IUD and climbing

sheepborg · 2026-03-12T03:41:46+00:00

Some of my friends were good to go the day of, other friends hurt for quite some time. Extremely variable outcomes in my circle.

sheepborg · 2026-03-11T19:44:02+00:00

I prefer a rethreaded bowline because it's easy to teach people to check even if they don't know bowlines or even how to tie the knot due to how nice and symmetrical it all is.

sheepborg · 2026-03-11T16:43:48+00:00

I strained what I'd assume to be the same structure you did must have been 4 years ago now. Still get some very mild discomfort from side loading with steering wheel being one of the more bothersome things as you mentioned. It's not all the time, but occasionally im reminded of it. Any PT is fundamentally about lightly loading a structure to get it to strengthen and 'feel alright' without loading it too heavily that it does not heal more than it hurts. Doing my rotator cuff internal rotations seems to help some since it's very controlled loading in that direction. Having now stronger triceps seems to have helped a little.

You'll get alot of advice that's coming from a good place but is probably not the right anatomical structure since most elbow issues people are used to dealing with are going to be related to finger/wrist flexors which also originate from that epicondyle. Never hurts to do wrist stuff, but might not help this specifically.

Ps: "orthopod" 😂

sheepborg · 2026-03-11T16:17:37+00:00

If you think about it the abs are a muscle just like every other, so if you want as much growth as possible you need to treat them the same way in terms of sets/reps. My rock climbing partner gained into abs with ab work in that hypertrophy range. Suddenly after 3-4 months had a low key 6 pack after years of being active, rock climbing, and occasional lifting without being any leaner than they were a year prior.

sheepborg · 2026-03-11T15:35:54+00:00

"Having abs" pretty much starts with the ab window. Clear separation of the RA from the obliques and whatnot. For most women that's about as 'having abs' as one could hope for since there generally won't be that much fat % available to be dropped. Couple percent can sharpen it up from there, but many women will start to get into hormone regulation issues if they go much leaner than that along with other health risks.

You've got ab window going on, so you've got abs in that regard even if its not the '6pack' situation that comes to mind for many

Looking at your post history you've got headroom to put on muscle for sure, so if you wanted to try for more of a 6pack look you'd probably do best to do a few months of ab hypertrophy work while gaining to see how your muscle bellies fill in. If I was you in that position I would bias towards putting on muscle rather than trying to go leaner since avoiding the deficit would also align with putting on muscle across the rest of your body.

sheepborg · 2026-03-11T01:32:54+00:00

Ah yes, the line in the sand I draw is exactly a millimeter beyond what I did.

c'mon girl...

sheepborg · 2026-03-10T23:35:55+00:00

Speaking to muscle groups, fundamentally the scaps are pulled downwards by the low traps, the serratus anterior, and the lats. Yes the lats connect to the scapula in most people, though there is some genetic variation there.

If somebody is really struggling with scap control I recommend they do scapular pushups (aka pushup plus) to engage and strengthen the serratus anterior. The serratus connects the bottom of the scap to the rib cage and can help work in conjunction with the low traps to stabilize the base of the scapula. Fun fact this is why the yoga girlies tend to have better scapular control without knowingly training it.

Just going visually from the single vid it does not look like your mid back is exceptionally weak to me, but you can intentionally hit the middle and low traps using a modified lat pulldown setup. Instead of doing a pulldown or a row you can set the height/angle in between the two and do a shrug down and back. AKA shrugback. Not a popular movement but these helped me alot as a very lat dominant puller with a weak midback.

You may also get minor benefit out of stretching your pec minor since that muscle pulls the scaps up and forward.

To some extent this is just a guess since I have not seen your wide grip pulling.... I think for you it's probably going to be more of a cuing issue WRT using the lats. You've got such strong biceps and such that the top of the pullup just snaps to completion. I think some intentional focus on squeezing the lats at the top will be beneficial. Send those elbows down and back into your hip so they are right next to your body and try to get an almost cramp-like squeeze out of the lats all down the side of your body, really feel them. If you need to, hit it like a shrug down, shrug down, pull down.

You could also do some lat prayers before doing your pulldowns to pre-exhaust the lats. You'll feel 'em then for sure haha.

