The Yoga & Fitness expansion at Sender One SNA had its grand opening weekend on April 21st and 22nd, 2018. We had specialty yoga and fitness classes, vendor village, aerial silk showcase, raffles and more!
Come by and check out the new yoga & fitness center today!
Video by : @kidbotic
words by Iris Ma
Note: This piece is meant to be humorous.
Climbing in the morning is such a chore. You have to wake up before the sun rises and it makes you feel more productive than you should be. The drive is forgettable without the usual vexation of traffic. Then, you get to the gym and nobody's there, except for the bright and cheery-eyed front desk crew. Your voice echoes through the empty space when you ask for tension and no one is there to watch you send your project except for your belayer. You can do laps on your favorite routes and you don’t have to wait for any to free up. If you encounter a spinner, you get to be the hero and report it to the front desk, who probably knows why you’re there to talk to them anyway. Finally, when you’re climbing outdoors, you’ve developed a habit of an early start and waking up early is no longer such a pain when you want to beat the heat and the crowds to the crag. If these aren’t enough to convince you not to climb before work, here are four more reasons why exercise in the morning sucks:
Boost your EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption) - otherwise known as oxygen debt or the “afterburn”. EPOC explains how your body can continue to burn calories long after you’ve finished your workout. So, the intensity of your workout directly correlates with the amount of EPOC benefit you receive.
Don’t get derailed by last minute errands, to-dos, or a late night at the office. Getting your workout done first thing in the morning ensures that nothing else gets in your way and you can stick with your training program.
If you’re feeling fatigued, the best antidote is more exercise. Some research suggests that morning exercise improves mental focus and abilities all day long, and has the ability reduce symptoms of depression.
Morning exercise can not only improve the length of sleep you enjoy, but also your quality of sleep by promoting deeper sleep cycles. Exercise releases a healthy dose of adrenaline which is great for waking up, but not so great in the evenings before bed. The hormones released during exercise also improve your internal digestion and system on a more consistent and regular basis.
Editor's note: Iris climbs EVERYDAY at 7AM.
With all of this being said, I hope you take my advice and never climb in the morning.
New routes and boulders are up! Check out this nifty orange 5.11d set by Randy, and climbed by Corinne. The climb features some powerful movement on the arch.
Filmed by: @kidbotic
Words and photos by Martha Jane Peters
Alex Honnold and Chris Sharma can climb for a living, but most of us have to do something else to put food on the table. And most of our employers would rather us spend more time in the office and less time rock climbing. What they don’t know is that climbing is a great way to develop the soft skills needed to succeed in the workplace. Here are 3 (of the many) reasons to hire a climber:
Recently, I saw a Facebook job listing that read “We are looking for a slightly impatient individual willing to face down their fear of failure to accomplish bold things.” If I were to apply for the position, I could probably come up with some examples of my willingness to face down fear of failure from my cubicle. But they wouldn’t be as compelling as the lessons that I’ve learned through climbing.
Every person who makes a habit of climbing has probably faced their fear of failure at one point or another. When you first start climbing, you may be afraid of being unable to finish any difficult grades. On your first day, you might not make it up anything at all. To progress, you have to be persistent and consistent. You have to be willing to walk up to the bottom of that project you’ve failed at every day for 6 weeks and give it your all one more time. Because who knows? Today may be the day you send your project, climbing or career-wise. Climbers know that the sweetest success is preceded by failure.
The University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business recently pioneered a new program called The Performance Science Institute (PSI). PSI’s mission is to “teach, train, and research the science, best practices, and applied principles for high performance in any domain.”
One of the focus areas for the PSI is understanding performance under pressure. Dr. Glenn Fox, who heads the program, studies neuroscience and teaches “The Science of Peak Performance.” When asked if he could have anyone in the world come speak at USC, his response was Alex Honnold. In Fox’s mind, Honnold’s free solo ascent of El Capitan is the ultimate lesson in performance under pressure. In fact, on February 1, 2018, USC hosted Alex Honnold at a special event for business students and the public.
Climbers like Honnold develop strategies for coping under pressure that allows them to succeed in high-stress environments. It says a lot about the sport that USC’s business school is studying those strategies to share with business students and leaders.
Face your fears! Failure is not getting back up after you fall.
