Stay on Offense Climb Mountains

Attacking Adversity

Go Hiking And Be A Hero On A Mission

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How many of you use a Garmin or a Whoop or a Fitbit or and Oura Ring to track everything? Two out of the three track you steps, all track your sleep, and two your recovery from exercise. Everything! So you can look at the in the morning and get a good idea about how much you can push yourself that day.

Last Sunday morning my “devices” all said I was a mess. Now I could have used that as an excuse to skip the hike altogether or maybe just “stroll” up the mountain. However, if you are depleted and you push yourself the upside is that it can improve fitness.

Hero

Still, what do you do? I decided to take on the challenge and push myself like never before (at least not recently) and I beat my recent records to the top. After all, I was a Hero on a mission. A mission to get to the top of the mountain.

Did I mention how much my legs hurt when I was running the trail? They hurt! But the challenge was exciting and getting to the top of a mountain is meaningful.

No Trekking Poles

I recommend everyone uses trekking poles, especially when they come down a mountain, because it will save your knees long term. In fact my knees were so bad in the past that I could not get down a mountain without them.

However, one of the devices mentioned above does not count your steps correctly when you use trekking poles. So Decided that I would climb up and down without them. The difference in number of steps was 15,000!!. Yeah, kinda nuts.

Do It Again

When I would make a sale in the past one of my favorite sales managers would tell me, “Good job. Now do it again.” It is the same when you climb mountains. You may have done a good job this week, but now it is your responsibility to keep executing.

Did you go hiking last week? Did you beat your personal record to the top? Then do it again!

Go Hiking! You Are Stronger Than You Think

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A friend introduced me to hiking. She and her boyfriend took me up a mountain called Mt Dickerman. I was somewhere in my late forties I think. Remember not thinking I could get up the mountain. I was pretty heavy back then.

However, with determination and grit I made it to the top and ever since have been hitting those mountains every week seven months of the year.

Body vs Mind

The fact is you are stronger than you think. Your body will tell you that you are done, but the fact is you have twenty times more left in you. Your body is just confused and you have to let your mind control it.

Navy Seals will tel you the is one of the things they learned in BUDs. You can always do far more than you think you can.

Sitting On The Couch

I have people tell me that they climbed such and such a mountain and when I asked them when they say back when they were in their 20s. Now they sit on the couch and talk about what they used to do.

If you are in your 60s or 70s get out into the mountains at least twice a month. You can start with an easy hike and work your way up. Sitting on the couch just doesn’t cut it. You are stronger than you think.

Make the Decision

If you are heavier than you want to be and your medical numbers are not what they should be then get yourself out on the trail. It is the best exercise you will ever get. However, the number one thing that will get you there is making a decision.

Once you make the decision you cut off the couch and all it represents. You become s hiker! Maybe you will become a mountaineer or a trail runner. But the is the future. For now jut make that first decision and get off the couch!

Go Hiking And Don’t Hurry?

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No, it is not possible. When you are hiking, as I have said over and over again, you go to beat your personal fastest time to the top. There is just no other way. Is there?

Well, maybe. You could slow down once in a while. How often? Say every three months take your time. No!

Rhythms

With hiking, you are going to follow the natural rhythms of life. You don’t need to purposely slow down. You will know when your body is overstressed or overly tired and adjust the day’s hike. Find a smaller mountain. Still, you want to go as fat as you are able.

Then there is the rhythm of the hike itself. Some areas are not as steep as others so you go faster. Then on the steep stretches, you naturally go a little slower.

Life

Life itself will slow you down on its own. You might get sick and need to cancel the hike. That is one reason why you never miss a hike because you are going to miss one for some reason anyway.

Consider the situation we are in now with both the State and National parks closed due to the Pandemic. Nothing you can do. No hikes.

Alternatives

How can there be an alternative to a hike? Nothing can replace it. True, but you can be creative when for reasons beyond your control you can’t hit the trails.

Design an “at home” training schedule for yourself. One that will help you go FASTER when you get back on the mountain.

Adapt

One of the things Navy Seals discuss is their ability to adapt to circumstances. So let’s say, like me, you live in a small apartment, you’re broke, and have no “home gym” equipment. What to do?

First, you can use that backpack for weight-bearing exercise. Fill it up with water bottles. It can get pretty heavy. Then progressively add a bottle every week. You can do light squats (better than air squats), curls, shoulder presses and even push-ups with the pack on your back. Do everything FAST!

Then use those big multi-gallon jugs of water to do Farmer carries. They have nice handles on them and they weigh about 50 pounds.

Make It Harder

When you design a workout for yourself keep in mind that a hike is four to five hours long. So make your workout at least three hours long. If your gym is closed you are doing daily workouts as well. Those should be at least an hour and a half. Do multiple rounds with Burpees, Mountain Climbers interspersed between shoulder presses or squats.

The idea is to make it harder than the gym workout. It won’t be harder than hiking but do your best.

