The Difficulty of Recovery

How I'm Dealing with Recovery of an A3 Pulley Injury and How It Helps an Athletes Mentality Toward a Sport.

By: Ben Smith

    Recovery is a hard time that all athletes must deal with at sometime in their career. About two weeks ago I ruptured my A3 pulley while working on a V5 climb with plenty of crimps. I'm not going to act like this was absolutely crazy to me, since I had already had a growth plate injury from a week prior. My fingers are weak and I know that. My coaches knew an injury like this was bound to happen soon and were already preparing a plan to help keep my fingers safe. I never gave them the chance to give me this plan because I just wanted to climb.

    I did a good warm-up like I always do. Its usually about 30 minutes consisting of 30 push-ups, 30 pull-ups, a good long passive mobility session, and finally finish up with about 10 mins of board training before I hop on the wall. Once I get out to the main gym to start climbing I do a base-three pyramid starting with white tags (V1-V2) and ending with blue tags (V4-V6). I had just finished my on the wall warm-up and was ready to begin some housekeeping. I went to my V6 project and got farther than I have so far which was awesome. I took a quick break and moved on to a V5 I haven't tried yet. It was a crimpy overhang with some cool throwing moves that I admire. On the second move I reached for the next hold while my left hand was on a crimp. As soon as I reached I heard a loud snap. I immediately knew it was bad. I talked to my coach and ended up going home early.

    About four days after my injury I went to the doctor. Going in I was expecting them to say I needed about a week off and a pulley splint. The news they told me was absolutely not what I wanted to hear. The doctor told me I would not be able to climb at all for the next 6-8 weeks. I felt useless as soon as I heard what she said. I texted my girlfriend, Alice, and my climbing best friend, Zoltàn He told me I would be fine and that I needed to just wait it out. I decided to go to the next practice just to see what my coaches wanted. I left early yet again because I felt bad watching all my team mates climb. I came to the next practice in hopes I would feel better and maybe be able to do something. I ended up watching YouTube for the next 3 hours. But finally at the last Monday practice I got to get some training in.

    I started with my own personal warm-up that I had to change because of my injury. I did some band stretches and then got onto the mat for some passive mobility. I did mobility for about 30 mins until the rest of the team showed up. It was a lead day and everyone was disappointed they had to do lead but I was disappointed I couldn't do lead. Paulo, Drake, and Ryan (My coaches) made a plan for me. I started with 30 mins of agility ladder consisting of 3 sets of 5 different exercises. I then went into about two hours of slab foot work using just my left thumb/palm and my right hand. After the two hours were over it was time for the workout. The workout was full body AMRAP. I had to skip a few of the exercises for obvious reasons. I did half the sets then did some cardio. That was a full practice. I felt very accomplished after and realized that I would still be able to train even without being able to climb. 

    Although recovery is a hard place to be at while trying to progress in your climbing journey, it is essential in becoming a better climber. It tests your mentality towards the sport and makes you want to quit. Wanting to quit is good and bad at the same time. It could ultimately lead to you quitting which then shows the sport was not for you but it can also build up a strong mindset and make you realize how valuable the sport is to you through how you deal with the built up anger of not being able to do it. I am now at about week two of recovery and am looking forward to the progress I can make in the next two months. I hope you enjoyed and thank you for your time.

B. Smith

September 23, 2025