Bouldering progress

 I felt like I could boulder for longer than before, which means an improvement in endurance. The skin started to feel a bit sore after about an hour. I still have trouble with the blue boulders (up to 6B) since they require strong hands. I tried the circuit and I could barely do a 6A+, but I was happy I could stay on the wall when I was tired and was ready to give up. My hands stayed gripping tightly on the handholds. The foot placement could definitely improve. 

I tried on my Tarantulace  after they have been resoled with "unnamed rubber".  The rubbers are pretty sticky and I have no problem with the resole job. I could however really feel that the shoes don't squeeze the toes together enough. They are sufficient for boulders at my level, but I could see that I won't be able to reliably pushing off of them hard enough for harder routes. The resoled ScarpaVapors though feel reeeeally tight. I'm hoping that the rubbers would soften up a tiny bit after several uses. I'm still hoping to find a pair of shoes that cause less pain to my feet than the ones that I own.

Things to work on: core strength, grip strength, endurance, foot placement, reading routes, hip placement, balance.

I'm also hoping my feet would strengthen enough for them to hurt less in climbing shoes in general. 

Finger strength in climbing

To push oneself up a climbing wall, one basically pushes the toe part of the shoes really hard into footholds (or the wall itself), and then grab the next handhold.  Grip it hard so one can move the body to the next position. During this transition, one should suck in the belly to activate the core so the body is tense when moving from one handhold to the next foothold or handhold. 

I had no clue this was how climbing worked in the first year. I had weak arms, no hand strength, weak back, weak core, and poor balance when I started. I would get "stuck" on super easy boulders. Moving a hand or a leg would result in me falling off the wall. The next handhold was often out of reach. It was often baffling to me what to do next half way through a boulder problem.

First my core got stronger, then the back and shoulders, and now I can feel my hands firming remaining on a hold even as I shift my body and foot around, snaking/reaching/swinging my way to the next foothold. As long as I have the grip, it is possible to try a move, fail, but still stay on the wall (due to that hand still hold me to the wall). Believe it or not, it's actually more tendon strength than muscle strength (I rarely get forearm pumps when I boulder). 

Recently, each time I climb, I reach that chi flow stage where I can seem to try one boulder problem after another and not feel sore. I usually bang my knees into the wall several times (because I am sloppy), and I just ignore it, and it doesn't affect my climbing. I have no soreness in the body (maybe slight shoulder soreness in the back of the armpit). I feel like I can go on climbing forever. The only signal forcing me to slow down and gradually boulder easier problems to cool down is my achy hand skin. The pain in the skins make it harder for me to grip the handholds precisely and strongly, so I know the session is coming to an end. 

Now that I have had a few hours rest, I feel the shakes in the shins/calves, in the back (the lats), in the abs, in the neck (as always). I will really feel it tomorrow. Last time I bouldered I felt sore for a whole week. Let's see how long this one lasts. I'm happy I am slowly building endurance though. This allows me to stay on the wall to work on tricky boulders. Before, I could only try a hard boulder once. If a move was too hard, then that problem would stay out of reach. Now my hands (and shoulders, and back, and core) are strong enough for me to try alternative moves. Very exciting!

Back to climbing after 3 weeks vacation

Like last winter, I took 3 weeks vacation from climbing. However, this time, in November and December, I got quite sick for a week or so twice (cold and winter stomach flu), so my climbing pre-vacation was not so regular either. Last time I was completely shocked how much strength and endurance I lost. This time I was mentally expecting it.

First post-vacation bouldering warm up initially felt like my arms were in shock about having to hold the body weight. It took awhile for the "shock" to go away. I can't quite tell if the shock was in the arms or in the head. The fingers weren't quite sure if they could hold the weight, but obviously they could. I did 5 rope climbs -- 1 red 5+ (5a), 1 green 6+ (6a), 1 black chimney 7- (6a+) that I have done before, 1 hard white 6 (should be a 6+/6a), and 1 hard white/blue dot 6 (5c) to end, where I was too scared to try the last move because I couldn't stand stretched out on one leg to reach the last hold.  The lower level climbs felt quite fun because they were at my limits. They required me to reach out, stretch, put my body in uncomfortable positions, but did not require more strength than what my body is currently capable of. I am hoping by the end of February I would be able to climb multiple 7s (6bs) and to work on short 7+/6b+s again. 

