Two projects. One of them is the photo above from 2015 maybe???
Over the years my training has changed significantly as my body has changed, my response to stimulus when training has changed and my ability to absorb capacity and recover in a reasonable amount of time has shifted some. In that, my overall climbing style has remained roughly the same, but different strengths and weaknesses ebb and flow and factor in to how you approach an individual route or boulder. The same goes for training and as you age in climbing, more specifically hard climbing, you have to adjust your approach to your preparations for those routes and boulders.
How you sleep, eat, drink water, recover, stress of normal life, day to day fluctuations in motivation and energy and overall body health become more important than ever as you age. Some of the things I’ve noticed were not things I would have identified 15 years ago.
2010-2015 I was likely the “strongest” I have ever been, in a single move, pull on holds sort of way. I have since climbed harder numbers than I was then, a testament to the concept that I plan on trying to implement in my own training for 2025 and beyond. I have a number of goals, in both bouldering and lead that if I could accomplish would be likely my best year of climbing ever. One of these goals is a route, and 2 of them are boulders, in Riggins and Castle Rocks State Park, both in Idaho. The route in Riggins (iykyk) is the last real big project in the cave that was developed starting in the early to mid 1990s and there are 2 unclimbed lines there still, the second which I bolted last summer. It breaks down as a hard 8c/+ for 15m or so, then a decent rest, then another 10-15m of 8a+, that really boils down to a 3 move V7/8 boulder. Definitely droppable from the ground.
Years ago, my training for this would have looked like some psychotic level of capacity and 5 days of training, climbing or some other type of thing. Same thing goes for the boulders. For some reason, and I think a lot of it comes from the fact that up until a few years ago, applying principles and techniques that other sports have been using for years to train elite level athletes hasn’t gotten into the climbing training sphere. That is starting to change, and with it is my approach to training myself and others. For a long time, I would push when feeling bad, a “punishment” to toughen myself to try harder and make sure I put forth the effort when it was required. Overtraining became such second nature that there were times that I thought it was working, and there probably were successes that came during that time. Looking back, I realize now that I would have sent faster, and been less tired all the time if I had learned some of these principles earlier in my climbing life.
All that said, I’m now looking forward to applying this new method to my climbing training and seeing what happens. I’m focusing on doing less, but at a higher level of quality. That doesn’t event mean more intense for me at this point. Staying healthy is the biggest advantage that any athlete can give themselves, in any sport, and my entire program is going to cater to that concept. How exactly I do that will change from bouldering to lead, but the overall mantra will be the same. When I am training, my 100% focus will be on that. Keeping it fun, light and playful is another goal, because you can still try hard even if you are enjoying that process. Not all gains come from a dark, dungeon-like environment where you are scratching and clawing 1% more out of yourself.
Next post is going to start down a new path, I’ll have an update on what exactly this process will look like, and also start a deep dive into how routesetting, the climbing gym and it’s product have changed for better or worse in the last 20 years.
Mike Bockino 