Cragmama "Not all who wander are lost…" JRR Tolkien

Tag Archives: indoor climbing

Rock Climber’s Training Manual Part 1 (Base Fitness and Strength)

Rock Climber’s Training Manual Part 1 (Base Fitness and Strength)

When I first started climbing, I didn’t bother with any sport-specific training of any sort. My formula for improving was to just climb.  However, once Cragbaby #1 came into the picture, our midweek climb time was greatly decreased, which meant the time we did have needed to be a little more efficient.  I started keying in on my weaknesses and choosing routes/problems/techniques that focused on those (for example, adding some off-set pull-ups and movement drills to increase lock-off strength.) Then I broke my ankle in February of 2012.  I knew I’d go nuts if I didn’t do SOMETHING, but I couldn’t…Read the rest of this entry →

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Dare to “What If…” Like a Kid!

Dare to “What If…” Like a Kid!

As most of us are probably all too painfully aware, little boys (and little girls!) grow WAY too fast…and growing feet need new climbing shoes on the regular, often before the current pair is worn out.  So far we’ve been pretty lucky in the hand-me-down department (we’ve got several pairs in the garage just waiting to be grown into!)  Just recently I noticed that Big C’s shoes had gone from comfortable to what grown-up climbers would refer to as “performance fit”…great for sending that project, but not so great for little feet that are still developing.  So we went into…Read the rest of this entry →

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Bouldering Circuits: A Quickie Power Endurance Workout

Bouldering Circuits: A Quickie Power Endurance Workout

Thanks to a loving husband and a (for the most part) cooperative baby, I’ve been able to consistently get to the gym 2-3 times per week starting around 2 weeks postpartum.  But when I go and how much time I have is always up in the air.  Sometimes I know up front that I only have 45 minutes to acquire a good pump…other times I go in thinking I have an hour and a half, only to have my workout cut short by a screaming baby.  If efficiency was an important component to my climbing workouts with just one kiddo,…Read the rest of this entry →

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Cragmama’s Featured #KidCrushers – Round 1

Cragmama’s Featured #KidCrushers – Round 1

A couple of weeks ago I sent out an “all call” for parents to send in inspiring photos of their children gettin’ it done on the rocks.  The response was amazing! Within just a few days time, my email inbox and instagram feed was overflowing with shots of some outrageously cool kids. Don’t believe me?  Check’em out for yourself! Here’s 11 year old Jacob M. from Charlotte, NC seconding his way up Hidden Cracks (5.7) at Table Rock, NC. And 7 year old Ella R. recently took to the sharp end for her first lead on Pro-wire (5.5) in Guadalest, Spain…Read the rest of this entry →

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Easter Egg Huntin’ at the Climbing Gym

Easter Egg Huntin’ at the Climbing Gym

Last year we spent the Saturday before Easter hiding eggs for Big C within the pocketed walls of Crowders Mountain, while the grown-ups got their climb on.  (And ironically looking back at that old trip report, I see that Big C is wearing the exact same Thomas the Train jammies…)  Now that Big C is a bona fide roped climber in his own right, our plan this year was to move our egg hunt higher than 5 feet off the ground, hiding his eggs within the nooks and crannies of actual climbing routes.  We’d been looking forward to it all…Read the rest of this entry →

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“Not all who wander are lost.” —JRR TOLKIEN