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ikefromla
Feb 15, 2005, 12:14 AM
Post #51 of 56
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Registered: Oct 23, 2002
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read my signature. I once jumped three letter grades in one summer, and i'm not talkin 11a to 11d.
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ron_burgandy
Feb 15, 2005, 12:52 AM
Post #52 of 56
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Registered: Nov 10, 2004
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anyone can climb as well as sharma or other top climbers, it will just takes different amounts of effort and time. some people say that they cant ever reach that skill level, and they are right if they dont have the drive to become a better climber and put forth that much energy and time into getting that much better.
BUT on the other hand people like sharma are genetically geared better for climbing so they dont have to do as much work (comparitavly) as say the average weekend worrior type. Look at any sport from golf to biking to climbing to race car driving, there will always be a Chris Sharma or an Arnold Palmer or a Lance Armstrong or a Sterling Moss.
They are genetacally better than you or me at their respective disiplines. But just because they are gifted by their genes it dosent mean that you or me will never be able to acheive greatness, they just have a head start.
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blondgecko
Moderator
Feb 15, 2005, 12:53 AM
Post #53 of 56
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Of course genetics comes into play...
Think of it this way: I think just about everyone will accept that someone can have genetic traits that make it difficult or impossible for them to climb... a pre-disposition towards rheumatoid arthritis, say, or one of many mutations in the gene for collagen I which leads to weaker connective tissue (tendons etc), or a mutation in any of a large number of genes involved in muscle cell contraction/relaxation, oxygen/ATP/glucose transport, etc., etc., etc.
Someone who, on the other hand, has "perfect" copies of all of these genes, will most definitely have the potential to become a much better climber than average. I would go further, and guess that most of the "elite" climbers around do have genetic traits which have helped them get to where they are today.
The fact is, everyone has a limit. This limit is much higher for some than for others. For 99.99% of the population, however, this is academic, because they will never actually approach it. Me, I don't bother worrying about it all that much - I just try to enjoy climbing when I get the chance.
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texplorer
Feb 15, 2005, 2:31 AM
Post #54 of 56
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Registered: Oct 24, 2002
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Judging from the voting I would say RC.com has a bunch of dumbasses on it.
If you really think genetics don't play a role your sadly mistaken.
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fluxus
Feb 20, 2005, 1:45 AM
Post #55 of 56
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Registered: Apr 3, 2003
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In reply to: Judging from the voting I would say RC.com has a bunch of dumbasses on it. If you really think genetics don't play a role your sadly mistaken.
to the extent that genetics make us who we are it would be foolish to say that genetics play 'no" role, of course they do.
However climbers are often quick to pull out the "genetic limit" argument, when they don't even begin to understand how the body works, how the brain learns, the skills underlying climbing, and the fact that climbing is a VERY young sport with no widly used training and teaching methods.
Here is an example, some authors claim that the amount of fast and slow twitch muscle tissue a climber has effects their ability to perform dynamic moves. The problem with this is that these authors have not examined how movements are produced by the motor system, and the actual speed of climbing moves in relation to the speed of the motor system / muscle tissue. Important issues to consider are reaction time, the role of feedback and the speed of information processing in relation to the duration of a specific movement.
The entire question of weather or not the % of fast or slow twitch muscle tissue effects climbing is, in the long run, moot because the duration of dynamic moves is long enough that, both tissue types are more than able to produce movements of the speed necessay in dynamic moves. If you have a lot of slow twitch muscle fibre you may or may not become the national dyno champ but you sure as hell will be able to do great dynos.
So the people who believe that the type of muscle tissue effects dynamic movement are merely speculating based on a limited knowledge of how movements are produced and a over developed sense of their own authority.
we are many years away from understanding the role of genetics in climbing, we know its there but we don't understand what it is (I mean this in the clinical sense) No one participating in this discussion ever needs to worry about it because we won't have the time or the methodology necessary to train well enough to reach our genetic limits.
peace
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vawwyakr
Feb 20, 2005, 2:14 AM
Post #56 of 56
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Registered: Oct 8, 2004
Posts: 90
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In reply to: Genetics can definitely speed up the improvement curve, but I know of several climbers (including myself) who have gotten better through sheer desire and working our asses off. If you want it bad enough, and try hard enough, eventually you will succeed. As I tell people often: If you throw yourself at a route enough times, sooner or later the route will give up. |
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