This past week, for spring break my fiance and I went to the Green Valley Gap near St. George Utah. A fantastic climbing spot with short, bouldery routes. I've been struggling to break through this plateau I've experienced the past couple of years. I get to a point where I climb 12a, and then something interferes with progress, i.e. working 100+ hours/week doing Wildland Fire, tendon injury, etc.
This year, I saw a sweet 12c called Stick To Your Guns down at GVG and thought I'd hop on it despite not having even done a 12a yet this season. Strangely enough I have blown threw my plateau and I redpointed it on my 3rd serious attempt!! I looked at other 12a's and b's around the area and saw that they were definitely easier and figured I need to not hit anything lower than 12a.
The next day, I flashed a 11d!! Crazy weekend, but I think I'm starting to hit my stride (despite a nagging injury in the 2nd knuckle of my right pinky) and make some serious progress. I owe my ability to do those things to my recent off-season training programs.
Here's the second thing that I've noticed. I seem to make some of my best gains in strength upon putting on some extra body fat. Strange. I've noticed recently that I have some extra stomach fat but also that I'm bigger and stronger. This could be, as many bodybuilders theorize, the "bulking phase" where an increase in bodyfat can actually accelerate muscle gain. I'm typically around 4-6 percent bodyfat, but suddenly I'm somewhere near 9 percent.
Stronger!! but. . . . fatter . . . .
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