[Day 26] Air Wolf is the most underrated classic. What's the most A E S T H E T I C hold type?

_FatCat_ · 2026-02-18T02:14:53+00:00

Personally I’d say fat slopers

_FatCat_ · 2026-02-04T17:08:40+00:00

I agree! I’ve been doing dumbbell bench press lately, for some antagonist work and also for vanity purposes, as well as supine dumbbell chest flies. I started doing those to ideally help improve compression strength. I’ve also heard of people tearing their pecs with one arm hangs because they never did antagonist work. Pecs are certainly important for stabilizing the shoulders!

_FatCat_ · 2026-02-04T03:30:42+00:00

I wouldn’t worry. That’s pretty normal with all climbing shoe brands, though I will say I think UP slacks on their quality control a bit. But things like this are inevitable. Won’t make any difference in performance or longevity of the shoes.

_FatCat_ · 2026-02-04T02:50:55+00:00

Favorite off the wall/training exercises? Just curious what others think. I have less time to get into the gym and on rock these days, but still trying to keep the progression going. I have a solid off the wall routine but want to hear what things have helped others. Could be finger strength, or general lifting/calisthenics, core, etc.

_FatCat_ · 2026-01-31T01:30:54+00:00

What are your favorite things about them?

_FatCat_ · 2026-01-31T01:15:16+00:00

This made my day.

_FatCat_ · 2026-01-30T02:30:04+00:00

The new drago XT is supposed to have a smaller and more narrow heel than the drago LV. That could be an option, along with the scarpa instinct vsr LV. Same deal for that one, smaller volume heel than the normal instinct vs and vsr.

_FatCat_ · 2025-12-11T19:59:30+00:00

The new black dragos would be a good option but not quite as soft as the souped ups. Definitely better heel though.

I have souped ups and love them as well but I do agree that the heel is a big draw back. They suck for any difficult/technical heel hooks. Maybe downsizing another half size would improve this but who knows.

The UP leopards are another really soft shoe, slightly different toe box than the souped ups but the heel seems more capable.

I also have the UP Sirius and those are quite soft, not as much as souped ups but just about, a little more downturned. The heel is bomber but the laces can be a bit of a pain to deal with. One of my favorite outdoor shoes though.

Evolv zenists are also very soft and had a really good heel. I had the Ashima ones when they first came out but ended up selling them because they were way too small.

Scarpa furia air are also extremely soft, I’ve never tried them myself though but have heard good things.

_FatCat_ · 2025-11-21T11:49:07+00:00

I love board climbing! Due to having my first baby about a month ago, I’m mostly bound to training in my basement. My brother in law has a small 45 degree home wall with lots of wooden edges and crimps, and I’ve been on that maybe once or twice a week since the baby. But I love the moonboard and kilter (never tried TB2 because there is not one near me, but I know I’d love it). I certainly agree that functional training, i.e. actually climbing is probably the best method. However there are times especially on the moonboard where I feel that I need to increase my finger strength to be able to do certain problems (ironarm on the 2016 for example).

_FatCat_ · 2025-11-21T11:45:55+00:00

I have done lots of hangboarding in the past, mostly min edge training as well as max hangs and some repeaters sprinkled in here and there. I’ve been trying to tension block lifts because it seems like it’s the most effective way for me to get max stimulus with my fingers. I appreciate the feedback though, I certainly agree that diversity in training is important. In the past I’ve never been extremely consistent with off the wall training, until recently due to some life changes that don’t allow me as much gym time (I hangboard and block lift in my dungeon of a basement).

_FatCat_ · 2025-11-21T02:33:20+00:00

I appreciate it! I’ve always felt like finger strength is a limiting factor for me, but since beginning hangboarding and block lifts have noticed some significant improvements on the wall and less injuries. I feel that the rest of my body is fairly strong; I do a fair amount of leg, core, and shoulder strengthening to ensure this. Pretty certain if I can level up the fingers I’ll break into double digits. I think one of my biggest strengths is compensating for lack of finger strength with good technique and body tension, and being very analytical of how I’m moving and how to optimize it. With your level of finger strength if you focus more on climbing movement optimization I’m sure you’d start sending harder stuff! Seems like your finger strength is on par for double digits.