I went bouldering the next day, and could boulder up to 6a's. I did not have my full power back, but was able to play with some attempts on the less strengths/more tricky-technical boulders. My limiting factor when I first start bouldering was hand skin. Then it became my arm strength/core strength. Now it's back to skin again. My hand skin and my achy toes prevent me from climbing further before my core/back/arms are exhausted. Hoping to toughen up my skins again so I could train my muscles further.

Glad to feel I have some techniques/endurance under my belt now. I'm hoping by June I could be working on 6b+s indoor and 6a/6a+s outdoor. By the end of the year I hope to be able to do multiple 6b+ routes and 6b boulders. I hope I can do 5 pull ups consecutively. I hope my bunions do not worsen.

Things to work on:

- Core
- Finger strength
- Pull ups
- Overhangs
- Footwork
- Flow
- Body tension
- Power
- Pistol squats
- Pinch power/endurance
- Lock offs
- Handstands
- Cardio

Bouldering progress

This is my first time bouldering after awhile. My back and shoulders are still a bit sore from climbing last weekend. The last time I wrote about bouldering was 4 months ago. Time flies! 

I'm not climbing much harder routes than 4 months ago. The difference is that back then, every boulder felt "weird". They required my body to twist into unfamiliar angles and bear weight in ways that were very different from my previous gym. Now my body feels more comfortable on boulders of the same levels. I am more used to the styles of boulders at this gym, even though I don't come to this bouldering gym so often. I still don't love slopers (big bumps that require the friction of an open hand to stay on), but I am getting to the point where I trust that they will hold me. My body has gotten stronger. It has learned that some standing positions, while feeling uncomfortable, will hold when I make my next move. I am actually strong enough to try a few boulders at the next level (blue ones at this gym). They require new body positions where my feet slip off again. I have no doubt though I will eventually figure out a way to place my feet such that they do not slip off of the footholds.  

A new friend climbed with us during this session. He has a very different style of climbing. His feet slips all over the place. He compensates with his incredible upper body strength. So basically at every position his hands and upper body are bearing his weight. On good foot holds his feet his feet/legs will bear some weight, but on less good, angled foot holds the legs are not really engaged. This is how a lot of guys climb initially, because many of them have the strength to do 10+ chin ups/pull ups before they even started climbing. I see that for boulders with good handholds, they have no problem doing chin ups all the way up to the top. However, on boulder problems (at the V1-V3 / 5-6b levels)  where the handholds are small crimps, they run into some troubles. At first I thought it's not a good way to climb, but after observing quite a few guys climbing this way, I realized that there are enough boulder problems in the gym that are upper-body strength-oriented that they don't reeeeally need to be great with footwork if they just avoid the routes with small crimps. It's the same that I basically cannot do any bouldering problems with moves that require more upper body strength and core strength than I currently possess. Sometimes I can do some intermediate moves to get me to the top, but sometimes I just gotta wait until I get stronger. 

I didn't think I would get to a stage where I really enjoy bouldering, but here I am. Enjoying means I can get through boulder problems that are just at the limits of my abilities. If a boulder is too easy, it is boring. If it is too hard and way beyond my abilities, it's frustrating and pointless to try them. The best boulder problems are the ones where I can make progress after several tries, I can practice the moves, try different things (toes at different angles), hands holding the handhold in different ways, etc, and get better at doing them. The leg, core and arm muscles feel like they are exerting at a strenuous level that they can handle (ie. The Goldilocks zone). It feels very rewarding.

Most importantly, my bunions didn't hurt during this session, which is amazing. Which means I should probably spend this period to boulder more and cut back on sport climbing. My hips, knees and toes click a lot after climbing sessions, suggesting that changes are happening to connective tissues lines (muscles, fascia, bones, tendons, ligaments, all that fun stuff).  I'm really hoping my body learns to move in a way that does not put excessive pressure on the big toe base joints. Oh yeah, I also learned that beginner shoes are fine for my level of climbing. I do not need advanced climbing shoes (which hurt my feet) to send V3-V4 problems. 

Rock climbing progress after 1 year

The activity of climbing is like being on a hamster wheel or an angled treadmill -- you have to keep doing it to just move up in levels, or even just to stay at the same level. The moment you stop doing it (for more than a week), you slide back down in the amount of power, strength and endurance.

