Awesome video with a lot of great advice. Other have mentioned it but I would like to echo another massively important point. DO NOT GET INJURED. Nothing slows progress like injury and you cannot try hard and be consistent if you are injured.
100% true! This is the main point I will teach my Son and Daughter. You only get one body. I started climbing as an injured athlete, and also had to get ankle surgery a couple years into starting climbing. I can only try about 75% of my max or I have a lot of risk of injury to either my back, hamstring, or ankle. I can climb about v6, but I still would love to hit v10 one day once I can dedicate a lot of time again. My babies are 2 and 22 months, so I can only make it to the gym a couple times a week currently.
Its a good point, but if you climb long enough and hard enough you will get injured. It's a fact of life as the body ages, and you won't know your body's limits until you find them through injury. But on the upside, your injuries teach you what your body is susceptible to and what your body is resistant to. Once you know, you can tailor your training to prevent future injury and push yourself to the next level strategically.
To add to this point: While getting injured is to be avoided, it's also common. If/when you sustain an injury, it's SO important to find ways to train around it. The worst thing you can do for your recovery and you mental/physical health is spend weeks sitting around. If you hurt your hand, it's a good time to work on your core, your leg strength, your 1 armed lockoffs, etc. There's almost always something you can do to keep progressing.
Yeah, especially when it's something intensive like dyno training, you have to go really slow. Especially when you are not 20. And when you are 30+ then just ... choose a religion and start praying, I guess. I was away for a little while because I had a baby and coming back to the sport I just injured my wrist simply by trying to go from 2 training sessions per week back to 3 training sessions per week.
That's part of climbing intelligently. Nothing will slow your progress more than getting injured. If you can't safely work on something on the wall because it's an injury risk, work on it off the wall to improve to the point you can start safely working it while climbing.
@@anttuuD 2 factors that will help you not getting injured before climbing : 1. don't climb a route that you know will engage muscles you did not properly train before, 2. dont do a move if you will engage muscles you didnt properly warm up. Every time I injured myself (mostly back muscles or core muscles while doing hard bouldering moves) it is etiher because I rushed my warm up or didnt listen to my body.
I'm a sports psychologist in Brazil. Everything, I mean, EVERYTHING that you said is what I try to work with newbie athletes and everyone have a hard time with consistency. It's nice seeing someone who has mastered this. Have fun in your journey.
This is mental, goes to show how 14 years of any sports will massively help you in any other sport. Although soccer and climbing may seem unrelated, the amount of base fitness, endurance, injury prevention, training-mentality you were able to build was, IMO, the biggest factor in your progression. Anyways, congrats dude !
I remember Caleb showing up one time and flashing my v6 project after climbing for like 6 months or something. Absolutely absurd talent and hard work: wishing nothing but the best for you
They’re are plenty of people who are talented or have freak strength, not all of them climb v13. it’s more that he dedicated so much time into climbing.
Great video. Could you talk more about your finger strength progression? I think raw crimp strength is huge limiting factor for a lot of climbers who feel comfortable projecting V7-V9 indoors but gravitate towards slopey or shoudler-y boulders; would be interested in hearing about how you structured your hangboard/campus/etc training for fingers
I would love to know as well however...from what I've seen online and in most gyms the vast majority of climbers are waaaay stronger than they need to be to climb the grades they are struggling on.
Hugely inspiring insight. I started climbing about 2 years ago and just recently broke into the v8 range, but my goal is to eventually be a double digit climber. There is one climb called Kintsugi which is a v14/15 out in Nevada I really want to send someday so just hearing that you reached v13 in 4 years just gave me a ton of confidence to train harder and hit it someday. Also inspiring to hear this coming from a brotha. Appreciate you fam
Awesome vid, so real. The point you mentioned at the end about having the opportunity to climb with stronger climbers is HUGE. My first 8 years of climbing, I was the strongest in my crew, so I maxed at 5.11 and v5. Once I started climbing with stronger climbers, they pushed me and showed me the methods to get much better at climbing. From then its been steady progress for the last 10 years minus injuries that come over time.
Great video. I've been climbing for 15 years but only recently noticed how big a weakness my flexibility is. I'm doing some of the stretching exercises in Lattice's recent video about the "vacuum technique" and I think it will make a big difference for me. I'd also love to hear more about what you think intelligence looks like in climbing.
Always fascinating to hear how folks attain rapid "mastery" (if such a thing exists). Thank you for the breakdown, man. Particularly, naming how you troubleshoot your progression. Some of these things I've picked up over the course of many years climbing, but a good chunk of what you recommended was new to me - including how you think about your learning. Keep it up
And never pushing past your limit, I did that and it has resulted in me tearing my shoulders and popping a few A4 and A5 pulleys. Understanding your body's limits also helps. That's what i've noticed this year after healing from my injuries, when i stop when I can tell I can't do anymore, I prgress a lot faster instead of exhausting myself too much
Totally agree with you - particularly #1. Beating your head against the wall with poor technique is a losing game. The goal should be first and foremost to make things easy, not "get strong enough". This has absolutely been my #1 lesson as well.
good advice. Your kind of progression is still quite rare and I doubt anyone watching this video would be able to progress to V13 in 4 years, but this advice is still helpful to get them to achieve their potential. Anecdotally, you're the second person I've heard of that played Soccer at a high level and transitioned to climbing at a high level. There's something to be said for training like an athlete for many, many, years that can help you progress faster than the average person like me who grew up playing video-games rather than sports.
