Brooke Raboutou is a name synonymous with climbing excellence. As the first American climber to qualify for the Olympics, she has inspired many with her dedication, skill, and passion for the sport. This article delves into the diet and training regimen that has propelled Brooke to the pinnacle of competitive climbing.
Introduction
Brooke Raboutou, born into a family of champion climbers, was immersed in the world of grip strength and boulders from a young age. Her parents, Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou and Didier Raboutou, are both professional climbers. Brooke's early exposure to the sport and her family's support have been instrumental in her success. Even though she climbs hard outside, Brooke has always loved competing. In August 2019, Raboutou became the first American athlete to qualify for sport climbing, which was slated to make its debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Brooke Raboutou: An Overview
Born in April 2001, Brooke started climbing at two years old, scrambling up angled structures that her father built. The Raboutous spent every summer climbing in Southern France, near Didier’s hometown of Toulouse. In the fall and spring, the family would return to their home in Boulder. At age 11, Brooke became one of the initial members of ABC Kids Climbing, a youth climbing program. Brooke climbed with an elite group, including Margo Hayes, Megan Mascarenas, Emily Harrington, Katie Brown, and Shawn.
Adapting to the Pandemic
Raboutou was one of the athletes who saw her Olympic ticket postponed to the summer of 2021 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. During social distancing, Brooke Raboutou was one of many Olympic-qualifying athletes getting creative about their workouts. When her normal gym was closed amid the pandemic, she had to make do. When she's not using a wall set up in her basement, she improvises, practicing around her house. She scales her kitchen counters to go get a snack and even climbs over her fireplace! That ticket is still valid - she and fellow US climbers Kyra Condie, Nathaniel Coleman, and Colin Duffy will all retain their individual spots since they qualified through their international sport federations. Now it's just a matter of holding tight and keeping up with training until next year.
Olympic Sport Climbing Disciplines
There will be three disciplines in Olympic sport climbing:
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- Lead climbing: Athletes climb as high as possible within a specified time frame.
- Speed climbing: Two athletes race against each other.
- Bouldering: Athletes try to scale a number of fixed routes in a specified amount of time.
"It's not just about being strong," Raboutou told Rolling Stone, "but solving the problems in front of you."
Training Regimen
Raboutou, according to the outlet, practices climbing for up to 11 hours a day, doing shoulder-mobility exercises and building up grip and upper-body strength (pull-ups and "dangling by three fingers from a ledge," for example).
Home Training
Ahead, check out Raboutou hanging from her fingertips in her home like a true pro. Heading out the door? Brooke Raboutou grabs a 23mm edge-just 9/10 of an inch-with her left hand and pulls her chin above the wooden hangboard at the Mesa Rim Climbing Center in San Diego, California. Raboutou locks off with one arm, and then lowers slowly back down.
Training Locations
She is perpetually busy and trains with persistence, whether in San Diego, at the USA Climbing Training Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, or quarantined at home in Boulder, Colorado.
Daily Routine
“I go to class, then I climb, then usually I have class again, then I come back and do homework and hang out with my roommates, then go to bed … and repeat,” says Brooke. While she values education, she has also decided to take the spring 2020 semester off to train-and continues to do so even with the Games delayed.
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Coping with the Olympic Postponement
The Olympic postponement has brought unique opportunities: a popular takeover of USA Climbing’s Instagram page and a chance to show fans how she trains at home. Two of Brooke’s cheeky videos in March 2020-Tour de my house and Tour de my kitchen-helped spawn a social media craze of quarantined climbers sharing their own furniture-climbing footage. “I wanted to think of ways that I could cheer up my followers without using my home wall, since a lot of people don’t have a home wall,” Brooke says.
Training Specifics
Here are some specifics of Brooke’s at-home training routine:
- One-arm dead hangs: Brooke uses the 20mm edge of a Tension hangboard for all one-arm exercises, though any hangboard or doorway edge will suffice. After she warms up with shoulder shrugs and a few standard pull-ups, Brooke’s first goal is to do five reps on each arm, hanging for 5-7 seconds each time with 2-3 minutes rest between reps.
