Podcast

Ep. 27 - Training and Empowerment as a Female Athlete with Carolyn Parker

Aaron Gerry

on Jul 24, 2024

• 3 min read

In her 20s and 30s, Carolyn was one of the most talented all-around mountain athletes in the U.S.

🧊 About the episode

I’m sure Carolyn Parker could have become a household name if she had wanted. In her 20s and 30s, Carolyn was one of the most talented all-around mountain athletes in the U.S. — she was one of the first women to become an AMGA certified Rock Guide, climbed 5.12 trad at altitude 🧗‍♀️, went on 8,000-meter peak expeditions 🏔️, sent M8, skied 50-degree couloirrs⛷️ and regularly ran mountain ultras. Or as Sarah Hudson, our co-host for this episode puts it, “Carolyn is a boss”.

Climbing was only half the story, though. After flirting with the limelight, Carolyn found that she derived as much, if not more, satisfaction from helping others achieve their objectives as she did in accomplishing her own 🙌. As a result, climbing and guiding eventually transitioned into training and coaching. More than 35 years later, Carolyn has worked with 1,000s of athletes in the pursuit of their dreams.

In this episode, we chat about:

🧊 The life, times and challenges of being a female climber in the 90s
🧊 Choosing to stay just under the radar
🧊 Her philosophy and approach to running a coaching business
🧊 Mental and physical aspects of strength training for female athletes
🧊 How the hormonal cycle and nutrition impact athletic performance
🧊 Navigating menopause

“I have always wanted to be that drop of water that is the catalyst for positive self-change in people, whether it’s gaining confidence and courage or strength and capability—to be that drop of water and see it explode into somebody’s essence.”

🧊 Resources and links

If you’d like to learn more about Ripple Effect Athlete Training Center or coaching with Carolyn, you can visit their company website, rippleffectraining.com. To follow along with Carolyn’s latest endeavors, her IG account is @blitzkriegbarbie.

To learn more about Carolyn’s coaching journey, there is a great article on Uphill Athlete. Further, UA has a lot of useful resources for training as a female athlete, including a general overview, strength training, and hormones.

If you’d like to dive deeper, Carolyn has shared quite a few resources as well:

Books:

Dr. Stacy Sims: ROAR, Next Level
Dr. Lisa Mosconi: The Menopause Brain

Research papers:

Articles:

🧊 Credits

📸: Cover photo by Angela Hawse (@alpinist007), courtesy of Carolyn.

🙏 And a big thanks to Sarah Hudson (@sarahferocity) for joining as co-host!

Intro music by Hannah Noelle Enomoto (thanks, sis!). This episode was edited by Andrew Salomone of salomonesound.com.

🧊 Sponsors:

A huge thanks to Aniiu Gloves and Furnace Industries for supporting this show!

Aniiu Gloves: What do you get when you combine 30 years of ice climbing and product design chops? Well, if you’re into gloves you get Aniiu — a boutique climbing brand on a mission to produce the best ice climbing and drytooling gloves around. Doug, Jun, and the rest of the team spare no expense in the pursuit of durable, dextrous and waterproof. Best yet, they are made from recycled textiles — which saves waste from the landfill — and they are robustly built so they won’t end up there anytime soon. To learn more about your friend in the cold, head to aniiu.com. That is aniiu.com.

Furnace Industries: We get it, ice season never really ends… it just kinda blends between rock, plastic, and plywood until waterfalls freeze over again. No matter how you train in the off-season Furnace Industries keeps you going ‘til your next bout of screaming barfies. With their gym-safe DRY ICE Evolutions you can keep up your fitness indoors. And if you’re looking to challenge yourself on your homewall, they have the largest stock of drytooling holds in America. Check out their full lineup of ice and drytooling gear at furnace-Industries.com… where It’s Always Ice Season.