Maybe I’ll be the one to do it. I was a D1 wrestler for 4 years and when I tried climbing, I couldn’t climb anything harder than V2. However, I dedicated myself and climbed outdoor V7 after my first year of climbing and became a route setter to improve on my climbing movement literacy. Being surrounded by climbers far better and stronger certainly serves as a great catalyst for growth!
Hey, I have also played soccer/football all my life and has been my main sport I’ve enjoyed and I still really enjoy playing it. I also started weightlifting around age 16 and did calisthenics/powerlifting, got to a decent level in them both but now I’m trying out bouldering. I’ve been able to climb V4 without knowing much proper technique, mainly big juggy powerful moves that require a lot of upper body strength. I’m starting to properly train fingerboarding and learning proper technique, my goal is V8 but who knows if I will stop there, normally I just go until I stop enjoying a sport. Big love and huge congrats on sending V13, truly inspirational 🙏
Dope video, love the conversational feel. Got my sub ❤️ hopefully the RUclips things blows up for you! If your dedicated enough to put in the work for V13 in 4 years!!!! Your gunna crush the content world! Look forward to more vids
wow same here been playin soccer all my life and now switched over the climbing 2 years ago. Hoping one day I can eventually send v10! Great video keep it up.
I come from an elite gymnastics background and wasn't too far behind you in hitting those hard double-digit boulders. I wouldn't call myself a genetically gifted or strong climber by any means! One huge factor many folks overlook when it comes to doing harder stuff outdoors is simply having easier access to outdoor climbing. Of course, not everyone is able to make this happen, but being able to control the logistics factor makes a huge difference especially when you choose to project something 15 minutes from home and you can go 4 times a week versus 1 flight across the world for a few days per year!
Intelligence in climbing, if you understand your weakness, you can be inteligent in climbing, both in training and sending your climbs (utililising your strengths)
interesting vid, thank you for it. i'm almost a year in and have got to around v5 - but have my first proper finger injury which has put me out, so i'm rehabbing that and will return to climbing in due time. It would be interesting to hear about your experience with injury, and how you built up to doing so much volume, and what challenges were faced. 4 - 5 sessions every week is a lot, some more insight on this would be appreciated. Great effort on v13 and I agree with all the points you made.
Great video! As another poster mentioned, starting to climb while still in your athletic prime is certainly a factor. I started in my mid-40's and I am not sure if it is realistic to progress to v13 in four years and given the strain that bouldering incurs, most adults in my age category (now 50) can't handle the beating one takes to boulder that hard. That being said, from a sport climbing perspective, I do believe those in my age bracket can push into the 5.12 range within the four year time frame, with the same dedication and focus that you mention. Keep it up, my man! Hopefully v14 is not far off for you.
@@Aaron-xq6hv Agreed, but context is important. I would wager that the majority of those climbers spent a good deal of their lives climbing. Late bloomers, like myself, are not going to climb 5.14 without a greater commitment.
@@schulme123 It's hard to say, and not all time spent climbing is equal. I've spent a lot of time on junk mileage that may be technically climbing but didn't really do anything to get me better. But beyond that, many of those people climbed their hardest grade, at that age. Chuck Odette and his wife are a good example. Regardless of all of that though, I would say there's a massive difference between climbing 5.12 and 5.14. 5.12, (and even 5.13) is very achievable and in many cases is more about endurance than anything, which can be increased the older you get.
Ive been climbing for just over a year now, and i feel kinda stuck, i sent my first v6 after 10 months and now i struggle to do another one, great video gave me motivation to keep going, i'll try to care more about my weaknesses and work on them
V6 in under a year is super awesome! I know tons of people who have been climbing for YEARS and struggle with V5. Also remember grading is subjective and changes on a gym to gym basis. V6 in your gym might be V7 or even V8 in another. Stay motivated!
That’s awesome! V6 in under year is impressive. Progression doesn’t always feel linear but just trust the process. Sometimes I think I’m regressing but then I’ll have a climbing day where I see all the gains. Eventually it all pays off
Good stuff man. I’m on the road to climbing v9 by college (indoor). I’m a senior in high school and started climbing around 8 months ago. Just got my first v8 (indoor) a few days ago and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve definitely done some of the things said in the vid so that’s cool to see.
