more than that, in the beginning you pregress exponentially, if he regularly climb 1 year, he'll be as good as your average climber with 4-5 years of climbing, he already has the fitness for it
@@wircoalI really don't think that's how it works mate.... You grow so fast in the beginning as it's a fairly straight forward path and as seen in this video, doesn't *really* require that much technique practice, more just strength and getting your finger mucels up to snuff, later on its a lot more technique based and that's going to taken a lot longer no matter what level you started at
I also work in construction and before that was a mover, plus I'm 6ft so relatively tall, I've been climbing for a "year" but after starting I only went 3 times until 4 months ago when I actively started going. I was able to send 1 v4 route on my first time and could comfortably do v3s (and I spent 3 hours there), and I can absolutely confirm everything hurt for a week. But now today I almost sent my first V6, and can comfortably do most v5s 😁
Another factor which I think must play into Artur's astounding natural ability: body awareness from judo. He seems to intuitively understand how the placement of his centre of mass affects his ability to stay on the wall. The way he naturally rocks over into his feet to reach the next hold (something _many_ novice climbers struggle with), the way he naturally tries to keep his hips close to the wall... Super interesting to watch. Hope he enjoyed it and maybe even sticks with it!
One of the major sports or activities that translate well to climbing is some kind of martial arts activity. You just get so used to moving your body in many different ways. Judo is especially nice because grabs and holds are emphasized more than strikes.
Exactly what I thought. Grip strength really didn‘t matter much on most of these climbs - but his body awareness is clearly visible right away. Add in him being strong in general, attentive (memorized your beta quickly) and unafraid and there you have a great first session
There is a lot of heel moves in BJJ, wrestling etc. As a Judo expert, I'm sure he instinctually knows how to use his heels in ways the average person does not.
Same if I hadn't seen something similar, met a guy in the gym who didn't know the term heel hook. Which confused me cause he'd just got up something I'd been projecting in the 6Cish range. Turns out he'd been climbing like half a year, but learned outdoor in spain. He was already fit, and was a mechanic which seems like a joiner had given him the finger strength. Been obsessively climbing since. He's already at 7Bish not a full year in.
@@AutonomousPlayground Depends where you climb. I've been to the gym Mike's climbing at in this video, I'd say the grading there is on the softer side but not ridiculously so, at least compared with other gyms around Scotland/the UK. I went to Montreal for work last year and went from climbing V4 and the bottom end of V5 here to flashing multiple V5s and a V6 there, so it was definitely a lot softer. On the other end of the scale I'm sure there are plenty of people who've been climbing for years and can't do the moonboard V5 benchmarks.
@@AutonomousPlayground Obviously most people never flash a V5. Most people climb less than once a week, most people don't train for climbing, most people are beginners. There are of course thousands of people who can flash V5s out there, but there are many times that many climbers.
@@ChrisErwood here in the 'boulderkerk' where me and a friend go climbing its: orange (kids), lightblue (beginner) dark blue > Purple > red > green > white > yellow > black. idk why im saying this.
This is insane I have never seen someone climb this good on a first go it looks like he toe hooks for the purple finish that is a serious technique....wow
Really impressive. This isn't just pure finger strength. Arthur seemed to intuitively understand how his centre of gravity affects his ability to stay on the wall but also move between holds. On the red one he actually smears, dips in and drives from the smear to create a pendulum to transition to the next hold. Mike relies on static movement, scumming against the wall and doing the move statically. Then at the end he smears on the wall again to form a stable position intuitively, he figured this out faster than Mike. On top of that his ability to gauge, set up and time deadpoints, do rock-overs and his foot placement is remarkable for a first timer.
Be careful with injuries Artur! It's common for beginners with a lot of finger strength to full crimp everything and get hurt (and also it contributes the most to pump!). Try the 3 finger drag, open crimp, and half crimp grips.
@@kobemorand2313 The outward pull on your pulleys between the 1st and 2nd joint when full crimping is where the injuries occur, and that's not something that's trained in Judo, or anywhere else that I can think of.
coach here, commenting for the second time on one of your videos: wow! Artur, extremely impressive. highly unusual level to start at, and most of all it was so lovely to see you enjoying yourself looking ahead - i'd predict a sort of plateau after this mad dash to fairly high grades at the beginning. Don't let this dissuade you, I think you have one of the more competition-ready sets of skills (body awareness, rhythm, considerate movement) i've seen from a beginner and if you give some time to developing the finer details of climbing movement we could be seeing the start of an incredible and hopefully long and enjoyable climbing career (regardless of where you decide to take it) Mike - you're doing great too! It's been a delight to see your progress, and as a coach it's wonderful to see everyone's individual journey and their own puzzles to solve. i'm coming to Edinburgh this month (to head further north and ride the Badger Divide), I hope to hop onto a wall there for some fun. you ever climb there?
Thanks for taking the time to leave such an insightful comment. I’ve not climbed much around Edinburgh. Ratho has good indoor routes up to 26m. The quarry next door also has some spicy Trad and good sport routes. Enjoy! (Maybe checkout North Berwick too)
@@MikeBoydClimbs (side note, I kinda loved the seething competitiveness when you saw Artur hitting those more difficult climbs. So much energy it's great 😂 I guess that's how you succeed the way you do!)
I'm curious what your opinion is on the grading of the first couple boulders shown in the video. I personally feel that especially the ones of the easier levels (v2-4) looked harder. I could be biased by the grading I'm familiar with in my gym but I'm not sure.
@@agentmikster44 Yeah, the only spotting I've ever seen in the gym is parents with little kids (like tiny 6 year olds that look like they're free soloing)
I mean, grades indoors don't really mean a whole bunch and can vary wildly from gym to gym so I wouldn't worry too much about who flashes what and where. Just go have fun and enjoy the process of projecting something new
Also shows how much the mental game of climbing comes into play. Being positive, "puppy" mindset as you put it is huge. Something I can definitely learn from.