- Endurance hangs: On the same hangboard, Brooke switches to a 15mm edge, choosing the thinnest edge possible without provoking a finger injury or compromising form. Hang from both hands shoulder-width apart, staying on for 10 seconds, with 5 seconds of rest in between; do that five or six times and then rest a couple minutes.
- One-arm trainers: Using a bar or a hangboard, Brooke aims to do five one-arm pull-ups with each arm.
- One-arm negatives: Brooke uses the same setup as the one-arm trainers, but starts each sequence from a locked-off position; she then slowly lowers herself until her arm is almost straight. The goal is five reps on each arm.
- Afterburn: After the hangs, Brooke eats a post-workout snack (favorite: a slice of bread topped with avocado, smoked salmon, and a fried egg) and then does circuits on her home woody. If you don’t have a home wall, conclude the routine with a jog, yoga, or even planks.
Coaching
Mostly self-coached, with a lot of help. [USA Climbing’s head coach] Josh Larson is a really great resource, and I’m always in contact with him-what I’ve been working on, goals, stuff like that. And I like to go to Salt Lake City to train with him and the other teammates. But since I don’t live there, I wouldn’t say he makes my training plans for my daily climbing. And my mom is just very knowledgeable. She’s my mom and my coach, so that’s helpful. But at this point, I would say most of it is just self-coached, although my brother has been helping a lot recently with just gaining power.
Motivation
I think it can definitely be hard to stay motivated when goals are so far away. But I think it’s making little milestones that keeps me motivated along the way, whether it’s thinking of outdoor projects that I’ll hopefully be able to do later this summer if things clear up, and just changing up my training at home so it’s not all the same. I FaceTime friends and workout, that’s always fun. I try free online yoga classes. It’s nice having my parents here because my mom and I train a lot together too. I think ways to change things up are always good because when you’re stuck at home, you can get into a routine that brings your morale down. Changing it up, reaching out to friends, staying positive-even if that means just not staying in your PJs all day and getting dressed as if you’re going to the gym.
Diet and Nutrition
Food is fuel! Making it to the Olympics takes more than just intense training - it requires athletes to adhere to healthier diets.
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Protein Sources
Kiefer, who has been married to Meinhardt since September 2019, noted that the duo “try to eat a lot of lean protein,” including turkey, fish and tofu, during their training.
Sample Meals
“For breakfast, I usually I have avocado toast with an egg or almond butter toast and banana,” she explained. “I love salads.
For lunch, the 25-year-old athlete said she “loves” sandwiches and salads, admitting her nutritionist isn’t a big fan of her No. 1 pick: Chick-fil-A’s cobb salad. Softball star Cat Osterman, who came out of retirement for the Tokyo Games, said that her diet revolves around the types of workouts she plans to do during the day.
Cheat Days
While Osterman, 38, tries to stay “semi healthy,” she told Us that she does “occasionally” indulge with chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A for lunch. “I do have cheat days.
Experimentation with Nutrition
We have more time to figure that out-and see what works…even if it’s just nutrition-wise; I’ve been playing with different protein-replacements and stuff like that to just know my body a little better and what works for it in training and performance.
Mental Game
As a high-level athlete, it's hard to not feel pressure or stress-but it's all about the ways that we manage it. I've worked a lot on my mental game in recent years and months and weeks. I think that competition is 80% mental game. Your mind powers your body so it can tell it what to do. So I've been working a lot on that, and I feel like that helps relieve stress and anxiety. I climb because I love it. That's what I always go back to when I'm feeling stressed and pressure from outside expectations or mostly, honestly, my own expectations.
Bedtime Routine
In our Sleeping With… series, we ask people from different career paths, backgrounds, and stages of life how they make sleep magic happen.
Room Ambiance
I have a lot of stuffed animals from when I was little in every corner of my room. I feel like I probably don't need them there anymore, but I love having them. Then, I have a little sign above my bed that says “A star is born” that I got when I was born and it's been there ever since.
