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Category: Health & Fitness

Posted on:January 19, 2021January 19, 2021All Health & Fitness

Body Set Weight: Why It’s So Hard To Lose Weight

Photo: Steve ice climbing at Sandstone, MN, January 2021 I had the privilege last week of ice climbing with my twenty three year-old son Charlie. It felt good. I am sixty six years old, but good nutrition, exercise, and a goal of younger every year is working. I can still do well all the activities […]

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Posted on:November 6, 2020November 16, 2020All Health & Fitness

Into the Cold: Training for Backcountry Skiing

Photo: Steve Markusen on Triple Direct, Teton Pass, WY, 2019. Photo Credit: Max Markusen I peel the climbing skins off my skis, reset the bindings to downhill mode, don hat, gloves and goggles. I am alone at the top of Edelweiss Bowl, just south of Teton Pass, Wyoming. My son Charlie left two days earlier […]

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Posted on:November 4, 2020January 19, 2021All Health & Fitness

Into the Cold: Training for Ice Climbing

Photo: Pre-dawn start, pitch one of the Ames Ice Hose. The eyes are the window to the mind.  Telluride, CO, 2007. Photo Credit: Paul Gardner I shiver in the pre-dawn cold. Staring me in the face is the first pitch of the 500 foot mega-classic Ames Ice Hose. My lead, the crux pitch: one hundred […]

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Posted on:October 28, 2020January 19, 2021All Health & Fitness

Creatures of Habit: Small Changes—Big Results

Photo: 2017 Minnesota Senior Games gold medals. Another bike race, another hill… and once again I was dropped from the lead riders. For years I struggled to lose weight failing time after time. Bad habits in control, I ate and drank too much; and over trained. When I hit 60 years old, my weight was […]

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Posted on:January 15, 2019November 16, 2020All Health & Fitness

Deliberate Training Week Nine: Payoff

Photo: First tracks on Triple Direct, south of Teton Pass, WY, January 8, 2019. Photo credit Max Markusen. This is the ninth and final installment of my series Deliberate Training: Principles of Periodization. Whether you are alpine climbing, ice climbing or backcountry skiing, mental and physical fitness is your key to enjoying the moment and […]

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Posted on:December 31, 2018November 16, 2020All Health & Fitness

Deliberate Training Weeks Six, Seven and Eight: Recovery–Endurance–Power

Photo: Me and my buddies on a March 1978 backcountry ski tour, Sun Valley, Idaho Fitness programming works. There is a formula for success: goal + reality + determination = a positive outcome. You need to have clear goals. Decide what you really want and commit. Prioritize, you can have most anything, but not everything. […]

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Posted on:December 11, 2018November 16, 2020All Health & Fitness

Deliberate Training Week Five: Strength Part Two

Photo: Powder goatee, Vail Pass backcountry, 1984. Photo by David Bispham Deliberate Training Week Five: Strength Part Two I am glad Week Five is over. Last Friday at the climbing gym I was dead. Two hard weeks of building strength and now it is time to back off. After a week of recovery, we will […]

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Posted on:December 3, 2018November 16, 2020All Health & Fitness

Deliberate Training Week Four: Strength Training

Photo: Rigid Designator, Vail, CO. My first big ice lead in 1991. This is Week Four: Strength Building phase of my Nine Week Periodization program. When creating a workout program for myself or my clients, I always keep in mind my goals. With my current program, I have four specific goals. I want to climb […]

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Posted on:November 26, 2018November 16, 2020All Health & Fitness

Deliberate Training: Week 3, Active Recovery

Photo: Waist deep in Eagle’s Nest, Alta, UT. Photo by Robert McCord, 2008. Achieving big athletic goals requires a capacity and affinity for hard work. Successful athletes train hard. As physical and mental stress increases, the need for rest and recovery accumulates. Continuously hard workouts reach a point of diminishing returns. When you hit that […]

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Posted on:November 19, 2018November 16, 2020All Health & Fitness

Deliberate Training: Week Two, Being Uncomfortable

Photo: An uncomfortable belay stance at the top of the first pitch, Ames Ice Hose, Telluride, CO Deliberate Training: Building a Base, Week Two There is nothing comfortable about ice climbing. To climb the Ames Ice hose, we left our warm beds at four in the morning, hiked the snow packed approach in the dark, […]

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