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Bruno Marks has redpointed Unjustified (F8c) at Malham Cove in Yorkshire.
Here Bruno explains how he went from climbing VS as a student to finally ticking a top grade sport climb on one of the best cliffs in Britain.
Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=62294
In reply to UKC News: Absolutely brilliant! The kick in the butt I needed to train right now - keep up the good work!
In reply to UKC News:
Stu might be a good friend, but more importantly he can tell the difference between Predator and Overnight Sensation!
Congrats on your tick Bruno; many more to come, I'm sure.
BTW - does the choice of title intentionally mimic the famous OTE interview with Nic Sellars "VS to 8c in four years"?
Stu might be a good friend, but more importantly he can tell the difference between Predator and Overnight Sensation!
Congrats on your tick Bruno; many more to come, I'm sure.
BTW - does the choice of title intentionally mimic the famous OTE interview with Nic Sellars "VS to 8c in four years"?
In reply to UKC News:
I was just about to go for a second doughnut. This might just have inspired me to hold off for now.
I was just about to go for a second doughnut. This might just have inspired me to hold off for now.
In reply to UKC News: Nice one.... not quite the VS to 8c story I was expecting.... but an awesome effort non-the-less...
In reply to UKC News:
Nice one Bruno. Glad to see you cranking hard still. Best of luck for the new edition to the family.
John
Nice one Bruno. Glad to see you cranking hard still. Best of luck for the new edition to the family.
John
In reply to UKC News:
All this while managing to top the Pop charts!
All this while managing to top the Pop charts!
In reply to mark_wellin:
Well done Bruno, a justified reward for lots of hard work. Best of luck with the baby. John
Well done Bruno, a justified reward for lots of hard work. Best of luck with the baby. John
In reply to John Alcock: Will we see From F8c to VS article once the little bairn arrives?
Only kiddin!
Well done and have fun with the new little one (you are allowed back on the swings in the park as long as you are with the little one!).
Only kiddin!
Well done and have fun with the new little one (you are allowed back on the swings in the park as long as you are with the little one!).
In reply to UKC News:
Good read Bruno and congratulations on Unjustified. Also top marks on addressing the weight issue.
Good read Bruno and congratulations on Unjustified. Also top marks on addressing the weight issue.
In reply to UKC News:
Awesome effort Bruno - do I get points for having held your ropes when you worked it? Hopefully it might rub off!
I'm still planning to come back and finish off the start pitch
Awesome effort Bruno - do I get points for having held your ropes when you worked it? Hopefully it might rub off!
I'm still planning to come back and finish off the start pitch
In reply to UKC News:
Fantastic effort! Well chuffed for you Bruno. To quote Jules of late, seems your inspiring article has everyone 'super-psyched'
Fantastic effort! Well chuffed for you Bruno. To quote Jules of late, seems your inspiring article has everyone 'super-psyched'
Bruno, congratulations!
Pleasure to read from perspective of similarly situated climber in life & climbing universe.
One question. You warn about too strict dieting, but I sort of lack some details about eating vs training: Do you diet? Do you strictly control your weight for better performance? How do you do it?
Pleasure to read from perspective of similarly situated climber in life & climbing universe.
One question. You warn about too strict dieting, but I sort of lack some details about eating vs training: Do you diet? Do you strictly control your weight for better performance? How do you do it?
In reply to UKC News: Fantastic Bruno - what a great read and what a privilege to have seen your progression over the years (and to have presided over some of your least healthy evening meals!!!)
In reply to UKC News:
I'm overwhelmed by all of your very kind and enthusiastic responses.
Thank you all and it just goes to confirm for me what great friends I am lucky enough to have and what a fantastic community are climbers.
I'll be out at the weekend - Kilnsey probably - hope to see some of you there!
I'm overwhelmed by all of your very kind and enthusiastic responses.
Thank you all and it just goes to confirm for me what great friends I am lucky enough to have and what a fantastic community are climbers.
I'll be out at the weekend - Kilnsey probably - hope to see some of you there!
In reply to UKC News:
This is all very well but it doesn't help you if you are a fat punter who is also basically lazy
This is all very well but it doesn't help you if you are a fat punter who is also basically lazy
In reply to John Southworth:
I believe he will mainly be crushing True North.
Nice one Bruno, was inspiring to watch. Hopefully me soon!
> (In reply to UKC News)
>
> Nice work Bruno! What's next?
>
> Nice work Bruno! What's next?
I believe he will mainly be crushing True North.
