HAVE FUN, GOOD LUCK

James and Steve Hit The Road

BY MARK TWIGHT

October 9th, 2008 marked the end of a six-month strength and conditioning cycle for a couple of talented local rock climbers. James Litz and Steve Maisch began training with us in the spring after seeing the progress made by David Banks while he was working out here. Both came into the gym skeptical about whether non-specific training could support the super-specific demands of climbing at the highest level of technical difficulty. Litz redpointed "Necessary Evil", 5.14c a few years back and made the first ascent of "Warpath", which is considered one of the most difficult bouldering problems in the country. Maisch is no slouch either. Their hardest ascents required years of specific training, practice, and rehearsal, which aren't characteristics developed in the weight gym. But at some point we realize that repetition - like all training actions - produces finite results, and what got us here won't get us there. We must remove the blinders. A new, different method or emphasis might unlock future progress.

They took some convincing. But when it comes to this I've no doubt about the benefits. Even though we believe that the more technically demanding the sport the less physical conditioning plays a role, we also believe that a chronic diet of super-specificity leads to a ceiling, and that conditioning might break through it. David Banks' experience was simple: while strength and conditioning didn't necessarily improve his climbing it sped recovery, which allowed greater training frequency. In the end he had a greater number of "good days", meaning he could climb more often at high intensity. And that led to increased technical proficiency. James and Steve experienced similar development. After he began climbing seriously again Litz commented that within a week or so he was "at the place it usually took four to six weeks of concentrated effort to reach," meaning the transfer of training was quite efficient even though it was not as specific as what he was used to doing.

James, One-arm Pull-up with 20% of bodyweight in the off hand (it's a competition size KB that weighs 25#)

To produce good results it was essential to match Steve and James with a coach who could share their temperaments and extract the most out of them and their time in the gym. If James Gardner surfed he'd be called a searcher. Instead he uses jiu-jitsu to explore the twists and curves of his soul, the spirit of his friends, and to investigate the places he calls home: the academy, the gym, the skate park, and home. Since he began coaching in the gym his ability as a jiu-jitsu instructor has developed ten-fold. Sometimes we need to be reminded of what we know and how we learned it. Training like-minded athletes in the gym grounded his jiu-jitsu teaching, simplified his language and allowed him to resonate and free-associate and use his natural creativity to develop training programs and processes in an organic way. He trains pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones, another artist/athlete and his temperament fit perfectly with James and Steve even though I'd have thought Steve's training in economics would have made him prefer numbers and hard physiological rules.

In the end the trio meshed and flowed. It will be fascinating to see what James and Steve do with their newfound condition when they apply it on the rock during the climbing season, typically fall and early winter when the rock is cool and sticky. James is off to Kentucky and Tennessee and eventually Hueco. Steve's first project is just up the road in Idaho. Then he'll visit Hueco and later compete in the bouldering nationals in February.

Steve cranking. He placed 13th in his age group in the Snowbird Hill Climb (55:58) and then 16th overall in the Widowmaker (2:21:58), showing that it's not all climbing all of the time.

James, Steve and James