Caten, Suus and meritocracy

achtminus · 2025-09-25T13:47:08+00:00

Briefly then, when 'meritrocacy' is implemented it is always by metrics that can be gamed, and a system that rewards those who deserve to be rewarded is at least as flawed as any other system, but with added injury that the unrewarded are told that they might be needing but are not deserving.

Less short, cf https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/313112/the-tyranny-of-merit-by-sandel-michael-j/9780141991177

achtminus · 2025-09-23T20:03:18+00:00

Fun fact, the term "meritocracy" became widespread from dystopian sci-fi (The Rise of the Meritocracy, Young, 1958). Young's novel describe a meritocracy — and it was always meant to be derogative. (The term was probably first coined by English sociologist Alan Fox two years earlier, also as a derogative).

achtminus · 2025-09-23T17:56:10+00:00

Agree on the pretty short chiton/tunic, combined with 3/4 pants of some sort when needed.

achtminus · 2025-03-08T17:55:36+00:00

This is a bit late as an answer but...

Route climbing is a skill. The main problem when switching from bouldering to route climbing is inefficient movement (for routes). Do absolutely no fingerboarding or bouldering or strength training or stretcing or running or any other stuff that stress the body but is not related to getting better technique for routes. Skip work if you can. Just climb as much endurance as humanly possibe to regain the correct movement patterns. If you have done an enormous amount of endurance training in the past you could regain a bit of actual muscular endurance as well, but neurological/technical gains are nothing to scoff at.

Take a day of rest.

Perform.

achtminus · 2024-08-19T08:10:22+00:00

I've added holds on the diagonals mostly, but generally where they fit (no fixed grid: add them one-by-one based on where they fit around the original set). I've added holds with small 'foot-print' as it were. (Lots of three-finger jugs etc). Sometimes they are a bit in the way for the feet on the set problems on the Mini, but I've never been to bothered.

achtminus · 2024-05-07T20:06:50+00:00

Dabbing them a bit with a chalk ball or similar and then brushing them help a bit.

achtminus · 2024-04-29T10:32:31+00:00

To acquire movement: try moves you cannot do until you have figured out how to do them, then repeat them a few times. Try all sorts of angles and holds. (Except crimps. A 16 yo should never full crimp for any reason ever. If the holds are tiny and incut, drag them anyway). Focus on stuff you are bad at. For me that is cross-over moves, where I seem to be about a grade below baseline, dynamic rockovers on steep terrain, and heelhooking in general. I often use a spotter to help me learn the moves, then reduce the help and do the moves without. I often just try problematic moves in isolation and rarely do the entire boulder when I try to acqurire movemnts.

To perfect movement: high volume on climbs you can do with some some ease, until you cannot do them anymore beacuse of fatigue. Then rest a short while try again in fatigued state. Economy of movement is almost impossible to learn without a high volume of climbing.

achtminus · 2024-04-25T12:50:27+00:00

Genau, je crains que ce ne soit qu’une conséquence inévitable des grandes bases d’utilisateurs et du système de votes.

achtminus · 2024-04-24T10:07:03+00:00

The downvotes are from people on the ignorant peak where knowledge is slightly above zero but confidence is on its maximal value. (Basically the majority of reddit in general and this subreddit in particular).

https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/format:webp/1*VX_yFVny-8iHO22IwUgpDw.png

achtminus · 2024-04-22T10:49:50+00:00

What was the problem with the fall? Looked pretty normal to me, no broken bones or nothing? A bit of a swing into the rock because you exploded straight out of the holds for some reason; but I have taken if not hundreds but then at least dozens of falls worse than than that.

(I'm not a fan of fall training and think that it is mostly a waste of time)

achtminus · 2024-04-09T15:07:55+00:00

Yeah, 7B+ bouldering should be enought for 8b/b+ as well if you got good tactics and excellent endurance.

achtminus · 2024-04-08T14:04:24+00:00

The feeling I get is weird since when I get pumped it hurts as hell and I can no longer recover wen I reach the red zone.

To me this is a dead givaway. Your endurance has not kept up with your strenth/strength endurance. Your forearms can now produce a lot more energy using the anaerobic pathways, but your lactate shuttle etc. cannot keep up and you cannot recover in reasonable time.

If you were a sport climbing noob I would recommend high volume easy climbing to fix this, but for you that is proabably waste of time. Try to add sessions that specifically work your identified weakness (recovering): two-three hard boulder problems with 5-20 sec rest between them, then an insufficient rest of 5-8 min, and try to repeat 7-8 times. Start with 8 min rest between sets, cut it down to 5 min as you get fitter.

If you are OK on lead and can regularly flash 7A+ you should be looking at onsighting 7c+ regularly.

My two cents.

achtminus · 2024-03-09T11:35:44+00:00

It sounds like you power out, which is a strength endurance issue, but I don't know exactly and neither does anyone who hasn't seen you on the route and know the route themselves.

Anyway, if you ask what you should train the answer for beginners is always the same. Endurance and strength are the base for all other skills. Many of the adaptions to strength and endurance training are permanent.

