This is my flash attempt at a blog...I have read and responded to many, but never wrote one of my own. I think it would be appropriate for the first blog to describe the general idea of the website and what the goal is. I know that a blog should be relatively short, and in the future I hope that is true.
The idea of the Athlet'k Spesif:k website is to provide information to climbers on developing as an athlete; bridging the gap between research-based information and how it applies to the climbing athlete. Athletic development has an academic term; kinesiology, which - according to Duane Knudson, PhD is the "whole scholarly area of human movement study, and it's causes in living things".
There are many sub-disciplines to athletic development, all of which I consider crucial to the pursuit of becoming a better climber:
BIOMECHANICS - the quantitative and qualitative analysis of technical and tactical movement.
PHYSIOLOGICAL ADAPTATION - maximizing your genetic potential of power, strength and endurance through sport specific and supplemental training.
MOTOR DEVELOPMENT - the process that an athlete (climbers specifically with regard to this website) in acquiring neural, physical and behavioral aspects that are the foundation of permanently changing a climber's ability to execute movement.
SPORTS MEDICINE - according to Bloomfield et al, a quarter of of the population who participate in sport occur some type of injury, whether from overuse or an acute injury. Within the given pursuit of climbing, as a sport or passionate lifestyle activity (which ever way you choose to view it), there comes a risk of injury. The better you get, the greater the likelihood of some type of injury - so, it is important to understand what they are, and potentially how to avoid them.
PSYCHO/SOCIAL - combining both is sort of like combining tactics and technique - they are different, but, very related. The individual psychological profile of a climbing athlete is greatly influenced by their social environment. The influences can range from self-perception to family to peer relation, to name a few.
NUTRITION AND SUPPLEMENTATION - potentially could fall under Sports Medicine as it is part of rest/recovery. But, there is massive amount of information and, rightfully, should be a separate category.
PSYCHO/SOCIAL
Yogi Berra's mathematical observation that "90 percent of the game is half-mental" is timeless. It reminds me of when I raced motocross as a young grommet and people told me that success was 90 percent mental. My forearms were usually on fire, so I tried to make the connection between the two aspects, but, didn't understand what they meant. It wouldn't be uncommon for me to crash my brains out several times in one moto...for years! In hindsight, a little upper-body strength, increased practice time during the week and learning technique helped so much more than "trying really, really, really hard".
From my experience, many people approach climbing from a purely physical angle - grip/hand strength, or the mental angle of "trying harder than everyone else". This section deals with mental functions of climbing, for example; motivation, perception, attention, fear are but a few factors related to climbing performance.
SPORTS MEDICINE
The reason for having this section is obvious; as athletes we are subject to extrinsic injuries (falling on a rock, rock falling on you, or falling in general), intrinsic injuries (musculo-tendinous tears, bone breaks) and over-use injuries from one session or accumulated over time. People involved in fitness are not necessarily athletes; when they feel discomfort, it is easy to continue their regime by switching activities. Athletes, on the other hand, gain skill and adaptations to their sport by REPETITION. I have yet to meet a serious athlete who hasn't had some level of musculo-skeletal discomfort related to their sport.
Failure to adapt to the rigors of climbing can be for many reasons; fatigue, inappropriate intensity, poor practice, psycho-social affects, age...the list is long. How often to rest and appropriate recovery methods are very important for all athletes.
NUTRITION AND SUPPLEMENTATION
We, at Athlet'k Spesif:k are NOT qualified to diagnose any eating disorders, metabolic deficiencies/maladies; in addition, and NOT certified to prescribe a meal plan for anyone. We are qualified to discuss opinions on the role of nutrition related to climbing, basic nutritional requirements, training and recovery from training, a balanced training diet, nutritional needs for athletes, athletic training and glycogen storage among other nutritional factors.
MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
The Brain and Spinal Cord work together to induce climbing performance. Your brain is perceiving, encoding, regulating, comparing and deciding higher-order functions as the spinal cord is relaying messages to the brain utilizing sensory pathways that perceive posture, joint equilibrium, pain, wall angle, and temperature, to name a few, to help the Motor Pathway carry out movement action.
A simple example of this interaction is stepping on a sharp object; the sensory pathway sends a signal to the brain that the object is painful, the brain decides that you shouldn't put weight on the sharp object any more, and sends the signal command through the motor pathway to move off of the sharp object.
Motor Development is very important to acquiring skill in climbing. The development happens through how you utilize muscular tone (force), synergy (coordination and linking with other muscle groups), perception to space and wall angle, and the actions you adapt to over time.
BIOMECHANICS
Acquiring skill is very multi-factorial (as with everything else in biological systems). This section covers the dynamics of how to acquire climbing specific skill through practice, attention, movement patterns, learning and teaching. Biomechanics refers to the techno-tactical approach to movement. Technique and tactics often married together in sport science because the two approaches are so inter-related. Biomechanics can offer climbers important information on movement patterns, kinetic deficits (strength, power, endurance), and the relevant exercises to improve movement.
The information is usually gathered through two forms of analysis: quantitative and qualitative analysis. Qualitative analysis is collecting information using observation of your movement, evaluating it with respect to the problem or crux movement pattern, and making some level of diagnosis to determine if the movement pattern can be improved. Quantitative analysis is the collection of climbing specific information using numerical evaluations to gather Time-Force, Force-Motion, Range of Motion, and Joint Angle interacting with different Segments. An example of this would be to evaluate a common Campus Board move, in 1-5-9 fashion, and determine the angle of the upper pulling arm at the point of lower pushing hand release.
PHYSIOLOGICAL ADAPTATION
Training, whether climbing specific or general conditioning, produces adaptations in power, strength and endurance which should enhance your work (climbing) capacity. How you train, along with genetics, determines the level of transfer to climbing performance. This section deals with the energy systems affected by training methods.
David Wahl MA, CSCS
Director/Owner of Sport Performance at Athlet'k Spesif:k