Multi-pitch in Tahquitz
Ok, smart climbers plan ahead and communicate. If you’re on a multi-pitch climb and your partner is going to link the last 2 pitches so that you can finish before sunset, there could be 150 feet between the two of you when he/she finishes the second pitch. You need to plan for that. What if you can’t hear them yell “off belay?” What’s the signal to start climbing?
Smart climbers plan ahead and prepare. They know about the route they’re climbing, and they’re ready for contingencies. Sometimes – in climbing and at work - you have to improvise in the moment. Solid preparation and communication are the skills you need to do that effectively.
At first glance, scaling 600 foot walls for fun doesn’t seem like good cross training for a career in investment banking or engineering. But take a look around Sender One LAX on a weeknight and the number of SpaceX t-shirts suggests otherwise. Maybe Elon Musk is on to something.
words by Iris Ma, photos by Iris Ma, Shin NImura, Richard Graham
There those who climb, and there are those who hike, but rarely do you find folks that love to combine these two activities together and actually have a blast in both arenas. When I met Shin at Sender One, whom I call Shin-sama or “Lord Shin” , I quickly discovered his passion for hiking. I learned that he and a handful of friends were part of an offbeat club. A club of people who successfully partake in the BS Combo.
The BS Combo was created by Shin and his friend Richard when they were training to summit Mount Whitney via the East Buttress from the Whitney Portal Trailhead in a single day. Generally this strenuous classic is broken up over two days, and involves a hike in and a long multi-pitch climb to the summit. To simulate this effort, the BS Combo was born, which involves a hike to the summit of Mount Baldy (B) and then climbing laps Sender One (S).
So, over Easter weekend, Shin-sama had gathered his herd of masochists for another BS Combo. We would meet at the Baldy Visitor Center at 7:00 a.m., take the Bear Canyon Trail, gain 6,000 feet of elevation to the summit, then head to Sender One to complete 20 routes - the equivalent of 1,000 vertical feet.
When I arrived at 6:45 a.m., Shin was already parked in front of the Visitor Center chatting away with the locals. When Jozef and Richard arrived, I reported that Scott would either join in later, or not at all, so we headed off around 7:15 a.m.
From the start, Jozef sprinted out past the group and we would only see glimpses of him from afar until we reached the summit. It seemed he had more energy and eagerness to push his limits than the rest of us and would maintain his pace to reach the summit within 3 hours. Very impressive for someone who doesn't even hike! As Shin would say, "I don't like suffering." While there is a degree of fun to suffering, I decided to take a steadier pace, knowing my legs were already giving me signs that I should have taken the day off within the first mile. I made a mental note to suggest we start an hour earlier in the future as I felt the heat rising on the switchbacks.
At about 8:40 a.m., I heard a steady trot behind me and thought it was Richard, but to my surprise, I saw his signature smile, reflective sunglasses and floppy hat. "I thought we were training! What's up with this lazy pace, Iris Ma?" chirped Scott.
I've lost count the times Scott would appear out of nowhere in the mountains. I don't think I will ever get tired of that happening. Scott easily passed each of us to reach the summit first. He lamented about taking 2 hr 22 mins but hung out with the group for a bit before heading down. I too was beginning to feel chilled and quickly put on the jacket Jozef lent to Scott to keep warm.
We got back to our cars, and prepared for part two of the BS combo.I made it to Sender One in the afternoon, and I set up in the workout area. I waited a while for Jozef and Richard to arrive. Jozef had taken much longer to descend, perhaps due to the energy he used earlier in the day. But now, they were both refueled with freshly squeezed carrot juice and ready to climb. And so we did.
Jozef offered rules for Richard and I. We would each climb one route, and alternate belaying so that the climber would have a rest before it was their turn. This rule would soon be broken by rule-maker Jozef as we made it to lap 6, as he found it extremely difficult to simply sit still. While Richard and I climbed routes of varying difficulty, Jozef stuck to his rule of climbing routes 11b and above. By lap 16, we were starting to fade, both mentally or physically. However, we kept pushing through, and Shin-sama’s band of goats finished out another successful BS combo.
Some tips from Shin-sama for future BS Combo enthusiasts:
- Pace yourself
- Hydrate the day before and be sure to bring enough water on the hike
- Start early to avoid the heat
- Drink a gallon of carrot juice while driving from the trail head to Sender One
- Yoga helps. Try doing up to 3 hours everyday
- Treat yourself to a decent snack to enjoy at the summit
- Keep your sunglasses and belongings where you can recover them if misplaced
