Recently in my journey pursuing my doctorate in physical therapy, I’ve explored the idea of “contextual factors in healing”, the unwritten, often underemphasized components of recovery from injury that carry surprising weight. In the setting of physical therapy, contextual factors encapsulate patient beliefs, practitioner beliefs, patient-practitioner relationship, and environment in which we heal. [...]
It’s a natural reaction to avoid what hurts us, to steer clear of holds, moves, or situations that remind us of an injury or are painful. After all, pain serves as an important protective function to our bodies.
I dropped down to the mat and was swiftly met with congratulations from my friends that brought me along with them down to our local climbing gym. I had just flashed and essentially campused my first V3 climb, which looking back, was meant to be completed elegantly with a drop knee here and a [...]
It’s your flash attempt on the highly anticipated V5 vert on the new set, you’ve waited patiently cheering your friends in their attempts, and it was finally your chance to send it. ALLEZ! You are pushing your grade as beads of sweat collect on your fingertips. As you fight to the crux, you pull [...]
Climbers often pride themselves on consistency, training year round in gyms, chasing progress outdoors, and pushing limits with little rest. But what if that nonstop approach is holding you back? In the early days of climbing, the end of a season meant rest by default. Today, with gyms open twelve months a year, we [...]
Imagine you’re bouldering at the gym at the start of your session, slowly starting to build up the intensity. As you make your way over to the new set you spot a shiny new boulder that seems to revolve around a tough rock over move on a heel hook. As you near the [...]
It seems like a new “best hangboard protocol” or “best training plan” emerges every day, promising to be the missing piece of the puzzle to help you send harder. Unfortunately, it’s common to see climbers taking these bits of advice, applying them to their own training for a couple of weeks, and then [...]
Have you ever watched a climber contort themselves into seemingly impossible positions to reach the next hold? Their arms stretch out or cross over in ways that shouldn’t be possible, yet for them, it seems effortless, and they appear unaffected by these extreme angles. Or perhaps this reminds you of yourself. When someone is [...]
There’s no such thing as a casual rock climber; you love it or you’re indifferent. There’s just something about the sport that sucks you in. Maybe it’s the adrenaline rush from taking a whipper, the overwhelming satisfaction of sending your project, the zen when you feel your body is one with the wall. [...]
Imagine a project where your ability to send is based on matching your toe to a hold on which your hand is already placed. This move is one that I, as a novice climber, have encountered and have been struggling with. However, sometimes you will see people (or you are that person) who can [...]