Nice one Bruno, was inspiring to watch. Hopefully me soon!
In reply to UKC News: Hi Bruno, I am very impressed, you may remeber climbing at Arapiles with me and a scottish guy called andy (in 2006) - I tride to second Kachong when you led it.
It is funny you told me one piece of info that always stuck with me about bouldering to get used to doing hard moves and then have the confidence for doing harder trad routes and sport climbing for stamina (I was 18 at the time) so have followed that advice ever since!
It is funny you told me one piece of info that always stuck with me about bouldering to get used to doing hard moves and then have the confidence for doing harder trad routes and sport climbing for stamina (I was 18 at the time) so have followed that advice ever since!
Congratulations Bruno I just about remember you from my early days in CUMC Also on your upcoming fatherhood! Nice to hear how people are doing 12 years on...
In reply to UKC News:
Great story. Nice to see a timeline of climbing progression which unlike other "From Easy to Nigh on Impossible" accounts actually makes it sound quite plausible!
Great story. Nice to see a timeline of climbing progression which unlike other "From Easy to Nigh on Impossible" accounts actually makes it sound quite plausible!
In reply to UKC News:
Nice one Bruno - inspiring stuff. I'm back leaving in Boulder, CO via a somewhat circuitous route, you and Jen would be very welcome if you're ever passing through.
Andy Fox
(That invite extends to other Cambridge/Oxford folks who might be reading this - Ru, Ric W, Ric A, John W, you know who you are... )
Nice one Bruno - inspiring stuff. I'm back leaving in Boulder, CO via a somewhat circuitous route, you and Jen would be very welcome if you're ever passing through.
Andy Fox
(That invite extends to other Cambridge/Oxford folks who might be reading this - Ru, Ric W, Ric A, John W, you know who you are... )
In reply to UKC News:
Brilliant. After having seen Bruno in action on Unjustified, it's good to see he got it. And inspiring to read the story.
Brilliant. After having seen Bruno in action on Unjustified, it's good to see he got it. And inspiring to read the story.
In reply to amf37:
Nice one Bruno, and cheers for the invitation Andy! Might be while before we get to go as we now have a 4 month old...
Nice one Bruno, and cheers for the invitation Andy! Might be while before we get to go as we now have a 4 month old...
In reply to mloskot:
Hi ???- I don't like these forum names - no idea who I'm talking to.
First, apologies for the lengthy answer below but it's hard to give a quick answer to a pretty complex issue and I feel a duty to be serious about this subject. If not interested stop here!
Anyway, to your question. As I said in my article, it's pretty obvious that being light is going to be of benefit in climbing. However the danger of pursuing lightness is forgetting that lots of other factors are essential too! - Strength, energy, general good health and resistance to illness/injury etc. Getting the right balance is the key! If you are fortunate enough to be able to get out climbing and training a lot, or have an active job, you probably needn't worry much at all about what you eat - just eat when you are hungry, eat healthily and eat enough - you'll be using the energy! This is what I'm like on a climbing holiday when I'm climbing all day at least 2 out of 3 days. When at home though, I spend most of my day in front of a computer so I feel that I have to be more careful about what I eat to balance a much lower energy consumption. In fact I am very careful. As a main principle I am more careful about what I eat than how much. I eat very little fatty foods and try to eat food with low calorie-density - lots of fruit, veg, brown rice, bran cereals, soups. This means you can eat big plates of food, which is satisfying, without it being far too much calories. One thing I notice though is that I actually eat more than many other climbers at the crag - I find it very important to keep nibbling at high energy, easily digestible foods during a climbing day in order to maintain performance - this is not the time to diet! I also take recovery seriously and try to have some sort of energy and a source of protein within about 30min of finishing a hard training session or climbing day.
So as a summary, it's more a lifestyle approach than going on diets. If I do want to get on top form I might be extra careful for a few weeks and lose around 2kg - I'm already light so I think I'd suffer if I lost much more than this - I think this does bring an improvement in performance short term but don't try to sustain this lowest weight for too long as it will start to negatively impact your ability to recover or gain strength, resist illness, injury etc. Most male athletes can get down to about 5% body fat (women it's a lot higher - don't even think about 5%!) but it's not good to maintain this low for too long - probably more 7 or 8% is good. This is roughly what I do and I am generally extremely healthy - lots of energy and extremely little illness.
Lastly if any of you reading this do suffer from Anorexia or Bulimia speak to a trusted friend or GP etc. about getting professional help - it's essential. These eating issues can be extremely serious - I have witnessed first hand with close friends/family.
