By Nils Davis.

CLIMB STRONGER WITH A NEW WAY TO TRAIN

WINTER IN THE EASTERN SIERRA is considered by many to be the best season to be on the rocks. With so many different places to climb, scramble and hike, the winter offers great, albeit cooler and occasionally snow-covered, opportunities for those who find joy in physically exploring the local geology. For some, the winter is a time to pursue technical, gymnastic climbing, such as bouldering and sport climbing.

But for Rob Miller, a lover of Sierra climbing but a resident of Santa Cruz, the season of less daylight means less time on the rocks and more time indoors. Yet he is climbing stronger than ever.

His secret is CrossFit, an innovatively simple, very demanding and incredibly effective half-hour exercise regimen done with (mostly) minimal equipment.

Miller is no slouch. He has free-climbed Yosemite Valley’s Muir Wall and attempted to free the Zodiac on El Capitan, and was one of the first people to free-climb Freerider on El Cap — all routes representing the pinnacle of long, athletic, extremely demanding rock climbing.

“I now climb six to eight days a month to [maintain] that level. Before I had to climb full time and would usually get beat up and worn down to near injury,” Miller said.

Developed by “Coach” Greg Glassman of Santa Cruz, CrossFit workouts train the body’s different metabolic pathways by tapping into all aspects of fitness: cardiovascular endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination and accuracy. Glassman has a gymnastics background and wanted to develop a strength and fitness method that incorporated gymnastic-style, all-body workouts, yet wouldn’t require a gymnasium, a spotter or crash pads.

Workouts with a fixed quantity, in an open time period, are designed to strengthen and test the body’s glycolytic pathway and increase anaerobic stamina. Workouts with an open quantity but a fixed time are designed to strengthen the oxidative pathways, building aerobic capacity.

What that means for a climber like Miller is a deep reserve of power.

“CrossFit provides so much more than a ‘cardio day,’ or a ‘weights day,’ where you’re sitting on a bike and spinning or just doing bench presses. Those things are only a small spectrum of what the body is capable. CrossFit is about hitting all the spectra of movement; every CrossFit movement has a practical application,” Miller explained.

Miller was first introduced to CrossFit through the (in)famous alpine climber Marc Twight at a Patagonia dealer camp in Estes Park, Colorado. Glassman had coached Twight, and he recommended the two Santa Cruz residents meet.

“I had already done Half Dome and El Cap in a day, but it didn’t rock my world nearly as much as that twenty-minute workout,” Miller said, about trying CrossFit for the first time.

The CrossFit program goes like this: three days on, one day off. Each day’s workout is posted online the evening before. One workout’s goal might aim to improve your strength (testing that glycolytic pathway): Time yourself doing 100 Pull-ups, 100 Push-ups, 100 Sit-ups, 100 Squats. While another boot camp-style, whole-body workout is all about endurance (the oxidative pathway): Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of: 10 Pull-ups, 65 pound Thruster, 10 reps.

Although the exercises might remind you of junior high P.E. class, that doesn’t mean that CrossFit is kids’ stuff. Many exercises use a minimal amount of equipment, but may be unfamiliar and potentially dangerous to the average athlete. The program will fit into your allowance budget, however, since the web-based workouts and instructions are free (although equipment such as kettleballs, free weights and tires might mean visiting a gym or a junkyard).

The best way to begin is to visit the CrossFit website and to watch the exercise videos. Start slow, use the scaling feature and make sure you get a good warm up before the workouts.