A lightbulb moment…

by Lyra Pierotti, CSCS

In the last 15 years that I’ve worked as a climbing guide, one demographic I have often wanted to help is the guided clientele that is trying to figure out how to train and prepare for the biggest physical challenge of their life, something like Mt. Rainier, Denali, or a more obscure classic in the North Cascades—often without mountains nearby as a training venue. I've often told clients to put on crampons and walk on steep grassy slopes to train those movements and strengthen those small ankle muscles. It works.

But the true inspiration to get into coaching came for me when I was guiding a young scientist in Antarctica for a research project. 

She had no athletic background, but an enthusiasm for field work (in the harshest environment on Earth) that I could hardly believe—and deeply admired. Just a few days into our field work, she injured her wrists from overuse. I saw that she needed longer term movement and strength training to prepare her physically for the work she loved to do. I stepped in and collected samples for her on this trip, and when I got home, I started my own physiology and anatomy education to work towards a training certification. The representation of women field scientists in the US Antarctic Program is on par with the guiding industry: Atrociously low. I realized that I hadn’t had many opportunities to build outdoor skills as a kid, certainly not like the ones men had with organizations like the Boy Scouts (now open to boys and girls). And for a lot of little girls, it wasn't cool to be athletic when we were growing up. Maybe you, too, had to call yourself a "tomboy." 

As a coach and athlete myself, I recognize that vulnerability is strength, and that it is powerful to be gentle. My methods are rooted in the scientific research that I follow, and confirmed in my own experiences: Being a smaller person and guiding big mountains; training gently to go hard; enjoying moving every day; and finding huge payoffs by learning to listen to my own body.

I have observed that the things which often de-motivate us are rooted in misconceptions popularized by outdated or incomplete studies of the human condition. A quick glance at the demographics most commonly studied in exercise science confirm this—the subjects are often college aged men. Recovering our concept of strength training and conditioning from one such outdated idea, the "no pain, no gain" adage, can turn it all around: From intimidating, demoralizing, and painful—to fun, energizing, and motivating.

So let’s get moving, and remind ourselves how easy it is to keep going when we ride on our own momentum.