The sad thing is though my climbing shoes (solution comp) we’re stollen today so I don’t know the next time I’ll be able to climb. Which sucks because I’ve been constantly at the gym 4 days a week.😢
Hey man, love to see the journey here and congratulations on V13! Im personally plateauing at V6 right now, working on sending my first V7. definitely going to take these pointers with me to the Gym. One question i have is what kind of work outside of the gym do you do to help you in the gym? do you create workouts that aim to make you a better climber? do you do yoga? those kind of things. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Again, congratulations on the V13!
I think that most beginners (and with beginners I mean people who are climbing up to 2 years) would never be able to take 4-5 Sessions a week. I started to do this many sessions when I was already climbing for 5 years and needed to back down after 2 month because I had 2 tweeky, overtrained fingers and a golfer elbow (which has never gone since than). What I mean is, that the pure volume you can put in is highly determined by your genetics. Anyways I agree with all of your points and just wanted to add that.
My biggest problem is that I'm short AND bad a dynos. I can't do a lot about my height but at least I can practice dynamic movements to "get around" that issue
Why have I never seen your channel????? I’m a climber too!!!! Nowhere near as good and I prefer sport climbing but niiiice. Glad I ran across your channel
great video, but I think you forgot the fifth and maybe the most important point : not getting injured. Even though some people seem to be immune to it, it's one of the key factors of mid-long term progress. btw, what exactly did you meant by intelligence in climbing ? I can defintely see in soccer with placement on the field etc, but did you meant like technique on the wall, finding the right beta or even picking the right projects ?
Intelligence in climbing is being mindful and extremely aware while climbing and using that to improve yourself. If you fall you should be able to pinpoint exactly what caused it. You can then take this information and decide how to best move forwards. Do you need to try entirely different beta? Do you need to have better body tension? A slightly different hip position? More flexibility? Better breathing? Just try harder? You just find the move awkward? If so why? You should always be striving to understand exactly what causes you to fall and be able to take that information to improve yourself, and that answer is very very very rarely going to be "I'm just not strong enough".
Great video. I'm really curious how you managed the workload you gave your fingers, how did you increase volume over time? How different were your 4-5 sessions a week in terms of intensity, and how much has that changed since you started?
Some people are just genetically gifted. When it comes to tendons and connective tissues there’s not a lot you can do to drastically improve recovery. Personally I’ve been blessed with adaptive tendons but really sensitive joints. So I have strong fingers and bad ROM. I know people that have been climbing moderately for years and years and still have tweaky fingers even with great technique (sport and multi pitch climbers)
I should also mention that finger strength and resistance are not the same thing. I meant to say I have very resistant fingers that can take a lot of abuse. However your flexors can be strong as hell but your tendons can remain weak and you get injuries like tears.
Great work mate. Quick question. Aidan Roberts said something like Hip flexibility > shoulder strenght > finger strength. In terms of prioritization. Have you been working specificly on flexibility to reach v13? Or did you rather work on your fingers?
Hey man, you are insane! good job putting in all that work! What did your progression look like? As in, roughly what grades did you climb at the end of every climbing year?
I think my progression after year one (around v5) was roughly 2-3 grades a year. Obviously that progression isn’t sustainable and eventually tapers off. Now, I’d be happy if I saw a 1 grade progression every 1-2 years.
I am on track to do a V10 after a little over 3 years climbing (got the boulder in 3 parts). I am wondering what your fitness was like when you started and how old are you? I struggle to climb harder more than three times a week because I need to recover and I feel like this is preventing me from getting more time in. (In in my 30s)
When I started climbing I had been very active my whole life and already had experience with things like calisthenics which helped for sure. It’s definitely hard to train hard more than three times a week. What had really helped me is going through volume and power endurance phases every so often which increases your bodies work capacity.
Hey man ! Loved the video and the tips you gave us, I have some questions and it would be amazing to get some answers from you ! So I have been climbing for 1 year and 8 months, I currently have done 4 V9's, I have been dedicating everything to climbing I quit my job as a developer to work at a climbing gym my life revolves around climbing, I want to get better, I film myself failing study my technique and I want to get better, better climbers than me, like you are an invaluable ressources and I want to learn from you: What was your progression like ? where were you after 2 years of climbing ? Could we get an idea of how strong your fingers are ? what is your weighted dead hang max on 20mm (5-7sec) ? What are the biggest physical factors that allowed you to climb V13 ? finger ? shoulders ? What is you weighted 1 rep max pull up ? how much do you weight ? Did you train or just climb ? what kind of training did you do ? You said you went to the gym 4-5 times a week how long were your sessions ? Have you had any injuries over the years ? Did you climb mostly indoors or outdoors ? It would be amazing if you could answer some of these questions and add whatever advice you feel like sharing, I am listening! Thanks for the great content and thanks in advance for your answers🙏 @CalebRobinson @_calebrobinsonn
trying to break into v10. you mention not knowing how to engage core strength on the wall, which I've identified as one of my weaknesses. it's hard for me to engage my glutes and core - I feel like I just don't know how to properly engage them. How'd you train this?
