I plateaued at around 7C+ boulder/8b sport for quite a few years in my twenties. Then I made a jump to 8c and then 9a in a surprisingly short period of time. In this episode I go through what I did. Yes it involved a hangboard! I'm not sure my intervention would have the same effect on most climbers these days, but I will suggest some other equally important training for climbing that should reach the same place.
Lots of climbing partners have said to me that they observe that I'm a very motivated climber, especially for completing hard projects. I've spent a fair bit of time trying to understand where this comes from and if it can be replicated. It can! And it's not complicated.
The first ascent of Lithium 8B+ (V14) and the hardest boulder I've climbed so far. Some more about the story of this ascent and many others in the movie Undisovered https://vimeo.com/ondemand/undiscovered
A decent discussion of the principles I apply to structure my bouldering sessions, both during lockdown and at any other time.
One of my last days in the mountains before lockdown. It was a great one! Soloing Moonwalk IV,4 on Ben Nevis on a perfect day.
In an age of lots of information about training for climbing, so many either get injured or fail to make progress because of the basics. Right now, as I come back from an injury, I am building a foundation of physical capability. A foundation of sleep, recovery, gradually increasing load and consistency.
A core principle of doing well in sport (or other things) is to find ways to turn bad circumstances large and small to your advantage as much as possible. So many training decision pathways start from this principle, or at least should do.
I got injured. So what do I do now? Some ideas for how to manage the recovery.
While my daughter Freida has been off school with the virus situation, we have been doing Joe Wicks’ morning workouts. Joe asked kids to think of their own workouts and post them up. So we came up with this and posted it up on Freida’s channel, An Koala Pinc. I thought Freida did a nice job of entertaining at the same time as leading the workout. If you like it, do join in and do share it with Joe! He says he’ll pick one to do on his livestream.
I’ve been visiting this great boulder on and off over the past few weeks. Yesterday I put up a really nice new 8A, despite struggling a bit to get it in climbable condition recently. Well, that, and I couldn’t actually climb it. I’ve been trying a much harder project going straight up from the same start. Its a really good line and worth persisting with. At present I cannot do one move even after about four sessions on it. But I am getting closer. One thing is for sure, I’ll not get closer to unlocking it if I don’t show up and try. That is the subject of the vlog episode above (Vlog #42).
My blogging frequency has dropped a bit of late since I have been back at university studying lately. Although actually the main sink on my time has been a he task I’ve been putting off for over two years. I’ve been gathering scientific papers related to nutrition for four years now. There are nearly 2000 in my library at this point. I’ve avoided the hard labour of sorting them into buckets so I can easily make sense of them. But I’m attacking that task now. It will take me ages! But there is no short cutting it, and it will be worth it in the end.
I have spent a long time perfecting how to send hard projects which are above my level. Here are five of the most significant top level factors that I use constantly, either consciously or otherwise to make the send happen.
The warm up for climbing is fairly simple and there's no need to overcomplicate it unless you have poor conditioning or injury. But there are definitely some basics to get right. This episode (Vlog #35) goes through them.
Many of you then asked how I warm up at the crag, especially when there are few options for warming up. In this episode (Vlog 36) I warm up on the crux moves of my 9a project. Just take it step by step!
Solo ascent of the classic Ben Nevis ice climb The Curtain IV,4. I shot this a few seasons ago but thought it would be nice to post it up now since the ice climbing season in Scotland is not far away. I shot this a few seasons ago with my old GoPro. I didn't actually intend to solo that day, just decided to go up and do it on on the way down from doing something else on the hill. Hence the image and audio are pretty bad. I'm hoping to do a few more solo missions like this over the coming winter. I'll see if I can make something a little better with my new cameras. Although shooting video and soloing without any help still has its challenges. Any suggestions for classic ice lines to shoot?
People ask me over and over 'what's your secret?' to climbing hard, maintaining level into my 40s, balancing climbing with work and family etc etc. So I felt I should address this 'meta question' of secrets of training directly.
In this episode (Vlog #32) I put in a day setting the men's final for the Ice Factor's drytool comp in Kinlochleven. Trying not to impale myself with sharp tools and hopefully getting some fitness together as winter approaches.
Many of you have emailed me over the past week to ask what I think of a big budget movie just released on Netflix called The Game Changers. The movie promotes the idea that a plant-based diet will be beneficial for health and sport performance. It also suggests that eating meat will have the opposite effect. In this episode (Vlog #31), I watch the movie and offer some quick thoughts on its content and a look at some of the evidence presented in the film. Below is a list of references I discuss in the episode. I encourage you to read all of them, not just take either the Game Changers, or my own views at face value.
