UKC

Im planning on entering a comp in two weeks and i was wondering what the best prep would be. I can climb V7/V8ish however i didnt do well in the comp last year. Im 15 btw. What would be the best preparation in order to do the best im this bouldering comp? Should i spend time bouldering? On the beastmaker? Or on a 50• moonboard like woody? Many thanks,

Matt

In reply to Matt Slaterrr:

Tactics, tactics, tactics.

Turn up ready to perform. Well rested, well hydrated, well fed (eat some carbs - pasta etc).

Don't rush in! Target your problems. Identify the easy stuff and knock it off quick. Don't waste time focusing on stuff that's too hard initially. Come back to it.

Watch everyone else. Steal that Beta!


Don't take it too seriously - it's meant to be fun so enjoy it.

Best of luck,

BB

In reply to Matt Slaterrr:

In two weeks you won't make any strength gain whatever training you do so it's a bit late to get stronger for this comp.

All is not lost though! I'd focus on getting some practice in at onsighting, that's definitely something you can get better at in a couple of weeks. Try treating some routes you haven't climbed as if they were in a comp, that's a fast way to learn.

Just enjoy the comp, that's what they're there for!

In reply to Matt Slaterrr:
Some of our learnings (My daughter competes, I don't)

1) Chill the hell out.
We are just starting to get this into our thick heads. They give you plenty of time to complete problems at most comps. Yes there are loads of people there but I have never seen us struggle to complete the climbs

2) Chill the hell out.....
Have I said this before? Its worth saying twice. The nervous energy expelled trying to rush around and not enjoy the comp is stupid.

3) Pace yourself. At most comps my daughter completes the qualifiers in 1/3rd of the time allocated. This not only tires her out for the harder climbs, it also leaves her with a black hole of time to fill before finals. That in itself is really bad and we have now decided that if it happens again, we leave the climbing centre and go for lunch somewhere to reset and come back later

4) If you aren't sure of 100% topping a climb, move on to the next. Enjoy climbing and getting your confidence up before hitting hard stuff. Definitely watch other climber doing the climbs you are not sure for free beta.

5) Take a break. This was our big lesson at the weekend. 30 climbs and we tried to knock them all off at once. Got to the back straight on harder climbs and straight away something was missing. After a couple of them, we looked at each other and decided to go and press the reset button by having a rest. The 2 climbs she failed, she went back after a rest and completed them without an issue.

6) Do loads of comps. Experience has told me that even though qualifying climbs can be similar to the bouldering problems at local walls. Finals climbs are a different world of volumes and problems. As you are by yourself for these final climbs being able to read a climb is nearly as important as any climbing ability you have.

Cant comment on training as I haven't the experience, but the above are basics on how to approach a comp and make the most of it. Simple stuff but make a big difference. Good luck

In reply to Matt Slaterrr:

As mentioned you probably can't make any real strength gains in a fortnight, but you could combine the onsighting practice with a taper week before the comp.
Tapering is basically dropping your activity level before an event to make sure you are fully rested and at full strength for the event.
Do only a couple of sessions in the week leading up to the competition, and feel free to try hard, but keep the session short, maybe 50% of a normal session, so you go away without feeling completely drained. This should help set you up to be on top form for the competition.

In reply to Matt Slaterrr:


Do you not know this yourself already? Do you notice that you get pumped quicker if you climb too often? 3 or 4 days rest before would be good idea but sometimes with kids it's irrelevant, they don't even need a days rest.


You shouldn't really be advised to be fingerboarding or on a training wall until you've stopped growing, I doubt at 15, for a boy, you've stopped yet, do you measure yourself regularly? There's a reason for those over 18 only signs at the wall. (That said, don't watch the video of the 15YO Team GB European bouldering champ, his wall was made by beastmaker!)

Tactically, again this is something you should know for yourself already, what is a normal session like and how pumped do you get on hard V8 problems? How long does it take you to get to your best? How long can you sustain that for?

Probably you're at you best and strongest, between half an hour and one hour of climbing, then possibly only for half an hour max performance.

So don't warm up on anything but comp problems and don't warm up too long.

Get onto the hard stuff early, it's less greasy and you're stronger, but don't be first on hard stuff, watch a few others. Easy stuff you can knock off in the last half hour, so don't waste energy on it til the end. (And there tends to be less queuing).

You could try odds numbers up to 20, so 1,3,5,7,9,11,13 etc then pick you best targets in the hard climbs and concentrate on those. Have rest on and go back on the hard stuff (warm up on those even numbers). When you do the warm up problems do them slowly, concentrating on form.

Then finish off the easy evens when you are too pumped to do anything on the last hard problems. (Assuming you doing 30 problems and V8 means you're target is too flash 25 or more).

It's too late to do anything for strength, so now try doing a comp of you own making, choose 30 problems like a comp and see when you get pumped, how long you need to warm up etc.

There's a few Slaterrrs on here, all brothers or do you share the same brain but different personalities?

In reply to winhill:


Er, say what now?