I went from Judo to climbing, and it translates very well. (feet positioning and awareness is very important there) So all you really need to learn is how to read routes and what tools you have available in climbing. Since you where showing him how to do it, and coached him on it, you compensated for his lack of actual experience. I coached quite a fresh strong people that got new into the sport and it's really all about learning "how to" for them. Did you want to humble him on the slap? I feel like a few good tips might have helped him a lot, since it's all about body position.
Crikey! I was really hoping this was going to be an undercover Magnus style video, at the end "Joke! By the way I've been climbing 3 years!", but no! Get this guy a gym membership!
As someone who has done judo and climbing for a couple years, I think they are more transferable skills than people would think at first. Grip strength, biomechanics/body positioning, balance, flexibility, explosive power, and endurance are all things essential to both sports
As someone who did judo for like 10 years as a kid / teenager, I can confirm this is 100% true. I was able to pick up climbing (hard boulders) much faster than most, and judo definitely helped!
I'm curious if BJJ would transfer as well or if the standup balance is especially important. I think Judokas BJJ athletes would have similar grip strength, flexibility, body awareness, and explosiveness, but the balance would definitely be different
this is so awesome and now i really want to do judo again! i did some as a very not athletic child and hated it lol, definitely the sort of stuff i can love now
Sport crossovers are quite common in my gym. I've collected data and these are my results 1. Rope climbing (obvious) 2. Boy and girl Scouts (nature) 3. judo (video) 4. CrossFit (obviously fit) 5. Trail running (most unexpected)
His laugh when he topped at 11:15 was such a telltale sign. He loved every second on the wall. Also, his ability to trust his feet on that sketchy undercling at 14:54 is something even an experienced climber would hesitate on.
The only thing I saw "wrong" from him in the lower grades (and that's a bit subjective), he was using his hands before thinking about his feet. Which is typical for everyone, it's also why his feet were silent. It's not a bad thing per se, it's just very inefficient and might be a reason why he was pumped a lot earlier than you were. (Which is absolutely crazy that this was the only thing to need improvement. He's crazy for a first timer) And yes, do more vids with him ! At some point it could be funny to see with the rest of the british climbing youtube space !
Videos like this are so inspiring, It makes me want to get back into climbing again. I've tried in the past though and unfortunately all 6'5 of my lank has gone the way of mass strength rather than lean strength. I think that's down to playing rugby and cycling most of my life, but in any case climbing even V2s is incredibly difficult when you weigh 120kg!
This video brought me back to my first time climbing i felt really well just hanging upside down and doing dynos, meanwhile i hated the climbing shoes and the less i have to stand on crimps (while my feets are crushed in a 1 or 2 sizes smaller) the better. First time in this channel !! Already subbed, i remember some of your journey in this sport including lead climbing videos and so on!
Great concept for a video Mike, enjoy your climbing content. Its so awesome to see that youve actually discovered a potentially lifelong hobby from your series on your other channel.
Thoroughly enjoyed this. The first video of yours I've seen, and I had to watch it. Not just for the subject, which I was very curious about, but because we have similar names. I agree with your assessment of why he did so well. The foot awareness could just come from his martial arts background, as well. I'm guessing part of why he got so pumped so quickly, is that he doesn't know yet how to be more efficient with his climbing, and relied more on his grip strength.
As a fellow martial artist. I think the combo of really good grip strength, and with how long he said he trained judo, I would assume he is at a significantly advanced level of judo (also just based on his body control I would assume advanced level judoka). And I think you can tell he spent years improving his body control to a very detailed level. And being able to see a movement and understand the body mechanics at play. And I think a reason why his movement is so precise for being the first time climbing. Its someone just watching him move, I would have assume have spent many years training being very precise with basically all parts of his body. Obviously quite a lot of difference between climbing and judo. But probably more overlap then you think. Like there probably is quite a lot of overlap with being used to think of grips and how to get power and what direction to pull and sort of seeing the direction you need to create and align yourself with. Is in both but in different ways. If you already advanced in one thing then you have a easier time picking up something new where there is some connection of similar abilities or skills. You are sort of just adapting a ability you are already advanced in to a new context. Adapting to a new dialect rather then learning a whole new Lange. Though there probably is quite a few things that are entirely new in climbing compared to judo. Judo guys are pretty impressive, on and off the mat (or I guess still a mat but a climbing one, rather then a judo tatami)
This was a treat! Really really interesting to see how a skilled athlete in one sport or activity can apply it to another activity, in this case climbing. I think it highlights some really interesting things; * The mental game is a huge deal. Artur has a can-do attitude and is super hyped to try his hardest. I think as climbers, most of us are painfully aware of how much attitude can hold us back - it is my primary struggle, by far. * Sports where precise movement matters a lot, programs you to be precise and confident in your movement in other sports as well. I think this is why his movement - footwork in particular - was so quiet and confident. He has practised this for years in martial arts, and it transfers beautifully. * Mike could do way better on overhangs, because this requires strength AND highly climbing-specific understanding of body positioning and balance, from a position that just doesn't really occur in other sports. This makes a lot of sense! * Mike's V3 boulder is comfortably within the strength limit for Artur, but it also requires a lot of climbing-specific body positioning, and can't really be brute forced with just strength and/or confidence, it also requires "feel" and sensitivity with your feet, and just a reportoire of body positions that are not common in most other sports. Slabs remain the great equalizer, as always! Overall this was super cool to watch. Artus could become a real monster if he wanted to! And I think for the rest of us, it's important to understand that his ability to climb didn't come from nothing, and certainly not purely from strength. He could transfer the mental game and body awareness to a large degree from previous sports. At least, that's what I'm going to tell myself...
Thanks for great words! I'm glad you liked watching my climb. You're right, judo really helps with the mental and precise moves. Appreciate your insight and support, it pushes me to do even better. Cheers!
