This is a pictorial representation of the juniors - ninja monkeys - some of them may not appreciate this, but basically it is a gesture of respect from me but in comedy form!!
The reason I mention it is that I've been doing a lot of work on the coaching stuff for the wall and it gets you thinking about how you want to help people improve. One thing that occurred to me at the last British team event where we had a superb friendly comp against the French, was that I watching 12 year old boys and girls onsight 7c. This gets you thinking about the average. X years ago 7c didnt exist etc, Sebastian Helenke ((German Junior) has onsighted/flashed every 8a he has tried since his 14 birthday)).
So I got to thinking do we limit ourselves by measuring ourselves against those around us? The weekend warriors of Catalunya in Northern Spain all send 8's at the weekend because it is normal. In Britain on routes, we seem to plateau at 6a+/6b. Many of our female climbers rarely progress past V5 despite women like Shauna Coxley and Suzan Dudink demonstrating that girls can send seriously hard problems.
Would we all climb better if we did what the wonderful Malcom Smith was alleged to have done, locking himself away, whipping himself into a state of paranoia about how everyone is Sheffield was going to kick his ass something rotten. He emerged as some kind of mutant from his bedroom to obliterate! How much of this was due to his punishing schedule/genetics/determination and finally nobody to compare himself to, to then say, it's ok I can ease off now, I have reached the limit.
My personal belief is that everyone is able to climb V5 or 7a sport from climbing twice a week if they think about what they do when they climb and apply a little bit of training theory. I would argue that they should be the average. Cast your minds forward, if the 12 year olds of now are onsighting 7c, what will they be doing in ten year when they are peaking physically and with all that experience behind them? When (as it will become) a regular news event for the pro's to be onsighting 9a and we as normal people all expect to climb 8a most trips out - what will have changed? Only our expectations I would contend. Can we use this knowledge of knowing that even if we are quite good now, in ten years our abilities would make us punters to change how we climb today to liberate us from comparison and begin a journey of exploration of our own capacities?
If you think you can or you cannot climb 'V10' I would argue that you are probably right!
Be inspired, go see the youth climb at EICA (Sept 8-12th).
I look forward to seeing the how to get to font 8A+ with high intensity training and no natural ability programme ;) (or do you just go to Rocklands/Magic Wood until success?).
ReplyDeleteBe good to see a training maximum strength without injury training plan!
Natural ability is a concept I would challenge, natural implies genetic, i.e. not nurtured and humans were never rock climbers in the evolutionary sense, so therefore is the term natural ability misleading? perhaps the mere assumption of either having natural ability or otherwise subtly influences a persons ability either positively or negatively. In the pursuit of being the best climber we can be, your 'natural ability' whatever that is, is irrelevant as any one person can only be their individual best. My approach is that by comparison with others, we make unfounded assumptions about our own ability and ignore the objective information about the efficacy of our training, our mental approach and a multitude of other factors that all conspire to influence our performance. I know plenty of people who can kick my arse who are way weaker, but their efficiency in using what they have makes them very good.
ReplyDeleteAs for maximum strength without injury, I suspect that an injury at some point is almost inevitable as the object is to become as strong as possible and this invisible line is an unknown, but it is often indicated by an injury. But then injuries most often occur from poor practice, over doing it, insufficient recovery, or impatience to make gains too quickly. (Ill discipline essentially)
In summary, there is no magic bullet, but there are many ways to get better, most of them just require, consistent, dedicated, disciplined training completed in cycles, annual off season, and oodles of patience.
Have you already ticked F8a and need to move onto to 8a+? May I enquire how long did the 8a take? How many have you done? What was the style and I have more diagnostic questions up my sleeve too!