Bookish Weapon Number Ten

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Jocko Willink is a former Navy Seal. He has a popular podcast that focuses on everything military. He will read the accounts of soldiers in battle throughout history. One of my favorite podcasts was listening to him read and then explain Eiji Oshikawa’s book about the life of Miyamoto Mushashi, a Japanese Samurai from the 1600s. Read that book. It is well worth it, but this Bookish Weapon is not about Mushashi, but Jocko’s book “Discipline Equals Freedom.”

Good

If you could take one thing from this book it would be that no matter what happens the proper response is “Good.” This is Jocko’s trademark phrase. It provides a great perspective on the malevolence and suffering of life. No matter what happens it is “Good.” It reminds me of Hal Elrod’s “Five Minute Rule.” The idea is to find the good in anything.

Yesterday, my car was broken into and a tool kit was stolen. Of course the theives tossed by belongings all over inside the car. Last night I used both Jocko’s and Hal’s approach. Said to myself, “Good” I will be more careful about what I leave in the car from now on and I remembered that I “can’t change it.” Another good thing about what happened is it gave me more compassion for people who have been victims of theft.

Best Ideas

Besides “Good” there were two things Jocko stressed in his book that had the most impact on me. The first has to do with emotions vs logic and the second overwhelm. He says it best in both cases:

“When your feelings are screaming at you that you have had enough, when you think you are going to break emotionally, override that emotion with concrete logic and willpower that says one thing: I DON’T STOP.” Fight weak emotions with the power of logic; Fight the weakness of logic with the power of emotion.”

Then in the case of feeling overwhelmed he says:

“Life is hard. That’s what life is. And these challenges that you face, they are going to do their best to take you down. Do not let them. Stand up. Dig in. Line up those problems and confront them – face them – fight them.”

And this is the best part:

“Do not let them bring you down. Instead, let those challenges raise you up-let them elevate you. Let their demands and their trials make you stronger-let the adversity you face today turn you into a better person tomorrow. So in the future, you look back at these struggles and you say to them: Thank you – you made me better.”

Go Hiking But Don’t Get Poisoned

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This weekend I will be climbing a new mountain. I don’t know the trail and I read that there is a scramble on top. So what is a scramble? It is a rock face that typically doesn’t need ropes and carabiners. I have climbed Haystack on the top of Mt Si and they say this one is easier than that. However, they also say that a slip could be fatal. Although there is no poison ivy there is another poison.

Testosterone Poisoning

What? I had never heard that term until the other day when I was talking to a former mountain rescue team member. He said that more people had been killed in the mountains from testosterone poisoning than any thing else. He meant that when someone gets themselves all worked up and thinks they can do anything they take ill considered risks. He calls this testosterone poisoning.

It can happen to any of us if we are not careful. If I get to that scramble and the rocks are wet I won’t do it even if it means I didn’t get to the official summit. In fact even if they are dry, I will carefully consider the risk before I attempt the climb.

Fatalities

There have been plenty of fatalities in the northwest mountains over the years. Recently a 46 year old man slipped on the Snow Lake trail and fell to his death. A couple kids were taking selfies and backed up too close to the edge of a cliff and fell to their deaths.

That same mountain rescuer was telling me that he lost a fellow rescue team member on the mountain I am going to climb this weekend and another on the one I climbed two weeks ago. Possible injury or death are not confined to places like Mt Everest. It can happen anywhere.

When you go hiking this weekend leave the testosterone at home. There is just too much of a chance you will be poisoned.

So be smart, consider the risk and go hiking!

Bookish Weapon Number Eight

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Are you “older?” So let me be more specific. Are you in your seventies? If you are then I think you will find this bookish weapon useful. If not then you still may find some wisdom in it. In Parker Palmer’s book, “On The Brink of Everything,” I encountered a way of looking at nature and mountains as sources of hope as well as viewing life as a gift.

I write this on my seventy-fourth birthday so I am well on my way to being considered “old.” However, Palmer writes this book at the age of eighty. So I consider him my senior.

On the Brink of Everything, review by Bill Montgomery

On the Brink of Everything, review by Bill Montgomery

Support for Climbing Mountains

Throughout the book he writes some gems that should be mentioned like this one: “One advantage of age is the chance it gives us to learn and relearn until we know.” What is something I have learned and relearned? You need to keep moving forward!

He says when he is with elders with some mobility problem whose world has shrunk to the size of their TV room it is “as if I’m with the walking dead.” So get outdoors and climb mountains while you can.

Palmer says, “Spend time in the natural world, as much time as you can. Nature constantly reminds me that everything has a place, nothing need be excluded. That “mess” on the forest floor – like the messes in my own life – has an amazing integrity and harmony to it.” He goes on to say that paying attention to how wilderness overcomes devastation “has helped me see how suffering can serve as a seedbed for renewal.” There is just so much to learn on the mountains!

On The Brink of Everything

That is such a perfect title to describe life after death in my opinion. I don’t know if that is what Palmer meant by it, but I see it as a way to remind us that the closer we get to death, the closer we are to the brink. After the brink is “everything.”

Palmer says, “Nothing makes me more grateful for life – even in hard times – than remembering it’s a pure gift I didn’t earn and won’t have forever. Nothing motivates me more strongly to pay it forward than knowing that the time to share a gift is when I have it in hand.”

As I age I am more thankful for this life and those that made it possible.