One Band and Rope Climbs

Global Times
This is Ronaldo cheering for me as I did my rope climbs....umm. I'm sure everyone wanted to see a picture of me doing the rope climb, but since I didn't take one, I just threw in a pic of Ronaldo as my salute to the world cup. P.S. If you want to see the foot technique for the rope climb, just do a rope climb search. You will also notice that CrossFit people and military people are the only ones crazy enough to carry on the rope climbing tradition from 1950s gym classes.

I am down to one-band pull-ups, but it’s not pretty. I did six in a row today and then had to rest. We had to do 30 in all and my last—say 20—were pretty pathetic. I’m not sure my eyes even made it over the bar. But they did get done. I am learning that I have to push myself to make real strides. Some others who started Foundations with me are already down to no bands, which is really impressive. We’ve only been doing this for 6 months. They were in better shape than me when they started and are more consistent about going. But I’m still happy with the progress I’ve made. It’s good for me. I’ve probably never been this strong in my upper body.

I also surprised myself by conquering the rope climb. I was able to climb to the 12-foot mark. Our trainers showed us how to wrap one foot around the rope and then step on the rope with the opposite foot. That way you can anchor your feet and use your legs to push you up. It reminded me of rock climbing. Sometimes when I rock climb I tire out my arms because I’m not using my legs enough. Then I remind myself to stand up on my legs instead of pulling myself up with my arms and I have a lot more power. So once I used my legs more in climbing the rope, I was able to get up 12 feet. In our workout we had to do 3, then 2, then 1 rope climb between other exercises, and I was able to do it. It wasn’t until I finished the entire workout that I noticed I had scraped half the skin off my right outside calf, bruised my thigh, and filled my fingers with little rope slivers, which I picked out of my skin all day. Why can’t they have a polyester rope like they use in rock climbing? Would that be too expensive or something? Seriously. Next time I’ll remember to bring long socks, gloves, and two pairs of shorts.