In this short video I demonstrate and explain the “Burpee,” a wonderful all around exercise that requires only one thing, YOU! No props, no weights, bands, benches, balls or anything else to give you an excuse to not do them! Check it out…

All you need is a little encouragement and belief that you will be more loved if you do these. You will! You will love yourself for doing this wonderful all around exercise! The Burpee works your legs, core, shoulders, back, chest, hands (clapping), and face (from the inner joy that will emit from your being through your smile because you accomplished something that will benefit you greatly!).

If you can pick something off of the ground you can do a Burpee! In this video I demonstrate an easy version of the Burpee and a more dynamic, or the classic, Burpee.

Don’t be alarmed with the sore muscles you may experience 24 to 48 hours post first Burpee session. This is your body’s way of letting you know that you did a good thing and that you are getting stronger! That being said, go easy to start if you have not been working out.

The beauty of the 30 seconds of Burpees, 30 seconds of rest is that you do as many as YOU are capable of. The key is to just start. Get up off your chair, drop down and DO IT! One. Just do one. Once you are down and realize how simple, fun and easy it is, go ahead and do another, and another and then you realize 30 seconds has passed and it is time to rest. A rest you earned! Then at the top of the minute, drop down and do another 30 second round! The clap at the finish is to celebrate! Go ahead and celebrate! You will be stoked you did! If you are an experienced athlete/person who works out, Burpees are a great warm-up exercise.

Burpees: Total time…10 Minutes a day! 30 seconds of Burpees, 30 seconds rest. Repeat 10 times (go for 5 minutes…2:30 of actual exercise time…to start). Key to do them again when sore in a couple days! The movement and use of the muscles that are sore vitally need to be moved again. You will be less sore after working out again anyway! Drink plenty of water. Water is the medicine.

And most important of all, listen to your body. If you are feeling faint/super fatigued etc. stop. Chill. Walk around the room/house/car/block. Breathe, relax and feel your heart rate drop.

That is enough for now. Now, drop down and do some burpees!

Petzl Tikka 2 Headlamp

Help support StephenKoch.com with a Petzl Tikka Plus 2 Headlamp for your no excuses in the dark Burpee session!

Post Lake Michigan Winter Swim

This morning I went for a short run, which I rarely do, with my host in Chicago, Gene Marcowka, seen below in the running photos. What a beautiful morning we had getting out early for the short run and swim. It was quite tricky running with verglas (thin layer of ice) in places. It was reminiscent of being in the mountains after a fall storm, potentially treacherous.

Gene running along the shore of Lake Michigan.

A couple friends, musicians who I know through the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, came over this morning for a workout after my run with Gene (and a warm shower to heat up my toes and fingers!). We did a bunch of Burpees, tele-lunges, wall sits, hamstring exercise, dips, core workout and my favorite, simply jumping up as high as possible from a crouch and repeating 10 x! These and other exercises are available on Mountain Athlete’s website.

Off to Northwestern to give a lecture to music students about keeping your cool under extreme circumstances. For me it was during and after a 2,000 foot fall in an avalanche. For them it will be during auditions!

I am taking a deep, relaxing breath right now, which reminds me to be more conscious of the ever present moment, all that is. And I, and the world, benefit.

Stephen Koch

The roof I am climbing on in the video below is 3/4″ plywood with metal T-nuts and eye bolts. Very simple and inexpensive to build. The axes are Petzl Nomics.

Start on a vertical wall and work your way up to the 45 degree wall (door hinges screwed to the wall make great ice axe pick placements!) and then onto the roof. Start slow and be safe. At Mountain Athlete, we put mattresses and other padding down to protect us in case of a fall.

I also feel strongly that rock climbing and mountaineering would be a great addition to any MMA fighter looking to become stronger than the competition. Drop me a note with questions or if interested in group or private instruction.

Enjoy!

Stephen Koch

If you are interested in strength training for your sport, whatever sport, check out Rob’s Blog at www.mtnathlete.com. He takes your questions about your sports and answers them. If he can’t answer them, he finds the answer from someone in his vast network.

