Hey there, rock climbers;

Back in my climbing days it often seemed the whole point (for many) was to work up enough muscle fatigue so as to allow for the beneficial muscle relaxant properties of marijuana to heal oneself.

Recently some LSU football (hand egg) players are getting suspended after testing positive for marijuana and then corrected to "synthetic marijuana". This synthetic stuff was news to me, but I immediately started to wonder if it has the same benefits, post workout (and by extension if these players could have just been using it as a performance enhancer).

Any of you guys have any insight on this synthetic stuff from an athlete's perspective? Don't mean to judge, but it is kind of the sport of hippies who've decided they need some exercise, or at least it used to be.

Thanks

Hey all ya' 2+2 Climbers,

this thread needs some more material, so here are some pictures from my last weekend bouldering in Fontainebleau. Man I love that place...

So this is on a beautiful 7a boulder I worked on some. Didn't finish it though, the last move getting to the top is hard :-( It starts all the way down under the roof with a really goofy footjam to get out to the ledge...


These two pics are from a nice little traverse. The first one is a mean handmatch in a hole the size of 4 fingers, and from this you have to reack really far for a sloper (on pic 2).



Here are three pics from a rather easy but cool dyno.




And finally a pic of our fridge. Climbing trips are fun...


Cheers, Esox.

nice pictures. i recently injured my right hand tendon. it's taking a bit to heal and i really should just not climb at all...but i'm limiting myself a bit and hoping it still heals properly.

for those interested alex honnold was recently featured on 60 minutes a few weeks ago ...pretty amazing stuff .

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7383158n

Essox,

nice stuff! I really want to go to Font. There and Magic Wood are tops of my list of places I still havent been.


Youd think since I was living in Squamish id have some good vids or pics to add to the thread, but I dont I took my camera with me last session looking for a couple problems dry enough to climb and so this is all I got. Just a couple fun V4s

tried my hand at making a real video

nice video. looks like fun.

sucks that winter is here, no more outdoor trip possibilities. my hand still hasn't healed yet, which really sucks...i'm thinking about going in and getting it checked out. might just stay off it another few weeks and then see. climbing injuries are so frustrating.

which part of your tendon is it?

I ruptured my A2 pulley and it took 9 months to really heal. 2 with absolutely no climbing and the next 2 only climbing easy, then took 5 before I got all my strength back, even now like almost 2 years later I still have to be careful with it. It sounded like fabric tearing when it happened and was really loud. Lots of people when theirs go it makes a loud pop. Did you have anything like that?

Yeah tendons take sooo long to heal, and thats like the most important thing in climbing, I feel your pain

Hey Alobar,

would have checked out your vid if it were not blocked here in Germany due to copyright on the music :-(

Om a side note, I am going on a 10 day climbing trip to the 'Calanques' in south france (near Marseilles) over new years. Will definitely have some new photo material then. Especially since we are around 12 people, so lots of time to take pictures.

Cheers, Esox.

alobar,

yeah, it was a pop. did you get surgery on it? doing some ghetto online research, it looks like the same pulley as yours, actually. though, the pain also flies down my lower arm, near my elbow as well (inside my forearm but ya)...i think i'm going to have to really just take it easy. i can do climbs with big jugs fine, but anything with crimpers is impossible.

Orange,

ugh, thats not good I did a lot of research when mine happened, basically surgery is a last resort and something you only want to pursue if its the absolute worst case in terms of injury (a complete severing of the pulleys). Unless you completely severed the pulley it will grow back together on its own, and really there isnt anything else than can be done. It should be obvious if you completely severed the pulleys because you will have whats called "bowstringing". Basically the tendon is attached at the tip of the finger and then down in the forearm, and the pulleys are what hold it next to the bone when you bend it. So if the pulley is completely gone when you bend your finger, the tendon wont stay next to the bone (since the pulley isnt there to hold it in place) so your finger will look kind of like the side profile of a bow and arrow.

The vast majority of climbing tendon injuries arent severs tho, and pretty much every climber who climbs long enough will eventually **** a tendon up and go through what you are going through. So just from the odds you are prolly going to be ok long term, its just going to take forever to heal.

Basically the absolute best thing you can do is rest it, no climbing at all is best, but if you are going to climb, absolutely do not do anything crimpy!! Nothing but easy open hand holds (ie, jugs). You can also frequently massage it, and work on stretching. Supposedly laser therapy can be helpful, but I dont really know much about that.

Taping helps, but really the biggest benefit of taping is just to limit the mobility of the finger and to remind you that you are injured and not to push it. Its pretty much impossible to use the tape to replace or fortify the pulley, as youd have to make it so tight that it would cut off circulation to your finger.

I tried to use my time off as a positive. I worked on other aspects of my fitness that would help my climbing that I didnt necessarily put the time into while climbing. So I did a ton of pullups, and worked on strengthening my other upper body muscles. Also when I was busy climbing easy jugs, I really really focused on using good footwork, since my (and most every climbers) foot technique was pretty sloppy.

