FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE USA Climbing Youth Divisional Championship in Seattle SEATTLE, Wa (May 24, 2013) – The Vertical World Seattle will be hosting the 2013 USA Climbing Youth Divisional Championship on June 15th and 16th, 2013; presented by the North Face. Approximately two hundred high level young competitors, ranging in ages 10 to 18, from WA, AK, UT, ID, NV, OR, WY, ND, SD, and CA will attend this two-day event. The climbers will be...

Why do you train? What is the purpose of your training? What are your goals? Every time you exercise, you are wiring your body to do those movements. Every movement should have a purpose, and should be helping you on your path to your goal. This isn’t just important for your training and keeping it specific, but also for motivation and seeing progress. This doesn’t mean that you should be inside all the time. If your goal is to climb that...

Okay, that was easy, now where…? And there you are again, facing that same problem or crux that’s been bugging you for the last few climbing sessions. And you hang. And you hold. Crap. There. No, Here. Maybe. Ok, wait. Ahhh, burning. I got this. AHHHHH. No I don’t. And you let go, falling just short. Again. Standing feet flat, you look up at that last hold, pondering. Analyzing. You know it’s do-able, Johnny (or insert any of your...

After a long day of climbing, and your chest muscles and upper back are stiff, you can use this pose to relax and open up, restoring the muscles to resting length. Some days I would say this is my very favorite pose.*  I do it just about every day, sometimes twice.  When I’m sad, stressed, or generally less than optimistic, my mood is instantly lifted.  I once heard a teach say that when you’re feeling guarded your body closes in around...

The new year is always a great time to reassess your life. When I used to teach lecture classes on fitness and health at Metropolitan State University of Denver, the students first project was to assess their lives on a “Wellness Wheel.” The goal is to view the essential categories of life on paper. This way one can see where to add more focus, or where to back off some. I encourage you to do the same this year, so that you can be more...