Mountain Athlete (www.mtnathlete.com) recently opened up shop in Boulder, CO and is being headed up by Connie Sciolino, a smart, strong and outstanding coach with a strong medical background, who is married to a derelict and friend of mine…Tom (who has climbed the North Face of the Eiger!). So if you are in the Denver or Boulder area and looking for a different way to train or get stronger, go watch a session and see if you think it is for you! I love it!

“Kick in the Nuts, III”

10 Rounds
30 second hang
30 second burpees (If the athlete doesn’t get at least 8x, add a round)

10 Rounds
1 minute System Board Crimps
1 minute plank walk up

10 Rounds
1 mintute HIT Strip
Run 200m

Comments:

More brutal work for my climbers. I’m working to get them to the wall/system board/hang, etc., breathing hard.

Here’s what Stephen Koch had to say about “Kick in the Nuts III” –

“Thank you for today’s workout. I liked how it combined heart thumping cardio with hand and forearm training.

“During the latter rounds of the warm up I could hear my heart pumping after the burpees as I was on the hang board, and it was intense to hang on towards the end of the minute during the last two rounds.

“The crimp workout was absolutely perfect duration and intensity for me. I was very near failure at 50 seconds of the 10th round. And the planks were really wicked, especially the first couple rounds until warmed up!

“As you know I pretty much only run at Mountain Athlete due to all of my knee injuries. But I enjoyed the quick burst of a run around the building, into the sunshine and was able to push it throughout the 10 laps. The HIT strip was more mental than anything. I was thinking I needed to get on the system board until you said to just try, which I did. Thanks for that. It worked out well and I found my groove in the third or fourth round of the ten. It was intense jumping immediately from the run (running all the way to the HIT strips) onto the HIT strips. My blood was flowing nicely, to say the least!

“I find getting immediately into the next exercise without thinking about it or waiting for the clock to hit the next 5 or 10 second mark is better training, both physically but especially mentally. At some point I would like to do one of the timed workouts with Curtis P’s, where jumping immediately into the next exercise is very helpful for a lower time. Again…good mental training.

“Well, we finally have mostly clear skies and sunshine today for the first time in a month! So I look forward to a mountain bike ride later today, after the trails dry out.

“Thanks for the great workouts Coach!

- sk

Whether you are training for rock, ice or mixed climbing, the most important thing is to strengthen your hands and have strong forearms. This is very specific to climbing. That being said, it is also important to have a strong body to support your strong hands and forearms. Before I began working with Rob Shaul at Mountain Athlete (www.mtnathlete.com) I had success doing a circuit type workout that involves legs/chest/back (major muscle groups).

This is a typical circuit workout that I did for several years, three times a week with 5 days of cardio and a big day in the mountains with a day of rest for a week.

LEGS – Lunges (with or without weight…keep your back straight and stomach tight)
CHEST – Push-ups (from your knees if necessary otherwise regular)
BACK – Assisted Pull-ups (have one leg assist you throughout the pull-up and switch legs half way through the set)

LEGS – Jumping Tele Turns (lunges in place…jumping from one into the next for 30 seconds)
CHEST – Bench Press (or any chest workout that you have equipment for…if no equipment, do another set of push-ups with your hands offset…one hand farther in front, the other back and switch half way through the set)
BACK – Lat Pulls

LEGS – Wall Sits (lean against a wall with your knees at a 90 degree angle…as in a chair, just without the chair) 30 seconds to start and work up longer. If you want more, put a towel in between your knees and pull it with your hands, trying to keep it in with your knees!
CHEST – Single arm bench with a dumbbell (this also works your stomach/core)
BACK – Single arm rows with a dumbbell (I lean over with a straight back, supporting myself with the other arm on a bench or chair or weight rack, with same knee that you are doing the exercise with more bent and farther back than the other leg and pull the dumbbell up from the ground to your waist).

THREE SETS OF THE ABOVE 9 EXERCISES. I let my heart rate drop below 125 beats per minute (BPM) before beginning the next set.

When major muscles are complete I work the minor muscles.

Shoulders/Biceps/Triceps/Calves/Core

Three sets.

Forearm workouts are good to do as well.

I hope this helps.

Good training and climbing!

