Pre - ramble - amble
It’s been months since I’ve made an accent. Months since I’ve tasted crisp mountain air and months since I’ve seen a Pika. It’s around the end of August things start getting dangerous on the peaks in Colorado. Afternoon storms roll in earlier and with greater frequency; forcing would be summit-ers to hit the trail head earlier. For some of us this marks the end of our days in the Rockies. We retreat back down to our cities of origin and wait, always keeping on eye to the west.
Winter is hardly considered the “Off Season” in Colorado. To most it’s quite the opposite as ski season begins to mount and snow shoe trails materialize after a summer hibernation. Back country adventurers of a different sort emerge from the frost; with their wind burnt cheeks, long wiry beards and hair legs they tackle the new landscape of the mountains. Being a new adventurer myself I’m suspiciously absent from this community of outdoors-people.
The snow makes everything just that much more difficult and I never learned to ski as a kid. I’m a black sheep in my state, and yes, I catch a lot of shit for it. However, all hope is not lost because this year I’ve decided to fight back. Typically my winters are filled with delicious beer, warm blankets and the steady sound of muscle turning back into fat. My once tanned and lean body forged by hikes and summits during the summer reverts back to it’s seasonal marshmallowy state. A process, I would like to add, that is very pleasant and with out any discomfort.
Against all historical predictions I’ve begun a winter conditioning program. For the past month I’ve been warming my body and my schedule up to the idea and starting this coming Monday, it’s on.
In days left behind me I lived by the ideas of “I can’t” and “I won’t” as well as a non-verbal apathetic attitude. I talked myself out of activities and opportunities because I felt I had a limited range of ability. Running was an activity I abstained from at all costs, “I can’t run” I would tell people, “I have bad feet”. I had an excuse for just about everything and could argue my way out of personal accountability. I would get upset at my declining physical condition, but had convinced myself, it wasn’t my fault.
The past few years have done wonders to break down those walls I had painstakingly constructed. I started going for walks every day, I stopped drinking soda, I paid more attention to how much food I was shoveling in my mouth and with every incremental adjustment I made I could feel my heath improving. I had plenty of set backs but managed to quit smoking, lost 30lbs of body fat and started participating in an active life style. I “can’t” can go fuck it self.
The Program
I’m in much better shape these days but still a little doughy around the middle and after 5 months of loafing could use a little warm up. After some careful reading I put together a nice routine that will get me ready for more intense climbing (both rock and trail). The idea is to introduce new elements of fitness gradually to help prevent injury or initial fatigue so I don’t turn myself off right out of the gate. My first step was to experiment with times of day I could fit a 30 to 45 minute work out in. I’ve always tried to do exercise after work but would always end up talking myself out of it or missing a lot of social activities. After some schedule tweaking I found the early morning, before work, was the best time for me.
For my warming up phase I chose to do 3 days of cardio for 30 to 45 minutes, 2 days of resistance training, and 1 to 2 days of cross play. Looking at it all written out it tends to sound a little daunting. The key is _not_ to start doing the full routine all at once. I took a little over a month to start introducing each element of the routine. I already did occasional yoga and climbing at the gym a couple times a week at a recreational level as fun after-work activities, so I already had my cross play figured out. For my cardio I opted to start running, you really can’t beat it, and I pulled a beginner resistance training program from a climbing book I had.
Starting with one day a week it took me 3 to 4 weeks to begin running every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. I still cant’ maintain a consistent 30 minutes of activity (I really just need to start pushing it) but I’m averaging around 2 miles a run. For me, that’s huge, and I love every minute of it. I’ve always heard of people who were addicted to running and I always thought they must belong to a weird cult. Well, I’m drinking the Kool-Aid and I feel fantastic. As weird as it sounds, just running across the street to beat traffic is nearly effortless. I feel like I’m 40lbs lighter.
While I was ramping up my running I started doing resistance training once a week. The routine I selected is designed to work major muscle groups and areas of the body that tend to get injured for beginner climbers. This is to help wake up my sleep muscles and get my body to start producing more energy. This type of work out won’t get you ripped, in fact it will do just the opposite and make you lean. For phase 1 fat loss and general health is the goal. I try to spend no more then 45 minutes in the gym and I increase my weight at a _very_ gradual level.
- Crunches
- Leg Press
- Calve Raiser
- Lat Pull
- Bench Press
- Seated Row
- Shoulder Press
- Inner Shoulder Rotators
- External Shoulder Rotators
I use enough resistance to do each exercise for 2 sets at 15 reps. I know I’ve hit the sweet spot when I can just barely hit 12 to 13 reps on my last set. So far this has worked out fairly well for me and I anticipate keeping this up for at least 6 weeks before moving on to a more intense/traditional resistance program.
While I find it important to stick to a schedule, I’m also finding it important to know how to be flexible. As my friends and family become more aware of my increased activity level I find them wanting to engage in these activities with me; Yoga with the girl friend on Fridays, running a 5K with a huge group of friends on Thursday and getting everyone together to do some climbing when ever possible. While not in my program all of these things are beneficial and enrich my life because they are shared with friends.
Pika’s, you’re on notice, I’m going to be a lean, mean mountain crushing machine come this summer so steer clear! . . . ok, I’ll probably still stop and try to pet you, but I’ll be all kinds of ripped when I do it.