It only makes sense to train so called "core", by actually climbing hard problems, that you can't send using mostly upper body strength. Then, you don't need to "engage core", but to cooridinate your body to actually execute a move. If you struggle do it, you'll eventually learn to "engage core" in the right way.
I think the most important thing about this is just applying more focus to your core while you are climbing. Next time you try a climb that is steep and requires a lot of core strength just think about pushing / pulling through your feet as hard as you can.
Start climbing in your athletic prime and dedicate yourself...roll credits. Super big congrats all the same. Impressive and takes a lot of focus and effort.
Great vid, I really wonder what your life looked like outside of climbing though. Chances are you didn’t really have one because you dedicated it to climbing for 4 years (sounds pretty good tbh, lol). Still very impressive and I would love to hear you talk about the specific training you do and your schedule in general. I imagine you still did work on your “rest days” for example ?
Climbing / life balance is always hard lol. I actually find that making sure I’m doing other stuff with my life really helps keep my psyched. So when I’m not climbing I’m generally trying to do something else that fulfills me like hanging with friends or working on creative projects.
Do climbs without cutting feet ever. Straight arms, push hard through your toes on every foot placement, no lazy butt (hump the wall). Look hands but think feet on every move.
let's talk for a second about the myth of the one arm pull up, which i think it is very confusing. one thing is not being able to do one, another thing is not having tried. I think a climber who can send V13 and claims to not be able to do one arm pull up falls into the 2nd group. in fact i believe it is not possible to send v13s if you are not able to pull all your weight on one arm. unless we are talking about some very specific/vertical/crimps only v13, which means that the climber in question is extremely strong at fingers and could probably do v15 if able to do one arm pull up. one arm pull up is not that difficult exercise, I think on most of the v8s you already need that level of strength
You definitely don't need to be able to do a one armer to climb 99% of V8 boulder problems. You sound biased by your own personal experience since I know plenty of v11+ climbers who genuinely cannot do a one arm pullup.
@@babsds0 i might be biased, but i don't understand how can someone do a V11 without being able to do a one arm pull up. I'm not talking about a perfect one armer starting from totally relaxed to totally closed, but something in the middle... i understand you can use different forces to go to the next hold (CORE, good use of feet, etc) but i genuinely don't understand how you can pull hard on distant holds without strength.. it just doesnt make sense to me. famous case is adam ondra claiming not being strong when he was doing 9a and V15: what does it mean?? just nonsense. one real example: i know girls who are fairly strong in their arms and they are not even able to do one pull up. the problem is they don't know how it's done, lacking technique, not strength
What intelligence in climbing suppose to mean? Obvious answer is comming out with the beta, but for most cases, which are projects and not competitions, usually couple of people can just share their beta. What I mean is, without any more examples, this advice is barely useful to anyone.
Climb consciously. When you fall off a move, think of why it happened. You have to come up with an answer other than "I wasn't strong enough". Don't allow yourself to make the same mistake twice.
Aren’t you one of the guys that was in the Chris sharma TV show, pretty sure it was called “the climb” or something. Well done on your first V13 Btw, that’s huge.
Awesome video with a lot of great advice. Other have mentioned it but I would like to echo another massively important point. DO NOT GET INJURED. Nothing slows progress like injury and you cannot try hard and be consistent if you are injured.
100% true! This is the main point I will teach my Son and Daughter. You only get one body. I started climbing as an injured athlete, and also had to get ankle surgery a couple years into starting climbing. I can only try about 75% of my max or I have a lot of risk of injury to either my back, hamstring, or ankle. I can climb about v6, but I still would love to hit v10 one day once I can dedicate a lot of time again. My babies are 2 and 22 months, so I can only make it to the gym a couple times a week currently.
Its a good point, but if you climb long enough and hard enough you will get injured. It's a fact of life as the body ages, and you won't know your body's limits until you find them through injury. But on the upside, your injuries teach you what your body is susceptible to and what your body is resistant to. Once you know, you can tailor your training to prevent future injury and push yourself to the next level strategically.
To add to this point: While getting injured is to be avoided, it's also common. If/when you sustain an injury, it's SO important to find ways to train around it. The worst thing you can do for your recovery and you mental/physical health is spend weeks sitting around. If you hurt your hand, it's a good time to work on your core, your leg strength, your 1 armed lockoffs, etc. There's almost always something you can do to keep progressing.
I went down a path of pursuing my weaknesses and started racking up injuries
Yeah, definitely best way to get stronger fast is to be lucky not to get injured.
Same, the hardest I try, the injured I get
Yeah, especially when it's something intensive like dyno training, you have to go really slow. Especially when you are not 20. And when you are 30+ then just ... choose a religion and start praying, I guess. I was away for a little while because I had a baby and coming back to the sport I just injured my wrist simply by trying to go from 2 training sessions per week back to 3 training sessions per week.
That's part of climbing intelligently. Nothing will slow your progress more than getting injured. If you can't safely work on something on the wall because it's an injury risk, work on it off the wall to improve to the point you can start safely working it while climbing.
