Fat Adapted

Fuelled from fat

There are always two things that people who are with me in the mountains climbing, ski touring, ice climbing, etc., and even while sport climbing at crags or on multi-pitch routes comment on. First is how small my backpack is and second, that I do not eat or drink much.

I do long days out often with just a litre bottle or thermos. I train a lot in a fasted state and many times with nothing to eat or drink - these can be four, six or even more hour-long endeavours  If I am doing a course or guiding a tour, I am generally too busy to eat anyways. However, I will on colder days have some nuts or high-quality dried sausage with me. In summer, nuts and raw vegetables.

The concept of being "fat adapted" is something that is making the rounds in a lot of sports endurance circles now. The idea is to get your body to utilise its fat stores at a greater and greater amount for work at an aerobic level. You are already carrying the potential energy with you on your body, so why not use it? In the alpine disciples there is great stuff on Steve House and Scott Johnston's website www.uphillathlete.com that supplements the information in House and Johnston's book, Training for the New Alpinism.

Perhaps one of the first to bring the ideas of training and eating for metabolic fat addaption was Dr. Phil Maffetone who coached a number of legendary Ironman athletes and ultra-distance runners. The more recent appearance of the idea of fat adaption has been the term "fat burning" seen in the diet books of those advocating 'paleo', 'primal' or 'ancestral' ways of eating as well as those who recommend ketogenic diets to readjust faulty metabolisms and cause body fat reduction.

Training the chicken for fat adaptation, everyone wants it now!

There is a ton of material on the webs, social media and in bookstores about this. It takes a bunch of patience and experimentation to see what works for you as an individual alpine athlete. The biggest hurdle for most however is to have an open mind about eating and training that often is very radically different from what you believe.

I have slowly figured things out for myself and now know what works for me to keep me able to train injury free across multi-alpine disciples and perform well. Unfortunately, most do not have the patience, discipline and determination to take this responsibility on themselves.

There was a time when I bought into the hype of the hawkers of sports nutrition products, energy bars and gels, re-fuelling, pre-fuelling, carb loading, protein-to-carb ratios, on and on. It wasn't until I just got fed up with it all - it wasnt't working, my body composition was not optimal, I wasn't recovering or sleeping well - and took the steps to figure it all out on my own, for myself, and only using my own experience as a yardstick for what worked and what did not. I also had to open my mind to completely new and enlightened ways of thinking about eating and training.

Are You a Bodybuilder?

Are you a bodybuilder? Then why are you training like one? This is my thought when I see climbers and other alpine athletes stuck in the fitness industry ideal of resistance training, cross-training, supplemental training, etc. 

Way too many people think that somehow doing bodybuilder movements will then translate into better climbing. Many have adapted the concept of training body parts from large commercial gyms and the fitness business media. So that their non-climbing training is based on doing some form of resistance exercise for a specific body part. 

I have nothing against bodybuilders per se, however, bodybuilding and fitness model training protocols will not be the best methods to improve your performance on the rock or in the mountains.

Athletes need to train their bodys as one holistic integrated part. Athletic qualities are universal and involve accurate movement, patterning the movement, increasing the movements range of motion, increasing the strength at the ends of the range of motion, then focusing on developing speed, power and quickness.

This is so obvious when you say or write it, however every time I am in the climbing gym I see someone doing bicep curls.

Bodybuilding is not a performance sport. The point is the aesthetic development of your physic, not whether or not your physic performs well. Looking good naked does not mean you will climb 5.12a/7a+ or not.

When you train climbing, you are either improving your skills or you are improving your climbing specific fitness. The aspects of fitness that apply to climbing are predominantly, 1) finger strength and, 2) body composition.

Yes, you can use climbing to improve your body composition. However, body composition is without a doubt, first and foremost an issue of nutrition. Additionally, it makes no difference if excess muscle or excess fat limits a climbers strength-to-weight ratio. It is both excess.

All climbers are concerned with increasing their strength-to-weight ratio. You can 1) keep your strength and lose weight, 2) increase your strength and stay at the same weight, 3) combine weight loss with strength gains. So the optimal situation is to lose excess body fat and make your muscles stronger but not not bigger. Then, when you get to the right level, start slowly, painstakingly and with a long-term view incorporating climbing specific finger strength work.

I believe that until you are climbing at around the 7b / 5.12b you do not need to do any supplemental training for your finger strength. Why? because you will progress much faster by simply climbing with as much variety as possible. All the necessary finger strength will develop as your climbing skills improve. More importantly, you are allowing the critical adaptations to take place in your tendons, ligaments, joints and bones - which progress much, much slower than muscle gains. All other muscle adaptation will nicely proceed as your climbing skill moves up to the level of 7b / 5.12b or so.

kalymnosprimalclimb.com Multi-Pitch Courses in May

Last rope length of "Wild Country", Kalymnos (Tolendos island)

Get an early start on the European multi-pitch sport climbing season. Learn and practice rope technique, efficient team movement, safety, self-rescue, etc.

kalvmnosprimalclimb.com has spaces available In May for all types of multi-pitch climbing activities.

Kalymnos offers exceptional sunny, dry, all-day climbing weather from May in to the first week of June. Courses are guaranteed. The long multi-pitches on Kalymnos' neighbouring island Tolendos are an all-day pleasure, from approach, climb and descent.

