Following a recent Facebook discussion, I have been insired to write this blog on how climbers progression is limited by their surroundings. This is more noticeable in young climbers as you can see their progression through the grades more noticeably in a shorter period of time. The youth climbing scene in Scotland has gone through a massive boom over the last 10 years with respect to high performance climbing both in competitions and outdoors. This is true in every aspect of climbing: Competitions Sport Climbing Bouldering Trad Climbing Mixed Climbing Alpinism  As I am more involved in the training of Youth... Continue reading

"Train around your work schedule or work around your training schedule - That is the question..." People often ask me how to go about mixing your working life with the training plan. Is it possible to work full-time and continue to see improvements in your climbing through training? The answer is Yes, but it's certainly no easy task. It requires: Organisation Dedication Motivation Recucitation (On occasion) I have coached and provided training programs for a lot of climbers who have busy work schedules. To say that you have to sacrifice one for the other is crazy, but to make it work... Continue reading

"Footwork is the foundation for an efficient climbing style, it's not something to be taken ligthly and forgotten after you've reached a certain level..." You will often hear climbers/coaches going on and on about the importance of good footwork, but to be frank, I don't think many of them actually know why it's important and what good footwork actually looks like...  Heel-Toe on a lip - I'll need to position my foot perfectly to rock up onto the lip Good footwork doesn't mean that your feet never pop off, nor does it mean you will have imaculate climbing shoes with no... Continue reading

Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA's) have over the last decade increased in popularity tenfold thanks to a few studies concluding some very interesting facts about their potential benefit towards muscle repair and weight loss in athletes. You can imagine what a climber might say to this:   "Increased muscle recovery after sessions as well as weight loss! JACKPOT!!!"   BCAA Molecule with Branched chains that aid in the buildup of muscle tissue Well I really only started looking into them recently for use with my own training and it was only a couple of years ago in Spain that I first... Continue reading

Last Time... In the last post I proposed a few different ideas as to what creates greatness in people. When I say "greatness", I mean those with exceptional talent or abilities in something like a sport, academics or art. For climbing I identified Adam Ondra as an example. Nobody in the rock climbing world can disregard Adam's obvious "talent" to climb pretty much everything he puts his hands to. Many have looked on at his abilities and claimed them to be "super human", "godly" and even "lucky" (with reference to the possibility of a climbing positive genotype). Although many would argue... Continue reading

Opportunity for Success "Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them"   William Shakespeare - Twelfth Night (Quote Act III, Scene 1)   Are some of us born to be successful? Is it a natural element to the human type that some of us have greatness embedded within our DNA and others do not? I do not to believe this is the case, we are all individuals that live our own unique lives, each different from another and I won't succumb to the thought that success in life is pre-determined... Continue reading

Something that has always fascinated me is what makes people good at whatever they choose to do. When we see amazing artists, musicians and athletes doing what it is that they do best, how is it that they came to be in this state? I've been immersing myself in literature recently in an attempt to find out more. As someone who is always on the lookout for anything that will give me (and my pupils) an added boost in performance on the wall, this area of understanding is of much interest to me. My good friend and faithful photographer, Will Carroll... Continue reading

Something that has always fascinated me is what makes people good at whatever they choose to do. When we see amazing artists, musicians and athletes doing what it is that they do best, how is it that they came to be in this state? I've been immersing myself in literature recently in an attempt to find out more. As someone who is always on the lookout for anything that will give me (and my pupils) an added boost in performance on the wall, this area of understanding is of much interest to me. My good friend and faithful photographer, Will Carroll... Continue reading

This is blog post isn't really a training one, but perhaps would be more useful to parents and coaches bringing up kids climbing. Currently I am out in France (Ceuse) climbing. In the campsite we have built up a kind of group/gang of climbers of all ages, abilities, nationalities, etc... This is a very common thing on climbing trips, in fact, I can't think of a climbing trip that I haven't attached myself onto a larger group of climbers. It's a very educational experience as well as just a sociable one. You meet new people, you learn new things and you... Continue reading

Training Strength The training of this component of your climbing arsenal is an intriguing area for discussion and certainly involves a lot of question as to how best train it. In this article, I hope to divulge my own thoughts on the matter. For starters, let's have a look as to what strength actually is. Sometimes people get mixed up between strength and power, there is a very notable difference. Strength is basically the ability to do anything at maximum resistance for a length of time under around 7 seconds. When talking about strength in climbing, we usually refer to either... Continue reading