Skincare
I always brush my teeth and wash my face. All that helps tell my brain that it's time to go to bed. I use Aveda’s Botanical Kinetics Hydrating Rich Creme every morning and night. It’s very thick, which is good because my skin is very dry, especially in Colorado. Then I always put on ChapStick, because my lips get really dry too. My skin care is definitely very simple, I would say, but it does the job. When I'm competing, I always like to put on mascara and maybe highlighter. Just a little bit of spice, but I don't wear much makeup.
Puppy Love
I just got a puppy, so I always say goodnight to her. My parents got a chocolate Golden Doodle. She sleeps in my parents’ room, but she'll come down the hallway and say goodnight to me. I get to snuggle with her for a little bit.
Recovery
My hands get really thin from climbing a lot, and I sometimes get cuts and bruises. So I use a product called ClimbOn, which is really good for healing splits and just thin skin overall. I don't use it every single day, but I always have that on my bedside table. It's the last thing I would put on before bed so that if I'm touching things, it's not messy. I use a massage gun called Addaday, and I love it. [Ed. note: Addaday is a partner of USA Climbing.] I use that a lot on my biceps and forearms, especially because those get really tight from climbing. Sometimes I'll make my mom do it on my back before I go to bed.
Relaxation Techniques
Recently, before bed I've been doing breathing exercises to calm myself down and get my heart rate down. In the morning as well, I’ll do more energetic breathing, and some affirmations. Just like, “It's a great day!” Just getting myself into a good mindset for a great day.
Sleep Schedule
I'm not an early riser, so I usually go to bed between 11 and 12. I usually look at my phone, which I know a lot of people don't like to do these days. I see what's going on and then I always put my phone on airplane mode when I go to bed. Then I turn off the lights, close my eyes, and dream about the future. I like to sleep in if I can. I probably wake up at about 10, 10:30 if I can. I usually don't plan my workouts early in the morning because I know that I'm not a morning person. and we're jet-lagged, I just know I've gotten so much good rest before that so it doesn't bother me.
Travel Essentials
I'll probably bring my pillow to Tokyo. I don't usually do that to travel, but I know that we're allowed to bring a lot more of our personal belongings, which is really awesome. Since I have traveled so much, I've learned to be easy going and that helps me fall asleep. I'm also lucky that I'm a very good sleeper, but ear plugs are always a must to bring to zone out, along with an eye mask.
Post-Competition Rituals
It depends where I'm staying, but I like to take a nice bubble bath after a competition. Just to fully relax. We have a hot tub at home, so that's kind of my upgraded bath. Or I’ll get my nails done-self-care and pamper myself a little bit. My manicures don’t stay well from climbing, so I always get gel. If I don't get gel, it's gone within the day. Gel actually lasts pretty well. Except for speed climbing, which is one of the disciplines that we do where no type of manicure really works for it. I like to have my nails done. Some people don't like to see their nails on the wall while they’re climbing, but I like it. I'm like, “Ooh, peach!”
Superstitions and Routines
I'm definitely a “routines person,” but I've also adapted so that if things aren't going the right way, I can be okay with that change. As a kid, I had a lot of little superstitions, and I've tried to go away from those so that nothing can upset me when I'm getting ready for a competition. Overall that's been important for me.
Partnering with Atomic Physical Therapy
At Atomic Physical Therapy, we are honored to partner with Brooke Raboutou, an extraordinary athlete who has achieved global recognition as an Olympic silver medalist and one of the most inspiring figures in the climbing community. Brooke’s dedication to excellence, perseverance, and passion for the sport align perfectly with our mission to empower athletes to achieve their best.
Services Provided
As a climber, Brooke’s body endures intense physical demands, from dynamic moves on overhangs to precise foot placements on challenging holds. At Atomic Physical Therapy, we provide Brooke with cutting-edge care to optimize her performance and recovery, including:
- Movement Analysis: Fine-tuning her biomechanics to maximize efficiency and prevent injury.
- Sports-Specific Rehabilitation: Addressing any physical challenges with personalized treatment plans.
- Recovery Services: Utilizing advanced techniques such as dry needling, cupping, and shockwave therapy to keep Brooke in peak condition.
- Strength and Conditioning: Building power and endurance through customized training programs.
- Nutrition Support: Enhancing her performance with tailored guidance on fueling her climbs and maintaining her energy levels.