Over the last year or so I have had the odd arm/hand injury, the latest being some sort of nerve irritation in my right arm - this is particularly irksome right now for two reasons. Firstly I’m desperate to use this time to get fitter, stronger, healthier and generally to just try and be in a better place and my arm hurts so press-ups, along with most other exercises that are appealing right now are a no go. And secondly - I’m right-handed. 

As climbers we’ve probably all heard that a strong core is important for climbing, but what is our core, why is a strong core important and how do we make it strong?

As an addition to my previous ramblings regarding training and health here are a few thoughts about how it might be possible to monitor your personal training and activity level in order to make the best gains as well as avoiding compromising your immune system to the best of your ability. 

Ok, in the last few blogs we’ve started talking about general training, how much to do, given you all some challenges for specific exercises and chatted a bit about the mental side of it all, and we’re going to keep doing all of those things.

But today, a question.

I’ve been thinking that now, more than ever, would be a good time to get fitter and stronger. I’ve probably got both more and less going on at the minute than I’ve had in a long time, and maybe doing some training might make me less twingy, more injury proof and hopefully less twitchy around the house.

We have a vision that all unwanted climbing shoes can be given a new lease of life. Over the 20 years my climbing career has spanned I’ve often thought that it’s a shame that my faithful climbing shoes have eventually gotten too small or too holey and the only solution is the box in my wardrobe or the bin. I struggle to bin my climbing shoes - usually we’ve been through a lot together; tears and triumphs, meltdowns and high-5s.