@@anttuuD 2 factors that will help you not getting injured before climbing :
1. don't climb a route that you know will engage muscles you did not properly train before,
2. dont do a move if you will engage muscles you didnt properly warm up.
Every time I injured myself (mostly back muscles or core muscles while doing hard bouldering moves) it is etiher because I rushed my warm up or didnt listen to my body.
I'm a sports psychologist in Brazil. Everything, I mean, EVERYTHING that you said is what I try to work with newbie athletes and everyone have a hard time with consistency.
It's nice seeing someone who has mastered this.
Have fun in your journey.
Consistency really is the back bone of any good training plan not matter the sport!
@@_calebrobinsonn If you want any help or advices in this area, I'm glad to help.
Can even go further and extend that to "consistency is the back bone to progress in anything"
This is mental, goes to show how 14 years of any sports will massively help you in any other sport. Although soccer and climbing may seem unrelated, the amount of base fitness, endurance, injury prevention, training-mentality you were able to build was, IMO, the biggest factor in your progression. Anyways, congrats dude !
I remember Caleb showing up one time and flashing my v6 project after climbing for like 6 months or something. Absolutely absurd talent and hard work: wishing nothing but the best for you
Avoiding injury is a huge one
He must just be really talented and have freak strength
They’re are plenty of people who are talented or have freak strength, not all of them climb v13. it’s more that he dedicated so much time into climbing.
@@ml-bk9rz whoooooooooooshhhhhhhhhh
This is a really well written and presented nice job!
Great video. Could you talk more about your finger strength progression? I think raw crimp strength is huge limiting factor for a lot of climbers who feel comfortable projecting V7-V9 indoors but gravitate towards slopey or shoudler-y boulders; would be interested in hearing about how you structured your hangboard/campus/etc training for fingers
I would love to know as well however...from what I've seen online and in most gyms the vast majority of climbers are waaaay stronger than they need to be to climb the grades they are struggling on.
Hugely inspiring insight. I started climbing about 2 years ago and just recently broke into the v8 range, but my goal is to eventually be a double digit climber. There is one climb called Kintsugi which is a v14/15 out in Nevada I really want to send someday so just hearing that you reached v13 in 4 years just gave me a ton of confidence to train harder and hit it someday. Also inspiring to hear this coming from a brotha. Appreciate you fam
Dude hell yeah! Great progress. Kintsugi is a dream line. Would love to climb it one day
Awesome vid, so real. The point you mentioned at the end about having the opportunity to climb with stronger climbers is HUGE. My first 8 years of climbing, I was the strongest in my crew, so I maxed at 5.11 and v5. Once I started climbing with stronger climbers, they pushed me and showed me the methods to get much better at climbing. From then its been steady progress for the last 10 years minus injuries that come over time.
Great vid not just in terms of practical advice, but in terms of pace and delivery and mood and everything else. Thanks!
I like how you relate point 3 back to point 2. The idea of tryinghard boulders to reverse engineer strengths and weaknesses. Good stuff
Amazing video! You’re incredibly self aware and love how you got straight to the point.
Great video. I've been climbing for 15 years but only recently noticed how big a weakness my flexibility is. I'm doing some of the stretching exercises in Lattice's recent video about the "vacuum technique" and I think it will make a big difference for me. I'd also love to hear more about what you think intelligence looks like in climbing.
Always fascinating to hear how folks attain rapid "mastery" (if such a thing exists).
Thank you for the breakdown, man. Particularly, naming how you troubleshoot your progression. Some of these things I've picked up over the course of many years climbing, but a good chunk of what you recommended was new to me - including how you think about your learning. Keep it up
And never pushing past your limit, I did that and it has resulted in me tearing my shoulders and popping a few A4 and A5 pulleys. Understanding your body's limits also helps. That's what i've noticed this year after healing from my injuries, when i stop when I can tell I can't do anymore, I prgress a lot faster instead of exhausting myself too much
Totally agree with you - particularly #1. Beating your head against the wall with poor technique is a losing game. The goal should be first and foremost to make things easy, not "get strong enough". This has absolutely been my #1 lesson as well.
good advice. Your kind of progression is still quite rare and I doubt anyone watching this video would be able to progress to V13 in 4 years, but this advice is still helpful to get them to achieve their potential.
Anecdotally, you're the second person I've heard of that played Soccer at a high level and transitioned to climbing at a high level. There's something to be said for training like an athlete for many, many, years that can help you progress faster than the average person like me who grew up playing video-games rather than sports.
Maybe I’ll be the one to do it. I was a D1 wrestler for 4 years and when I tried climbing, I couldn’t climb anything harder than V2. However, I dedicated myself and climbed outdoor V7 after my first year of climbing and became a route setter to improve on my climbing movement literacy. Being surrounded by climbers far better and stronger certainly serves as a great catalyst for growth!
I listened to your podcast on the Nugget! I subscribed! Watching your vid now.
Im ngl, at first I thought this was a troll but after the first video of you climbing+the serious tone I smashed the sub button.
