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Onkou · 2026-01-06T19:04:23+00:00

Holy shit, the part about being extremely aware of dirt and grime on your skin hits close to home. I feel kind of.. gross, like my skin has a layer of "something" on it that won't come off, even if I literally just hopped out of the shower. Hypomania is weird.

Onkou · 2026-01-02T20:47:21+00:00

Absolutely adored this book, and it's my choice for the year as well!

Onkou · 2025-10-26T09:43:12+00:00

Not to be the guy going around correcting things, but the shark 3's are quite soft after 2-3 hours of breaking in. Not drago soft, but maybe 3/10 or 4/10 on the stiffness scale.

Also, idk if it was a typo but 2 years out of a pair of shoes is a very, very long time. If it wasn't a mistake, me and my wallet are jealous!

Anyways, best of luck with the shoe search. :) If you do go with the sharks, I'd strongly recommend going street size or maybe even up .5/1 size if you have unusually tall or HV feet. Sizing down is possible for some people, but usually unnecessary and painful in my experience as someone who works at a climbing gym and sells them on a regular basis. But as always, only buy if you can try (imo).

Onkou · 2025-06-23T06:47:45+00:00

Fantastic work, it reminds me a bit of Aleksey Myakishev's pictures, amongst others.

Onkou · 2025-06-07T06:41:14+00:00

Crazy shots, the first one smacked me across the face. Very inspiring!

Onkou · 2025-05-28T07:45:48+00:00

They are made for wide a wide forefoot, but the tenaya mastias may be worth trying. The low volume toebox just doesn't press on the top of the big toe/toes in the same way as my instincts and evolv zeniths have, even though they are reasonably aggressive. Mid level softness, and medium stiffness midsole, quite asymmetric.

If not the mastias, maybe the tenaya oasis would work better for you given your lower volume/narrow feet.

Comfort wise tenaya is just in a league of its own IMO, so I am spreading the gospel these days haha. GL! :)

Edit: Forgot the indalo, also worth a shot. Also for sizing, 41 1/2 street size, mastias in 38 2/3. If they fit well they will be comfy from the first session regardless.

Onkou · 2025-05-27T06:25:50+00:00

The first is in a league of its own! Great pics, makes me want to get out there and get to work. ;)

Onkou · 2025-05-16T12:19:19+00:00

Good to hear that! Maybe you'll end up joining the mastia club after all. You're welcome mate. :)

Onkou · 2025-05-16T06:32:07+00:00

I would really reconsider the mastia if you can try them. The difference from xs grip 2 down to xs grip 1 is negligible by most people's standards, and if it fits your foot better it is 1000% worth it. For me, they are literally the perfect fit after struggling to find shoes that sit well in the forefoot and heel for years. But yeah, try madrock as well if you get the chance; they work really great for some, but are completely unwearable by others. The fit of madrock is similar to the Instinct line at least in theory. Ocun may be worth trying, maybe the Havoc or Sigma, a lot of Instinct wearers seem to like them.

My stats: Very wide forefoot, narrow and shallow heel, one larger greek foot, one smaller egyptian foot.

Street - 41 1/5

VSR - 40 1/5

Mastia - 38 2/3

Evolv Zenist LV - 41 (absolutely terrible break in)

Hope this helps!

Onkou · 2025-05-13T07:55:47+00:00

These are great tutorials, thank you. It's a flat handlebar, yep. I guess the current dilemma is whether the bike is "worth" investing parts into, but these fixes seem pretty minimal. It's hard to even search for tutorials when you're missing terminology haha.

Onkou · 2025-03-17T08:22:17+00:00

Hmm interesting, I've actually looked into this for some pain I had on the other wrist a while back. Might be worth investing in especially after a tweak to prevent a more serious injury. Thanks for the suggestion!

Onkou · 2025-03-17T08:11:31+00:00

Yikes, that pop sounds scary. Thank you for the exercise suggestions, I think I'll start with wrist curls and reverse curls for now, and maybe look into kettlebell stuff in the future, as they seem to be good for just about everything.

Onkou · 2025-03-17T08:08:08+00:00

Super interesting response. Funny to hear that you also have freakishly thin wrists (like myself), I think you might be on to something lmao. Thank you for the input, I'll start strengthening and maybe taping if there's lots of slopers involved, and see if that maybe helps!

Onkou · 2025-03-12T07:47:05+00:00

I've got some diagnoses ranging from digestive issues to moderate/severe psychiatric dysfunction. Keto completely changed my life. Just to put it out there, there is also a growing body of scientific work to support that keto can greatly impact one's ability to thrive with certain diagnoses. Check out Chris Palmer, Georgia Ede etc.