I can MAYBE do a V5 and I started climbing 10 years ago... But I quit for several years and I'm just getting back into it now, let's hope I'll improve quickly
It's interesting because his athletic background seems perfect for climbing. Great endurance, mental toughness, strength, flexibility, explosiveness, and well balanced.
Better, I wasn't expecting him to get that purple but the orange before it I knew he would crush. It definitely helps a ton watching someone do the correct beta right before as well.Half the time its the micro beta and problem solving that makes a climb hard, the slab really showed that at the end but you shoulda threw him on a climb without showing him just to see that difference.
I think this kinda shows how much it helps being generally athletic before starting climbing. Also, he was climbing very straight on with the overhang routes which is by far the hardest way to climb anything overhang. That's where technique really plays a massive part in reducing the amount of effort needed to do moves
Bouldering is really an easo to get in really hard to master sport. The first year in you make insane progress. Until you get to a plateau where it takes almost one year to get a slight increase in grades. And I am not even talking about outdoor bouldering. But for me lead climbing is the real thing. It adds so many new aspects to the sport. Now you dont just have the physical and technical part of climbing, a huge new apsect is coming to you. The mental thing. Being able to control that inner voice which is telling you things is a skill you first have to master. Also there are the practical skills you learn about ropes, building anchors etc. outdoor and generel knowledge of your equipment. For me Boulderinh is the fun little climbing exercise or the cooldown of a session, lead is the serious stuff.
Interesting how fearless he was! Really impressive first session. Skateboarding and calisthenics helped me to climb fearlessly and muscle through to V5 in a month or two, but after that the progression is much slower and technique/finger strength become so important.
I met a dude bouldering, i remember he was climbing some roof 6b's/6b+ and it was his 2nd or 3rd time climbing and I almost didn't believe him, because he was climbing some pretty spicy routes. Then he told me he had been practicing judo for 12 years, and he was only 17-18. Interesting to see that judo really has a great carry over to climbing! But it makes a lot of sense in regards to not just grip strength, but over all strength. As well as fantastic body awareness and general "toughness"
I Really hope he is inspired to go back to complete the boulders he failed on. I know I always am, Failure is the greatest motivator in climbing I think!
His understanding of momentum and balance is great. He saves a ton of energy keeping his arms mostly straight, whereas mine often stays engaged throughout the climbs. Teach this guy about opposition and finding the right hold Angle and he's got v7 for sure
First of all: Nice video, as per usual. Also Artur seems to be a real kind person and an incredibly impressive sportsman. Kudos to him. Also - should you ever find yourself in Vienna and need a guide to the local bouldering gyms who's around or slightly above your climbing level, I'm your man. :)
@@MikeBoydClimbs Would be chuffed. Went to beutiful Scotland a few years back and everybody was so warm and welcoming that I feel I have a debt to your countrymen. ;)
This is super Impressive! Think it shows that grip strength can definitely give you a very good head start! Think with a bit of practice on technique ( since it’s Literally his first time 😮) he can be an absolute SMASHER!
This is so impressive. He has incredible intuition. He flagges, heel hooks, foot swaps-the list goes on-and all of it seems to be based on intuition. It's not just his finger strength that is impressive; he also has basic technique down very well. He could be a very strong climber if he decided to pursue it more.
Came here from you Min channel, as someone who enjoys bouldering, It is great that you found something you enjoyed to make a second channel for love to see you do a free solo one day
Finger strength really is a cheat code. A few years into climbing seriously, I severely (9 month recovery) sprained my ankle on Pork Chop boulder in Red Rocks, and instead of doing nothing, I started hangboarding. When I came back to climbing, I could do the Beastmaker 1000 2nd lowest level repeater work out in the OG Beastmaker App. After a brief readjustment while the last bits of my ankle stability needed work, I was very suddenly climbing 2 grades harder. Technique is super important, but it's just so much easier to work on technique when you aren't thinking about your fingers not being able to hold the holds.
actually the most impressive thing i noticed is that on the red boulder he just put his right foot against the wall to reach for the top, not looking for a foothold or being unsure if thats allowed, he just put it there. amazing
I think the judo probably helped him with body awareness too. Understanding how applying force with your hands and legs makes your body move is pretty important. And I think that is partly why his footwork was already so good and why he made pretty good instinctive choices about the next move when he differed from your beta.
So cool, pretty amazing. IMO Artur's arms got pumped faster than Mikes because of technique. Mike keeps his arms straighter relying on his legs more to hold him on the wall. Artur had good feet for a beginner but if you watch his arms he is pulling much more than necessary and not using his legs as much. I think a lot of climbers are going to cross train at the judo gym now haha.
I'm myself a v4/v5 climber for 4 years and watching someone flash v5 first try was crazy. Finger strength was definitely a factor here. But the more surprising thing is that he just understood how to move his body. He's either a natural, or it's something to do with judo or him being able to be extremely observant and pick it up from you immediately, maybe that's also part of years of judo training. This was a very interesting watch. You should definitely do more with your friend and see how quickly he can progress.
Really impressive! I would say half of the challenge for me tho is understanding the beta-- wondering how he would've done had he been asked to go first. If I see someone flash it before me I usually do significantly better than normal. I can do about 50% of the V3s I try but I got a V4 last session after a friend showed me how-- I've only been climbing two months! Granted, I did judo for four years in middle school ;)
He had decent footwork due to judo. You gotta know where to put your legs and have a good sense of how leverage works. As for why he was not good at overhang is because it requires a higher understanding of where to put your feet to alleviate the pressure off your hands. He also got tired quicker for I think a few reasons. First off his technique was very dynamic and kept the pressure on his arms as opposed to his feet. Second, when he didn’t know what to do next which happened often, he would stay on the wall the whole time. I think the third factor is that actual muscle endurance of the fingers.
i flashed a v3 my first time too. any real athlete will. However I trained ju jitsu and was an electrician at the time. i got a v4 my first day but I think it took more than 1 try, maybe if someone showed me the beta. but getting those v5s was crazy
I think finger strength and general fitness helps a ton, but as someone who comes from a martial arts background it can't be understated how much body awareness helped here. Great first showing!