Stephen

Diet: I try to eat good, unprocessed or limited processed foods. My activity load is very high and so is my metabolism, so I tend to eat a lot of food. I have done a couple of things that I think were effective for leaning up. First I cut out most carbohydrates – mainly breads/pastas/potatoes/cereals/alcohol while eating proteins and vegetables.

My wife buys organic all the time even though we can’t afford it financially. The way she seems to look at it is that we can’t afford health wise not to buy organic. What I can’t afford to do is argue about it. It is that important to her, for our health and the health of our son. Time will tell.

I believe if you are exercising regularly (2-4 x week) and don’t overeat, you will get fit. I suggest staying away from processed (fake) foods like margarine, Cheetos and the like. Instead eat butter, olive oil and other natural foods that your body doesn’t have to do odd things to process. Obviously check with your doctor or nutritionist about all this since I am NOT a doctor. I just know what has worked for me.

Photo - Corey Rich

Stephen Koch rides some firm ’snow’ on Puncak Jaya, New Guinea, Indonesia.

To claim a successful descent, should it start from the summit of a mountain?

Start at the summit if possible. I have done descents where there was no snow at the actual summit. I summited and began the descent where the snow began, and stopped turning where the ended. When you climb and descend closer to “winter”, there tends to be more snow (outside of the Himalaya). Sometimes though, a mountain will get special snow coverage at one time or another during the year and if you are “on” it, you can make a descent that may rarely, if ever be possible to do again (especially with global warming).

Are you allowed to rappel?

We / You are allowed to do whatever we deem necessary to stay alive, whatever you want…that is the beauty of the mountains. It is important that all facts are clearly stated when describing the descent though. I liken this to using aid on a climb. It is fine to do (as a last resort), but just needs to be declared.

What’s better…rappelling or downclimbing?

The ideal “descent” is to climb a virgin mountain by the route of planned descent, making a first ascent of the peak and route, then at the summit, which has snow, along with the entire route that you just climbed, great powder snow for that matter, since I am writing about the ideal. Then on the summit you take off your crampons and put on your board/s and rip the descent down to the flats at the bottom of the mountain. Well, there aren’t too many scenarios like this left, so we make due…but the bottom line is that I do what I feel comfortable with given the conditions of the route at that moment and based on my ability and how I feel at that moment. If I need to downclimb or rappel because I am not confident with either the conditions or my abilities, fine. More power to me to do this than to take a less cautious approach and possibly fall to my death. On the scale of best style, a complete descent…turning all the way is the holy grail, sideslipping past “unskiable” snow or terrain comes next, then downclimbing and finally, rappelling. Downclimbing is usually more difficult than rappelling.

Photo: Jimmy Chin

Stephen Koch rides good snow on Mount Everest.

What if someone skis a line in better style…or conditions?

If I do a descent where I downclimb (or rappel) a section on a first descent, it is still the first descent. If someone comes along the next day and does the same descent with bigger huevos or in better conditions and does not downclimb or rappel, they did the first “free” descent. If they sideslip is it a “free” descent? That is an interesting one…I would say yes. Can someone sideslip an entire route and claim a descent…sure. It happens all the time in Corbett’s Couloir. Again, the bottom line is to have fun, stay alive and declare your aids.

What about huge expeditions, where a Sherpa may be carrying your gear…while you’re sucking the O’s?

The use of supported expeditions with oxygen changes everything and I think it needs to be clarified whenever referencing climbs or descents if oxygen was used. I think it is important to clarify if something done on the higher mountains (8,000 m) was done “with” or “without” oxygen. It doesn’t matter that the general public doesn’t realize or understand the difference. We as climbers do know the difference and that difference is so profound that I believe it needs, as stated earlier, to be declared with all climbs and descents of high mountains. When I was on Everest we had 2 Sherpa team members. This was definitely helpful. Is it different than paying for a strong “Western” climber to be a part of your expedition? This is a different issue for another time. Point is, declare your aids and the community can judge your claim accurately (with as many different opinions as there are people…!!!).

What if someone skis 100’, raps 2000’, then skis 100’ back to camp…valid descent?

The community will determine if the descent is valid. But the person who made the descent had an experience that is solely their own. Nobody else can know that experience. But as long as people know the facts they can judge, and judge they will! I don’t want to set any rule here. I love the mountains because of the lack of rules of men, only the ultimate rules apply…the rules of nature.