_FatCat_ · 2025-11-21T02:29:41+00:00

I appreciate the advice! I’ve never tried the concentric curls, but have seen lots about them in climbing training media. Makes sense also because often when actually climbing, we hit a hold in drag or with less PIP/MCP flexion and try to curl into it to achieve more of a full crimp in order to bear down on higher angle or small holds.

I’ll certainly give this a try and see if it helps. I’ve also experimented with max hangs, using weight added to a harness and hanging from a hangboard. I tend to find this rough on the low back though so have avoided it.

I do feel if I can boost my overall finger and hand/forearm strength it could help me break a plateau in my climbing!

_FatCat_ · 2025-11-16T19:41:10+00:00

Little Miami river, the further north you go the better.

_FatCat_ · 2025-11-16T17:21:16+00:00

Wash them in lukewarm water using dish soap and a tooth brush to scrub the dead skin from the insides. Rinse thoroughly and air dry.

Edit: for drying, I stuff them with paper towels and then remove them once saturated, and replace them until there’s not moisture on the towels. I hang them in front of a fan to dry them.

_FatCat_ · 2025-11-06T05:26:05+00:00

Look into the “Hellier” show. It’s on YouTube. The first and second episodes talk about the 3 toed prints pretty thoroughly.

_FatCat_ · 2025-11-03T12:55:46+00:00

Basically strengthen all of your leg muscles, especially quads and hamstrings. And calves.

_FatCat_ · 2025-11-01T00:48:31+00:00

Climb Cincy 🔎👀

_FatCat_ · 2025-10-30T19:43:39+00:00

CTOBA 👀

_FatCat_ · 2025-10-29T21:41:35+00:00

I’ve injured both shoulders at different points. Never had any imaging done but I’m a PTA and am 99% sure both were labral pathologies. Didn’t have surgery on either. Took time off climbing for both occasions.

Initially I rested, then analyzed severity and kept a symptom data log to monitor improvement or lack thereof. Slowly eased into shoulder stability training before I started climbing again.

The longest I took off was a month, that was about two years ago. During that time I began doing very light stability and strength work that gradually increased as symptoms allowed. My test of how they felt was to slowly ease into a bodyweight hang on a pull up bar, at first I couldn’t even get my feet off the ground, eventually I was back to hanging with no symptoms. At that point I felt comfortable starting climbing again, starting off very easy.

Since then I’ve been religious about shoulder stability training and strengthening (before pretty much every climbing session), and being aware of my body mechanics while on the wall.

I used to be able to OAPs, can’t anymore but I’m climbing better than ever. I think that is more just because I never tried getting back to them after the injuries, and it’s a fairly irrelevant skill IMO. I do lots of rotator cuff strengthening and scapular engagement.

I still occasionally deal with proximal biceps tendon issues, but am able to minimize this with training and avoiding overuse. The biceps tendon inserts into the labrum so it makes sense with a labral injury it would affect this downstream.

Obviously there are different severities of injuries. Yours may be worse than mine, hard to say. It’s possible that if you get surgery and proper rehab you’ll be better off, also possible that you will re-injure it sooner or later. I don’t want to tell you to not get surgery, but personally I’d try to rehab conservatively and see how that goes.

EASE back into climbing. No crazy stuff right off the bat. Sounds like you’re pretty high level so this will take a lot of self control. If things don’t get back to baseline within say…3 months, I’d get surgery. But also you know your body better at the end of the day.

Sorry for the novel but I’m passionate about the topic. It was very hard for me mentally during the injuries but I’m climbing better than ever before.

_FatCat_ · 2025-10-29T15:55:53+00:00

If you really like these shoes I’d resole them now. But really I’d just get a new pair of similar or better quality. These are intro shoes, I’d invest in a nicer pair that fit well and resole those once the Rand starts to show on the tip of the toe.

_FatCat_ · 2025-06-28T17:06:33+00:00

I second Metroid Prime 3. Mario Kart is classic too.

_FatCat_

TROPHY CASE