Friday, a Good day to climb... twice
Pyramids and Flexibility
I love it when a four-day work week has the perfect timing. A nice long weekend is what I needed. Friday was certainly a 'Good' day.
Val and I went to the gym right as it opened and I started doing my endurance pyramids. Last time, when Juergen and I did pyramids together we stayed mostly on the beginner wall, with lots of big juggy 5.4's. This time, I used some of the 5.5's around the rest of the gym for my 1-lap, 2-lap and 3-lap climbs (4, 5 and 6 I still used the nice, easy, flat, beginner wall). It was a good way to keep the climbs interesting and not as predictable. Plus, it got Val to climb some different routes (and that's always a good thing). I just took all the climbs nice and slow. I definitely feel stronger than I did a couple months ago. I'm happy that I'm getting some endurance. Now I just need to work on applying it to some lead climbing.
After finishing my pyramids (ok... instead of a full pyramid... I skipped a bit on the way down... Val needed to get back to work.. so I did 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 5, 3, 1 -- skipping 4 and 2 on the way down), I went home, got some food and took a well-deserved nap (I love naps). I woke myself up in time to head back to the gym by 6.
Go Vertical has really been working on increasing and improving the clinics they offer. The Women's Climbing Clinic is no exception. The series has gotten so popular that Kathleen has started offering two clsses a month: The last Friday of every month is the "V1+ and under" class, and the first Friday of every month is the "V2 and over" class. This month's class was about 'Flexibility' - how it affects your climbing and how it comes into play with power and strength.
One thing that came as no suprise to me was that my poor hip flexibility affects my climbing, I just didn't realize how much.
I have a poor turnout. When I do a square pose in Yin, I can fit 2 fists between my knee and my foot (see how the lady's knee rests on top of her foot in the picture?). I knew my hip flexibility (or lack thereof) made stemming more difficult for me, but I never connected my tight hips to some of the other moves I have difficulty with: namely heel hooks and high steps. My yoga practice has already improved my stemming (my hips don't lock up on my nearly as often as they used to), hopefully yoga will come to benefit my other climbing moves as well.