Alex Puccio doesn't need an introduction if you are a climber, but incase you aren't let's just say that she is one of the best rock climbers in the world. Not one of the best female climbers, or one of the best boulderers, but the overall best climber.

Alex is a huge role model to many people all over the world and not just climbers. Here are just a couple reasons why.

1. Her life style revolves around training

Alex is a full time professional athlete. She trains with her coach Justen Sjong everyday to improve on the mental and physical aspect of climbing. She does a lot of training on and off the wall. Ring work, hang-board work, push ups, pull ups, muscle ups, front levers, one arm pull ups etc. are all part of her daily activities. She has also recently started running more and working on her endurance. She is extremely motivated, and is relentless in her training. Alex has been asked a lot about her diet and it is quite interesting to know that she doesn't actually follow a diet. She loves sweets and eats plenty of them. Since she is not willing to change anything about her diet she just has to train harder. The only limitation she might put on eating is that she doesn't eat much gluten or dairy (besides in her desert). Some people have been critical about her dietary choices, believing that she might not have injured herself is she took better care of herself. Alex made sure to let all of her fans know that this was not the case, her BMI is perfectly normal and she is very healthy even with all the sweets she eats.

2. Even though she trains hard she manages to have fun

Although she trains very hard, Alex also makes sure to have fun. Climbing is growing as a sport, and competition climbing is becoming more and more popular but the climbing community is still very close. There is always a good ambiance in the climbing gym, which is one of the many reasons why people tend to get hooked on this sport. Climbing is a very friendly sport, we all cheer each other on, regardless of how good we are. Although there is a lot of pressure on Alex at the competitions, she is always laughing and smiling with other competitors. She loves competing and training but also makes sure to get outside a lot. To quote Alex "my passion for rocks and comps is 50/50" When climbing outside there is not a lot of pressure, and you can take as much time as you want. Here is a picture of Alex and her best friend Nina Williams just goofing around outdoors in Bishop.

3. She embraces her body

When most people look at Alex, the first thing they tend to notice is how muscular she is. To many people this is not an attractive look for a woman. Some say that she look like a man, and that it is not natural to look this way, but Alex is very proud of her body. Alex said: "Some people might say a girl having muscles is not very girly or even ugly, but I really don't care what those people think. I love the way I feel and I use to be embarrassed about my body when I was younger because It was different and I cared what others thought. I love my body and what I can do with it. I love the feeling of pushing my body to what I think is the limit and then pushing past it."

4. An inspiration to all female climbers

Alex is one of the strongest female climbers in the world, and is really pushing the limits of climbing. She is a constant finalist in world cups and belongs to a very exclusive group of girls that have climbed V14. Although she is at the top of the field in female climbing Alex does not like to compare herself just to other female climbers. She likes to be considered one of the top climbers, regardless of gender. Alex has talked about wanting to attend a competition where male and female are not in separate categories because she believes she can climb just as strong as the men, and that other women can as well.

5. as well as to all Competition Climbing

Alex Puccio has 9 national championship titles. The first time she competed in adult nationals she won and surprised everyone. Ever since that win she has been at the top of American climbing. She is also a force to be reckoned with on the international scene. She is the most accomplished American competition climber. She began climbing in 2002, and competed in her first national championships in 2006. She won that national championship and has kept winning since then. It is amazing to see someone who has been at the top of her game for such a long time, and she shows no sign of stopping soon. She has become a bit of a legends. At nationals in 2015, Alex Johnson placed second, but she said that for her she places first because no one could beat Alex Puccio anyways. She has a total of 9 national championship titles and 13 world cup medals.

6. She made a remarkable recovery from a bad injury

While Alex was warming up for qualifiers at the Vail world cup earlier this year, she fell 4feet off the ground on a dynamic movement and tore her ACL, MCL and meniscus. Here she is at the scene of the fall, the day afterwards.

She was told that she would be able to sport climb after 2-3 months, and then to begin taking falls and bouldering again after 4-6 months. Alex couldn't stay out of the gym for very long though, after 2 weeks she was back at it working on pull-up, core strength and lots of hang-board workouts.

Right after surgery she went straight to physical therapy and worked extremely hard. The same efforts she put into her training she then put into therapy.

Only 15 days after surgery she was walking without a brace or crutch. Alex said that this set back only made her want it more. It only took her 2 months to be back climbing with two feet. 7 weeks after surgery she had already climbed V10 outdoors. At that point she still couldn't fall so she really didn't have any choice but to send.

Alex's biggest accomplishment since her accident was ABS nationals last weekend. She was the nine time national champ and was aiming for her 10th. It had only been seven months since her surgery and this was her first competition since. Only a week before nationals did she start trying dynamic movements and taking big falls. This competition was a huge test for her mentally and physically. She had to take big falls and be fearless. Her competition this year was better than it had ever been. The young Meagan Mascerenas was fresh off of a world cup victory and a bronze medal at another world cup.

All six finalists climbed extremely well, especially Meagan and Alex. It was a close race between the two of them, but in the end Meagan came out with the national title. Although Alex did not get her tenth victory, she still has a lot to be extremely proud of after this comp. She climbed extremely well especially after such a traumatic accident. Her send of the third boulder really showed all of her experience and blew the crowd away.

7. She is always setting new goals and working to achieve them

Alex has always set goals for herself, as many professional athletes do. What is most inspiring about Alex is how she is able to achieve her goals or change them when they are not met. Her goal for this year was to win overall champion on the world cup circuit and to come away with her tenth nationals victory. Her knee injury was a major set back, but she was able to set new goals for herself this year, such as just being able to climb again. Her goals might not have been met this year, but it is not too late she will be able to meet them next year. Although Alex is one of the older competitors she is not ready to give up until she has reached all of her objectives. She is not ready to let the young guns take over the show.

8. She has now began sharing her passion with a new generation of climbers

Alex lives in Boulder, CO, and coaches the youth team at ABC climbing, one of the best in the country. She is a huge inspiration and role model to all of these young climbers. It is great that she is able to share her passion and all of her talent with these young kids. It is a rare opportunity that these kids have to train with someone who has so much experience competing on the national and international scene. She better watch out though because these kids are getting stronger and stronger and they are going to start beating her soon. It has actually already happen, Meagan Mascerenas is on the ABC team.

Here she (on the right is with her team when they won the national title last year.