AN INDIRECT PATH TO FLEXIBILITY By Kristina Ciari, Membership & Communications Director, with Mercedes Pollmeier, Author & Training Coach
Merecedes Pollmeier climbing Mt. Moran in Red Rocks (above). Photo by Nathan Hadley. Playing tennis as a teenager (right). Courtesy of Mercedes Pollmeier.
B
y the time Mercedes Pollmeier arrived at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), she’d lived in Australia, China, Mauritius, and had spent considerable time in Germany with her grandma. The daughter of a German father and an Indian South African mum, Mercedes had seen a lot of the world already when a full-ride tennis scholarship brought her to the U.S. at 17. A multilingual world citizen, the starry-eyed teen had her eyes keenly set on one thing: the Olympics. Little did she know that she’d soon meet a strength coach who would forever change the course of her life. Growing up, Mercedes’s older brother was a great tennis player. She was inspired to play after watching him, and it turns out she also had a natural talent and insatiable determination. After two years at UNI, her talents caught the eyes of the Metropolitan State University of Denver and she moved west. There she met Dave Wahl, a strength coach based out of a climbing gym. While training for the Olympic Trials in tennis, Dave’s approach to movement changed her entire outlook. It ultimately inspired Mercedes to get a second degree in exercise science, then pursue a Master’s in Human Movement. Through that program she met her wife, Brenda, and together they
20
mountaineer | winter 2021
moved even further west where Mercedes ultimately became a strength coach herself. Today, Mercedes is a published author and successful online training coach specializing in training climbers to be strong, flexible, and versatile. She’s also an 8-year member of The Mountaineers. She signed up after a friend recommended our nutrition course, and continued as a volunteer for our youth programs. Through her online coaching business, Modus Athletica, Mercedes helps people develop strength and flexibility for their outdoor pursuits. “I wanted to help people realize their potential,” she says. “My primary objective as a coach is to make sure you get strong, and stay strong, for life.” Mercedes’s commitment to pushing herself extends to all parts of her life. “It’s always been my pursuit to push my performance as far as I can in the things I love, like bouldering. But this tends to spill over into other areas of my life as well: my overall health, entrepreneurship, and being a better human.” Mercedes met Maria Hines, a James Beard Award-winning chef
