I’ve had two and a half weeks to stew over my arm. To really take some time to think about what I want. As my old coach approached me about getting healthy and new training techniques, he made me realize that I don’t want to come back this time. At least not for pole vault.
When I was waiting to see the doctor and find out if I need surgery, I kept thinking “you can have track. And Vault. Please don’t take climbing from me.” I knew this day has been coming for a while. Pole vaulting has left me with so much damage to my joints, spine and muscles. I spent a lot of time wanting a goal. It’s hard to spend so many years reaching for something and fall short. Even after I stopped loving it and knew the toll it was taking on my health, I chased the dream anyways.
So I’ve been thinking about starting a new blog. A third one? Why?I can’t even keep up with this one, and there’s another one collecting dust. I want a place where I can talk freely, share whatever is going on in my life. Post adventures, Pictures, Videos.
And that banner needs to go. V10 or Bust? As Tim Lundy pointed out “Guess we all know it was a bust.” (I laughed hysterically at that… and how I didn’t think of it first.). It was good in theory. But now, it’s time to adapt to the situation. Once I can start Physical Therapy, it’s supposed to take 3-6 months to recover. I’d rather not come back reaching for some goal that blinds me from the joy I get by simply moving. I don’t want to waste hours of my day obsessing over goals like that anymore.
I want to spend my time enjoying the beauty of motion. The human body is incredible. The way we fall down and can get up. We heal and scar. I want to explore this. Find the need to move in others. See what drives them. Maybe motivate others to follow in their footsteps, or create paths of their own.
I’d love for others to be involved; telling their stories or sharing pictures. Whatever it is that makes you move, don’t hesitate to share it.
I’ve gotten in contact with several people who have a passion for movement. Each having a vastly different discipline than the others. Hopefully over the next few months I can meet with them, shoot some photos or videos and share their stories with you. :)
If you’d like to show your support, there’s a little follow button at the top of this page that you can click in order to get updates as they come out. You can also share your thoughts in the comments below.
I feel like I’m beating my head against a wall any time I have to say I’m injured again. This one is by far the worst I’ve had in the last year and it is not climbing related. It happened while pole vaulting. My right bicep tore. It’s deformed (though a week later, it already looks and feels so much better.) and I can’t flex it.
The dark pics are from a couple days after...
Doctor says the tendon is in tact. So no surgery. Just 3-6 months physical therapy. Might be able to get on a wall in a few months. We’ll see. No rush.
Originally, this post was very sullen and depressing. My extra time was being spent over analyzing what I could have done wrong. But a week of going over it, I was left feeling it was simply a fluke. My vault was fine. It just happened. And I let it go.
I took more time before this, letting my mood adjust and find something positive in this. First off: I’m hurt. I can’t change that. It’s time to focus on getting healthy. Second: I love photography/videography. Now’s a good chance to work and build my portfolio. And finally: my body has needed a serious break for a very long while now. I may not have wanted this, but I’m pretty certain I needed this.
One Week Later...
So the gears shift. I’d love for photography/videography to be the way I make money. I have a business, but have struggled to put the time and energy into it that would make it a viable source of income. Well… I have time now.
I’ve lined up some paying gigs. And have been in contact with several climbers about doing some still photo shoots and possibly some videos in the near future.
I may redesign the blog soon (this week or next) to reflect the shift in focus. Please let me know what you think in the comments below. :)
Middle Finger feels fine. I’m not testing it’s strength. But it doesn’t hurt. My ring finger still hurts. I’ve added stretching back into the mix and the trainer showed me a few ways to tape my fingers and wrist. They worked. And were definitely interesting.
There's three different styles of tape jobs here. combined, that finger was completely immobile.
Since I couldn’t climb, I did one of my favorite home workouts… condensed. I hung my EXF rings from the jugs of my Metolius Simulator (the model i own, isn't sold anymore.). All of these exercises are at body weight, unless otherwise specified. Also, a quick note, these aren’t specifically for climbing. I coach Pole Vault at a local high school and college. These workouts are similar to what I have the athletes do.
(This is what the setup looks like.)
Rings
1x8 Pushups
1x8 Hi-Lows
1x8 Archers
1x8 Lay outs (started on my feet, dropped to my knees for last four.)
1x8 Pec Flys (knees… I’m out of shape.)