I guess I would have to say yes, it is a valid descent. Who is to say that 2000’ or 200’ or 20’ is too much rappelling for a valid descent? Another way to look at it is…is it either a complete descent…the ideal…or one where aid was used. Let’s have this reflected in the grade of the route when describing a route. For example:

XYZ Couloir- E, 2000’, AS/AD/AR, 55°

E=Extreme
AS=Aid Sideslipping
AD=Aid Downclimbing
AR=Aid Rappeling

Photo - Wade McKoy

One example: when Mark Newcomb and I descended the Black Ice Couloir on the Grand Teton, we belayed the first 200′ of 60 degree snow over ice. It was my idea to use the rope. Mark wasn’t too psyched to use it, but acquiesced because I wanted to. I was scared and glad he was tied in, because on the first turn he uncovered black ice! This is not to say he would have fallen without the belay, I was just glad he was roped up and that I would be getting a belay too. Then we rappelled 200′ over unskiable / unridable 70′ water ice. Then I (not Mark) clipped into our ropes that were anchored to a V-thread (or screw) that we set. The ropes were tied together so I was on a “long” belay. Then we packed up the ropes and turned the rest of the couloir until it ended in a large cliff, which we rappelled.

Photo - Stephen Koch

There was a bit of controversy about the Black Ice descent, which we did in 1994. There has not been a second descent. If someone goes and does it without any belays or rappels (either jumping the big cliffs or downclimbing them) this will be better style but not the first descent. We already did that. It may be the first complete or full descent (very unlikely that someone could jump and stick the landing and not tumble to their death, but nothing is impossible). We chose to belay and rappel because of the conditions of the mountain and our ability, skill and comfort (or lack of it). I always welcome folks to up the ante of one of my descents, as Newcomb did on Talk is Cheap on Cody Peak by downclimbing to avoid a rappel.

That is what happens…people come along with talent, vision and the knowledge of what has been done, with what is possible and take it one step further! That is evolution, progression and what happens in climbing, snowboarding, skiing, paragliding, driving, holding our breath, going into space, looking at nano-this and that…you get the picture…it is all the same and it is called evolution!

Mark Newcomb and Stephen Koch on top of Cloudveil Dome during the first ascent of the Grand Traverse in Winter.

This was first published in Alpinist Magazine in June, 2004.

On January 17 at 4:45 a.m. Mark Newcomb and I began the Grand Traverse, a route that comprises ten peaks (in order: Teewinot, Owen, Grand Teton, Middle Teton, South Teton, Ice Cream Cone, Spalding, Gilkey’s Tower, Cloudveil Dome and Nez Perce) in Grand Teton National Park. Despite several attempts, this historic route had not had a complete winter ascent; the proper combination of good weather, stable snow conditions, mental preparedness and top physical stamina had eluded teams over the years. I had attempted the Traverse on several occasions, usually ending at Teewinot, the weather having taken a turn for the worse.

After several hours, we caught up with Renny Jackson and Hans Johnstone–who were also attempting the Traverse–midway between Teewinot and Owen. We began working together as a team of four, breaking trail in the deep snow and cold temperatures, climbing Owen, rappelling into the Gunsight Notch, and climbing out to the top of the Grandstand (at the base of the North Ridge of the Grand Teton), where we bivied.

After enjoying the first rays of the rising sun over the Wind River Range, we began preparing for the crux of the Traverse: the Italian Cracks. Hans and Mark led this section, while Renny and I followed. Once we were all safely on the Second Ledge, Mark and I soloed around to the Owen-Spalding Route. The ascent of the Grand Teton via the upper part of this route was spectacular, with much rime ice plastered to the rock.

At the Lower Saddle, Mark and I decided to continue up and over the Middle Teton in the remaining light, while Hans and Renny elected to stay at the Saddle to dry one of Renny’s boots, which had become wet the day before, resulting in frostbite damage to one toe. That second night saw Mark and me struggling to stay dry as wind blew spindrift into every nook and cranny of our stove and sleeping system.