The guy’s heel and toe hooking on the purple climb and we’re supposed to believe it’s his first time climbing. I’m sure he’s strong naturally, but he looks more like someone who’s strong but has been climbing for a couple of months.
What an insane performance! It's a pleasure to see you climb and follow your progress as you've really improved over the past months. This was absolutely shocking to see someone climb so well on their first time. I will say though that some of the boulders shown in the video seem sandbagged. A v2 paddle dyno (5:48) The body tension and footwork required on this v3 (6:20) "That looks like a difficult move there" - Artur (7:39) I'm convinced that you can confidently climb harder than v4 (9:29) How could this be v4? (9:35) "I think this is the first of the hard grades" (12:02) "I think this is like v5?" (12:22) Not in my gym! 😬
Just to clarify, do you think the purple looks more like a V6? The yellow perhaps a V5? I’ve actually only bouldered at a few gyms and still getting to know the grades. These are the grades given on the griptonite app
@@MikeBoydClimbs Interestingly enough on second look I think the purple could actually be a hard v5 even with those tiny crimps. The yellow definitely looks v5 imo. As for the easier boulders I think they could definitely be at least a grade harder.
@@MikeBoydClimbs I'm by no means a professional boulderer/setter. I climb v7-9 in my gym which is the hardest grade range we have, and I occasionally visit other gyms where I climb at about the same level. Perhaps I'm being too generous. Regardless I'm interested to see what others think.
@@MikeBoydClimbs Same here! Is that what griptonite is for? It can definitely be frustrating not knowing the grade and only being given a rough estimate.
Part 2 where Artur goes outdoors here: ruclips.net/video/XVcPwWIde3I/видео.html
I might not have caught it in the video but where is that quarry that you went with artur?
Magnus finally found a good disguise.
Based comment 😂😂
Got me so bad 🤣
hahahah
Funny comment lol
Legit LOLd at this. Five star comment.
I hope artur keeps climbing. He is the next magnus ondra
Yoo idat climbing arc?
We expecting any climbing vids from you soon idat?
You're probably doing your boulders bare feet :)
Time to show off your climbing apron!
brooo dudes been binging the climbing content too
This guy skipped the first year of climbing and started out as an intermediate climber ,insane
i think even skipped 2 years. hes a menance
more than that, in the beginning you pregress exponentially, if he regularly climb 1 year, he'll be as good as your average climber with 4-5 years of climbing, he already has the fitness for it
He could probably hit v9 in a year, maybe even higher who knows
@@wircoalI really don't think that's how it works mate.... You grow so fast in the beginning as it's a fairly straight forward path and as seen in this video, doesn't *really* require that much technique practice, more just strength and getting your finger mucels up to snuff, later on its a lot more technique based and that's going to taken a lot longer no matter what level you started at
I started a year ago and I'm onto v7's, I was like this lad flashing v4/5s within a couple of trips but the move from v5-7 is a whole other animal 😂
With people that can climb so well on their first try, the joy the next day is hearing them say “everything hurts”.
can confirm this is what he said 😂
I also work in construction and before that was a mover, plus I'm 6ft so relatively tall, I've been climbing for a "year" but after starting I only went 3 times until 4 months ago when I actively started going. I was able to send 1 v4 route on my first time and could comfortably do v3s (and I spent 3 hours there), and I can absolutely confirm everything hurt for a week. But now today I almost sent my first V6, and can comfortably do most v5s 😁
Another factor which I think must play into Artur's astounding natural ability: body awareness from judo. He seems to intuitively understand how the placement of his centre of mass affects his ability to stay on the wall. The way he naturally rocks over into his feet to reach the next hold (something _many_ novice climbers struggle with), the way he naturally tries to keep his hips close to the wall... Super interesting to watch. Hope he enjoyed it and maybe even sticks with it!
Incredible analysis, completely agree!! 🙌🏽💯
One of the major sports or activities that translate well to climbing is some kind of martial arts activity. You just get so used to moving your body in many different ways. Judo is especially nice because grabs and holds are emphasized more than strikes.
Exactly what I thought. Grip strength really didn‘t matter much on most of these climbs - but his body awareness is clearly visible right away. Add in him being strong in general, attentive (memorized your beta quickly) and unafraid and there you have a great first session
Man is using heel hooks like a pro I refuse to believe he’s never done this before
If it wasn’t him not knowing the rules or the names of anything I’d never have believed it!
There is a lot of heel moves in BJJ, wrestling etc. As a Judo expert, I'm sure he instinctually knows how to use his heels in ways the average person does not.
He also seemed to watch Mike very carefully, and simply copy
Same if I hadn't seen something similar, met a guy in the gym who didn't know the term heel hook. Which confused me cause he'd just got up something I'd been projecting in the 6Cish range. Turns out he'd been climbing like half a year, but learned outdoor in spain. He was already fit, and was a mechanic which seems like a joiner had given him the finger strength. Been obsessively climbing since. He's already at 7Bish not a full year in.
Yeah no way. He is smearing on the wall (14:32), doing heel hooks & drop knees (7:03). Cool vid, but obvious this guys know to climb.
"I'll be back for this!"
That's it! He's hooked!!!
Shall we do another video with him?
@@MikeBoydClimbs Absolutely! Take him outside, let's see how he does!
@@MikeBoydClimbs Please do!
@@MikeBoydClimbs Please do! This whole thing is incredibly fascinating
@@MikeBoydClimbsyeah 100
bro flashed a V5 in his first session while most people can't ever flash V5s after years of climbing
not sure who you're climbing with but they don't sound very athletic 🤣 almost slightly depressing
@@AutonomousPlayground Depends where you climb. I've been to the gym Mike's climbing at in this video, I'd say the grading there is on the softer side but not ridiculously so, at least compared with other gyms around Scotland/the UK.