First I went on vacation for 3 weeks and did zero climbing. When I came back, even the simplest route (5b/5c) felt difficult. I guess that was somewhat understandable, given I wasn't exercising my body (especially upper body) much for like 20 days. But then, when I spent a month only bouldering, which emphasizes short bursts power moves, I also felt weak on the rope climbing wall, which consists of a series of moves requiring less power but more endurance. My wrists were really feeling it after a few routes. Climbing at my highest level (6b/5.10c) felt impossible.

Then when I started training for lead climbing (bringing the rope up the wall as one climbs, instead of having it set up at the top anchor, known as top rope), I picked the easiest routes on the wall (4 to 5bs). It felt super awkward to have the rope in between my legs instead of hanging from above. I also did not know exactly where to place my body to minimize energy usage. As a total chicken about slipping and falling to my death, I gripped the handholds super hard. One year of climbing seems to have provided me enough endurance to do a lot of over-gripping (read: waste more energy than necessary to keep me on the wall) the holds while still completing several easy routes. I would be sore the next day, feeling like I have trained pretty hard. Unfortunately, when I went back to the bouldering wall, I could no longer boulder at my highest level at bouldering (6a+/6b). 

So the situation for the last 3 months is somewhat frustrating, but also kind of illuminating about this activity. Even though I have been climbing every single week, I have been slipping back because I haven't been consistently pushing my limits. It's not like I feel I climb worse every week. In fact, I have been feeling better about being in a lot of awkward body positions. It's just that, specifically, hand/wrist strengths and power moves require consistent training. I can already see that by starting so late in life, I will not get super far in this sport. However, I am still hoping to build a foundation such that I can still climb 6A-6B when I am 50-60 years old.

Bouldering movements

I have been watching IFSC bouldering world cups on Youtube lately. I am very happy to discover this spectator sport. It is super exciting to watch, actually. This takes place in several cities in Asia, Europe, and North America each year. It is not televised, but is live streamed and can be played back later on Youtube. There is a qualifying round, a semi-final, and the final, where only the top 6 male and 6 female athletes are given 4 minutes to solve a boulder problem (4 boulder problems total).

Just what is a boulder problem? For competition climbing, it is a bunch of plastic handholds and footholds that one has to move through ("solve the sequence") to get to the top hold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HgkRwiNQQs

In this video you see many athletes not being able to complete the problem at all, and the last guy completing the sequence, thus winning the competition.

What the video edited out is his previous 6 attempts, which is what I have enjoyed watching in the live stream version. In the first attempt an athlete often fails at an early stage. With each attempt the athlete "learns" the movements with his or her body, and gains some muscle memory. A good athlete usually improves with each attempt. If one doesn't run out of energy or time, one can often solve the problem within 4 minutes. A tall person often has reach advantage, but a short person can have better control of the centre of gravity and has better control of the body for explosive power movements. I just love to see the 4 minute progression where these world class athletes can go from totally failing to mastering a particular boulder problem.

I normally enjoy watching Youtuber climbers ranging from pretty good to really awesome monkeying around in their home gyms. But right after watching a World cup, where 22 year olds dominate the podium, the Youtuber climbers' movements seem somewhat sluggish. I guess right after watching Usain Bolt win a race, your friend who just won the local sprinting competition would look a bit slow too.

Does watching athlete boulder help with my own bouldering progress? Well, my progressions has been as follows:

Stage 1: Not able to do anything except what looks like a straight ladder climb on the wall (with big juggy hand and footholds).

Stage 2: Trying V1 (French grade 5) climbs that require some shift in body weights. Not able to read routes at all. My hands would hurt after holding my body on the wall for >3 seconds so I would come off the wall right after starting a route.

Stage 3: Being able to shift my body weight a bit more so I could do the V1s.

Stage 4: Hands getting a bit stronger so I could get on the wall, stay there a bit while looking for the next hand/foothold.

Stage 5: Get on a boulder, imagine what a world class athlete would do for the next step (some power jump move to the next handhold), and then recognize I am not strong enough to do it myself.

So I went from not knowing how to solve boulder problems to mentally knowing what to do but physically not able to do it. Believe it or not, this is a major improvement. Climbing is always both physical and mental.

By the way I just moved to another city (yet again). The boulder problems here are quite a different style than in my previous gym. I was doing 6A+s/V3/V4s. But now apparently V3s are out of reach for me here because they put dynos in (jump to the next hand holds... I am unable to jump while on a wall right now). So I will work on my balances and core strengthening (on the wall, not working out at a gym), hoping by the end of the year I will see some improvements.