All my courses and programs can be found on Kalymnos Multi-Pitch offerings.

Kalymnos Klettern 2017, "Kalymnos Primal Climb"

Partnercheck nicht vergessen!

Meine neue Website über alle meine Sport-Klettern Aktivitäten auf Kalymnos ist da! "Kalymnos Primal Climb" hat Informationen über Kletterkurse, Privatunterricht, Personal Training, Multi-Pitch Sportklettern und zwei weitere innovative Programme, die ich von Mai bis Oktober 2017 anbieten werde. Klicken Sie hier, um zur "Kalymnos Primal Climb" zu gelangen.

Lass mich wissen was Sie denken! Bitte, kontaktieren Sie mich wenn ich Ihnen in irgendeiner Weise helfen kann.

Kalymnos Climbing Courses 2017, Kalymnos Primal Climb

Another day in a climbing paradise!

My new website for all my activities on Kalymnos is up! Kalymnos Primal Climb has information on sport climbing courses, private lessons, personal training, multi-pitch climbing and two other innovative programs that I will be offering from May through October 2017. Click here to go to the website.

Let me know what you think! Contact me if I can help you in any way.

Looking Back

Climbing in Cogne

Here it is the 5th of March. I haven't posted anything since mid-December. I justify this by thinking of  a quote from Mark Twight who said once you start spending more time writing and talking about your alpine exploits then that is a clear sign that your going downhill and moving into Poserville.

Don't want that to happen, so no posting. Solves that problem pretty nicely.

But ... I get so much from reading some good stuff from people and I would like to think that I can contribute a small bit. So, once again I think I'll try to do better. Life is however taking action and doing, not talking about it or writing about it.

I have been doing a lot of ice climbing this season, which makes up somewhat for the dismal season in Europe in 2015-2016. Here is one of the best things I came across recently related to ice climbing from Will Gadd. I have really learned so much from him through his book (which is now getting a bit outdated - hey Will, how about doing a new version???) and the great things he has posted through the years on his blog and website.

The week before Christmas I was in the Aosta valley ice climbing. I spent Christmas in Chamonix, but unfortunately there wasn't much snow and no ice around, so I went back through the tunnel to Aosta for a few more days post-Christmas.

Then I began a pretty heavy schedule of activities for the Salzburg Alpenverein: a handful of ice climbing courses, an avalanche course, an off-piste ski technique day and a ski touring course. In between all the courses there was a mid-February trip to Cogne for almost two-weeks of ice climbing. In the past couple of weeks I have been on my skis either ski touring or free-riding just seeming to find adequate snow conditions.

In addition to all this stuff, I have been trying to keep my sport climbing fitness up to speed with indoor training (It is not really going so well!) and keeping up with my clients who have personal training with me climbing indoors.

It's funny to think about it but a number of times I feel like I'm not doing enough, or I could be doing things a bit better. Scrolling through some of the photos on my computer, I realise that I have had an active few months and I don't know how I could have done more. Just goes to show you that never being satisfied, or thinking that you could do better, is part of the human condition.

Rope technique for ice climbing

Lisa climbing WI3+ during a beginner course

Wolfgang training technique during an intermediate course

Beginner Course group in Maltatal

Demonstrating "swing like you mean it!" during course work

Manfred concentrating while on first ice lead

Obertauern off-piste ski technique

Ice climbing technique day in Gastein valley

Route planning in Lillaz cafe (Cogne)

Top of the Kesselspitze during a ski touring course

Early Season (2016/17) Ice in Gasteinertal (Gastein Valley)

The photos are from the first Sunday in December, 04.12.2016. I have been in the Gastein valley three times now to climb some early season ice. The pictures are from various side valleys at the end of the main valley, in Bockstein and Nassfeld.

If you zoom-in on the photo above you'll see a rope team in this moderate classic. Of course the various climbs that are formed are more serious and technically more difficult than their guidebook ratings. The ice is more fickle to protect and not as compact and steeper as it is not filled in. 

A benefit of the lack of snow is that the threat of avalanches is non-existent in all the climbs to the right of the toll road unto Sport Gastein. There are two or three falls that are well enough formed (on 04.-09.12.2016) but will be much more susceptible to any weather and temperature fluctuations.

At the higher elevations in the Siglitz valley, the easier long embedded ice is compact and thickly built up. Additionally, the lack of snow makes all the low-angle climbs visible and fun to climb without their normal covering of snow to slog through in the flatter sections.

Specifically, I have climbed Federweis, Dopple Lutscher, Siglitzfall, Siglitz Coulior and some other easy lines at the back right side of the Siglitz valley in the direction of the Niedersachsenhaus under the Riffelscharte.

As of today, 12.12.2016, we have had some warmer, damp air move into the area and the ice conditions in the Gastein valley are pretty sensitive to any changes. On the 8th of December, it was already clear that it was a bit more humid and the higher moisture level in the air was effecting the ice. The Link Dopple Lutscher was running with water at 13:00.

As at the start of every ice season, it is best to be conservative in your choices and stay well within your ability level. You also have to be willing to just take your tools for a walk and check out things, leaving them for another day.