I went to Montreal for work last year and went from climbing V4 and the bottom end of V5 here to flashing multiple V5s and a V6 there, so it was definitely a lot softer. On the other end of the scale I'm sure there are plenty of people who've been climbing for years and can't do the moonboard V5 benchmarks.
@@AutonomousPlayground Obviously most people never flash a V5. Most people climb less than once a week, most people don't train for climbing, most people are beginners. There are of course thousands of people who can flash V5s out there, but there are many times that many climbers.
@@AutonomousPlayground What a shitty attitude, mate
@@ChrisErwood here in the 'boulderkerk' where me and a friend go climbing its: orange (kids), lightblue (beginner) dark blue > Purple > red > green > white > yellow > black. idk why im saying this.
This is the kind of person that does v7+ in their first year of climbing
I feel like a lot of people end up doing that
@@yoooooo4543 Around 20 percent in my gym can do a v7+ in general
Lol. He flashed a v5 in his first day without optimal beta. He could’ve probably sent a v7 if he tried all session. He’d send v15 on his first year
I did my first v7 after about 6 months of climbing, however I also did years of judo as a kid. So this comment is spot on 😄
@@nanojack97 that's ridiculously high. In my gym, I think it's closer to 1%.
17:05 The giggling while falling off the wall and the rolling after falling is too much 😂❤
This is insane I have never seen someone climb this good on a first go it looks like he toe hooks for the purple finish that is a serious technique....wow
He’s a fast learner too, he saw me using them and instinctively knew how to put them to good use!
I guess because you need to be familiar with leverage in judo probably helps with that.
what a champ, that attitude on the last boulder was amazing, just having fun even though he got constantly spewn off! that's what we love to see!
There was a crowd of people watching. Infectious!
No surprise to me. Artur works with me all week and he’s a warrior
Really impressive. This isn't just pure finger strength. Arthur seemed to intuitively understand how his centre of gravity affects his ability to stay on the wall but also move between holds. On the red one he actually smears, dips in and drives from the smear to create a pendulum to transition to the next hold. Mike relies on static movement, scumming against the wall and doing the move statically. Then at the end he smears on the wall again to form a stable position intuitively, he figured this out faster than Mike. On top of that his ability to gauge, set up and time deadpoints, do rock-overs and his foot placement is remarkable for a first timer.
Grapplers have really good body awareness. A friend of mine handstand without training for it
Be careful with injuries Artur! It's common for beginners with a lot of finger strength to full crimp everything and get hurt (and also it contributes the most to pump!). Try the 3 finger drag, open crimp, and half crimp grips.
Good advice
not when u already have insane insane finger strength and body control though 😂he has built it up over his whole life
@@kobemorand2313 The outward pull on your pulleys between the 1st and 2nd joint when full crimping is where the injuries occur, and that's not something that's trained in Judo, or anywhere else that I can think of.
coach here, commenting for the second time on one of your videos:
wow! Artur, extremely impressive. highly unusual level to start at, and most of all it was so lovely to see you enjoying yourself
looking ahead - i'd predict a sort of plateau after this mad dash to fairly high grades at the beginning. Don't let this dissuade you, I think you have one of the more competition-ready sets of skills (body awareness, rhythm, considerate movement) i've seen from a beginner and if you give some time to developing the finer details of climbing movement we could be seeing the start of an incredible and hopefully long and enjoyable climbing career (regardless of where you decide to take it)
Mike - you're doing great too! It's been a delight to see your progress, and as a coach it's wonderful to see everyone's individual journey and their own puzzles to solve.
i'm coming to Edinburgh this month (to head further north and ride the Badger Divide), I hope to hop onto a wall there for some fun. you ever climb there?
Thanks for taking the time to leave such an insightful comment.
I’ve not climbed much around Edinburgh. Ratho has good indoor routes up to 26m. The quarry next door also has some spicy Trad and good sport routes. Enjoy! (Maybe checkout North Berwick too)
@@MikeBoydClimbs (side note, I kinda loved the seething competitiveness when you saw Artur hitting those more difficult climbs. So much energy it's great 😂 I guess that's how you succeed the way you do!)
I'm curious what your opinion is on the grading of the first couple boulders shown in the video. I personally feel that especially the ones of the easier levels (v2-4) looked harder. I could be biased by the grading I'm familiar with in my gym but I'm not sure.
mike "spotting" him by holding up his hands was the funniest thing
He's not there to catch him he's just there to push him forward to keep him from falling head first.
This is pretty common
@@jeremywp123 yeah but- he wouldn’t- do you actually do a lot of bouldering?
@@jeremywp123I've never seen anyone spot someone in a climbing gym. The foam is like a foot and a half thick.
@@agentmikster44 Yeah, the only spotting I've ever seen in the gym is parents with little kids (like tiny 6 year olds that look like they're free soloing)
I’m about to go and try to send my first V4 in ~15 minutes and this guy just flashed one on his first time climbing 😭
A V5 as well 😅
GL
Nuts right?
I mean, grades indoors don't really mean a whole bunch and can vary wildly from gym to gym so I wouldn't worry too much about who flashes what and where. Just go have fun and enjoy the process of projecting something new
@@Carlosallouchimontero This gym if anything looks to be on the mid-tough end for grades
the personality of a labrador got me, everyone has a friend like this! pure heaven
everyone should have a friend like this!
I am in disbelief watching Artur climb things that I spent sessions on trying to get, hope I see him at block10 sending more routes!
Glad I found your climbing channel! I’ve just turned 32 and my sister has been getting me into entry climbing!
brother's footwork was insane for a first time climber
Such a great vibe in this video, loved it!
On the V3 Artur even did a little bit of an instinctive drop knee... absolute natural!
But also really scared for Artur's tendons... take care, Artur!
@@spspaceboyhis tendons are really strong from judo
Also shows how much the mental game of climbing comes into play. Being positive, "puppy" mindset as you put it is huge. Something I can definitely learn from.
Me too!