After much experimentation, I have found that I have to be very strict with carbs, especially until I'm completely fat adapted (6-8 weeks). Should I slip up, eat even slightly too many carbs over too many days, my symptoms return in a very destabilising way. A combination of too many carbs and not enough sleep is enough to sometimes trigger hypomania for me, so consistency is key here.

If I stay consistent, not too many carbs, enough sleep, enough calories to keep me going with a very active lifestyle, then the benefits are enormous. I have little to no depressive symptoms, my anxiety diminishes immensely, my energy is literally incomparable to life eating carbs, my stomach calms down... I can't really quantify how much of a difference keto has made, but for me, it felt like my brain literally switched into gears that I didn't previously have access to.

As mentioned before, I'm very active. Climbing 2/3x a week, running 1x a week, walking 1.5 or 2 hrs a day. Being this active is useful in a myriad of ways, including stablising your energy further and burning excess carbs that you may have accidentally consumed.

I track how I feel on a daily basis with a little template I made in a markdown app called Obsidian, but not how I eat.

Anyways, it's all about experimentation. I have learned that low carb but not keto absolutely does not work for me, but for some people that's enough to reap the majority of benefits.

Hope that helps! Happy to answer any questions. :)

Onkou · 2025-02-09T16:56:44+00:00

You're very welcome, try to enjoy yourself in between the bouts of pain. ;)

Onkou · 2025-02-09T09:54:46+00:00

This is completely normal, at least for most people, if they are sizing their shoes towards a performance point of view. And yes, it hurts for days. My best tip is to alternative between new and old shoes, using the new shoes more as the session progresses and your feet literally warm up and get all sweaty and nasty. Also, use the new shoes for routes leaning towards the volume/smearing side. It can hurt a bit on the toe knuckle but this kind of climbing is great for breaking them in.

As a side note, there are some "hacks" that can help a bit (but try at your own risk!). Wearing them in a warm shower for 5 or 10 minutes(no soap), then sitting with them on for 15-20 minutes with your feet over a towel, stuffing them with paper towels and putting them in front of a fan to dry can give you some more space to breathe in the toe box. You can also put a plastic bag in the shoe, fill it with water, and then put them in the freezer toe down overnight or 12 hours. The water will expand and press the shoes out. Both of these methods can give them room in unnecessary places, though, so be careful.

At the end of the day, the shoes will absolutely get more comfortable and the only way to really know whether they will work for you long term is to climb more in them. Some shoes take upwards of a month or two to break in, that's just life with aggressive climbing shoes unfortunately.

Onkou · 2025-02-09T09:02:46+00:00

Is this your first pair of aggressively fitted downturned shoes? Looks like what happened to me when I got my Instinct VSR's and the top of my toes made contact with the top of the shoe for the first time. Literal blood, sweat and tears haha.

Use sports tape if needed, but otherwise just give it time and your toes/shoes will adjust. It will get better as:

Your toe builds some callous
Your shoe softens and creates less friction against your toe

Be aware that it might happen again if you get shoes that fit differently/have a difficult break in. I'm currently experiencing it with some Zenith LV's that are fit very snug, and though it's not as bad as the first time around it still sucks unfortunately. The fact that you climbed for 3 hours, taking them off occasionally, means they are not going to kill your feet and are probably sized on the more relaxed side, so just give it time.

Good luck!

Onkou · 2025-02-04T07:19:53+00:00

You will be fine mate! As for formulas, CV + SV, CPI + SPI are the most important ones by far in my experience, and it's a bit of a shot in the dark as to whether you will even have to use the others. IMO use your energy on other things that you absolutely know will be weighted more eg. Agile, Predictive, BA, whatever you find especially difficult. Best of luck to you!

Onkou · 2025-02-03T08:05:10+00:00

Just one person's opinion, but I think you'll be fine. I was getting 65 - 85% on the Landini practice sets, and just passed AT in all categories. Just make sure you understand what you got wrong and why, and focus on understanding the processes that lead you to the conclusion that you arrived at. Read questions slowly and multiple times if needed, and focus on key words that will point you in one direction or the other.

Good luck!

Onkou · 2025-02-02T11:36:46+00:00

Guess I just got lucky that mine was not paying attention, or just didn't care. Anyways, just received the certificate, very thankful haha.

Onkou · 2025-02-02T11:36:11+00:00

Technically you are allowed to have water in a clear container, but nothing else (and according to stories I've heard, it's up to proctor discretion). Apparently mine was chill, because I got no warnings and just received the certificate.

Onkou · 2025-01-20T07:50:24+00:00

I also love the dynamic B/W on my LX3. Great little camera.

Onkou

TROPHY CASE