1x8 Rows (wide)
1x8 Rows (close)
1x8 Dips (died at 6: did not properly finish the last two.)
The rest between each was about 15 sec. or however long it took to adjust the rings.
Core Routine
1x24 Suitcases
1x24 Russian Twists
1x16 V-ups
1x16 Baby ups
No rest between sets (Later I realized I messed up, it was supposed to be 1x32 on the suitcases and Russian twists)
Back Routine
2x20 Opposite arm opposite leg (on stomach)
1x20 leg lift (on stomach)
1x20 Torso Lift (on stomach)
1x20 Superman (on stomach)
No rest between these first four exercises.
1x8 Wide Grip Pull ups
1x8 Narrow grip Pulls ups
1x8 Typewriters Pull Ups
1x8 Pike Pull Ups
Rest between pull ups was about 30 seconds.
At this point, hypertrophy was making it difficult to move through range of motion. I finished with my shoulder series. The whole routine is done twice, resting only between the end of the first complete series and the start of the second. I use these as a type of maintenance to keep the tendons and small muscles in my shoulders strong. I learned this for pole vaulting, but the benefits for climbers would be similar. Weight should be light. For people just starting out, and placing this at the end of the workout, I’d recommend between 5-10 lbs in each hand. I typically don’t do more than 15 lbs.
1x8 Side Shoulder Raise (both arms, same time.)
1x8 Front Shoulder Raise (alternating)
1x8 Heavy Hand Bicep curls (alternating)
1x8 Military Press (both arms, same time)
1x8 Tricep press (alternating, above head)
1x8 Finger rolls (same time)
1x8 Wrist flexion (same time)
1x8 Back Flys (same time)
1x8 Front-Back Flys (same time)
I’ll try to do a video of these exercises to show what it is exactly I’m doing, so if you’re interested you can throw them into your routine. :)
This is the point you set the weights down and rest… 2-3 minutes. Do the whole shoulder routine again. If it’s not burning at the end, focus on your form. Don’t swing the weights. Control every motion. If it’s still not burning, you need more sets and reps.
After all this, I collapsed. Drained. That took 30-40 minutes. 6 months ago I would have done the workout wearing a 15 lbs vest after a climbing session. The reps and sets would have been higher (2-3x12-15) and it would have included a finger board workout to make a solid 1 hour of training after climbing.
But enough whining about what was. I grabbed a bite to eat, iced my wrist and fingers (which didn’t hurt during this.), showered, and now my muscles are shaking like they’ve been woken up from a coma.
Day 2: We’ll keep this one short.
I can do jugs and slopers. I can use the finger. Open handed hang is a no go. Today’s workout was the same as Day 1 of this week. But I changed up the order.
Pull up and back series.
Core Routine
Rings
Shoulders
This workout went a lot better. I didn’t feel like a bunch of midgets beat me up in a dark alley. My recovery of the following couple days was a lot faster and I was able to do the whole thing with some confidence (less shaking. I’ll do a post sometime on Neurological training).
Goodnight. Expect a post on nutrition and weight goals soon.
Day 3: Dag Nabbit!
Friday totally snuck by me. It’s not a “I didn’t feel like working out.” It was a “oh crap, I was supposed to work out and forgot and it’s 5am and how is it 5 am?! I need to go to bed.” Kind of thing. I did work out with the college kids. Did some high bar stuff (Bubka’s, windshield wipers, swing drills, pull ups.) but my finger felt super sore so I spent most of the rest of practice coaching (without actually doing the workouts too…) and stretching my finger. So yeah. I apologize (to myself, my lack of exercise doesn’t effect you.) for skipping a workout and opportunity to improve.
However, NOT using my finger after it told me that it was sore was a good thing. It’s been two days since and I realize… I’m using my finger without issue (except when playing guitar). The stretching really seemed to help work it out and make it feel better. So I’ll be keeping that up and hopefully I can start getting back on the wall soon. We’ll see what the (doctor required) Physical Therapist says when I see her on Thursday. I hope it’s the same PT who helped me with my Achilles. She was amazing. She had me back and sprinting in 2 months of two tears in my Achilles. (I wasn’t sprinting well… but I was sprinting.).
Peace, children. Or adults. Or whoever reads this. :)
Oh! What do you think about doing the exercise videos? Does that interest you? Would you like me to post the videos for how to do each exercise?