"You are soft, its better"
Honestly, the craziest part is how fluid and precise his movement is. This guy is an impressive athlete.
That was so entertaining, Artur is a pure athlete. Thanks Mike!
I like how enthusiastic is Artur! That's a great spirit!
I went from Judo to climbing, and it translates very well. (feet positioning and awareness is very important there)
So all you really need to learn is how to read routes and what tools you have available in climbing.
Since you where showing him how to do it, and coached him on it, you compensated for his lack of actual experience.
I coached quite a fresh strong people that got new into the sport and it's really all about learning "how to" for them.
Did you want to humble him on the slap? I feel like a few good tips might have helped him a lot, since it's all about body position.
would love to see him more on this channel, didnt know martial arts and perhaps judo in particular gave such a huge advantage in climbing
Flashing a V5 on your first day in the gym man what the hell, Ive been at it casually for 3 years and I've plateaued at V3-4
Crikey! I was really hoping this was going to be an undercover Magnus style video, at the end "Joke! By the way I've been climbing 3 years!", but no! Get this guy a gym membership!
At some point during filming, I thought the same thing!
@@MikeBoydClimbs Hannah getting her own back haha!
I think another benefit he had was watching you go first
He did really well at mimicking climbing techniques just by seeing them once
Didn't even give the man chalk for most of his session, he'd have climbed V7 lol
As someone who has done judo and climbing for a couple years, I think they are more transferable skills than people would think at first.
Grip strength, biomechanics/body positioning, balance, flexibility, explosive power, and endurance are all things essential to both sports
It seemed to transfer extremely well for Artur!
@@MikeBoydClimbsi guess you're gonna have to see of it transfers the other way too now. 😉
As someone who did judo for like 10 years as a kid / teenager, I can confirm this is 100% true. I was able to pick up climbing (hard boulders) much faster than most, and judo definitely helped!
I'm curious if BJJ would transfer as well or if the standup balance is especially important. I think Judokas BJJ athletes would have similar grip strength, flexibility, body awareness, and explosiveness, but the balance would definitely be different
this is so awesome and now i really want to do judo again!
i did some as a very not athletic child and hated it lol, definitely the sort of stuff i can love now
Sport crossovers are quite common in my gym. I've collected data and these are my results
1. Rope climbing (obvious)
2. Boy and girl Scouts (nature)
3. judo (video)
4. CrossFit (obviously fit)
5. Trail running (most unexpected)
His laugh when he topped at 11:15 was such a telltale sign. He loved every second on the wall.
Also, his ability to trust his feet on that sketchy undercling at 14:54 is something even an experienced climber would hesitate on.
Bloody hell, Artur sure is a natural. You sure he's not been secretly climbing for a year or so? 😁
Super fun to watch. Love the good vibes 👍
The only thing I saw "wrong" from him in the lower grades (and that's a bit subjective), he was using his hands before thinking about his feet. Which is typical for everyone, it's also why his feet were silent. It's not a bad thing per se, it's just very inefficient and might be a reason why he was pumped a lot earlier than you were. (Which is absolutely crazy that this was the only thing to need improvement. He's crazy for a first timer)
And yes, do more vids with him ! At some point it could be funny to see with the rest of the british climbing youtube space !
I think we’ll try him on a sport route next!
Videos like this are so inspiring, It makes me want to get back into climbing again. I've tried in the past though and unfortunately all 6'5 of my lank has gone the way of mass strength rather than lean strength. I think that's down to playing rugby and cycling most of my life, but in any case climbing even V2s is incredibly difficult when you weigh 120kg!
This video brought me back to my first time climbing i felt really well just hanging upside down and doing dynos, meanwhile i hated the climbing shoes and the less i have to stand on crimps (while my feets are crushed in a 1 or 2 sizes smaller) the better. First time in this channel !! Already subbed, i remember some of your journey in this sport including lead climbing videos and so on!
great vid its awesome to see you climbing and making great content for this great sport!
That means a lot. 🙏
Great concept for a video Mike, enjoy your climbing content. Its so awesome to see that youve actually discovered a potentially lifelong hobby from your series on your other channel.
Thoroughly enjoyed this. The first video of yours I've seen, and I had to watch it. Not just for the subject, which I was very curious about, but because we have similar names. I agree with your assessment of why he did so well. The foot awareness could just come from his martial arts background, as well. I'm guessing part of why he got so pumped so quickly, is that he doesn't know yet how to be more efficient with his climbing, and relied more on his grip strength.
Was expecting a mission impossible mask removal to reveal Magnus!
Honestly love this climbing content especially cool when you see your local gym
As a fellow martial artist. I think the combo of really good grip strength, and with how long he said he trained judo, I would assume he is at a significantly advanced level of judo (also just based on his body control I would assume advanced level judoka).
And I think you can tell he spent years improving his body control to a very detailed level.
And being able to see a movement and understand the body mechanics at play.
And I think a reason why his movement is so precise for being the first time climbing.
Its someone just watching him move, I would have assume have spent many years training being very precise with basically all parts of his body.
Obviously quite a lot of difference between climbing and judo.
But probably more overlap then you think.
Like there probably is quite a lot of overlap with being used to think of grips and how to get power and what direction to pull and sort of seeing the direction you need to create and align yourself with. Is in both but in different ways.
If you already advanced in one thing then you have a easier time picking up something new where there is some connection of similar abilities or skills.
You are sort of just adapting a ability you are already advanced in to a new context.
Adapting to a new dialect rather then learning a whole new Lange.
Though there probably is quite a few things that are entirely new in climbing compared to judo.
Judo guys are pretty impressive, on and off the mat (or I guess still a mat but a climbing one, rather then a judo tatami)
This was a treat! Really really interesting to see how a skilled athlete in one sport or activity can apply it to another activity, in this case climbing. I think it highlights some really interesting things;
* The mental game is a huge deal. Artur has a can-do attitude and is super hyped to try his hardest. I think as climbers, most of us are painfully aware of how much attitude can hold us back - it is my primary struggle, by far.
