EP 119: Carrie Cooper — Thinking of Ourselves as Athletes, Research in Climbing, and Mobility and Warming Up

Dr. Carrie Cooper is a former professional climber and a doctor of physical therapy. We talked about her background in gymnastics and dance, bouldering in the early 2000s, her path to physical therapy, referencing research in climbing, why climbers should think of themselves as athletes, and the most important things we are missing in our physical training.

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Show Notes:

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/carrie-cooper

Nuggets:

0:04:56 – Morning rituals

0:07:10 – Audio setups, and presenting at the Tokyo Olympics

0:13:42 – Climbers are athletes

0:16:21 – A day in the life of Dr. Carrie Cooper

0:18:46 – Carrie’s clinic and what she does

0:23:20 – Gymnastics and dance

0:26:27 – Going to school with Danny McBride, and more about dance

0:28:17 – Starting to climb in Sweden, and falling in love with the culture of climbing

0:31:15 – Back injury, finding pilates, and walking away from dance

0:34:33 – The American bouldering scene in the early 2000s, and the small but mighty group of women bouldering in Hueco

0:41:28 – Carrie’s genetics, and what she brought with her from dance and gymnastics to climbing

0:45:20 – Trying to try a little harder, and sneaking up on the boulder problem

0:47:52 – Carrie’s path to becoming a Doctor of Physical Therapy, and what she specialized in

0:52:17 – Patron question from Kaska: How did Carrie’s climbing and recovery compare between her two pregnancies?

0:56:37 – Climbing like honey during pregnancy

1:00:15 – Research that exists in climbing, and Carrie’s philosophy on basing recommendations on empirical evidence

1:06:22 – Age parameters for climbing injuries, and finger injuries in kids/adolescents

1:07:52 – Where do you go to find climbing research, and how relevant is it for athletes?

1:10:29 – Carrie’s pulley classification schema, and applying science to what we are doing

1:14:03 – Knowing what is normal for climbers by referring to research, and why you might not need to jump to getting an MRI

1:17:57 – Relying on trusted practitioners, holding the loudest voices accountable to the research, and drawing inspiration from national teams

1:22:31 – “The clinician is always ahead of the curve.” - Charles Poliquin

1:28:10 – Taping fingers

1:30:10 – My wrist injury, and when to stop using tape

1:32:53 – Retraining movement patterns after a finger injury

1:39:39 – Mobility and a proper warmup

1:45:06 – Warming up your thoracic spine and hips

1:50:21 – Patron question from Alistair: What are common prescriptions Carrie has given national-level athletes?

1:54:06 – Patron question from Shawn: How does Carrie decide when and how much antagonist and mobility work to incorporate for her athletes?

1:56:30 – Undoing the doing, and recovering after climbing

1:58:25 – Minimums: a connective tissue health session

2:01:10 – Discussing Emil Abrahamsson’s results from his “no hangs” experiment

2:07:40 – Keith Baar, and an example Minimums session

2:11:45 – How to do Minimums with a Tension Block or other no hangs grip implement

2:15:38 – How you should feel after Minimums, and how easy it should feel

2:17:02 – Should we be doing Minimums over the long term?

2:18:46 – Patron question from Chris: Compound movements vs. more specific antagonist type exercises?

2:20:40 – Patron question from Katja: How has Carrie kept her psyche and strength up over two decades of climbing at such a high level?

2:22:40 – How our lives dictate what we can do in our training, and “just doing something, is better than not doing something”

2:24:34 – Patron question from Kaska: How did she manage to still boulder hard as a Mom of two?

2:26:25 – Patron question from Kaska: Who are her inspirations in climbing now, and how has that changed over the years since she first started climbing?

2:28:50 – Patron question from Katja: What are some of Carrie’s big dreams for the future (climbing and/or nonclimbing)?

2:31:02 – Overcoming things in the future

2:32:00 – Carrie’s passion project and wrap up