The hormonal havoc of menopause can leave us with higher anxiety, less muscle, and a decline in power—all things that are unhelpful for sport in general, but especially if you’re scaling a vertical rock formation a dizzying distance from the ground. This week’s guests, Nancy Feagin and Maggie Odette, both badass rock climbers in their fifties, are not only overcoming the obstacles that menopause can bring to stay in the game, but are actually achieving some of their best climbs ever. They share their journey and best practices on the show this week.

Nancy is a climbing legend. She’s been in movies and documentaries and has literally done it all: ice climbing, traditional climbing, sport climbing, bouldering, and mountaineering, including Summiting Everest in 2001 as the 11th American woman. She was also one of two in the first all female team to climb the Nose of El Capitan (Yosemite National Park) in a day, and she climbed her first 5.14 (aka super elite) sport climb at the age of 52.

Maggie took up climbing in 1998 and has dedicated herself to consistent improvement. At the age of 44, she claimed her first 5.14a. She quit her job, married her climbing partner and started living on the road with him climbing full time. In 2019, at the age of 49, Maggie redpointed (free-climbing a route in one go from the ground to the finish after practicing it) her first 5.14b, T-Rex, in the Pipe Dream cave of Maple Canyon, UT. She climbed her two hardest routes to date at ages 49 and 50.

You can follow Maggie’s adventures at https://gravitychronicles.com/ You can learn more about the blood flow restriction training they reference in the show at https://www.camp4humanperformance.com/, which is owned by strength and conditioning specialist Dr. Tyler Nelson.

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