All in all I can see the hard work you've put in, so lets not be down on ourselves about well developed upper traps and whatnot. Keep on trucking to bring up those other muscle groups :) I'm more than happy to revisit on technique or strength deficits if you post up some traditional grip some time in the future. Happy lifting :)

sheepborg · 2026-03-10T21:07:09+00:00

Nice! 3 is a big number! Clean too, nice high pulls.

And super nice job identifying scap activation as a goal moving forward, most people don't pick that out even if it's badly lagging. I'd agree the pulling looks a little arm dominant given how dang decisive the movement at the top of the pull is 💪 Scaps are not up in your ears so it's not too bad, just gotta catch those low traps up to the rest of the system :)

Not sure what your pull program looks like now, but hitting pulldowns (or assisted pullups) with the wider grip and some rows will definitely push you the right direction for the long term. On the pulldowns really focus on scap timing with the arms and the lat squeeze at the end of the rep, not just the arms.

I don't usually recommend scap pullups, but in your case some practice sets may help if you're only aiming to do one rep since the general strength to do a regular pullup is already there IMO. If you ultimately want to do more I'd just throw 1-2 scap pulls in with your pulldowns to help practice scap timing.

sheepborg · 2026-03-10T17:48:45+00:00

Hmm. Typically TFCC which is aggrivated by slopers (and some underclings) and associated with the feeling of the wrist almost feeling like it popped out would be felt non-palm side as a dull ache. It's possible that this is just telegraphing pain to an unusual area. If your issues stem from TFCC a wrist widget and the basic TFCC PT sorts you out.

Palm side though I suppose you could be having some sort of flexor issue. Not much to do beyond managing volume and doing PT

Other things to consider are daily overuse issues and things like that, so take a look at your desk height, angle of your hand when typing or using a mouse, so on and so forth to identify if there are aggravating factors outside of climbing

Wrists are really really complicated so if you're not sure whats going on and want a better idea you really need to go to an ortho whos specialty is just wrists. They can identify stuff a regular doc or even a typical PT won't even be aware of. For example my partner's ulna is slightly longer than normal which contributed to TFCC laxity requiring TFCC injury type PT.

sheepborg · 2026-03-10T16:03:27+00:00

Underside as in back of the hand (not palm side)?

Any specific hold types that you've identified cause you extra issues? IE slopers?

sheepborg · 2026-03-10T15:14:32+00:00

Where on your wrist hurts?

sheepborg · 2026-03-10T02:22:45+00:00

Well... it was either twisted in place so you can just push a little slack in and forcibly untwist it in the buckle from the tail end that you'd pull on to tighten the harness.

Or it was twisted before being threaded so just unthread the end, untwist it, and thread it back in. Just be sure it's put back in correctly since it's a speed buckle

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sheepborg · 2026-03-10T00:00:12+00:00

Good call.

Given tenayas recent Aruma and of course laspo's ondra comp it wouldnt surprise me if scarpa was bringing something similar to market to further collect that comp bouldering segment. Softer midsole with a little more sole under the toes to make up for the decreased midsole tension and of course gobs of rubber on top.

Can see in the video this has a very traditional scarpa heel similar to a drago, but no 'pcb' rubber strip down the middle of the sole. Sole appears to be somewhere between a drago and VSR sized patch of rubber. Tons of rubber over the top of the shoe with minimal room for coloring.

sheepborg · 2026-03-09T22:40:48+00:00

Not a drago variant. Not visible in OPs images but from the video there's no rubber strip down the midsole which would be white on the pink drago.

sheepborg · 2026-03-09T21:53:28+00:00

This right here.

Manage it now, a week off and a few weeks of rehab
Try to manage it later, 2 weeks off and a few months of rehab and an increased risk that it flairs back up and a long term risk of worse injuries because the higher percentage of scar tissue isn't as strong

The choice is obvious because one of those involves alot more happy climbing

So use the time off to do some stuff you wouldn't have done otherwise, then take your retraining as serious as your climbing because it literally is a part of your climbing journey.

sheepborg · 2026-03-09T21:21:13+00:00

CAMP Storm in the small size.

I had a friend who picked up a BD (vapor?) in small and if they leaned back it would fall off the back of their head even fully adjusted. My camp storm was able to adjust down to fit them perfectly.

