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Climbing and getting older (Read 7404 times)

mark s

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Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 10:47:19 am
I know a fair few of us on here are similar sort of age, im 45 now. Do you all feel like you are falling to bits after a few days out?
I know the muscles im now using as im climbing lots again are not the same as when doing weights. On tuesday i had a day out with gus then yesterday i went to ramshaw and shunted up and down untouchable (only e1) today i feel knackered.




SA Chris

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#1 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 11:48:28 am
I never manage more than 1 day in a row so can't tell you!

But yes, after a full day I feel utterly broken the next day. I guess the decline after your long break must feel even more marked, I've not had a break of much more than 6 months at a time dealing with newborns, pursuing other interests, or being injured, and the comeback feels hard each time. I was never than good anyway though, so usually get close to previous benchmarks.

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#2 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 12:19:06 pm
I think there's a pretty high correlation between having a background in / maintenance of intense fitness / athletic activities (quite possibly including trips to the greater ranges as well as fell-running etc) and maintaining a physically high climbing standard into older age. Look at almost any good older climber you see at the wall / sport crag / in the news for doing their first 9b at 55 etc... They are all wizened bags of bone and sinew who think Kinder is a 20 minute approach. Think more like Gollum crossed with Will Hunt (so pretty much just a taller Gollum with a blonde mop) than a 50 year old Eddie Hall.  This may make it disproportionately harder for the gentleman with a recent background in more Herculean exploits.

Oldmanmatt

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#3 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 12:22:48 pm
I just gave Simon a breakdown of my Lockdown training bonanza, on Facebook:

“ I’ve dropped from 89kg at start of Lockdown, to 83kg yesterday. Calorie counting, board training, weights, load bearing yomping around the cliff paths and for the last two weeks, swimming a couple of miles along the coast and paddle boarding everyday.
Masses of heavy gardening, built a ton of decking, ripped out the downstairs laundry and put in a shower room and currently ripping out the family bathroom to instal a new one (if delivery arrives tomorrow).

Boredom drives me nuts, I cannot even seem to sit through a movie at the moment.”

But what I didn’t mention, is that each evening, around 8, I collapse on the couch. At around 9:30pm, we do the rounds of the brats bedrooms to check in/ say goodnight etc. Each time, I can hardly get off the couch. DOMS like a barsteward, nothing will straighten, things twang and click and I have a Brufen habit.

And I haven’t even got out climbing outdoors yet (that which I described as a “board session” above is actually my thrice weekly session at the wall, so it might be bouldering, Campusing, Lattice or Moonboard, depending on my schedule).
Everything wrecks me now. I fucking hate it.

SA Chris

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#4 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 12:32:31 pm
"What a drag it is getting old"

Rob F

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#5 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 12:58:06 pm
Give the youngsters some hope!

They want to be reading about legends who are still ticking into their 90's...

seankenny

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#6 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 01:00:42 pm
I get tired just by listening to podcasts about Bill Ramsey’s training.

SA Chris

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#7 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 02:15:19 pm
Yeah, a full time job and two full time children put paid to anything like that.

webbo

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#8 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 02:17:04 pm
What a bunch of fucking lightweights :whip:
So from 13th May when could go climbing again.
13th weights/ finger board
14th bike one hour intervals
15th Ravenswick quarry lapped 20 problems twice.
16th bike 30 miles
17th bike 67 miles
18th weights/ finger board
19th bike 1 hour intervals
20th Ravenswick lapped 21 problems twice
21st bike 73 miles
22nd weights finger board
23rd Ravenswick 31 problems in total including one that took two sessions 2 years ago. It went first go.
24th rest day
25th bike 100 miles
26th DIY all day.
27th Finish off DIY weights fingerbord.
All this and if there was any justice in the world I should be getting my bus pass in less than two weeks. :dance1:
When do I get my medal. :lol:

SA Chris

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#9 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 02:22:16 pm
How many hours a week do you work then webbo?

webbo

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#10 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 02:23:40 pm
What’s work.

Stu Littlefair

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#11 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 02:34:20 pm
I think it makes a massive difference how consistent you’ve been in climbing/training over the years.

If you’ve dipped in and out of climbing it’s going to make your body much less resilient than if you’ve kept up a high volume over the years.

I find i feel clunky in general - so I’m much more cautious about jump moves and anything that shock loads the joints - but that I can still climb or train 5-6 days a week without feeling wrecked.

My job is non physical which helps too.

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#12 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 02:47:39 pm
What stu said (tho I still feel fairly bouncy). I'll be 43 next month and have never had more than 4 months off. Am still about as good as I've ever been (though that probably has at least something to do with never reaching my potential). Coming back from a big break, esp if you've changed body comp significantly in the interim, is probably harder. I'd hazard a guess that it's just a matter of time though, I've found I'm still able to do stuff and recover from injuries etc, just takes longer than it used to.

Oldmanmatt

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#13 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 02:54:47 pm
It’s about build too.

I’m just so much bigger than I was at my (climbing) prime. I’m 83kg, but only 19% body fat.
If I even look at a weight, I build muscle.
When I was in my first prime (19- ~30) I was a steady 75kg. When I had my come back (2010/11, so 40) I got down to that again.
When I got back to that weight, in 2017, I looked ill. Really gaunt.
If I was as good as I can get, now, I’d be 80kg.

