Rob Pizem

The most common injuries in climbing are finger injuries, ankle injuries, elbow tendonitis, and ego injury.
 
Transcript: "What are the most common injuries in climbing? Again, I think this is an opinion question. So my opinion is, and this is from 30 years of observation while climbing, I've seen many people go ahead and tweak their fingers from pulling too hard on a small hold or from being in a mono pocket or a two finger pocket or something like that. So very small holds, pulling really hard, you get finger injuries. I see a lot of elbow tendinitis from overuse from campusing. I see a lot of foot injuries slash like sprained ankles from falling from a boulder problem and missing a pad or getting a poor spot. So we got finger injuries, we got ankle injuries, we got elbow injuries. And last but not least, the ego injury. If you go ahead and place all of everything that you are into a climb and you don't accomplish it, your ego gets bruised."

Yes, I usually take a break from climbing over the holidays. During this time, I will still do my back exercises and possibly run instead of climbing training. I will also take this opportunity to spend time with family and take care of any neglected tasks.
 
Transcript: "Do I ever take a break from climbing and how long and what do I do instead? Yes, usually I do. Over the holidays it's very difficult to kind of maintain a regular training regime so that's a time where you can back off and just enjoy being with family, getting outside and doing things with folks that I want to be with. I generally will not stop doing my kind of back exercises. I broke my back years ago so I can continually need to do that for keeping my strength but other than that I'll maybe just run instead of actually doing climbing training. I clean, I take care of things that haven't been taken care of and just again spend time with my family and enjoy the rest."

Make sure to have fun and climb for yourself! Enjoy the journey and make sure to monitor your progress and listen to your body to prevent injury. You'll likely make amazing friendships and have wonderful adventures along the way.
 
Transcript: "Howdy! If you're just starting out in climbing, one, first and foremost, it's got to be fun! The second, I would make sure that you're climbing for you. If you are a number chaser, meaning I want to do V2, V3, V4, I want to do 510, 511, 5-6, I want to do 6B, 6C, 6 or 7D, or 7A, whatever. If you're chasing grades, I will say that I've watched many people just quit climbing because if you're constantly comparing yourself to everyone else, there's always a million people that are better than you at whatever you're trying to achieve. But if you're just enjoying the journey, having fun every day, enjoying your progress, monitoring what you're doing, preventing injury by listening to your body, you're going to have a great time and climbing is going to be amazing and you'll probably create some amazing friendships from it and have some wonderful adventures. So climb for yourself and be sure that it's fun! www.circlelineartschool.com"

For first time climbers, flat-soled shoes are more comfortable, will help develop toe and foot strength, and make it easier to transition to a slightly or very downturn shoe once they start climbing more challenging terrain.
 
Transcript: "First time climbers enjoy wearing a flat sole shoe because it is more like the regular shoes that they're wearing. So that means if you put them in a very tight-fitting downturn shoe they're going to be extremely uncomfortable and then they're not going to use their feet very well. The other thing about a flat sole shoe is that you get to develop your toe strength and foot strength when you're standing on holds. A lot of folks don't like to make that initial transition with a very downturned shoe on it. So bottom line is a flat sole is going to be an easier transition for someone who hasn't climbed before. It's going to be more comfortable, they're going to be able to keep the shoe on longer, and they're going to be able to improve their footwork. Once they start changing the terrain that they're climbing on and it gets a little bit more overhanging, they will see the benefit of having a slightly or very downturned shoe."

I have unique opinions, methods, and expertise in teaching, climbing technique and training methods, and mentoring.
 
Transcript: "What topics do I have the most unique opinions, methods, or expertise around? I do believe I have a really good understanding of teaching. I've been an educator for 20 years. I believe I have a good understanding of climbing technique and training methods. What else that I have expertise in? And I've been a mentor for at least 10 or 15 years, so I've been able to go ahead and help coach people to reach their best and to achieve their dreams. That would be it. The rest of them, who knows, they could be gold and they could be coal."

To practice breathing while climbing, I focus on breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth while on Boulder problems and Roots. This skill takes time to master as I'm also focusing on other aspects of the climb, but with consistent practice it will help me get better at climbing with the right amount of oxygenated blood in my system.
 
Transcript: "So how do you practice breathing while you're climbing? I like to go ahead and rehearse that while I am training indoors, if I have the ability to be training indoors. So when I am on boulder problems, I'll be focusing on my breathing in through the nose out through the mouth. When I'm on roots, I'll be focusing on my breathing. And this is a skill that takes time to go ahead and master because when you're climbing you're also trying to do a bunch of other things as far as how does my body need to move, where do my feet need to go, when should I be reaching, and all that kind of good stuff. So breathing is one aspect of the whole game and I will go ahead and practice that over and over and over on every climb and every boulder problem that I get on and just make sure that I am breathing so then I can actually accomplish the tasks that I would like to with the amount of oxygenated blood in my system. Have a good day."