to make them less strenuous as a warm-up.

Kat demonstrating a basic hand exerciser.


Then it's time to get going, but with the first few exercises being just easy traversing to help get the muscle-memory and brain-focus both tuned in. When I trained at Scott Muir's wall in Aviemore I used to start with 20mins of traversing easy stuff with hands and trainers on a vertical wall before picking up the tools.

The Powerball in action.


I have to add, that there are some things I've seen that I truly cannot explain. At last years world championships in Switzerland myself, Rob Gibson and Tim Emmett did what you might call a 'normal' steady warm up for 30mins. Whilst other folks from other countries jumped straight into campusing the tool board and footless traverses of the angled monkey bars. Either they were a robotic super species not yet known about or they were numbnuts. I am still to this day dumb-founded by how you can go from being stone cold to reps of campusing without injuring yourself? Strange.

Creative Noise

Looks like I'll be keeping my feet on the ground this month and keeping it real at home. Spending time in Scotland looks unlikely as the UK weather situation hasn't improved at all. So for November I'll be based in Copenhagen. This will give me some much needed consolidation time before the rushing around starts again. This means more time experimenting creatively. Also known as keeping the neighbours up.

This is what happens when you take some tracks, mess around with them, merge them and turn them into a mess of sound at 10 o'clock at night. Its no labour of love, just pure love. This a clip from an hours, 'playing with sounds' (definitely not a clean cut session!).

Starting training

I just recently started training again for a new winter season. A ritual that's happened so many times before, it's got to that 'oh here we go again' stage. But rather than just plough on into weeks of training with my conscious thought switched off, I thought instead of noting down ideas. As with many seasons, this is another where I've stupidly put myself under extra pressure by leaving the training so late. So these words have even more significance than normal.

I spend the first 2 to 3 weeks developing a base level, the building blocks or foundations for the later training. I call it a base level because generally whatever badness (colds, injuries) happens over the winter, you shouldn't drop below this level of climbing fitness. For me this can be a frustrating time mentally, as you just want to get strong as quick as possible (like yesterday!). But you have keep focused and not jump ahead of your body. As TopGun pilot Maverick was once told by his short, fat, bold, chain smoking boss 'your ego's writing cheques your body can't cash son'. And this is not where we want to be.

So during this time I keep the exercises simple and most of all avoid injuries. This is really key as the new phase of training will leave your body exposed to a host of injuries. All because it's not yet used to the new regime. Avoiding injuries means proper static and dynamic warm-up and warm-down exercises, no campusing and extreme loading exercises and no over-reaching. All easier said than done. More on injury prevention coming soon.

I use a 'systems (systematic training) board' mostly to begin with and some kind of traverse wall. Like this season, I start from the basics. Developing 'muscle memory' for pulling up, dropping down, locking off, resting out and balancing. I make up exercises on the systems board to practice over and over, the shorter and longer lock-off's and reaches. I use my feet on the board to begin with and then smaller and smaller footholds. Meanwhile on the traverse wall I develop basic technique. Using the pick in every way possible. Using every type of hold I can find. Focusing on always maintaining a balanced position and always keeping my feet working hard. Extending the length of traverse wall exercises also helps to train up your stamina.

The systems board.


Everyone of course is different in where their strengths and weakness lie. I have little trouble building up stamina fast, but really struggle with building up raw brute power. Google - fast and slow twitch muscle fibres for more on that. So now for example I'm working hard on the basics of raw power. For mixed climbers this means static reaching a long distance hold via a difficult lock-off or blasting off a figure-four to a long distance hold. So repeated up-and-down lock-off exercises are the order of the day. One other aspect that's really important in the early days is grip strength. This can really get you out of jail on a hard onsight. For this I train with the worlds worst straight shafted axes and thick tramp gloves. Doing easy bouldering till my hands fall off the bottoms of the tools (they are so crappy, tools is probably not the best way to describe them).

Pull-up tools and bar.


Aside from actually climbing, which as Leo Holding once said, is the best training, other types of cross training can help. At the moment I'm cycling 20km a day and running a couple of times a week. Not much, but if you really push hard on those runs and rides then you can help train your cardiovascular fitness. I have found that doing much more than this doesn't really give you much added benefit and just takes time away from what you should be doing - climbing. If you're going to the high mountains then this isn't true of course. So when I look like a twat charging past other people at 9pm on the streets of the city, I feel no shame or embarrassment. I just wear a frown on my face that says 'this is all for a higher cause'.

Looking down the traverse wall.


Every move I make on the training board or crag during this period gets met with the mantra of, check my... Feet, Balance, Breathing and Grip. Are my feet in the best position, am I as balanced as possible, is my breathing controlled and is my grip as relaxed as possible? Over and over. If you find yourself going from a fat bastd to an athlete in a matter of weeks. Don't worry you're spot on course.

I'll have some better explained sample video clips on the exercises in the near future.

A mighty mohawke

I have been getting a lot of traffic recently asking me about music and dejaying, with the most obvious question being about new music. 'What's the latest hot stuff that's killing it out there at the moment?' Well sometimes I just tell people about old music that's been killing it for me for years. Not really the right answer to the original question. This week though I've had some more tangible stuff to respond with. Whilst the classics like Kieron Hebden, Sasumo Yakota, Erol Alkan, Sebastian, Alex Metric, Flying Lotus, High Contrast and Deadmau5 are still rocking, new names are shining through. This year Cagebaby, Corduroy Kid, Dabrye, Prefuse 73, James Yuill and most recently Hudson Mohawke have hit the notes. Hudson Mohawke's latest offerings like 'Fuse' are just quality through and through. (All other music beta will be in the playlist section from now on). Enjoy.

Hudson Mohawke Link

A reverse mohawke, incapable of music production.

Science Fusion

I was on a recent excursion via Utah when I heard some rumblings about the new BD Fusions. A tool that I first heard about 2 seasons ago from Roger Strong, but which is finally due out at the begining of December. Keep your eyes peeled here for a pre-season review by yours truly. And here's the link with the BD specs.

Black Diamond Fusion

Thanks to Adam at BD in Salt Lake City for the update.

Image by Black Diamond equipment, USA.