Bouldering Blogger

Recently we had a look at the Hangbird App, it's still in the early stages but has the all important Intervals and Max Hang Reps feature. we spoke with Aaron Surty, the designer and we can confirm that great features are to be added soon. Right now you can record your own Data, create Stats over time and program the Intervals for your own custom workouts.   

Looking for a new way to train finger strength? Edge Progressions are a great method and are less boring than standard 7/3's for example. Take a look at our website and follow the links on the Training Pages. The method is remarkably simple, use 3 edges, size: Large, Medium and Small. You will need a dedicated Interval timer - free to use on our site - to proceed. The hangs are done like this... L/M/S/M/S, to make one Set. The timer is dedicated to the Protocol, as the time under load is reduced then slightly increased and reduced again. As are the Rests. This is important to trigger the correct firing of the fibres to ensure High Recruitment and Power Endurance. You can train with or without weight added, depending on your level and of course, the target holds. With added Kg's you are looking at 5% to 20% Body Weight as a rough guide. i.e., I trained at 9% added for a 7b boulder. The guide is to add a weight that you can hang from your Medium hold for around 15 to 20

 As you may have noticed, we included the Roots-Climbing Baseline fingerboard in a Best of round up recently. They just informed us that their new training manual, aimed at finger strength and conditioning for bouldering and climbing is available now from Blurb, a third party printer. Follow this link to get a copy.  

I don't believe we have seen the strongest climbers yet, the catchment is still too small and dare I say, selective. The sport is dominated by white people and aimed at medium to high earners with time and excess funds to visit centres and travel. There's also the growing cost of shoes, chalk and crash pads. Just in case you're about to pull me up, yes I know, non whites are also in this bracket that fit the archetypal 21st Century climber. But where are they? Second, yes there are non white active climbers, but why so few? I speak here to the western world as I am well aware that the scene in India for example is growing and the standard is already high. I imagine though, that the opportunity for the poor to access equipment, let alone free time, is probably zero. During my time as an instructor there were many youngsters coming through, some lauded as the "best we have seen" - for the age etc - but the reality, played out over time was just another case of over