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31569235 Johnston, B. C., Zeraatkar, D., Han, M. A., Vernooij, R. W. M., Valli, C., El Dib, R., Marshall, C., Stover, P. J., Fairweather-Taitt, S., Wójcik, G., Bhatia, F., de Souza, R., Brotons, C., Meerpohl, J. J., Patel, C. J., Djulbegovic, B., Alonso-Coello, P., Bala, M. M. & Guyatt, G. H. 2019. Unprocessed Red Meat and Processed Meat Consumption: Dietary Guideline Recommendations From the Nutritional Recommendations (NutriRECS) Consortium. Annals of Internal Medicine.
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31622423 Händel, M. N., Cardoso, I., Rasmussen, K. M., Rohde, J. F., Jacobsen, R., Nielsen, S. M., Christensen, R. & Heitmann, B. L. 2019. Processed meat intake and chronic disease morbidity and mortality: An overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. PLOS ONE, 14, e0223883.
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1973470 Ornish, D., Brown, S. E., Scherwitz, L. W., Billings, J. H., Armstrong, W. T., Ports, T. A., McLanahan, S. M., Kirkeeide, R. L., Brand, R. J. & Gould, K. L. 1990. Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease? The Lifestyle Heart Trial. Lancet, 336, 129-33.
4. https://archive.archaeology.org/0811/abstracts/gladiator.html
5. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0110489 Lösch, S., Moghaddam, N., Grossschmidt, K., Risser, D. U. & Kanz, F. 2014. Stable Isotope and Trace Element Studies on Gladiators and Contemporary Romans from Ephesus (Turkey, 2nd and 3rd Ct. AD) - Implications for Differences in Diet. PLOS ONE, 9, e110489.
6. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141020090006.htm
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23988511 Rizzo, N. S., Jaceldo-Siegl, K., Sabate, J. & Fraser, G. E. 2013. Nutrient profiles of vegetarian and nonvegetarian dietary patterns. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 113, 1610-1619.
8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28534027 Phillips, S. M. 2017. Current Concepts and Unresolved Questions in Dietary Protein Requirements and Supplements in Adults. Front Nutr, 4, 13.
9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10584048 Campbell, W. W., Barton, M. L., Jr., Cyr-Campbell, D., Davey, S. L., Beard, J. L., Parise, G. & Evans, W. J. 1999. Effects of an omnivorous diet compared with a lactoovovegetarian diet on resistance-training-induced changes in body composition and skeletal muscle in older men. Am J Clin Nutr, 70, 1032-9.
10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17684208 Hartman, J. W., Tang, J. E., Wilkinson, S. B., Tarnopolsky, M. A., Lawrence, R. L., Fullerton, A. V. & Phillips, S. M. 2007. Consumption of fat-free fluid milk after resistance exercise promotes greater lean mass accretion than does consumption of soy or carbohydrate in young, novice, male weightlifters. Am J Clin Nutr, 86, 373-81.
11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1323303/ Volek, J. S. & Feinman, R. D. 2005. Carbohydrate restriction improves the features of Metabolic Syndrome. Metabolic Syndrome may be defined by the response to carbohydrate restriction. Nutrition & Metabolism, 2, 31.
12. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18396172 Volek, J. S., Fernandez, M. L., Feinman, R. D. & Phinney, S. D. 2008. Dietary carbohydrate restriction induces a unique metabolic state positively affecting atherogenic dyslipidemia, fatty acid partitioning, and metabolic syndrome. Progress in Lipid Research, 47, 307-318.
13. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16443784 Nieuwdorp 2006 Glycocalyx Nieuwdorp, M., van Haeften, T. W., Gouverneur, M. C. L. G., Mooij, H. L., van Lieshout, M. H. P., Levi, M., Meijers, J. C. M., Holleman, F., Hoekstra, J. B. L., Vink, H., Kastelein, J. J. P. & Stroes, E. S. G. 2006. Loss of Endothelial Glycocalyx During Acute Hyperglycemia Coincides With Endothelial Dysfunction and Coagulation Activation In Vivo. Diabetes, 55, 480.
14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2352199/ Key, T. J., Thorogood, M., Appleby, P. N. & Burr, M. L. 1996. Dietary habits and mortality in 11,000 vegetarians and health conscious people: results of a 17 year follow up. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 313, 775-779.
15. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29674591 Smith, F. A., Elliott Smith, R. E., Lyons, S. K. & Payne, J. L. 2018. Body size downgrading of mammals over the late Quaternary. Science, 360, 310.
16. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-latin-america-50330717
17. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618215011829 Wißing, C., Rougier, H., Crevecoeur, I., Germonpré, M., Naito, Y. I., Semal, P. & Bocherens, H. 2016. Isotopic evidence for dietary ecology of late Neandertals in North-Western Europe. Quaternary International, 411, 327-345.
18. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24694282 Helander, H. F. & Fändriks, L. 2014. Surface area of the digestive tract – revisited. Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, 49, 681-689.
19. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4844163/ Sobiecki, J. G., Appleby, P. N., Bradbury, K. E. & Key, T. J. 2016. High compliance with dietary recommendations in a cohort of meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians, and vegans: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Oxford study. Nutr Res, 36, 464-77.
20. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23183299 Carpenter, K. J. 2012. The discovery of vitamin C. Ann Nutr Metab, 61, 259-64.
21. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16848698 Cahill, G. F., Jr. 2006. Fuel metabolism in starvation. Annu Rev Nutr, 26, 1-22.
22. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5056667 Drenick, E. J., Alvarez, L. C., Tamasi, G. C. & Brickman, A. S. 1972. Resistance to symptomatic insulin reactions after fasting. The Journal of clinical investigation, 51, 2757-2762.
23. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9311957 Popovich, D. G., Jenkins, D. J., Kendall, C. W., Dierenfeld, E. S., Carroll, R. W., Tariq, N. & Vidgen, E. 1997. The western lowland gorilla diet has implications for the health of humans and other hominoids. J Nutr, 127, 2000-5.
24. https://journals.lww.com/nutritiontodayonline/Fulltext/2018/07000/ Assessing_the_Role_of_Cattle_in_Sustainable_Food.5.aspx#pdf-link Layman, D. K. 2018. Assessing the Role of Cattle in Sustainable Food Systems. 53, 160-165.
25. https://www.biogeosciences.net/16/3033/2019/ Howarth, R. W. 2019. Ideas and perspectives: is shale gas a major driver of recent increase in global atmospheric methane? Biogeosciences, 16, 3033-3046.
In 2007 I gave up on the idea of climbing Hunger, 9a. Over ten years later, I returned as a better climber and finished the job. But not without a carefully planned and executed preparation.
I could feel the remaining window of autumn was closing pretty fast to lead my Shuas project. On one hand, I did expect to be good enough to be even close to leading it, so its hard to be frustrated. On the other, as it dawned on me that there actually was a possibility I could do it, I was obviously highly motivated to grab the chance. I arranged with Masa Sakano to climb there on a good forecast and started to get scared.
As I left the house to meet Masa and his friend Ed in the morning, it rained most of the drive over (not forecast). But it was dry at the car park, so we proceeded. In the vlog episode above you can see it turned out to be a desperate day for preparing myself for a lead, with constant start-stops with rain showers.
On my first attempt, I slipped off one of the holds on the technical crux, but thankfully a body length before the runout gets into the slab-hitting zone. Thankfully the gear all held, although I later saw that the cam on the left-hand rope had half slipped out of its placement and had held on two cams. This probably helped me relax a bit. The second attempt I climbed the crux probably better than I ever have and same for the upper crux. I was definitely climbing well for me and feeling fit, light and strong.
Overall I’d say the route is almost as hard as I’ve climbed on trad. It was a long time ago but probably only Echo Wall is harder, since it is more serious again with poorer protection. In some ways, this route is more similar to Rhapsody - both in the region of 8c to top-rope. But this one has ground fall potential from a couple of moves at the end of the crux, and is in a mountain situation rather than an accessible roadside crag. So you may well ask why do I give it E10 when Rhapsody appears to have held its grade at E11.
The short answer is I’m not sure and just being a bit conservative really. I climbed Rhapsody a long time ago and maybe its harder than I remember? I’m also maybe not as bold to apply such a ridiculous grade as E11 as I was in the past. I’m not sure if that is right or wrong. It’s also not that important - someone else will come along and repeat it at some point and will have a more objective view than me. All that’s really important to know is that aside from Echo Wall I’ve not climbed a harder trad route than this.
I will be back to Shuas next summer. Not for anything quite as hard, but there are at least three more routes of E8 or harder that I’ve either cleaned already or know are possible. Its such a great place and can’t wait to get back there. For now, I can move on to several other projects for the autumn and winter, from a base of climbing well and feeling confident.
Oh, one last thing, the name comes from the Soundgarden song which I listened to a couple of times while jogging up and down the hill to try this project. Regular readers of this blog will be aware that I’ve spoken recently about depression and suicide and one of many horrible losses in recent years was Chris Cornell who sung the song.
I am a quitter and in this episode (vlog #24) I go through why perhaps you should consider tactical quitting, as well as discussing the difference between tactics and strategy for achieving your goals.
The first repeat placing gear on lead of Dave Birkett's E9 on Scafell Pike, Lake District, England; Return of the King. This footage was from my ascent in 2017.