I really struggle for motivation to write at the moment, I guess I feel like I don’t have anything interesting or positive to say. I have been thinking about the past year and everything that I have discovered and learnt. So here it is; the good, the bad and the ulgy…
1. People care
I have been blow away how much people care. We really have an awesome climbing community and people have been so kind by offering free advice and treatments. I never would have expected such amazing gestures and I feel proud to be apart of such a great group of people.
2. Yoga is great – physically and mentally
I started doing yoga, this is great for your body from a movement and flexibility point but for me it is a chance to clear my mind. I constant worry and the time I spend doing yoga clears my mind and the world feels like a better place after.
3. Nobody truly knows the answer
This has to be the most frustrating part of being injured. I have seen so many different professional people, spoken to many friends and read various articles. Everybody says something different, has a different opinion and often they conflict. I think about it all the time and even now I am still often unsure as to what I ‘should’ be doing.
4. It’s lonely
It has been 18 months since I hurt my back. The last few months have felt quite lonely, this by no means is because I haven’t had support from friends and family, but more because I am tired. I am tired of thinking about it, worrying and getting confused as to what I should do. It is lonely because only you know how it feels and only you can make the decision on what to do. I am always going round and round in circles in my head wondering if I am making the correct decision.
5. It is okay to be upset
Trying to stay positive is great and it feels easier to pretend that everything is okay then get upset. Actually, this is pretty hard to do and eventually you crack so it is okay to have a good old cry!
6. Motivation does not come easily
Eugh, this is a big one for me. I put in so much hard work and I was climbing the best I ever had until I hurt my back. I find it hard to imagine not having any pain and being back to or better than I was. It is hard to motivate yourself to get up and do stuff when the end goal is so far away. I read a great article recent and one of the quotes I remember was “our struggles determine our successes”.
7. Immerse yourself with other things
I have been spending a lot of time in North Wales which I love because you have everything there from mountains to the seaside. Spending time doing something fun has been really important. I bought a wetsuit and have been splashing around a lot in the Irish Sea, I would say surfing but it is more like body boarding on a surf board.
8. Climbing easy things wears thin!
It is frustrating not being about to test yourself and try really hard. Being in a beautiful place and pottering around is great but after an extended amount of time wears thin. I am looking forward and will really appreciate being able to push myself at some point in the future.
9. Friends are awesome
I already knew this! My friends have up with a lot of whinging, crying, lack of motivation and plenty of grumps. You all know who you are and you are flipping great so thanks for the moral support.
10. I am still learning
I am still learning about my body, I have so much more knowledge and information than I did a year ago. I have worked a lot on my posture, which is improving and I am learning how to move and climb in a different way. How to utilise my body to the best of it’s ability rather than just hanging on my limbs. Hopefully all this will make me a better and stronger climber in the long run. Maybe the injury will be worth it for everything I have learnt? maybe not? I think I will answer this one in a few years time!
It is a stupid face but I can’t wait to be pulling it again and trying hard!
I recently learnt about my ‘inner core’ which, maybe very naively, I didn’t really know exisited. (I am still piecing together the information so please don’t take my word as gospel have a look into it yourself too.)
The core is all the muscles in our torso and all these muscles work together to stabilise the trunk while our limbs are active. We climbers often think of core as our outer six pack muscles.
The dictionary says otherwise: “the strength of the underlying muscles of the torso, which help determine posture”
The word ‘underlying’ is the key word here. There are two parts of your core, the outer and the inner. As climbers we are all aware of the abs (rectus abdominis) and the obliques. I guess I always thought my core was resonably good as I could see my abs (the six pack muscles). It was one of the few muscles that I could actually see on my body so therefore I assumed it was strong (ish).
However, as you start to peel back a few layers in the diagram above you begin to see the Transversus Abdominis buried deep under the outer core. This is part of the inner core which is made up of the diaphragm, transverus abdominis and the pelvic floor. The outer core, in general, is considered as the “movement” core muscles, and the inner core is considered as the “stabilisation” core muscles.
Below you can see the muscles of the inner core. The inner core is responsible for the muscle activation that support respiration and stability at the lower spine. If the inner core is weak and unstable this is when you are more likely to injure yourself.
You can see from the picture that the transverus abdominis is a huge corset muscle that wraps around and supports your whole lower trunk. It is the largest and deepest abdominal muscle and acts as a natural back belt (so all those weight lifters you see using big body belts probably need to work on their inner core!!).
The pelvic floor are a group of muscles that are shaped like a hammock. They extend from the tailbone to the pubic bone when you contract you pelvis floor you stabilse your pelvic joints. So imagine if you spent your whole climbing life with out properly activating the inner core? You would be wasting a lot of big strong muscles…
It is not surprising I hurt my back when I had a weak foundation under my outer core. I also think it is something I really need to focus on particularly as I have rather longer limbs, and the longer the limbs the longer the levers and therefore the harder the core must work and the more stable it must be.