Also drink a **** ton of water. Water is like lube for your tendons, and tendon injuries are more likely to happen when you are dehydrated.

Its a lot like being in a downswing in poker, when its going on you dont ever think it will end, or that youll ever be back to where you were again, but just like poker it will pass. Like I said, it took me really 9 months to fully recover, but Im climbing stronger now than I ever have, so just dont make it worse by pushing it and you should be ok.

Do you always climb in jeans, Alobar?

I don't really know what pants would be better, but it seems like they might restrict range of movement to some degree which I would think would be bad. Obv, it's not like you are wearing skinny jeans, but still.

Details, please.

Also, I do not understand the "climbing in jeans" fad. Then again, I did not understand the "climbing in rainbow lycra/spandex" fad as practiced by those who went before me.

alobar, great advice and nice post, thanks alot. i'm keeping off of it for now, but it's super super hard to stay off climbing...i've been doing other exercise lately (swimming/lots of cardio stuff/no strength though) and it's killing me not being able to climb.

i think i'm going to just work back to jugs...when i initially injured my hand, i took like 2 weeks off and then started to climb again (doing easy routes). it was clear that my hand wasn't healed though and i've recently taken off again for the past 3 weeks or so.

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with regards to climbing in jeans, i can see how they restrict movement at times...but i dunno. i climb in shorts sometimes but my legs get ****ed up lol...

tape up. protect those tendons.

Does the video not show up, or do you mean details on the video? I just did the same climb 3 times and filmed it from 3 different angles and then edited it together. Kinda cheesy but it was fun.

I climb in shorts typically, but since its 30 degrees out now I tend to wear jeans

A pair of jeans made for climbing dont really restrict movement at all, they are sewn different so the crotch is more flexible (I think they call it gusseted?), also they are like 3% spandex so they have some stretch in them. They are really comfortable, and honestly are better than climbing in shorts because it protects your legs. Knee baring in shorts sucks, and I always have cuts and scrapes on my shins and ankles from scraping the rock when im in shorts. But I prefer to climb when its warm, so pants suck for that.

and yeah, lol at the lyrca fad, I dunno what those people were thinking.

Orange,

yeah not climbing is super insanely hard

Hey Orange,

sux about your finger, sorry. it is very true what Alobar had to say though, anyone climbing regularly will have finger problems eventually. I have gone through that on two fingers at different times, took half a year each time, mostly bc I was too stubborn and continued to climb. Isn't it weird how such a thing as climbing can be soooooo addictive??

Cheers, Esox.

No, I meant rating. Looked like sort of a weird problem, maybe V4-V5?


**** that ****. I can't feel my fingers below 50. Then again, I'm a southeast climber. er, make that "was" a southeast climber.

mmm gussets....Manky legs. Wear 'em with pride.

I think they were thinking "Hey, it's the 80's! Climbing is RAD, and so are we in our spandex! Let's bolt some more ****!" Also: the French.

oh, lol, im a tard. Yeah it was V4. Was supposed to be one of the best ones in the area but its always wet (rains here all the time) so ive never gotten to try it, we finally had a dry spell. Was def fun, but nothing special.




Yeah I agree, but I got no choice Its either climb when its 30, or dont climb at all (nearest climbing gym is 1.5 hours away), plus it rains all the time, so when its not raining it actually feels like a treat to be outside when its 30, as sick as that ****ing sounds,



no one can tell they arent normal jeans!



haha, touche sir, touche!

http://camp4collective.com/#/FILM/STORIES/1/videothumbs

cool video my friend shared with me. honnold/some other guys climb some spires in africa.

Sasha DiGiulian, 18 year old female, first female to climb "Pure Imagination" a 9a, 5.14 in Kentucky's Red River Gorge.

Kinda crazy.

I'm one of the few people I know that's made it a long time climbing without any serious finger injuries. A couple suggestions that might help:

1. Tendons strengthen (and heal) very slowly. If you haven't been climbing regularly for the past couple years your muscles are likely much stronger than your tendons so try to be mindful and don't go all out on small crimps.

2. Avoid closed crimps. This is where you curl your fingers and roll your knuckles up when you crimp. This does add a bit of power but it also increases the force on your tendons. I personally always use open crimps, where the fingers stay mostly straight as I crimp.

Saw this girl evolve from when she was 15 or so since I have been to alot of comps where she was. Over the past year she rly exploded, but she looks anorexic right now. She used to be rly beautifull, but I guess theres a price to pay to be strong like her.

Also any climbers around Montreal or Quebec ?

Let's keep this thread alive, anyone climbing indoors/doing comps or any of you guys live in boulder colorado and can climb outside?
Here are 2 pics from my trip in S-A last summer.

First is creaking heights, a V5 or so about 25 foot high (pretty scary)
Second is my friend on Shoozaloza, a supper nice V13


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And here is a video to motivate everyone to train indoors. It's kinda old but still rly up to date.

video is broken?


I was surprised to look through the fitness equipment (if you want to call it that heh) at my indoor place on Saturday and did not see any forearm rollers.