Doug Shepherd
January 23, 2009
There are two sayings that get tossed around when you are flailing on climb:
1) “pull harder!”
2) “get your feet up!”
I had been hearing both those (usually with a bit more creative language) way too often over the last year as I attempted to break into the higher grades of ice and mixed climbing. I’ve always been known as a MOG: the guy who carries the pack, breaks trail, but usually doesn’t lead the hardest part of a climb. I was a bit more serious about training last year and had a great season, which ended with a 6-week trip to South America and a serious failure on our main objective due to illness. But my eyes were opened as to what training could do for my climbing.
Enter EmerFit. I talked with Chris and really felt a connection; he is highly motivated and passionate about real fitness. After talking with some climbing partners who had been using Crossfit style training with great success, I took the plunge in August 2008. I was thoroughly trashed and sore for the first few weeks and questioning how learning to squat, deadlift, etc… could help my climbing. Slowly but surely I started getting stronger and then the early ice season started. I felt good climbing, so I kept the training up and worked in climbing specific exercises such as pull-ups on my ice tools.
I’ve already had almost 20 days of ice and mixed climbing this season and all the work in the gym has paid off, big time. I’ve gone on two road trips with friends and I’ve been the fastest hiking into the climbs and lead all the hard pitches. Last weekend I led an overhanging mixed climb that I couldn’t even start last year!
That’s just my personal side of it. I can’t say enough about the atmosphere, trainers, motivation, and people at EmerFit. Everyone is interested in working hard to get better, including the trainers. Why work out somewhere where you get looked at funny when you’re trying to not puke when you can work out at EmerFit and know the person next to you feels the same way???
Moving forward I’m excited to work with Chris, Jeff, and Crystal in combining some of my climbing specific workouts with the workouts at EmerFit and getting more climbers to “drink the koolaid” as Mark Twight would say.
Doug Shepherd. Fort Collins, Colorado. December 2008.
Photos: Doug leading Deep Freeze in Rocky Mountain National Park. Below Doug leads Esmeralda at Vail, CO courtesy Dane Hyer-Peterson. And Doug does ice axe pull-ups at EmerFit.
Comments
5 Responses to “Doug Shepherd”
Good job on the piece Doug. Where in south america were you?
i cant even believe what crossfit has done for my climbing. i improve every time i go. im talking about remarkable , drastic, improvements. its almost scary.
Awesome Doug. I really thought it was a good testiment to the gym. And Brad what you do in the gym is amazing. So it must be a trend.
I was in Peru this last summer, my third trip down to the Corderillera Blanca.
I just got back from another climbing trip and definitely was enjoying the benefits of being fit. There is a remarkable difference my confidence and strength from this time last year.
And I totally butchered Cordillera up there. My wife (whose Spanish is actually good…) is going to hit me now. I blame it on the 13 hour drive back from Montana last night.