This article was taken from Evening Sends .
I first tried Necessary Evil in 2014 while project shopping on a trip to the Las Vegas region. I had originally arrived with the intention of trying to climb 5.14d (9a), but quickly realized, as I have many times before, that the significance of the route matters more to me than the grade.
Necessary Evil ticked all the boxes - it’s an iconic line with a rich history, it has held its grade of 5.14c (8c+) over many ascents and attempts by climbers around the world, and sits on one the USA's most stunning limestone walls. I’ll admit, the Virgin River Gorge is not the most serene locations, but the nearby highway has never bothered me, neither did the sharp crimps or bottom boulder section.
It was always the upper crux - which is actually the same crux as Route of All Evil (5.14a) at the point where the two climbs converge - that tripped me up. That move is powerful. I was not.
Paige on Necessary Evil. Photo: Rob Jensen
A few years later, I found myself in a conundrum of sorts. Necessary Evil sat at the top of my list of dream lines to complete, yet its prime season is in winter, namely November to February. My husband farms grapes in Namibia, and the November-December harvest season keeps us locked into 14-hour work days for 8 solid weeks, every year. My only chance at ever sending Necessary Evil would be to train throughout the work season. It seemed like it might be impossible to show up at the Virgin River Gorge, prepared to climb at my limit, after two months of long, stressful, exhausting days in the pack house. It wasn’t ideal, but neither was giving up.
For me, climbing is primarily a mental sport. Training, however, is predominantly physical. I wouldn’t have the mental energy to motivate myself after long work days, let alone plan and follow through on workouts. I knew my strengths in technique, footwork, and finger strength, combined with my projecting experience, could be enough to give me a good shot at Necessary Evil. I had a solid base. What I truly lacked, however, was power.
I reached out to my friend Justen Sjong, a professional climbing trainer whom I’ve known for many years. I admire many of his climbing achievements, as well as the laid-back-but-no-bullsh*t balance he strikes in his attitude towards training and life. I sent him the parameters I was working with:
"Dear Justen, I’m willing to devote 1 hour, 5 days a week to train for my dream proj. I only have a moon board, beast maker, rings, TRX, and dumbbells. Also, it is over 100 degrees every day so I am unwilling to run or do any cardio. I will have zero mental energy to dedicate, so I don’t want to do any visualization or mental training. 1 hour a day of physical training, that’s it.
Justen is a bit sarcastic but he tells it like it is. If he thinks your footwork is sloppy or your triceps are weak, or your outfit is goofy, he’ll just tell you. Honesty is an important quality in a coach. I was surprised he didn’t scoff at my request. Instead, he promptly wrote me a two-month strength training program and left me to it. Exactly what I wanted.
Starting in November, I woke up each day at 4:30 or 5 am to start working on the farm. I’d finish anywhere between 7 and 9 in the evening. We don’t take lunch breaks, so that wasn’t an option for training. If I could, I’d sneak away for an hour late morning to get my training in. Otherwise, I’d do it after work. We didn’t work on Sundays, so once a week I would train for two hours. Most importantly, I never missed a day of training or skipped an exercise.
"I never missed a day of training or skipped an exercise"
Each day consisted of some combination of the following:
MoonBoard
MoonBoard workouts included: Projecting hard boulders, repeaters, 4x4s, or lock-offs with a 3-second hold. I found that one day’s project could be the next day’s repeater, which was motivating. Surprisingly, I never really got sick of the MoonBoard, perhaps because I knew it was all I had. One month in, I changed the angle from 40 degrees to 30 degrees, allowing me to climb harder boulders at a lower angle.
Rings
One-arm negatives and jumping pull-ups. The one-arm negatives were actually my favourite because it was cool to see my progress each week.
Deadhanging Training
Repeaters on the same grip, dead hangs with weight, or slow lowers (negatives) with pauses at various angles. I never did a full deadhang workout. Instead, I just focused on specific hangs. I think this helped with shoulder stability and lock-off engagement, whereas the MoonBoard is what really kept my fingers strong.
Dumbbells
Bicep curls, tricep curls, chest presses, and a bunch of CrossFit-sounding names that I had to Google. I lifted weights about three times per week. I was nervous I was going to get bulky throwing weights around, but it didn’t happen. One look at my arms, I’m not even sure they could.
TRX
A longtime favorite training apparatus for planks and core exercises. With a little ingenuity, can build your own for $13. This is a great supplement to dumbbell exercises because you can build up even more shoulder stability and core strength.
Therabands
I used these for rotator-cuff prehab. It’s boring but super crucial, as I never felt any tweaks throughout my training.
On the Blasphemy headwall. Photo: Rob Jensen
Regaining Fitness for Necessary Evil with Side Routes
After two months of long work days and short training session, I arrived at the Virgin River Gorge in mid-January and hopped straight onto Necessary Evil after a few warmups. I hadn’t tied in or climbed outside in 3 months. The beta came back quickly, and I surprised myself by doing all the moves without too much difficulty. I had power!
Over the next few days, I linked sections, re-familiarized myself with the micro foot beta, and realized that I had nowhere near enough fitness to send this route.
As it turns out, it’s tough to train endurance on the MoonBoard if you only devote seven hours a week to training. On the other hand, I felt encouraged that the individual moves felt significantly easier than they had four years earlier. I could envision myself linking all the sections together. All I needed now was a bit of endurance.
"Limited time doesn’t have to be the limiting factor."
Fortunately, with a decent base, I think that endurance is relatively easy to build in just two weeks. After projecting Necessary Evil a couple times each day, I incorporated “bonus routes” afterwards. I’d choose a 5.13 (7c+) to climb as a side project. Interestingly, this is the same approach Sharma used when he sent Necessary Evil two decades ago. He’d try the main project in the morning, then slowly but steadily ticked off other easier routes in the afternoon. I think this is a good approach. In addition to building fitness, I knew these side routes would help keep the new muscles I had built active and engaged.
Three weeks in, my psyche and confidence were high. I was reaching the crux move with enough power and didn’t feel nearly as pumped as I did in the beginning. Plus, we had an awesome crew at the crag. Every single day there were more ladies than gents at the Blasphemy Wall. We sang, danced, laughed, and kept the climbing vibe light, as I believe it should be.
After two rest days to make sure I was fully recovered and had thick skin, I climbed up to the crux, crimped super hard, kept my body into the wall, and stuck the jug that marks the end of the crux. With numb toes and pumped forearms, I enjoyed the last 20 meters of Necessary Evil, knowing I was climbing a life goal.
The moral of the story isn’t that you only need to train one hour a day in order to climb at your limit. It is that with the right mindset and training routine targeted at obvious weaknesses, limited time doesn’t have to be the limiting factor. All the time in the world at the fanciest gyms with the most hipster workout classes won’t get me up my project if I’m not making the most out of each moment of training. Sometimes a good ol’ max effort bicep curl might just be the trick.
This article was taken from Evening Sends .