Hey, I have also played soccer/football all my life and has been my main sport I’ve enjoyed and I still really enjoy playing it. I also started weightlifting around age 16 and did calisthenics/powerlifting, got to a decent level in them both but now I’m trying out bouldering. I’ve been able to climb V4 without knowing much proper technique, mainly big juggy powerful moves that require a lot of upper body strength. I’m starting to properly train fingerboarding and learning proper technique, my goal is V8 but who knows if I will stop there, normally I just go until I stop enjoying a sport. Big love and huge congrats on sending V13, truly inspirational 🙏
Dope video, love the conversational feel. Got my sub ❤️ hopefully the RUclips things blows up for you! If your dedicated enough to put in the work for V13 in 4 years!!!! Your gunna crush the content world! Look forward to more vids
Great video! You will have 50 - 100k subscribers in no time!
Great vid man. Really solid advice. Thanks :)
Really great advices. Lots of experience on thinking about stuff, love that 😅 subscribed
wow same here been playin soccer all my life and now switched over the climbing 2 years ago. Hoping one day I can eventually send v10! Great video keep it up.
I come from an elite gymnastics background and wasn't too far behind you in hitting those hard double-digit boulders. I wouldn't call myself a genetically gifted or strong climber by any means! One huge factor many folks overlook when it comes to doing harder stuff outdoors is simply having easier access to outdoor climbing. Of course, not everyone is able to make this happen, but being able to control the logistics factor makes a huge difference especially when you choose to project something 15 minutes from home and you can go 4 times a week versus 1 flight across the world for a few days per year!
great video! love the topic you covered, would love a follow up/deeper discussion on intelligence
Well put thank you!
Bro who are you this content is high quality. Great work, I wish you great success, my friend.
I appreciate it!
Intelligence in climbing, if you understand your weakness, you can be inteligent in climbing, both in training and sending your climbs (utililising your strengths)
Awesome information. Thank you! Subscribed.
interesting vid, thank you for it. i'm almost a year in and have got to around v5 - but have my first proper finger injury which has put me out, so i'm rehabbing that and will return to climbing in due time. It would be interesting to hear about your experience with injury, and how you built up to doing so much volume, and what challenges were faced. 4 - 5 sessions every week is a lot, some more insight on this would be appreciated. Great effort on v13 and I agree with all the points you made.
please make a video explaining how your core strength got better on the wall! It's my weakness and I have no idea how to fix it
Great video! As another poster mentioned, starting to climb while still in your athletic prime is certainly a factor. I started in my mid-40's and I am not sure if it is realistic to progress to v13 in four years and given the strain that bouldering incurs, most adults in my age category (now 50) can't handle the beating one takes to boulder that hard. That being said, from a sport climbing perspective, I do believe those in my age bracket can push into the 5.12 range within the four year time frame, with the same dedication and focus that you mention.
Keep it up, my man! Hopefully v14 is not far off for you.
I think 5.12 and even harder is definitly obtainable for people in your age bracket. Just keep up the hard work
@@_calebrobinsonnThanks!
People in their 50s have sent 5.14, so 5.12 is most definitely doable.
@@Aaron-xq6hv Agreed, but context is important. I would wager that the majority of those climbers spent a good deal of their lives climbing. Late bloomers, like myself, are not going to climb 5.14 without a greater commitment.
@@schulme123 It's hard to say, and not all time spent climbing is equal. I've spent a lot of time on junk mileage that may be technically climbing but didn't really do anything to get me better.
But beyond that, many of those people climbed their hardest grade, at that age. Chuck Odette and his wife are a good example.
Regardless of all of that though, I would say there's a massive difference between climbing 5.12 and 5.14. 5.12, (and even 5.13) is very achievable and in many cases is more about endurance than anything, which can be increased the older you get.
hopefully I'll do the same, proj gets a seasonal close in the winter starting november tho so pressure's on!
Thank you.
Ive been climbing for just over a year now, and i feel kinda stuck, i sent my first v6 after 10 months and now i struggle to do another one, great video gave me motivation to keep going, i'll try to care more about my weaknesses and work on them
v6 after 10 months is really good bro keep it up
V6 in under a year is super awesome! I know tons of people who have been climbing for YEARS and struggle with V5. Also remember grading is subjective and changes on a gym to gym basis. V6 in your gym might be V7 or even V8 in another. Stay motivated!
That’s awesome! V6 in under year is impressive. Progression doesn’t always feel linear but just trust the process. Sometimes I think I’m regressing but then I’ll have a climbing day where I see all the gains. Eventually it all pays off
climbing a v13 in 4 years isn't too bad, but not sure it's quite as impressive as me climbing half that grade after four times as much time
Great vid
Good stuff man. I’m on the road to climbing v9 by college (indoor). I’m a senior in high school and started climbing around 8 months ago. Just got my first v8 (indoor) a few days ago and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve definitely done some of the things said in the vid so that’s cool to see.