* Sports where precise movement matters a lot, programs you to be precise and confident in your movement in other sports as well. I think this is why his movement - footwork in particular - was so quiet and confident. He has practised this for years in martial arts, and it transfers beautifully.
* Mike could do way better on overhangs, because this requires strength AND highly climbing-specific understanding of body positioning and balance, from a position that just doesn't really occur in other sports. This makes a lot of sense!
* Mike's V3 boulder is comfortably within the strength limit for Artur, but it also requires a lot of climbing-specific body positioning, and can't really be brute forced with just strength and/or confidence, it also requires "feel" and sensitivity with your feet, and just a reportoire of body positions that are not common in most other sports. Slabs remain the great equalizer, as always!
Overall this was super cool to watch. Artus could become a real monster if he wanted to! And I think for the rest of us, it's important to understand that his ability to climb didn't come from nothing, and certainly not purely from strength. He could transfer the mental game and body awareness to a large degree from previous sports. At least, that's what I'm going to tell myself...
Thanks for great words! I'm glad you liked watching my climb. You're right, judo really helps with the mental and precise moves. Appreciate your insight and support, it pushes me to do even better. Cheers!
What a nice guy. Looking forward to him climbing with us :)
I can MAYBE do a V5 and I started climbing 10 years ago...
But I quit for several years and I'm just getting back into it now, let's hope I'll improve quickly
It's interesting because his athletic background seems perfect for climbing. Great endurance, mental toughness, strength, flexibility, explosiveness, and well balanced.
Had a guy climb an insane sloper on his 1st day that I couldn't do a year later
I was about to say I am so ready for this to turn into a climbing channel not realizing that this was an entire new channel lol
Did Artur do better or worse than you expected? Comment below 👇
He was INCREDIBLE!!! So impressed with his Day 1 Hour 0!
Better, the foot work is amazing, can't believe it
Way better, the strength wasn't a surprise but he's got a really good intuition for how to climb and good footwork.
Better, I wasn't expecting him to get that purple but the orange before it I knew he would crush. It definitely helps a ton watching someone do the correct beta right before as well.Half the time its the micro beta and problem solving that makes a climb hard, the slab really showed that at the end but you shoulda threw him on a climb without showing him just to see that difference.
This guy NEEDS to be taken outdoor bouldering...
8 mm without climbing blows my mind! Respect to the judo guys!
I think this kinda shows how much it helps being generally athletic before starting climbing. Also, he was climbing very straight on with the overhang routes which is by far the hardest way to climb anything overhang. That's where technique really plays a massive part in reducing the amount of effort needed to do moves
10:58 that ''Oh my god'' from you was the sudden realization that he was doing the route all wrong making it hard on himself and still holding on 😂😂
Wow. Rarely do I get stunned but I’m stunned
Bouldering is really an easo to get in really hard to master sport. The first year in you make insane progress. Until you get to a plateau where it takes almost one year to get a slight increase in grades. And I am not even talking about outdoor bouldering.
But for me lead climbing is the real thing. It adds so many new aspects to the sport. Now you dont just have the physical and technical part of climbing, a huge new apsect is coming to you. The mental thing. Being able to control that inner voice which is telling you things is a skill you first have to master.
Also there are the practical skills you learn about ropes, building anchors etc. outdoor and generel knowledge of your equipment.
For me Boulderinh is the fun little climbing exercise or the cooldown of a session, lead is the serious stuff.
Interesting how fearless he was! Really impressive first session. Skateboarding and calisthenics helped me to climb fearlessly and muscle through to V5 in a month or two, but after that the progression is much slower and technique/finger strength become so important.
Absolutely fearless. Definitely helped a lot
Same for me, how long u been climbing now?
It turns out just being strong is more of a factor than all coaches would like you to believe. 😂
Worth mentioning that footwork is a huge part of Judo, both in placement and pressure, so it's not surprising how good his footwork was!
I met a dude bouldering, i remember he was climbing some roof 6b's/6b+ and it was his 2nd or 3rd time climbing and I almost didn't believe him, because he was climbing some pretty spicy routes. Then he told me he had been practicing judo for 12 years, and he was only 17-18.
Interesting to see that judo really has a great carry over to climbing! But it makes a lot of sense in regards to not just grip strength, but over all strength. As well as fantastic body awareness and general "toughness"
this video should be titled, how to make yourself feel bad as an intermediate climber 😂😂
He got the finger strength but also really good body awareness.
Holy crap!! That's insane, would love to see you guys try bouldering outside together!!
I think we’ll get Artur on another video
@@MikeBoydClimbs So psyched for more, you’ve done a good job hyping up and recruiting a new possible climber 🥳
Possible the most talented first time climber I’ve ever seen. Shame he did t find climbing earlier in his life!!
I think he’s still in his 20s. Still got time to climb 9a if he puts his mind to it 😜
@@MikeBoydClimbs he really does! Looks like judo trains finger strength and body awareness incredibly well!
I Really hope he is inspired to go back to complete the boulders he failed on. I know I always am, Failure is the greatest motivator in climbing I think!
His understanding of momentum and balance is great. He saves a ton of energy keeping his arms mostly straight, whereas mine often stays engaged throughout the climbs. Teach this guy about opposition and finding the right hold Angle and he's got v7 for sure
So, finger strength is very very very important in Bouldering.
very impressive for the first time. Hope to see him in other videos. To track his progress.👍
We’ve already booked him in!
First of all: Nice video, as per usual. Also Artur seems to be a real kind person and an incredibly impressive sportsman. Kudos to him.
Also - should you ever find yourself in Vienna and need a guide to the local bouldering gyms who's around or slightly above your climbing level, I'm your man. :)
I'll maybe take you up on that!
