Health and Fitness
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My Aching Back: Managing Lower Back Pain
Featured Photo: The origin of my lower back pain: backcountry telemark skiing. Berthoud Pass, CO 1979. Credit Dale Anderson It’s 5:30 AM. Turning off the shower, I grab the squeegee to clean the glass door. Lifting it over my head, I feel a twinge in my lower back— red light. My lower back muscles spasm.…
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Weight Loss: Changing Your Body Set Weight
Photo: Off the beaten path looking at Baker Lake, Klondike Glacier, and Klondike Peak on our way to climb Gannett Peak and a new body set weight. Wyoming, July 2024. Credit Paul Gardner. We walked in circles under grey skies. The air was bitter cold. Thanks to an early season snow storm, two foot high…
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Show Up and Pay Attention
Photo: Smiling because I’m done training for 2024 and I qualified for the 2025 National Senior Games Straddling my bike, I wait my turn to start the 5K time trail. The race referee sends off a rider every 30 seconds starting with the 50 year olds working up to my 70 to 74 age group.…
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Resilience: Learned from Adversity
Photo: Tripp and Steve Markusen on the summit of the Grand Teton, Wyoming, August 8, 2024 As we reached the Upper Saddle at an elevation of 13,200 feet, I turned to my youngest son Tripp (age 24) and said, “Don’t worry about leading, I got this.” It is Thursday August 8, 2024, 9 am. We…
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Training with a Plan Part III: The Taper
Featured Photo: Max Markusen leading the first technical crux, Lady Mountain Route, Zion Utah May 2024 Carefully making our way across an exposed traverse above a sandstone cliff, we pause to marvel at the scenery and solitude. The shadows on the canyon wall slowly descended as the sun climbs. Far below the sound of the…
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Training with a Plan, Part II: Light the Fire
Photo: Carrie Markusen in a cloud on the summit of Hailey Pass, Wind River Mountains, Wyoming 2023. Emerging from the forest, we follow a faint path winding through wet alpine tundra dotted with drooping Blue bells. Dark clouds scud across the sky pregnant with rain. A flash of lighting brightens the sky. I count, “One,…
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Training with a Plan, Part One: A Disciplined Approach to Achieving Goals
Photo: Achieving goal on Spaceshot, Zion, Utah. Credit: Paul Gardner, 2000 Sitting at my computer, I am listening to the drumbeat of rain on the skylights and day-dreaming about adventure… The position is surreal: a vertical wall split by a single crack. There is no ledge. Called a hanging belay, I am connected to the…
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Mindful Movement: Moving in the Present
Photo: Mindful movement in a high risk environment South Buttress Right, Mt. Moran, WY, 1995. Credit: Paul Gardner The sun-washed granite rock is warm to the touch; the alpine air cool and fresh. My rock shoes are smeared onto tiny depressions 2000 vertical feet above the floor of Leigh Canyon. The climbing rope in front…
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Balancing Act: Common Overuse Injuries and Muscle Imbalance
Photo: Paul Gardner and I balanced on the Hindu, Fisher Towers, Utah 2004. Credit: Zeke Over the years I have had clients with common injuries such as tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis), knee pain (patellar tendinitis), and heel pain (plantar fasciitis). I have found through my practice these types of injuries are most likely due to…
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High Intensity Interval Training: A Fitness Regimen for all Ages and Abilities
Photo: ready to rock the Minnesota Senior Games Time Trial. Perhaps you’ve seen them or participated—group fitness classes at the gym. I mean the ones called cross-fit, boot camp, or alpha. The participants generally range in age 20 to 40 moving from exercise to exercise, sweating and breathing hard. These classes are based on principles…