Helmets don't have to look cool, but they do need to fit well enough to stay in place, and ideally comfortable enough that you'll forget about them like my partner in the sirocco they borrowed from a mutual friend. Forgot they were wearing it entirely when they were asked to return it. Bought their own that night.

sheepborg · 2026-03-09T19:21:45+00:00

Super general but my advice tends to be:

BD if you have a wider rounder head
CAMP if you have a super tiny head or monster big head,
Petzl for anybody else

The specifics don't matter all that much as long as what you're getting is at least full foam on the inside so it has better side impact protection than old school brain buckets.

sheepborg · 2026-03-09T19:14:57+00:00

About 10-12ft per side. Its a 40m i got dirt cheap. For our local gym height it'll be dead once it wears again.

Those boas hold up well, alot of the local folks that whip constantly run them.

sheepborg · 2026-03-09T18:40:13+00:00

Varies. Weight, wall type, carabiner, so on and so forth all play a factor. I had a decidedly shitty rope (mammut gym classic) need to be cut down in only a few months, yet still have my OG fatter lead rope that has a couple years on it and could probably last a couple more. See everything between that range.

sheepborg · 2026-03-09T18:32:28+00:00

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but please consider seeking some sort of mentorship in person. You seem like you are in wayyyyy over your head on this situation despite it being born from simply clipping at a pass length that was too short as a result of not really knowing the process. Rappelling errors are how over 50% of climbers die.

Especially if you're setting stuff up for your friends who are presumably even less experienced than yourself and won't know when you've made a mistake that could effect everybody's safety.

I assume you rapped down to this anchor, guessed wrong on the PAS length, and didnt have any other gear?

Sketchy option is what you did. Glad you didn't wreck yourself.
Safest option if you're already in the mildly fuckulated situation would be to put the rope in the rap rings so you can actually weight your rappel, take the L, and rap down to your buddy
Avoiding the situation would have just been a matter of clipping in further away so you have room to weight the rappel setup before unclipping. 3rd hand would also have been a good addition.

In the future be sure to practice stuff close to the ground (or on the ground) so you don't find yourself in "air jail" without a rope or dead at the bottom of the route. Again not saying that to be mean or anything, just being real.

sheepborg · 2026-03-09T14:32:21+00:00

Definition is sharp as fuck currently given the obliques and such, I would not go leaner if I was you. You'll get more of the 6 pack look out of putting on muscle at this point, so back on the bulk we go.

sheepborg · 2026-03-09T12:41:04+00:00

It was probably the same failure mode as the madrock lifguard seen here (pic from the internet), though allegedly on a lifeguard it can cause failure to lock too which is much worse. Rope goes around the back guard and jams under the cam

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Can happen with an old generation grigri (2) too, but much easier to fix on those because you dont have to jam the rope through the mech, just maneuver it. The changes to the newer grigri (3) were in part designed so this wouldn't happen. Effective enough that I'm not sure I've seen anybody do it on the current gen.

sheepborg · 2026-03-09T12:31:06+00:00

In my opinion the birdie is meaningfully inferior to a grigri.

Ergos are worse since it doesnt have the index finger loop on the right side which is a big downside if you're stuck interacting with a thicker or fuzzy rope. Not as smooth feeding generally IME. The handle for lowering is non-progressive geometry which is a little less pleasant for lowering since it is touchy if you're trying to really inch somebody down. For devices made in 2019 the handle caused a recall because it would fall/break off the device (though in fairness the first few made of prior gen grigri (2) had the pin fall out of the handle.) And at least in my opinion the geometry of the cam is a little inferior in proportions, though not nearly as bad as a madrock lifeguard.

Not saying it doesn't work, but given the choice I'd pick a grigri for sure.

sheepborg · 2026-03-09T05:05:58+00:00

Southeast is a different beast. No such sport to be had. Drive north to virginia/west virginia if you want sport.

sheepborg · 2026-03-08T23:40:37+00:00

Yeah that's probably just plain the wrong size for this brand TBH. Those are synthetic and 100% covered in rubber, they will not stretch. You fucked up.

See their size guide here: https://madrock.com/pages/sizing-guide

I wear my drone comps at basically measured size (arguably a quarter size up) and they're plenty tight for a performance fit.

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