I now have some exercises to do to get my inner core nice and strong, this will hopefully help support my lower back and then I will be pain free!
5 days after landing in Manchester airport from South Africa, Mina and I were back there again but this time heading to Red River Gorge in the US for just under a month.
My back felt a bit of a mess and an appointment with my chiropractor when I was home only confirmed this. I needed to stop climbing for a while.
However everything was booked and paid for so we headed out there anyway and we had a great time. We met up with old friends and made lots of new friends. I was blown away with how beautiful Kentucky was, we arrived as the trees were turning autumnal. The area is pretty flat and covered as far as you could see in red, yellow and golden leaves, it was pretty incredible really. The rock was often honey comb featured and every crag we went to was better than the last one.
The first week I stuck to low 7s and climbing some amazing routes but I could feel my back getting worse even though I was being super careful. By week two I was basically just warming up on 6s then stopping and week three I wasn’t even climbing any more. Even with all the giggles and great experiences we had it was still a tough trip. It was a weird experience being on a climbing trip knowing I was only making an injury worse and then knowing I was going to stop climbing anyway when I got home.
Mina working the moves on the beautiful ‘Kaleidoscope’ at Drive By crag
Immaculate Deception at The Sanctuary, Red River Gorge. Photo: Marc Bourguignon
Making the decision to stop was probably the hardest thing, but now I have decided I am relieved to have finally stopped. I can focus on putting my time and energy into making myself better and also do some things that are totally different that I never normally have time for.
I am totally playing things by ear but I hope by seeing and speaking to lots of different people and reading articles I can piece together some sort of rehab program that will not only fix me but make me a stronger climber than I was before.
I have decided to write a little rehab diary on here once a week about what I have been doing and what I have learnt. More for my own benefit as I then I have something to look back on and hopefully monitor progress!
It is hard to be sad when the skies are so beautiful!
Expectations – “a belief that someone will or should achieve something”
Mina and I had planned a trip to South Africa a year ago after watching a couple of videos of Sasha DiGuillian climbing Rolihlahla and Paige Claassen climbing Digital Warfare. They looked like world class routes in an incredible place. Both came in at a hefty 8b+ so it was a tall order even thinking of climbing both in one month but we could try and it would be fun trying together.
However, things don’t always work out the way you planned and a back injury for me put an instant stop to my hope of trying these routes. In the run up to the trip I had taken a step back from climbing, I had been very much on the outside looking in. I hadn’t been down the wall or out on the Peak limestone for months; instead I had been enjoying the fundamental reason why I got into climbing, being outdoors. Walking in the mountains with my parents, evening swimming in the sea and pottering around Sheffield enjoying the great British summer sunshine! Removing climbing and the constant drive to succeed allowed me to appreciate and see the other things around me. Instead of having tunnel vision of clipping chains or chasing the feeling of ticking something hard I was looking elsewhere, I was looking out the window.
I knew I had to go on this trip with no expectations but this is always easier said than done. I didn’t want to spent my time in South Africa frustrated and disappointed because I couldn’t climb hard. So instead of focusing on what I couldn’t do and what I had failed to achieve, I shifted my attention to what I could do and all the amazing experience I was having. I am incredibly privileged and lucky to live the life I do and I had one month in Africa, a country I had never visited, with some of my favourite people. So, in no particular order, these are some of my none climbing highlights of the trip:
1. Being outdoors
5 of us stayed in a little chalet at Tranquillitas Farm situated above top the crags. We basically only slept in these and the rest of the time we spent outside. Breakfast in the sunshine, followed by reading/ chilling, stretching then climbing all day and a BBQ to finish. It felt so good to spend all day everyday in the fresh air.
2. BBQ
Following on from the previous mention of BBQ, we ate amazing steaks most nights cooked over a fire.
3. Frogs
Most nights would be filled with the singing/croaking from the frogs who were chilling 200m away at a muddy pond. They were making incredibly loud noises for such small little guys. We were greeted by quite a few different frogs whilst in South Africa.
4. Storms
I have never seen such amazing lightening storms as the ones at Waterfall Boven. It says in the guide book once you hear the first crack of thunder you have 20min to get out of there or take shelter. One of our first climbing days was cut short by a massive thunder storm, we all filled up most of our phones and cameras with videos and photos of mainly nothing but occasionally an impressive lightening fork was captured.
Photo: Rob Greenwood
5. Safari
One of the highlights of my trip! It was absolutely amazing to see all these animal roaming around the national park. We were lucky enough to see the big five (buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion and rhino) along with giraffes, hippos, lots cool birds, monkeys and various breeds of antelope.
Photo: Charlie Woodburn
6. Stars
Most nights were clear and there was minimal light pollution so the night sky was beautiful.
Photo: Alex Haslehurst
7. Incredibly inventive nicknames conjured up over the month
Luckily everyone had a robust sense of humour as any sign of weakness shown usually ended up in a less than flattering nickname being thrown around.