The sad thing is though my climbing shoes (solution comp) we’re stollen today so I don’t know the next time I’ll be able to climb. Which sucks because I’ve been constantly at the gym 4 days a week.😢
@@elijahdavey7115 i have a pair of size 42 scarpa vsr for only 130 if ur intersted. never climbed with them bc they didnt fit my foot
W, Thanks for sharing some knowledge
Hey man, love to see the journey here and congratulations on V13!
Im personally plateauing at V6 right now, working on sending my first V7. definitely going to take these pointers with me to the Gym.
One question i have is what kind of work outside of the gym do you do to help you in the gym? do you create workouts that aim to make you a better climber? do you do yoga? those kind of things. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Again, congratulations on the V13!
I think that most beginners (and with beginners I mean people who are climbing up to 2 years) would never be able to take 4-5 Sessions a week. I started to do this many sessions when I was already climbing for 5 years and needed to back down after 2 month because I had 2 tweeky, overtrained fingers and a golfer elbow (which has never gone since than). What I mean is, that the pure volume you can put in is highly determined by your genetics.
Anyways I agree with all of your points and just wanted to add that.
My biggest problem is that I'm short AND bad a dynos. I can't do a lot about my height but at least I can practice dynamic movements to "get around" that issue
Awesome vid! I resonate a lot with what you were saying about core strength. Any exercises you’d recommend that could help?
What did you do differently regarding having a strong core but improving core while climbing?
Why have I never seen your channel????? I’m a climber too!!!! Nowhere near as good and I prefer sport climbing but niiiice. Glad I ran across your channel
My talent got me to a v3-4
In over four months of climbing once a week and some hangboarding.
I’m confident to climb a crimpy v4
great video, but I think you forgot the fifth and maybe the most important point : not getting injured. Even though some people seem to be immune to it, it's one of the key factors of mid-long term progress. btw, what exactly did you meant by intelligence in climbing ? I can defintely see in soccer with placement on the field etc, but did you meant like technique on the wall, finding the right beta or even picking the right projects ?
Intelligence in climbing is being mindful and extremely aware while climbing and using that to improve yourself. If you fall you should be able to pinpoint exactly what caused it. You can then take this information and decide how to best move forwards. Do you need to try entirely different beta? Do you need to have better body tension? A slightly different hip position? More flexibility? Better breathing? Just try harder? You just find the move awkward? If so why?
You should always be striving to understand exactly what causes you to fall and be able to take that information to improve yourself, and that answer is very very very rarely going to be "I'm just not strong enough".
@@ComputerManDanMiller okay i see now, thank you so much !
What specific training did you do for finger strength? I’m guessing hangboardjng but what protocols and how often etc? Thanks😊
awesome video! and awesome progression as well, congrats! subbed, looking forward to more!
climbing convos in a smino sweater? you got my like.
This is the only comment I care about
Great video. I'm really curious how you managed the workload you gave your fingers, how did you increase volume over time? How different were your 4-5 sessions a week in terms of intensity, and how much has that changed since you started?
Some people are just genetically gifted. When it comes to tendons and connective tissues there’s not a lot you can do to drastically improve recovery. Personally I’ve been blessed with adaptive tendons but really sensitive joints. So I have strong fingers and bad ROM. I know people that have been climbing moderately for years and years and still have tweaky fingers even with great technique (sport and multi pitch climbers)
I should also mention that finger strength and resistance are not the same thing. I meant to say I have very resistant fingers that can take a lot of abuse. However your flexors can be strong as hell but your tendons can remain weak and you get injuries like tears.
Great work mate. Quick question. Aidan Roberts said something like Hip flexibility > shoulder strenght > finger strength. In terms of prioritization. Have you been working specificly on flexibility to reach v13? Or did you rather work on your fingers?
Flexibility is incredibly overlooked by so many intermediate climbers.
Hey man, you are insane! good job putting in all that work! What did your progression look like? As in, roughly what grades did you climb at the end of every climbing year?
I think my progression after year one (around v5) was roughly 2-3 grades a year. Obviously that progression isn’t sustainable and eventually tapers off. Now, I’d be happy if I saw a 1 grade progression every 1-2 years.
I am on track to do a V10 after a little over 3 years climbing (got the boulder in 3 parts). I am wondering what your fitness was like when you started and how old are you? I struggle to climb harder more than three times a week because I need to recover and I feel like this is preventing me from getting more time in. (In in my 30s)
When I started climbing I had been very active my whole life and already had experience with things like calisthenics which helped for sure. It’s definitely hard to train hard more than three times a week. What had really helped me is going through volume and power endurance phases every so often which increases your bodies work capacity.
Hey man ! Loved the video and the tips you gave us, I have some questions and it would be amazing to get some answers from you !
So I have been climbing for 1 year and 8 months, I currently have done 4 V9's, I have been dedicating everything to climbing I quit my job as a developer to work at a climbing gym my life revolves around climbing, I want to get better, I film myself failing study my technique and I want to get better, better climbers than me, like you are an invaluable ressources and I want to learn from you:
What was your progression like ? where were you after 2 years of climbing ?
