UKC

Anyone else struggle to move onto the V5 grade?

I have been climbing at the V3/4 level for about a year getting SLOWLY better, this is with basically 2-3 sessions a week at the gym of about an hour each, doing a warmup and then just bouldering as hard as I can.

Is V5 a tough grade to break into?

Any tips? Hangboarding? More specific training?

In reply to supafly: heelhook

In reply to supafly:

In reply to supafly: I think I plateaued at around V3/4 for a while. Didn't really do anything specific to improve, just got a lot more mileage and now I'm stronger and have better technique.

My take on it is that when people start climbing they have different levels of natural/existing ability, and the more ability they have, the more grades they progress through quickly before hitting a plateaux. I got better quite quickly up to V3/4, then much more slowly up to V6. I'm not really that keen on bouldering (prefer routes) so I've never trained or anything other than going to a bouldering wall and bouldering on grit (and on holiday).

By the way, what sort of bouldering are you doing? To get better at grit, climb lots of grit. Go to Font for harsh lessons in just about every area of technique you can think of (and how to manage tendonitis). Boulder on limestone to get really strong fingers. Do the lot, and you'll get a lot better.

For climbing indoors, I'd probably recommend changing your tack at the wall and doing a high volume up to V2/3 for a while, so you're learning more technique rather than training strength (you won't lose any strength since V3 is still pretty demanding). It's also good just to do something different when frustrated. When you've done about 2000 V3s (number totally plucked from thin air), V3 should feel easy, V4 a bit stiffer and V5 you'll be able to work. Once you're working V5s and climbing them well, V6 will be in reach. Then it might be time to start fingerboarding and stuff, cause you'll have the technique to make good use of extra gains in strength.

In my experience, 1h isn't very long to spend at a bouldering wall. Sessions of 2-3h a time might help matters drastically.

That's my ideas of how to progress (slowly, with minimal effort). If you really want to get better fast, I guess read a load of training stuff, diet, blah blah. But I don't reckon that's as useful in the long run as doing loads of climbing of different types and developing technique.

In reply to supafly: Every grade is hard to break not just 4-5. In time 5-6 will seem hard too

In reply to supafly:

I had that problem so I missed it out and went from V4 to V6. V5's a horrible grade.

Oh yeah, definitely the heel hook or the toe hook.

In reply to supafly:

Ignore the V grades.. instead look the font grade equivalents - there is a much more steady progression... V5 is about 6b+/6c - so go with the font grades and work your way through the 6's.....

In reply to supafly:

Just climb more... I plateaued at V6 for about 3 years, then did a few V8s in the last month or so. This was also shortly after a 3 month or so period of no climbing, so maybe that helped. I probably climb a similar number of times a week, but much longer sessions (say 3 or 4 hours) though when I have a bit more time on my hands I'll be climbing a lot more than that. If its cold it normally takes me about an hour to get warmed up. Try to climb outside more too; it sounds like you're mostly climbing inside at the moment, and your technique will improve quicker outside.

I don't think there's too much benefit from doing loads of specific training at that level, unless there's something that is currently a massive weakness which might be helped through isolation.

In reply to supafly: One thing you could be missing out on is core body training, this gets more important as you move through the grades.

Two suggestions either work on your finger strength, moves might be similar to v4 level but smaller holds - you can do the move you just need to be more solid on your points of contact in order to apply your power.. Be very careful with fingerboarding, slow gains are what you're looking for.

Core strength, - any overhanging stuff is gona need a good core, tons of great excersises to do.

In reply to supafly:

I think that it is essential to examine why you are struggling to break into V5. For example: Are you having trouble working out the moves? Then work on your technique. Are the holds too small to hold? Then work on finger strength (on fingery V3 or V4). Are you struggling to keep your feet on on steep ground? Then work on your core strength.

V3/V4 are good grades. I think that one of the problems with the vermin scale is that it devalues mortal efforts. V1 is actually pretty tricky when compared to route grades. V2 upwards can contain tech 6a moves, which you would find on E4s and 7as i.e no pushover. V5 is actually pretty hard.

