UKC

So I am a mountaineering and climbing instructor, as well as having a MSc in Applied Sport Science. I have done a few coaching videos over the years, but I am starting to experiment with some live-streaming via facebook. At the moment I am just getting used to the technology, but I hope as it developed the stream will become more interactive, in that you can ask me a question live and via comments and I will attempt to answer it then or at a later date.

At the moment I am really looking for genuine questions so I can start with a few answers for the content. I will be looking in this and other forums for questions but feel free to email me or post the question below.

Which would offer the easiest gain for a keen beginner?

Losing weight, getting stronger or improving technique.

Of the three I know which one I always suggest.

Sorry, long one.

This this is more related to the applied sports science side of things.

I'd be interested to know some really simple exercises and a simple training programme to train your body to perform well for mountaineering.

So I'm thinking of methods of how to keep your exercises aerobic to increase performance from mitochondria and teach your body to metabolise fat stores etc but then also how to improve your VO2 max etc.

And then further to the above, what simple exercise to improve overall strength for mountaineering.

I find (at least as someone who doesn't have a background in sports/science) a lot of the information out there is either overly complicated (meaning too many different exercises, couldn't possible fit them all in, and wasn't sure if it was even important to) and then further to that, they often don't explain why you are doing them. What are we trying to improve and why do we need it.

For context, I'm training at the moment for mountaineering with long weighted walks to improve my aerobic fitness, trying to keep my heart weight fairly low, and doing high intensity weighted step ups to improve strength and heart performance.

I don't know if it's covering what I need, but it was my simple to execute plan based on far too many hours of reading contradicting stuff. For me to stick to it, it had to be simple, and clear what I was achieving from the exercise.

How to improve truly woeful flexibility? 

What are the most common mistakes climbers make in terms of technique, mindset or training?

Excuse my ignorance, but how on earth do you measure your heart weight?

I am amazed that trainers  like yourself do not deliberatley target older climbers who want to improve/ maintain exisiting fitness/ get back to previous standards etc.They are more likely to have the £ as well.

It all appears as though targetting is done to the new/younger end of the market.

Only an observation.

Improving technique. If you are a keen beginner you will automatically lose weight and gain strength. If you are overweight when you start climbing your weight will naturally come down to a healthy BMI. 

Technique:

Footwork - do lots of slab (real friction) climbing.

Learn to climb cracks (jamming etc)

Body position particularly on overhanging rock.

Climbing walls are excellent for the last of these, poor for the first two. Bouldering is really good for all of them.

I'm pleased we agree.

Remove it and....

"Rate"

If you remove it, the rate measurement may be unreliable!

It might slow it down a bit

How can I define what my weaknesses are to be able to address them?

What kit should I learn to use and carry, to enable me to navigate safely to the top of a typical uk mountain and back down. In poor visibility.

I'm struggling to see much value in 'live' streaming like this, but one thing you might consider in terms of video-based semi-interactive (i.e., not live) coaching is to accept submitted videos of people climbing (probably indoors and preferably known - to you - routes) and provide your analysis of where their best areas of improvement may lie. And how to achieve them. Much more likely to be useful than the usual context-free "Is strength more important than technique"-type questions.

So Marek, this is one of the plans I hope to develop over time is people sending in their videos and helping them by analysing the video. It will take time though as I probably need to explain how to best film the climb so I can analyse it. I also hope that eventually it is not all 'out of context', as I did some livestreaming from a climbing wall with another streamer called Dale whose twitch feed was Shntiz I think. However with 4G and a iPhone I can pretty much stream from anywhere, so can add the context.

I am just playing around with the idea at the moment as I mothballed my coaching company for a couple of years and only getting back to it in the last month or so. As such I have some free time when I am not writing guidebooks, coaching or out climbing for myself.

Do you have access to a model aeroplane and a treadmill?

Sadly 'valuable' and 'easy' don't often overlap. Good luck - I look forward to seeing how it works out!

Carried over from this thread:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/rock_talk/using_anchors_on_sport_climbs-7...

"Did nobody teach you to sport climb correctly before you started teaching others?"

I was disappointed (as a sport climber and new-router) that sport climbing just wasn't covered in any way in my SPA training. We should start training our instructors to use fixed anchors properly and encourage new climbers to do the same.

Agree. Must be a big market for coaching keen climbers who hope to climb into old age. And also a growing market. Even some of our top "athletes" are knocking on a bit!

John (Age 74 and a half, and recovering from shoulder surgery)

I would be very interested to hear how you think we/I can market better to the older end of the demographic. From a personal perspective, probably around 50% of my clients are in the 50+ category. 

How to stay motivated / hardened against the long term tedium of training?

