This is not in any way meant to demean you, but how old are you?

People's bodies change with age. Stay lean.

It seems like a lot of times we miss the boat when we buy all this nice new shiny gear and don't pay attention to the pice of gear that will actually work for or against us to get up the wall.

I have been noticing that I have hit a plateau with my climbing and occasionally I feel very heavy when climbing and am not experiencing the same lightness that I had when I first got back into climbing. I can easily blame this on a few factors:
- Pushing difficult grades
- Lack of sleep
- Not climbing as much on a weekly basis as I was
- Disgusting FRS energy drinks that I will never have again

However, I am also beginning to feel that my stomach and weight is also coming into play as well.

Does anybody have a list of foods that will help me to maintain energy. Especially when it comes to climbing and what food can I consume before I climb that will help me to climb lighter rather than climb heavier.

If any of this makes sense, i would appreciate your answers.

I am 26 and lean. 5'11'' and 155 lbs. However, I really only know to avoid sugars and fats but not necessarily what to eat.

- Disgusting FRS energy drinks that I will never have again

...

Does anybody have a list of foods that will help me to maintain energy. Especially when it comes to climbing and what food can I consume before I climb that will help me to climb lighter rather than climb heavier.

I am 26 and lean. 5'11'' and 155 lbs. However, I really only know to avoid sugars and fats but not necessarily what to eat.

Exercising within the fat-burning zone is indeed an effective way to burn off excess body fat, but it is not necessarily more effective than exercising at higher intensities, where carbohydrate burning is greater and fat burning is less. The reason has to do with what happens after moderate-intensity and high-intensity workouts are performed.

Your body replaces burned calories in a specific order. In short, if you burn mostly fat during a workout, you will store mostly fat afterward. And if you burn mostly carbohydrate during a workout, you will store mostly carbohydrate afterward. If you want to get leaner, it doesn’t really matter which kind of calories your muscles use predominately during exercise.

I saw this over at velonews. Might be helpful:
http://velonews.competitor.com/...-burning-zone_134214

First of all, the higher the intensity the exercise, the more calories you burn per unit time; so higher intensity exercise is, by definition, a more efficient way to burn calories.

Secondly, you will lose body fat if and only if the total calories you burn over a period of time exceed the total calories you consume from food. This is true even if all the calories you burn while exercising come from your glycogen reserves (ie, are carbohydrates). This is because your body will replenish your glycogen reserves by using carbohydrate that you subsequent eat. Since this dietary carbohydrate is not burned, the body must burn an equivalent number of calories of body fat to meet the body's energy needs.

So, as usual, the amount of body fat you burn is (approximately) equal to your total caloric deficit. Exercising at higher intensity will result in faster loss of body fat, even if fat is not the primary fuel for the exercise.

Jay

Technically this is all true, but misses the big picture.

You should ask what the most effective way is to lose fat, not what's most efficient. Most time efficient would be doing 200 meter sprints, but nobody is really suggesting that as a strategy.

Effectiveness will depend on many factors, such as how long you can maintain doing that exercise, how hungry will you feel afterwards, etc...

It seems like a lot of times we miss the boat when we buy all this nice new shiny gear and don't pay attention to the pice of gear that will actually work for or against us to get up the wall.

I have been noticing that I have hit a plateau with my climbing and occasionally I feel very heavy when climbing and am not experiencing the same lightness that I had when I first got back into climbing. I can easily blame this on a few factors:
- Pushing difficult grades
- Lack of sleep
- Not climbing as much on a weekly basis as I was
- Disgusting FRS energy drinks that I will never have again

However, I am also beginning to feel that my stomach and weight is also coming into play as well.

Does anybody have a list of foods that will help me to maintain energy. Especially when it comes to climbing and what food can I consume before I climb that will help me to climb lighter rather than climb heavier.

If any of this makes sense, i would appreciate your answers.

Lentils
Brown Rice
Apples
Bananas

Try to have your fats come from healthy sources: pumpkin seeds, fish, healthy oils, etc.

Make sure to consume proper amounts of protein.

Sleep seems to always place a bigger factor than I anticipate. Especially when frustration (and along with it destruction of technique) comes into play.

At 155 and 5'11", I'm not sure you really need to lose weight, but eating healthier may help you.

What's more likely the culprit is lack of "sustained" technique. One thing I think a lot of people miss while reading The Self-Coached climber is the role of the subtleties in technique. That is to say that by the time someone is a 5.11+ climber, they're probably familiar with every fundamental technique (backsteps, drop knees, cross-throughs, toeing-in, heel hooks, etc), and they apply them in obvious situations. Yet, the key to making harder climbs feel easier is to apply these movements on a much more subtle level and at a much faster rate. Simultaneously, paying attention to (body) tension becomes increasingly more important. Doing both of these things will spare huge reserves of energy for later use on a route, whether its a crux or continuing through sustained climbing.

Like I said, I get the feeling a lot of people that climb 5.12 read The SCC and think "psh, I already know what a heel hook is," and end up just doing 4x4s and hangboarding. There's nothing wrong with that, but they could do better. Here's an example:

One of my weaknesses is maintaining tension through every sequence regardless of difficulty, and especially on onsight attempts where my brain is taking in a bunch of other things into account. By having the easiest problems in my 4x4 have tension-y aspects to them, it will (ideally) encourage my body to maintain body tension.


TL;DR
I guess what I'm saying is that people have a tendency to focus their attention on the crux of a route, but then overlook other moves on the route where they can save energy for the crux.

OK, you are 26, prime of life. Have you actually gained weight, measurably, on the scale?

Or is this just a "feeling" you have?

There are cures for weight gain, but I can't help you with feelings.

honnolds diet in squamish ... climb long, climb hard ... and ask yrself what yr doing wrong

[IMG]http://i55.tinypic.com/2yvnvop.png[/IMG]

I would reccomend clean protiens and whole grains.