In reply to tcoulthard:


Erm... In most comparisons aren't they 1:1 equivalent except perhaps around V8/9 7b+?

OP: Bouldering is hard and the limits are usually physical rather than mental once you're going well. It's not like you'll have a good day and skip 2-3 grades as you can with trad sometimes. Keep plugging away at it and you'll start to get the occasional V5 then the occasional V6 as the 5's start to feel easier...

jk

In reply to supafly:

At this level I believe bouldering more is your best form of training. Hangboarding may not be the best idea until you have more bouldering mileage.

Moving up a grade is always hard, like others have said if you think this step is hard, they only get much harder! V5-6 and V6-7 await you once your current level improves.

This is what worked for me:
Climb for longer - at LEAST a half hour warm up especially if you're going to be pulling on small holds
Watch those climbing better than you and steal their technique ideas
DOn't be afraid to try a particular problem repeatedly for numerous sessions until you can do it.
Assess why you can't do a problem (as explained above, finger strength, technique, power endurance etc) then work that weakness.

In reply to supafly: Do you work them, or give up on them if you can't do them quickly?

In reply to jkarran:


Can't speak for rock but as implemented in London walls (presumably so that the majority of customers aren't stuck at V1) V4 generally feels to me like 5+ & V7 like 7A which leaves V5 to cover 6A - 6C+. If I'm right the gap could really be very large ie 5+ -6C

In reply to i.munro: rock equivalence is roughly, V3=6aish, V4=6b-6b+, V5=6c-6c+, V6=7a, V7=7a+, V8=7b, V8/9=7b+, V9=7c, after that it's pretty much a one to one thing.

In reply to @ndyM@rsh@ll:

The OP sounds like he's climbing mostly or entirely indoors though.

In reply to i.munro: So he is, but not in london, in my experience most walls have a pretty steady progression, even if it is mostly overgraded throughout.

In reply to @ndyM@rsh@ll:


ah didn't know that or that V-grades still clung on anywhere else.

In reply to @ndyM@rsh@ll:

...Unless you use the LakesBloc grading table which I normally do. To the OP, this conversion certainly would make V5 more difficult to achieve than Andys conversion above:

5=V1, 5+=V1-V2, 6a=V2-V3, 6a+=V3, 6b=V3, 6b+=V3-V4, 6c=V4, 6c+=V5, 7a=V6, 7a+=V7, 7b=V8, 7b+=V8-V9, 7c=V9

In reply to i.munro:

Used extensively on Dartmoor granite.

In reply to supafly:
In a word, YES.
[Especially at the Indy Wall on Anglesey - well known as having the hardest V5s in the world ]

Longer training sessions.
Spend more time resting.
Do some longer circuits, up-down-ups or routes every now and again for some power endurance training.

In reply to supafly:

V5 problems start to involve English 6b (even soft 6c)moves- so require a step up in difficulty (power, strength, technique) from v3 and soft v4 problems (with English 6a moves).

Once you can climb English 6b moves- then v5 up to v8 is possible - just by developing some power endurance.

So find your weakness-finger strength, dynamic power, core strength and work on that.

In reply to teapot: So by climbing harder you can err climb harder

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Well yes thats about it!

But I was trying to demonstrate why V5 might feel like a hard grade to break into.

Many climbers progress naturally up to Eng 6a (say v3/4 problems) with little specific training or bouldering- but for many English 6b proves a barrier. Once 6b moves can be done in isolation (by focussing on weaknesses or just bouldering), then V5-8 or up to 8a+ routes are possible with a degree of power endurance.

It may be a misconception that each v grade bouldering level is harder to achieve- developing power/strength etc takes time (months/years), endurance to link hard moves together can take weeks.

In reply to supafly:

thanks for all the replies.. sorry i've only got to looking at them now.

tips taken:

longer bouldering sessions
figure out what is stopping me from progressing (probably a bit of everything tbh)

i think a lot of the time i'm just not trying hard enough, i want v3/4 to feel easy just because i've been climbing at that grade for around a year.

anyway.. thanks again for the suggestions.