[especially since most things out there to achieve already this are either bloody obvious (and therefore useless) or tedious in themselves]

Optimising limited time (and energy) vs motivation, efficacy and fatigue?

"What is your favourite biscuit?"

By revamping your marketing material to target..Get those clients to give testimonials etc.If they have been climbing for a long time get them to talk about this and how you have helped them.

The older generation for the most part has spending power and time.And often a willingness to learn new things to keep going!

Always amazed that climbing coaches do not latch onto this.

Your website makes no mention of what you have done for those  aged 50+ climbers.

Is that mountaineering or rock climbing / bouldering?

I'm just over 50 (and I started late, at 40) and a keen boulderer as well as indoor sport (there's a lack of intermediate outdoor sport climbs in Scotland: largely the scraps left over from a long history of trad - either too easy and short, crap or too difficult and so never developed for trad.)

I'd like to know how best to counteract the effects of age (on muscle gain, explosive power etc ) and maintain or even improve my grade long term.

Not sure I know anything about marketing. But most coaching marketing I have seen seems to target "improvement", by which I think most would understand increasing grade. Lots of older climbers know they are unlikely to push their grade higher, but very much want to keep climbing without injuring themselves.

Interestingly, my physio (used to dealing with sportsmen, but not climbers) told me that, after six months physio with him, I should be able to gradually return to climbing, and should do this with the help of a climbing coach. Do climbing coaches have the expertise to supervise this sort of rehabilitation?

Why am I so scared all the time?

Putin?

The monster under your bed?

When your passion becomes your job, does it ruin it?

I'd focus on apre-live-stream relaxation for yourself - you'll probably need it after fielding all of the technical issues, stupid questions and trying to mask the inevitable massive fart you do in the middle of it.

A few ideas...

- Development from "intermediate" to "advanced" trad

Everyone and their uncle climbs VS/HVS and occasionally extends themselves to E1, but how do you get solid on E2/E3 with limited time and limited courage?!

- Busting plateaus

Same but for font 6C and French 6c/7a... these seem to be sticky grades.

- Dealing with/avoiding injury

As this haunts middle-aged people with ambitions to improve...

- Micro-level focus on technique

Everyone knows they should improve their technique but it's often  tricky to know how once you reach a certain level.

- Value of consolidation/mileage within your abilities or pushing yourself (in various contexts)?

None of these are particularly novel, but it seems it's hard to coach trad in-depth and beyond a fairly basic entry level. I've not seen lots of good stuff out there on this.

Also... dealing with specific scenarios, e.g. accessing intimidating sea cliffs, e.g. North Stack or Lundy; dealing with stuck ropes;  coping with bold routes; loose rock and vegetation, including what/how to remove and when to not remove; using/reliability of micronuts and marginal protection, e.g. skyhooks; moving faster on big crags; considerations when climbing with novices; value of other approaches, e.g. headpointing versus onsighting.

Also... route/venue recommendations away from the beaten path?!

Just throwing stuff out there

I'd ask why you begin your posts with a superfluous 'So'.

A la mode?

You will be pleased to hear that its been trained and assessed (or should be) since SPA became RCI 2 years ago.

So ukclimbing.

(Gets coat …)

Do a search on ‘martial arts flexibility training’ for somewhere to start. It’s going to take time (1-2 years, plus), so don’t go crazy at the start, or you will hurt yourself, and so defeating the object. Personally I found that sitting on the floor with your legs spread wide and reading the newspaper between your legs helped.

Thank you, I'll have a look at that. Any amount  improvement would help.  

I only climb indoors with ropes very infrequently. I find I get pumped out and scared to pull slack to allow me to clip. How do I persuade wall owners that it is reasonable to provide lead walls that are not dramatically overhanging?

I’m amazed I got as far as I did on my own, when I read all this. How many UK hard routes have been pioneered by anyone who ever went on a course. Not many if any, so who taught them and showed them what to do? Their exploits are way above what most instructors and guides can achieve, again with notable exceptions. I remember Alan ( Richard) McArdy saying to me he thought guides should be able to solo E3, though I’m not sure he was serious. One possible very tentative exception may be Simon Nadin ( for wall climbers Google him and Richard) who visited Whitehall whilst at school.

Today I got my rope stuck after retrieving an abseil. Are there any do's don't to reduce the likelihood of a rope getting stuck? 

The moment it stopped moving I pulled really hard on it, probably should have spent some time jiggling it before I resorted to pulling?

I think a big factor for us in our 60s and beyond is loss of physical conditioning.

as for marketing to oldies, pop down to AW Sheffield 10:00 to 15:00 any Friday

Jerry Moffat?

So. UKclimbing...

Get it right.

use a single overhand knot with long tails

It was just one rope with no knots, it just fell behind a flake. 

Ah, just bad luck then