@@MikeBoydClimbs Would be chuffed. Went to beutiful Scotland a few years back and everybody was so warm and welcoming that I feel I have a debt to your countrymen. ;)
As soon as the music changed at 10:35, I thought... That's it... He's gonna flash it 😂
your friend has great body awareness, the way he moves his weight and tenses his hands/legs gives him great tehnique
EYYY, that Orange route you set was a 10/10 climb! Big ups to Artur!
I like how the "can I learn everything" channel has now become a climbing channel :D
This is super Impressive! Think it shows that grip strength can definitely give you a very good head start! Think with a bit of practice on technique ( since it’s Literally his first time 😮) he can be an absolute SMASHER!
Can’t wait to see what he becomes!
This is so impressive. He has incredible intuition. He flagges, heel hooks, foot swaps-the list goes on-and all of it seems to be based on intuition. It's not just his finger strength that is impressive; he also has basic technique down very well. He could be a very strong climber if he decided to pursue it more.
Came here from you Min channel, as someone who enjoys bouldering, It is great that you found something you enjoyed to make a second channel for love to see you do a free solo one day
Finger strength really is a cheat code. A few years into climbing seriously, I severely (9 month recovery) sprained my ankle on Pork Chop boulder in Red Rocks, and instead of doing nothing, I started hangboarding. When I came back to climbing, I could do the Beastmaker 1000 2nd lowest level repeater work out in the OG Beastmaker App. After a brief readjustment while the last bits of my ankle stability needed work, I was very suddenly climbing 2 grades harder.
Technique is super important, but it's just so much easier to work on technique when you aren't thinking about your fingers not being able to hold the holds.
actually the most impressive thing i noticed is that on the red boulder he just put his right foot against the wall to reach for the top, not looking for a foothold or being unsure if thats allowed, he just put it there. amazing
This is the type of guy who climbs V10 within the first year.
I think the judo probably helped him with body awareness too. Understanding how applying force with your hands and legs makes your body move is pretty important. And I think that is partly why his footwork was already so good and why he made pretty good instinctive choices about the next move when he differed from your beta.
So cool, pretty amazing. IMO Artur's arms got pumped faster than Mikes because of technique. Mike keeps his arms straighter relying on his legs more to hold him on the wall. Artur had good feet for a beginner but if you watch his arms he is pulling much more than necessary and not using his legs as much.
I think a lot of climbers are going to cross train at the judo gym now haha.
I'm myself a v4/v5 climber for 4 years and watching someone flash v5 first try was crazy. Finger strength was definitely a factor here. But the more surprising thing is that he just understood how to move his body. He's either a natural, or it's something to do with judo or him being able to be extremely observant and pick it up from you immediately, maybe that's also part of years of judo training. This was a very interesting watch. You should definitely do more with your friend and see how quickly he can progress.
Really impressive! I would say half of the challenge for me tho is understanding the beta-- wondering how he would've done had he been asked to go first. If I see someone flash it before me I usually do significantly better than normal. I can do about 50% of the V3s I try but I got a V4 last session after a friend showed me how-- I've only been climbing two months!
Granted, I did judo for four years in middle school ;)
Wow! This dude blows mind. I climbed for a year and half non stop and was stoked to climb V4
He had decent footwork due to judo. You gotta know where to put your legs and have a good sense of how leverage works. As for why he was not good at overhang is because it requires a higher understanding of where to put your feet to alleviate the pressure off your hands. He also got tired quicker for I think a few reasons. First off his technique was very dynamic and kept the pressure on his arms as opposed to his feet. Second, when he didn’t know what to do next which happened
often, he would stay on the wall the whole time. I think the third factor is that actual muscle endurance of the fingers.
I think this is the same Arthur that pulled a sword out of a boulder earlier this month?
Part 2 when!? I was so hyped for Artur
This man should consider climbing some more ! Would love to see another video of you two challenging each other
More videos of this guy. He's inspirational
i flashed a v3 my first time too. any real athlete will. However I trained ju jitsu and was an electrician at the time. i got a v4 my first day but I think it took more than 1 try, maybe if someone showed me the beta. but getting those v5s was crazy
I think finger strength and general fitness helps a ton, but as someone who comes from a martial arts background it can't be understated how much body awareness helped here. Great first showing!
the boy's a natural! find him all the roof problems you can, he'll fall in love with the sport
The guy’s heel and toe hooking on the purple climb and we’re supposed to believe it’s his first time climbing. I’m sure he’s strong naturally, but he looks more like someone who’s strong but has been climbing for a couple of months.
wouldve been interesting to see him try slopey boulders, where body position is also important to hold on, instead of pure strength
What an insane performance! It's a pleasure to see you climb and follow your progress as you've really improved over the past months. This was absolutely shocking to see someone climb so well on their first time. I will say though that some of the boulders shown in the video seem sandbagged.
A v2 paddle dyno (5:48)
The body tension and footwork required on this v3 (6:20)
"That looks like a difficult move there" - Artur (7:39)
I'm convinced that you can confidently climb harder than v4 (9:29)
How could this be v4? (9:35)
"I think this is the first of the hard grades" (12:02)
"I think this is like v5?" (12:22)
Not in my gym! 😬
Just to clarify, do you think the purple looks more like a V6? The yellow perhaps a V5?
I’ve actually only bouldered at a few gyms and still getting to know the grades. These are the grades given on the griptonite app
@@MikeBoydClimbs Interestingly enough on second look I think the purple could actually be a hard v5 even with those tiny crimps. The yellow definitely looks v5 imo. As for the easier boulders I think they could definitely be at least a grade harder.
@@MikeBoydClimbs I'm by no means a professional boulderer/setter. I climb v7-9 in my gym which is the hardest grade range we have, and I occasionally visit other gyms where I climb at about the same level. Perhaps I'm being too generous. Regardless I'm interested to see what others think.
I also feel the gym is sandbagged a little. But most gyms I go to don’t post the grades!
@@MikeBoydClimbs Same here! Is that what griptonite is for? It can definitely be frustrating not knowing the grade and only being given a rough estimate.