Continuing our series of true-life stories by Crossfit London UK athletes.
Climber and Blackboard Gym regular Trevor Marrs describes how his training in a Bethnal Green railway arch led him to showing Alpine experts a thing or two.
Many people have different reasons for becoming involved in Crossfit: apathy to the ‘normal’ gym routines and seemingly absence of results; a requirement for conditioning for a specific career in the emergency services, or plain old curiosity! My journey began way back in November 2008 during my year off in South America, I found myself on the summit of the Cabeza de Condor a 5600m high peak in the Cordillera Real area of Bolivia pursuing my new love of Alpinism. The overwhelming sense of achievement of successfully summiting this technical peak was tinged with disappointment that my general fitness and conditioning had hindered me during the ascent. It impinged significantly on my level of enjoyment. I resolved there and then that this would not be an issue for the rest of my climbing career!
Cabeza de Condor, a 5600m high peak in the Cordillera Real area of Bolivia
On my return to the UK I began seeking out information that would guide me to my goal of becoming ‘mountain fit’ this search led me to a book titled ‘Extreme Alpinism’ (those who know me know I don’t go into these things half heartedly) written by climbing legend and subsequent founder of Gym Jones, Mark Twight. In the opening pages Twight states the fundamental ethos of Alpine climbing which is ‘get to the top and back as quickly as possible’ in order to achieve this firstly the mind must be adjusted and focused to the task in hand, obstacles should be addressed as much as possible prior to setting out, on route influences such as terrain and fatigue must be dealt with by the body! Twight offers several solutions to mind conditioning citing such resources as martial arts, yoga and Zen as possible avenues of ‘enlightenment’ and goes on to affirm that the hardest part of achieving fitness is training the mind! The body he says is easy!! I would concur with this as I’m still battling with the mind element of Alpinism but the advice Twight offers regarding physical conditioning is ultimately what led me to the railway arch in Bethnal Green!
The best training for Alpinism is to go out and do it. However there are a number of reasons why this is not possible, or safe for that matter – location and available time are two of the many factors that would hinder this approach. My view, and that shared by my climbing associates, is that if your not in the correct physical condition then you shouldn’t be on the mountain as this not only places yourself at risk but also those tasked with your inevitable rescue. Therefore the consensus is physical conditioning should be undertaken pre-trip. In general terms (taken from numerous climbing resources) the best tool for Alpinism conditioning is decathlon training, as this encompasses and conditions the main groups involved in the climbing process, including the often overlooked core strength and balance elements which are fundamentals of Crossfit.
During a recent ice climbing trip to Norway, I climbed with some advanced rock climbers in their mid 20’s who at every opportunity were all too keen to show off their upper body strength attained through endless hours of pull-ups and specific finger strength training. This I conceded was impressive. I enquired about their core strength and balance – blank looks was all I received in response! I therefore took it upon myself to introduce them to the dish, the pistol, the handstand and the L pull-up, all of which they were unable to emulate. They did however manage a derisory minute-and- a -half ‘plank.’ I responded to with three minutes until boredom finally took a hand in events. This is a fundamental point of comparison between Crossfit versus task-specific training: Although 10+ years their senior, I was able to emulate the moves they were demonstrating, but they were unable to effect the moves I had introduced. Crossfit has increased massively my ability to adapt and perform to an acceptable standard elements of physicality that I have never undertaken, which when on a mountain can mean the difference between success or the ‘ultimate failure’!
Another important element of Alpinism is for the body to be able to cope with massive short term efforts, but to be able to recover rapidly in order to continue with the ascent where more normal levels of exertion are required but for prolonged periods (15-20hrs is not unusual and Twight described an ascent of 40hrs plus non stop climbing). The ability to move quickly in all out efforts and then recover quickly to continue is valuable, as the instances where all-out effort is required are usually to get you past highly dangerous areas.
The way Crossfit has begun to increase my ability for short-burst all out effort and rapid recovery was prevalent during a recent 15hr technical ascent on Ben Nevis, where usually on the descent extreme fatigue would be the norm, I found I still had plenty left in the tank despite numerous all out efforts during the climb, (a useful attribute if any unforeseen obstacles happen to crop up). Another positive factor of Crossfit is that it is preparing your body to be ready for anything, anytime, I can therefore go climbing at short notice and know that physically I am more than up to the task in hand. This is a real help when preparing the mind, as your level of fitness is one less thing that you need to worry about.
I am now in no doubt that the only limiting factor in what I can achieve is my ability to come to terms with what I perceive as acceptable risk, not whether my tired old bones can drag me to the top!
By Trevor Marrs
http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150841/cabeza-de-condor-condoriri-group.html
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Great post, Trevor! Really clear explication of the benefits of Crossfit in a real world situation where fitness can be the difference between life and death. Awesome picture too.
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