We were hoping to have Renny and Hans with us as we departed the third morning, but after a brew and oatmeal there was still no sign of them, so we began climbing in full conditions. On top of the South Teton, where we were pounded by sixty-mile-per-hour gusts, we discussed abandoning our ascent. I suggested we continue until we absolutely had to bail, and we continued the Traverse over the South Teton toward Nez Perce. From Nez Perce’s summit we descended to the Platforms and our skis, which had been brought up by friends, and skied to the valley floor, arriving back at my truck in the dark. The following day Renny and Hans made it safely down to the valley.

The first winter Grand Traverse involved much teamwork by four friends. Winter climbing in the Tetons is a special experience, and those willing to brave the cold and avalanche danger will be rewarded with solitude and beauty.

– Stephen Koch, Jackson, Wyoming

This was the second year I competed and I am very pleased with my 5th place finish. Last year I did not make it into the finals. My success this year must have had a great deal to do with the weight of my outfit!

Photo Copyright Tommy Chandler / www.tommychandler.net

My strategy was to drop the few pounds of clothing to give myself an advantage. It must have worked because there were several of us who fell off the comp route in about same place.

I am thankful to my coaches, Rob Shaul and Dan Corn, at Mountain Athlete (www.mtnathlete.com), who helped me train for the comp. I worked hard in the cave and pretty much stopped the leg workouts, save for my instructing and guiding work, which was plentiful during the latter 2 weeks of December. I wanted to hang from my ice tools as much as possible, which was three times a week at 6 a.m. I am also thankful to all the other athletes at Mountain Athlete who were in at 6 a.m. for your love! Thanks for the motivation, psyche and support. It is so much easier for me to get fired up to workout with other folks, even if we are doing our own thing. Dan Corn had me doing multiple laps in the cave, working on figure 4′s and doing a fair amount of core in addition to shoulders. He had to throw an occasional sled push just for the fun of it!

The comp route was set by Vince Anderson and was of good quality, albeit a bit too difficult since nobody finished it. Josh Wharton, a who fought a good fight on it, ended up winning the comp despite falling near the end. He hung on a LONG time. Nice work Josh!

I gave a clinic on Friday morning at 9 a.m. on Anchors, which went well. It snowed hard for most of the three hours we were together, but that didn’t stop us from having a good time and learning! I had several interesting students from around the country. Their experience varied but all were able to learn and practice making an equalized two screw ice anchor and nobody was injured or killed!

David Stubbs, (www.davidstubbs.com) road tripped down with me for the event. David is a super affable, easy going guy who is an excellent and creative photographer. We were making pictures for Cloudveil, my clothing sponsor. David and I spent a bunch of time with Mark Beverly, (www.strikerescue.com) and Gordon McArthur (www.machavok.com), two Petzl athletes who were a hoot to hang with and who showed us some great moves in the Poser’s Lounge Cave up near Camp Bird.

Photo Copyright Stephen Koch

Photo – Stephen Koch

My roommate, who makes a mean fucking cup of coffee and always has good Single Malt Whiskey, Jack Roberts, (www.jackrobertsclimbing.com), is a treat to room with and was totally cool with David crashing on our floor. We stayed at the Victorian Inn, which recently was sold. I will be staying across the street next year at the Box Canyon Inn. The Vic is done in my mind…drains not working, hot tub was filthy, problem getting a room, the free breakfast…no milk, honey, peppermint tea, bowls, hot water yada yada yada…I wish the new owners success, but they will have to start taking care of the basics or they are going to lose all their longtime patrons.

An amazing dinner was had one evening by David and I at the Great little Italian place (can’t remember name!) with Dana Richardson from the American Alpine Club and her five fun and fine friends. The Outlaw is another great restaurant where David and I split a rack of ribs, had an outstanding beef soup and were taken care of by a lovely waitress who took pity on us, seeing we were very hungry and in need of food after our soak in Orvis, a truly excellent (clothing optional) hot springs 10 miles down the road form Ouray and very well worth a trip each and every year! The various pools at Orvis are all different with pebbles on the floor of the main pool, super hot pots, cooler ones with waterfalls, sauna, kitchen, massage yerts etc…well worth the $14! Guinness at O’Brien’s pub is good along with the Fish and Chips! Enjoy!