8. Being tired
Having not climbed much before coming away I would say the majority of the trip was spent being tired. However extreme tiredness when shared with Mina often resulted in hilarity, ridiculous conversations and bullying Nick.
Less than impressed tired belaying in a sand storm. Photo: Alex haslehurst
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Anyway back to the climbing – the main reason why we were there. The valley is filled with beautiful red quartzite walls, the climbing style is reminiscent of trad rather than the limestone sport climbing style I am used to. Big features such as aretes, corners, cracks and grooves made me feel like I should be placing gear rather than clipping bolts. I found I had to drop my grade and was redpointing climbs I would normally onsight or at least attempt an onsight on. It took me a while to adjust to this but luckily Waterfall Boven plays host to five star routes from 6a – 8b+ so there was plenty to go at.
Photo: Rob Greenwood
We also spent a week in The Free State climbing at The Wow Prow. An impressive 25m high boulder perched on top of a hill. The orange rock is covered with pockets and beautiful dappled grey streaks. The line of the crag is ‘Digital Warfare’ that has just enough pockets to make it climbable; it is one of the most impressive climbs I have ever seen. It is a small crag with only about 10 routes on and I think it is fair to say we all got pretty shut down here! We had a great time though and I am really glad we put aside the time to go and check it out.
Photo: Rob Greenwood
Photo: Rob Greenwood
With so many amazing routes climbed/attempted/retreated off I thought I would get everyones favourite along with a photo:
Alex – Endless Summer 23, Last Crag of the Century
Photo: Rob Greenwood
Rob and Mina – Monster 29, God No! Wall
Photo: Nick Brown
Katy – Snap Dragon 29 closely followed by Urisk the Rustic Brownie 23
Photo: Alex Haslehurst
At the end of July last year I hurt my back Olympic weight lifting, yep you didn’t misread that – I was OLYMPIC WEIGHT LIFTING! Well that statement isn’t entirely true as at the time I wasn’t doing one of the official Olympic lifts; I had moved on to the dreaded deadlift. For anyone who knows me the idea of me partaking in this discipline probably brings some funny imagines to mind, as one thing I am not built for is weight lifting. I am an ectomorph and find it pretty dam hard to build muscle. Weightlifting and circuit training was one of the many things I have tried to build strength, and for a while it really did work. I was climbing the best I ever had!
I never actually felt my back ‘go’ whilst doing this lift nor was it one of those horror stories you hear where people have to live lying down on their floorboards for the next 2 months. I basically thought I had done something to a muscle because I was really, really stiff. I had in fact slightly squished a disc out of place; luckily it wasn’t enough for it to hit any nerves, as that is when the real problems occur.
It has almost been a year now and until recently I had been a bit of walking wreck, there was worries of a compression facture “a common injury in Olympic weight lifters” (this statement made me laugh!) but luckily an X-ray proved this incorrect.
The worst thing I could have done to slow the healing process was sit at a desk and unfortunately this was exactly what I had to do for my job. It was sore or uncomfortable pretty much all the time.
I didn’t seek any help until October as I kept thinking it would get better but my climbing was seriously suffering. Eventually I went to see Matt Pigden for chiropractic treatment, which massively helped but I was still in quite a bit of pain. I was stupid and stubborn and still tried to train hard for a trip to Oliana in February but when I got there I realised that it had all been pointless. I wasn’t allowed to do core or strength training and was basically a shambles. The lower back and core is a huge part of your body not to be working properly and I didn’t feel like anything was connected. My fingers were strong but that was the only thing keeping me on; I basically felt like I was hanging on bones, joints and a few tendons! Instead of my arms pumping out first it would be my back that would get to tired to hold me in on the long, steep routes.
It looks like Rob captured the moment I realised I was never going to do my project in Oliana! haha
I returned from Oliana and decided to give myself a break. I couldn’t go bouldering because my back hurt to fall off and I couldn’t go route climbing as I had tweaked my ankles falling off so much in Oliana! Easy trad climbing was my only friend.
Mina and I climbing an easy classic in Chamonix
The trunk area is such a huge part of your body to injure and is what connects everything together. With other injuries I have always been able to train other areas, like pull ups and fingerboarding if I hurt an ankle, or running and core with an elbow injury but this totally nailed me. I have been climbing far from my best, unable to train or go for a run for the last 9 months.
Finally the actual injury is better and I am starting down the long slow road of building back my core and back strength with the help of Tim Cunnington. I need to work on posture and flexibility to begin with to ensure my base is correct, as there is no point building on a broken foundation, before I can begin to add strength work into the mix.
This is what my last few months of training has looked like. Massage balls!
I have a winter full of really exciting trips to South Africa, America and India. I know I will not be in the best physical shape but I am really looking forward to my body working properly, enjoying climbing and exploring new cultures and countries I have never experienced before.