Hi ???- I don't like these forum names - no idea who I'm talking to.
First, apologies for the lengthy answer below but it's hard to give a quick answer to a pretty complex issue and I feel a duty to be serious about this subject. If not interested stop here!
Anyway, to your question. As I said in my article, it's pretty obvious that being light is going to be of benefit in climbing. However the danger of pursuing lightness is forgetting that lots of other factors are essential too! - Strength, energy, general good health and resistance to illness/injury etc. Getting the right balance is the key! If you are fortunate enough to be able to get out climbing and training a lot, or have an active job, you probably needn't worry much at all about what you eat - just eat when you are hungry, eat healthily and eat enough - you'll be using the energy! This is what I'm like on a climbing holiday when I'm climbing all day at least 2 out of 3 days. When at home though, I spend most of my day in front of a computer so I feel that I have to be more careful about what I eat to balance a much lower energy consumption. In fact I am very careful. As a main principle I am more careful about what I eat than how much. I eat very little fatty foods and try to eat food with low calorie-density - lots of fruit, veg, brown rice, bran cereals, soups. This means you can eat big plates of food, which is satisfying, without it being far too much calories. One thing I notice though is that I actually eat more than many other climbers at the crag - I find it very important to keep nibbling at high energy, easily digestible foods during a climbing day in order to maintain performance - this is not the time to diet! I also take recovery seriously and try to have some sort of energy and a source of protein within about 30min of finishing a hard training session or climbing day.
So as a summary, it's more a lifestyle approach than going on diets. If I do want to get on top form I might be extra careful for a few weeks and lose around 2kg - I'm already light so I think I'd suffer if I lost much more than this - I think this does bring an improvement in performance short term but don't try to sustain this lowest weight for too long as it will start to negatively impact your ability to recover or gain strength, resist illness, injury etc. Most male athletes can get down to about 5% body fat (women it's a lot higher - don't even think about 5%!) but it's not good to maintain this low for too long - probably more 7 or 8% is good. This is roughly what I do and I am generally extremely healthy - lots of energy and extremely little illness.
Lastly if any of you reading this do suffer from Anorexia or Bulimia speak to a trusted friend or GP etc. about getting professional help - it's essential. These eating issues can be extremely serious - I have witnessed first hand with close friends/family.
In reply to amf37:
Cheers Andy - glad to hear you've ended up in a nice spot!
Would love to make it out there - not sure when though.....another great sounding place to add to the list!
Cheers Andy - glad to hear you've ended up in a nice spot!
Would love to make it out there - not sure when though.....another great sounding place to add to the list!
In reply to Mark Warnett:
Completely true! Lots of hard work needed - doesn't mean it's not fun though! I enjoy training! The only difficulty is fitting it in with everything else - not much time for sitting around watching TV!
Completely true! Lots of hard work needed - doesn't mean it's not fun though! I enjoy training! The only difficulty is fitting it in with everything else - not much time for sitting around watching TV!
In reply to brunomarks:
Well done Bruno, good luck on True North.
Well done Bruno, good luck on True North.
In reply to brunomarks:
Thanks for expanding on the food thing Bruno. It's useful to see people applying the ideas I've read about but don't have the organisation/willpower to apply. But I'm getting better at it...
Thanks for expanding on the food thing Bruno. It's useful to see people applying the ideas I've read about but don't have the organisation/willpower to apply. But I'm getting better at it...
In reply to UKC News: Fantastic news Bruno! I always thought you were super dedicated so it is great to hear about your journey from before you were in Bristol. All the best to you and Jen for the exciting family time ahead! I'm sure you will keep cranking; thanks for the inspiration / making me feel like I need to get off my arse.
Good job Bruno! It didn't look like it was going to be long before you got the tick last time I saw you.
Nice one Bruno! Keep up the project psyche!
In reply to UKC News: Great article, totally inspiring stuff!
In reply to UKC News:
BTW , I really owe great thanks to Mark Reeve - this was in my original article but not the final edit. On the day after several failed attempts, Mark gave me some key beta about how to grip the crux hold which for me made the move go from low percentage to one I could hold static for about 3 secs! Unbelievable what difference such a subtle alteration could make. I did it first go with this beta and could have sent the route some time back if I'd had it. Not bothered about that though - it was a good journey - but thanks to Mark for speeding it up!!!