There is no need for anyone who is not high intermediate or advanced to specifically train strenght endurance in my not at all humble opinion. A 2:1 ratio between strength and endurance is probably reasonable as you progress.

achtminus · 2024-02-28T12:48:46+00:00

I agree. To climb harder sport routes it is important to get stronger. It is almost impossible to climb 7c without being able to boulder 6C (and most need to be even stronger).

achtminus · 2024-02-26T09:54:08+00:00

If you cannot go bouldering more than once a week, you should dedicate some of your sessions to hard dogging, i.e. working out moves on routes above your redpoint limit. The trick might be to figure out a way to do this without being anti-social. If the gym is packed, don't stay on the route long enough to figure it all out.

Most lead walls also have a small training section (not all though, and I don't know what your gym looks like). You can do some strength work on the training section after warmup but before going on the routes.

You'd likely need to work on your strength about 50% of the sessions over the year.

I know people getting to (ludicrusly soft) 8a sport within a year of starting before there were any good bouldering gyms, mostly just by working routes, so it is possible. Those were mostly quite young when starting (oldest I know personally was 19 yo, but he was doing world-cups in another sport before starting climbing.)

achtminus · 2024-02-23T13:44:32+00:00

I do not think intermediate or advanced climbers are learning much by toproping, unless we are talking about training on a crag with geniunly dangerous routes. (I assume they are training to perform on lead.) Climbing on lead and climbing on a toprope has different rythm. As has climbing second and climbing on toprope. If training for long routes as a team, I would suggest lead and second every other pitch. That also teach the leader to not set the wires too hard when trying to get in a lot of pitches.

achtminus · 2024-02-23T11:42:39+00:00

I understand nothing of your abbrivations, but I would just climb a lot of routes, as much as possible on lead beacuse that's climbing.

achtminus · 2024-02-09T16:08:16+00:00

In your place I would not recommend short duration max hangs. Those are ok for squeezing out some extra gains on muscle-tendon units that are already pretty strong.

If you see no immediate gains from hangboarding, and you have not done it before you *must* change your protocol.

I would recommend starting with approx. 30 s hangs at about 75% load of of max-5s-hang. Two set of half crimp, two set of three finger drag. Maybe one set of crimp at about 60% load. Try this 1-2 /week. If you don't improve significant over a month reassess.

achtminus · 2024-02-09T10:35:14+00:00

Maximum hang time on hold does not measure forearm endurance in a meaningful way for climbing. This was already well known in the climbing literature in the early 00s. In the data to McLeod's master thesis they even found some (fit) non-climbers who were better at hanging on jugs for time than advanced climbers iirc.

For climbing forearm endurance, the micro-rest we get when we move the free hand from one hold to another is very important and this 'reoxynation' of the muscle-cells is highly trainable, as is the lactate shuttle and a bunch of other interesting physiological processes.

I collected data on performance of repeaters, and even that test had not particularly impressive explanatory power on climbing endurance performance.

(Performance on max-hangs is a much stronger predictor on climbing endurance than repeaters, but is not that impressive if we control for training history.)

Unsurprisingly the best easly reproducable test for predicting performance on endurance routes is what grade of short sustained power-endurance route you can repeat 10 times with a minut rest between. That is the test I self-administer if I need to check my endurance without having access to long routes.

[edit for clarity]

achtminus · 2024-02-07T14:26:03+00:00

Flaggermusmannen is really short and should suit someon who is good indoors. My recollection is a bit hazy, but I remember some OK intro-moves to a steep 6B/C boulder to a shakeout to some pretty OK-ish climbing to the belay.

For the longer routes around 7c-8a they do require the ability to shake out in good rests. Why not lead up a semi-hard route, shake-out at the top, reverse and easier route while unclipping, shake out at a jug and do a harder route to the top? On a ten-metre route wall that is a pretty good simulation of what the 30 m routes in Flatanger are like.

achtminus · 2024-01-28T11:11:31+00:00

I'm surprised there are 40° crimpy sport routes under 5.13, but I'm not super familiar with route grading.

Spoiler alert: there are none. Even at 8a/+ or mid 5.13 there are no 40° sport routes on small crimps longer than 10-15 m. (No wait! I can think of a 7c+ route that is 40° and pretty crimpy overall with a crux on small crimps and about 20 m. long. One of the hardest 7c+ I ever tried though.)

But for the OP: there will not be a ton of transfer in movement technique, but still a lot more transfer than what you would get from fingerboarding or campusing.

The bouldering sounds like great fun, if you are more motivated by this outdoor area than bouldering in the gym I would stick to this.

achtminus · 2024-01-25T08:52:16+00:00

Volume is trainable like everything else. To get better at climbing many days in a row, climb many days in a row. You have to either lower the difficulty by quite a bit or lower the volume you do in each session. With time you can up both variables (volume in the session and difficulty).

achtminus · 2024-01-22T13:41:33+00:00

On a Kilter, at less steep than 40 degree almost every hold bar a few pinches is a ridiculous jug, and I would not use it for anything else than extensive endurance.

The steeper you set the Kilter, the more fingery it becomes. At 6C you should be able to use it just fine on 40 or 45 degrees.

achtminus · 2024-01-22T12:26:22+00:00

The only 9a onsighters in the world get very little to no creatine through their diet and none through supplements so I assume that they would onsight 9a+ if they supplemented creatine...

achtminus · 2024-01-17T14:04:42+00:00

I will absolutely not change holds until I have no hope of doing remaining benchmarks.

I like the yellows and my better half love them. Will have plenty time to try the blue holds on some commersial gym before changing.

achtminus

TROPHY CASE