Could we get an idea of how strong your fingers are ? what is your weighted dead hang max on 20mm (5-7sec) ?
What are the biggest physical factors that allowed you to climb V13 ? finger ? shoulders ?
What is you weighted 1 rep max pull up ? how much do you weight ?
Did you train or just climb ? what kind of training did you do ?
You said you went to the gym 4-5 times a week how long were your sessions ?
Have you had any injuries over the years ?
Did you climb mostly indoors or outdoors ?
It would be amazing if you could answer some of these questions and add whatever advice you feel like sharing, I am listening!
Thanks for the great content and thanks in advance for your answers🙏
@CalebRobinson @_calebrobinsonn
When you say becoming an intelligent climber, what do you mean by that?
what's the tape you put on your shoulder?
kinesthesiology tape from KT tape
trying to break into v10. you mention not knowing how to engage core strength on the wall, which I've identified as one of my weaknesses. it's hard for me to engage my glutes and core - I feel like I just don't know how to properly engage them. How'd you train this?
It only makes sense to train so called "core", by actually climbing hard problems, that you can't send using mostly upper body strength. Then, you don't need to "engage core", but to cooridinate your body to actually execute a move. If you struggle do it, you'll eventually learn to "engage core" in the right way.
I think the most important thing about this is just applying more focus to your core while you are climbing. Next time you try a climb that is steep and requires a lot of core strength just think about pushing / pulling through your feet as hard as you can.
Start climbing in your athletic prime and dedicate yourself...roll credits. Super big congrats all the same. Impressive and takes a lot of focus and effort.
What are some examples of being an intelligent climber?
Great vid, I really wonder what your life looked like outside of climbing though. Chances are you didn’t really have one because you dedicated it to climbing for 4 years (sounds pretty good tbh, lol).
Still very impressive and I would love to hear you talk about the specific training you do and your schedule in general. I imagine you still did work on your “rest days” for example ?
Climbing / life balance is always hard lol. I actually find that making sure I’m doing other stuff with my life really helps keep my psyched. So when I’m not climbing I’m generally trying to do something else that fulfills me like hanging with friends or working on creative projects.
How were you able to train hard + frequently and avoid injury?
Rest and do a lot of prehab work like stretching, mobility, and a lot of antagonist training.
Genetics
Can you speak a little more about properly using your core on the wall? How’d you train your core to engage it properly while on the wall?
Do climbs without cutting feet ever. Straight arms, push hard through your toes on every foot placement, no lazy butt (hump the wall). Look hands but think feet on every move.
let's talk for a second about the myth of the one arm pull up, which i think it is very confusing. one thing is not being able to do one, another thing is not having tried. I think a climber who can send V13 and claims to not be able to do one arm pull up falls into the 2nd group. in fact i believe it is not possible to send v13s if you are not able to pull all your weight on one arm. unless we are talking about some very specific/vertical/crimps only v13, which means that the climber in question is extremely strong at fingers and could probably do v15 if able to do one arm pull up.
one arm pull up is not that difficult exercise, I think on most of the v8s you already need that level of strength
You definitely don't need to be able to do a one armer to climb 99% of V8 boulder problems. You sound biased by your own personal experience since I know plenty of v11+ climbers who genuinely cannot do a one arm pullup.
@@babsds0 i might be biased, but i don't understand how can someone do a V11 without being able to do a one arm pull up. I'm not talking about a perfect one armer starting from totally relaxed to totally closed, but something in the middle... i understand you can use different forces to go to the next hold (CORE, good use of feet, etc) but i genuinely don't understand how you can pull hard on distant holds without strength.. it just doesnt make sense to me. famous case is adam ondra claiming not being strong when he was doing 9a and V15: what does it mean?? just nonsense. one real example: i know girls who are fairly strong in their arms and they are not even able to do one pull up. the problem is they don't know how it's done, lacking technique, not strength
What intelligence in climbing suppose to mean? Obvious answer is comming out with the beta, but for most cases, which are projects and not competitions, usually couple of people can just share their beta. What I mean is, without any more examples, this advice is barely useful to anyone.
Climb consciously. When you fall off a move, think of why it happened. You have to come up with an answer other than "I wasn't strong enough". Don't allow yourself to make the same mistake twice.
im not even gonna watch this i just know its:
1. skill issue
2. im shit
3. im weak
4. skill issue
i forgot the part where lil bro burst a lung
(i didnt burst a lung i should probably burst a lung to hit v13)
Same things that let me climb one in 2.5 years crazy how that happens
One what
@@stuffiguess7680 a v13
Genetics
TLDW: get strong fingers=send harder boulders.
Also, being a guy helps
I know girls who have done this too!
Aren’t you one of the guys that was in the Chris sharma TV show, pretty sure it was called “the climb” or something. Well done on your first V13 Btw, that’s huge.