BTW , I really owe great thanks to Mark Reeve - this was in my original article but not the final edit. On the day after several failed attempts, Mark gave me some key beta about how to grip the crux hold which for me made the move go from low percentage to one I could hold static for about 3 secs! Unbelievable what difference such a subtle alteration could make. I did it first go with this beta and could have sent the route some time back if I'd had it. Not bothered about that though - it was a good journey - but thanks to Mark for speeding it up!!!
In reply to Cassidy:
Thanks Al, good work on your rather rapid ascent also! I did in same style as you and agree with your comments about that. However I've no problem with people doing in other styles (lots of preclips etc.) as long as they are honest about what they've done (which I think everyone has been). I just don't really see why people do it for this particular route as I reckon the difference it makes isn't that great.
> Good job Bruno! It didn't look like it was going to be long before you got the tick last time I saw you.
Thanks Al, good work on your rather rapid ascent also! I did in same style as you and agree with your comments about that. However I've no problem with people doing in other styles (lots of preclips etc.) as long as they are honest about what they've done (which I think everyone has been). I just don't really see why people do it for this particular route as I reckon the difference it makes isn't that great.
In reply to brunomarks:
It was Paul Reeve
> (In reply to UKC News)
> BTW , I really owe great thanks to Mark Reeve
> BTW , I really owe great thanks to Mark Reeve
It was Paul Reeve
In reply to Adam Lincoln:
That's what I meant! Getting old....
> (In reply to brunomarks)
> [...]
>
> It was Paul Reeve
> [...]
>
> It was Paul Reeve
That's what I meant! Getting old....
In reply to brunomarks:
I've experienced the effect that under eating can have on performance in a big way. I got a bit obsessed with cutting my weight and ended up training every day and practically cutting carbs altogether. It went well for about a week, then I had 2 weeks of my worst climbing in living memory. I had no strength and no determination to reach the top of anything after my warmup routes. I gradually introduced carbs a little more each day while monitoring my weight carefully. I actually reached a point where I was still cutting but had loads more energy. It's so easy to go wrong either way (or at least it is for me).
Great work on the climb/s BTW.
I've only been climbing around 3 years. I'm 38 so I've started very late. I'm struggling to get the required finger strength to weight ratio despite a lifetime of gym training. Hopefully I'll get there in the end (not sure where 'there' is, but I'll get there).
> Anyway, to your question. As I said in my article, it's pretty obvious that being light is going to be of benefit in climbing. However the danger of pursuing lightness is forgetting that lots of other factors are essential too! - Strength, energy, general good health and resistance to illness/injury etc. Getting the right balance is the key! If you are fortunate enough to be able to get out climbing and training a lot, or have an active job, you probably needn't worry much at all about what you eat - just eat when you are hungry, eat healthily and eat enough - you'll be using the energy! This is what I'm like on a climbing holiday when I'm climbing all day at least 2 out of 3 days. When at home though, I spend most of my day in front of a computer so I feel that I have to be more careful about what I eat to balance a much lower energy consumption. In fact I am very careful. As a main principle I am more careful about what I eat than how much. I eat very little fatty foods and try to eat food with low calorie-density - lots of fruit, veg, brown rice, bran cereals, soups. This means you can eat big plates of food, which is satisfying, without it being far too much calories. One thing I notice though is that I actually eat more than many other climbers at the crag - I find it very important to keep nibbling at high energy, easily digestible foods during a climbing day in order to maintain performance - this is not the time to diet! I also take recovery seriously and try to have some sort of energy and a source of protein within about 30min of finishing a hard training session or climbing day.
>
>
I've experienced the effect that under eating can have on performance in a big way. I got a bit obsessed with cutting my weight and ended up training every day and practically cutting carbs altogether. It went well for about a week, then I had 2 weeks of my worst climbing in living memory. I had no strength and no determination to reach the top of anything after my warmup routes. I gradually introduced carbs a little more each day while monitoring my weight carefully. I actually reached a point where I was still cutting but had loads more energy. It's so easy to go wrong either way (or at least it is for me).
Great work on the climb/s BTW.
I've only been climbing around 3 years. I'm 38 so I've started very late. I'm struggling to get the required finger strength to weight ratio despite a lifetime of gym training. Hopefully I'll get there in the end (not sure where 'there' is, but I'll get there).
In reply to brunomarks: In reply to Adam Lincoln:
But not as old as him.
> (In reply to brunomarks)
> [...]
>
> It was Paul Reeve
> [...]
>
> It was Paul Reeve
> That's what I meant! Getting old....
But not as old as him.
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