Just too damn solid/heavy for performance and it’s way harder to lug around a cliff face all day.

SA Chris

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#14 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 03:07:02 pm
What’s work.

Exactly. I think also as Fiend said, that it's good to maintain a fairly high level of athletic activity, for overall CV fitness as well as burning calories. I've bounced between climbing, swimming, surfing, road biking, mountain biking, snowboarding, ski touring, running and SUPing over the years, as well as moving a few weights about lately.

Saying that I'm currently well over the 14 st mark right now, due to inactivity, lack of free time, and raiding the sweetie box a few times a day. This time last year I'd just come back from London Marathon training and was a nudge over 13 st.

tc

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#15 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 03:17:58 pm
What a bunch of fucking lightweights :whip:

Amen to that from a fellow old fart. Get a fucking grip lads. Honestly, the youth of today... :slap:
If it ain't hurting it ain't working.

I'm off for my nap now...

Nibile

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#16 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 03:21:53 pm
Once (if) I'll get back to outdoor climbing I'll let you know.
Surely bouldering falls are not a treat in general, let alone for over 40 people.

SA Chris

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#17 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 03:24:09 pm
Pads are waaaay better than what we had to deal with in our youth, so it balances out. Highballing with a spotter and beer mat, what the fuck were we thinking.

tomtom

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#18 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 03:57:02 pm
Half way through my 51st year - and I’m climbing better than I ever had.

I had a c. 8 year break until 12 years ago (or so) and came back a much better climber (started to use technique instead of lank)

Just finished my first ever block of proper training (9 weeks lockdown forced) and feeling stronger than ever and moving well on rock....

I just can’t do too much volume. If I train every day it’s for an hour or even 45 min. Even doing 20-30 min of Joe Wicks HIIT in the morning can make me have a crapper session later in the day..

Buy a decent pad - I did a few fairly high falls on an oldish organic pad last night (bornally used for shuffles) and my backs feeling it today. Normally use one of those snap air pads.

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#19 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 07:56:57 pm
I've found the key to climbing as well as ever into my mid 40s is that I didn't start climbing until my late 20s, and spent the previous 10 years drinking 6+ pints or two bottles of wine every night, and doing no exercise at all.  So build a time machine, get crapulent, and start climbing from a very low base!

More seriously though, in the last few years I'm climbing as well as ever, and can still climb pretty well for days at a time.  But I have noticed that I am far more affected by harsh landings when bouldering (seem more readily "jolted"), and if I overdo it, the fatigue lasts longer and I might spend a day or two feeling a bit wiped-out (almost "post-viral).  But, I've now learned to recognise when continuing will do me more harm than good, so that's pretty unusual.  Basically I've learnt the wisdom of the Dad's advice, when used to give me slightly bemused and pitying looks on hearing accounts of gruelling days on rock "why don't you just treat yer'self nice and maybe have a drink and a good meal?"

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#20 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 08:40:16 pm
I know a fair few of us on here are similar sort of age, im 45 now. Do you all feel like you are falling to bits after a few days out?
I know the muscles im now using as im climbing lots again are not the same as when doing weights. On tuesday i had a day out with gus then yesterday i went to ramshaw and shunted up and down untouchable (only e1) today i feel knackered.

45 is not old any more.  :rtfm:

Reckon you’ll be fine by the end of the summer. I find that building up each week for 3 weeks and hammering it in the 3rd week followed by an easy or rest week works well.

Oldmanmatt

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#21 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 09:01:07 pm
I know a fair few of us on here are similar sort of age, im 45 now. Do you all feel like you are falling to bits after a few days out?
I know the muscles im now using as im climbing lots again are not the same as when doing weights. On tuesday i had a day out with gus then yesterday i went to ramshaw and shunted up and down untouchable (only e1) today i feel knackered.

45 is not old any more.  :rtfm:

Reckon you’ll be fine by the end of the summer. I find that building up each week for 3 weeks and hammering it in the 3rd week followed by an easy or rest week works well.

You know what, the virus is going to change that, isn’t it.

I bet employers will start thinking hard now about employing the over 50’s even more than they already did.

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#22 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 09:03:51 pm
My hunch is that a lot of ‘ageing’ - up to age 50-60 and in the context of non-elite level recreation - is mental changes rather than changes in physical ability. The body is still capable even when the mind isn’t willing, or unbelieving of something being possible. But obviously the body decays too, eventually. Anyway I’m only a sprightly 44 so wtf would I know.
Beyond 70, more at the mercy of genetics and medical science.
Elite level, of course it’s physical too. And at a much younger age. See pro footballers retired by mid-thirties.
So as others have implied - get to a high level and sustain it, and your level should drop off slowly like a coronavirus..
« Last Edit: May 28, 2020, 09:13:00 pm by petejh »

tomtom

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#23 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 09:28:17 pm
Interesting looking at this across different sports... Many runners continue well into their late 30’s at elite level. Didn’t Lyndford Christie win his gold at 39?

What’s the age/elite/drop off in weightlifting?

webbo

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#24 Re: Climbing and getting older
May 28, 2020, 09:42:00 pm
I think Lyndford was seeking spiritual help from his pharmacist at that time.

 

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