want to get sore?

Here are some workouts I do that help me achieve basic fitness as well as power-focussed bouldering in the gym.

* cardio: elliptical while I'm watching ANTM or some other TV show...during commercial breaks I jump over to the rowing machine and keep a steady building pace for about 4 minutes. Show comes back on - back to the elliptical. I know, you might think it's pathetic to do the whole TV thing while working out but I love it! It's a good way to work your whole body while maintaining a high heart-rate and thus, getting a good cardio workout. I go for about an hour. Also it's good to jog on the track and switch it up.

* Campusing: right now I'm not in the best campussing shape so I am starting on the big blocks and do one side ladder, making sure to be even with the starting arm (make sure to keep track of which arm you start with). Then I do wide ladders - 2 to 3 sets. Next I do some power routines....hard to explain. Make sure to rest properly in between sets. That is key .... and also to try HARD when you go.

* Abs: I like to switch it up between my "2-min. abs" which involves a series of differnt ab exercises for 2 min. total and about 15 reps / each individual ab set. It burns! Make sure you don't let your abs cramp up. This is not good.
Weight room ab machines: these are fun and work well for me - good rest in between sets. Ab exercises off the hang board. Medicine ball works well too.

* Antagonist training: make sure to work those other muscles you tend to avoid. Climbers PULL PULL PULL so you have to balance out your "weaker" muscles and PUSH PUSH PUSH. Twice a week is optimal for me.

* End of the day killer. I like to kill myself at the end with an interval of 5 pullups on the hangboard, 20 situps, 10 pushups. I do three sets total with NO rest. That will make ya sore the next day!

Enjoy........any questions, feel free to ask.

where is the SUN?!?

Well, we've been back for a few days and had not seen a single cloud until we landed here in Boise...I'm feeling the gloom of this inversion but trying to not let it affect me too much. It's hard to get motivated to workout and climb in the evenings, sometimes i'd much rather just eat and drink; hahaha; That's where the handy dandy HUSBAND comes in to get me off my butt! What would I do without him?

Hueco was a blast..this was my 3rd trip down there so the immediate psych of visiting a new area was lacking but the fact that this would be Kaiya and Mike's first time there made the trip exciting in a new light. I sent a few problems that I had tried before with no success in the past - Girls of Texas V5 and Daily Dick Dose V7 fairly quickly and focused my attention on a problem called Beer Can Traverse V9. I felt this problem suited me because a: it's a dirt-burglin' lowball b: you're upside down the whole way c: for footwork, you use a left heel hook on every move d: there are NO crimps
I couldn't imagine too many big boys doing this problem as there is heinous dab potential. I was psyched to find beta where my feet don't cut and I didn't dab. For anyone who likes steep problems in dark holes with great names, I recommend Beer Can Traverse. After sending Kaiyaka and Bockino off, we drove the 8 hr drive to flagstaff and climbed at priest draw for 2 days. Postholing is a new activity that I enjoy, nothing better than the exhilirating rush of not knowing when your lightly treading feet will punch thru knee-high snow and falling on your face a few times. The sprained cankle couldn't have asked for more fun.
But really, Priest's Draw was beautiful and completely unique. I've never climbed on such steep pockety roofs and my fingers sure felt it after a few days. I was close to sending anorexic and felt like it might have gone down if we went back to it the 3rd day but I opted for non-pulled tendons in lieu of possibly pulling a few tendons and not sending. I am psyched to revisit that place again. Mike and I were shown all the hot spots for dinner in Flagstaff by Jeff "Hameltoe" or "hamlincheese" and enjoyed chillaxin' and catching up with him.

It's been slow and quiet here at the winery, another reason why I'm not a huge fan of this depressing inversion & winter in general. Thankfully, the custom labelling program has been steadily taking off and a few freelance projects, bottling lots of wine and whatnot. I'm getting motivated to revamp the #1 winery building. Here are a few photos from our winter trip.

Doing the BIG move on a V3

Another BIG move on Girls of Texas V5

continuing up GOT

the group getting big air after a hard day of climbing...the texas sunset

Mike looking strong on El Techo de los Tres B

the year 08

Just a few issues leading up to our Hueco trip (we depart tomorrow!)such as: a strained tendon, a knee poppage, a sprained ankle, everyone around me being nasty sick, punching and breaking mike's windshield, Mike's punching and breaking of a glass light fixture, my car not starting, mike's trucking overheating, and a tooth irritation where I couldn't talk or chew that led to me getting a tooth pulled yesterday - IT's ALL GOOD!

It's been an epic and somewhat slightly bad karmic winter, but I think it can only get better from here. Santa (Mike) brought me some great gifts and even got me some Prana climbing pants - and we joke that now I'm an "official" climber - I just need to start doing yoga every morning instead of drinking coffee and sliding down our little househill. Today was a fairly decent day in the tasting room plus I updated our website and created a wedding blog for the winery; hopefully it will be useful for couples getting married here. So psyched to leave on that jet plane tomorrow (as long as there's NO turbulence) Funny that the more I fly, the more paranoid and scared I get. Check back for Hueco Tanks '09 updates! happy 2009 everyone!

a sip of glog to write this blog

A little bit of this, a bit of that
Some chit, some chat
Definitely Ranting
Raves will flow too
I've got things to say
and so do you