What it takes to Climb a V5 for the Average Climber

It's been awhile, but I'm back with a very special video close to my heart. I put a ton of work into this one and hope you enjoy it :)

If you like what you see, do consider subscribing for more content in the future!

TIMESTAMPS
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
0:00 Start
1:32 Grading
2:25 Grading Subjectivity
3:20 Different Grading Systems
4:48 My First 3Q
6:31 Training
6:44 Climb Regularly
7:39 Intentionality
8:18 Projecting
8:47 Conclusion
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Huge and Special thanks to everyone that helped to film and be part of the video, especially:
Natalia, Frankie, Nick

Huge thanks as well to the amazing gyms that made this possible!
Boruda, Boulder Planet, Kinetics, Boulder Movement, fitbloc, B8A

TikTok | @casualclimbs

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Creative Commons Attributions:

Many of the clips I have used were from these channels below, they are huge inspirations for me so do check them out if you haven't already! if you're one of these creators and are reading this, YOU ARE AWESOME keep crushing it :)

Gavin Chiam

Pinch Of Salt

Emil Abrahamsson

Eric Karlsson Bouldering

Magnus Midtbø

Bouldering Bobat

Adam Ondra

TAMY Climbing Channel

Bouldering Highlights Bob

Andrea Calligaris Climbing

EpicTV Climbing Daily

Kang

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
If you have copyright issues, do send me a mail or message!
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

╭━━━╮╭╮╱╱╱╭╮╱╱╱╭━━━╮╭━━━━╮╭╮
┃╭━╮┃┃┃╱╱╱┃┃╱╱╱┃╭━━╯╰━━╮━┃┃┃
┃┃╱┃┃┃┃╱╱╱┃┃╱╱╱┃╰━━╮╱╱╭╯╭╯┃┃
┃╰━╯┃┃┃╱╭╮┃┃╱╭╮┃╭━━╯╱╭╯╭╯╱╰╯
┃╭━╮┃┃╰━╯┃┃╰━╯┃┃╰━━╮╭╯━╰━╮╭╮
╰╯╱╰╯╰━━━╯╰━━━╯╰━━━╯╰━━━━╯╰╯
#climbing #bouldering

[nautilan]

As you said I feel like if you focus too much on grades as a beginner you’ll just end up hating it because of ‘lack of progress’. If you just focus on trying climbs you can almost do or half-do until you can, you’ll feel a lot better and improve faster than tracking how your coins match up to any grading system.

Trust your bodies own grading system :)

[BenKrefta]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I started climbing about 8 years ago and am 39 now. I typically climb V3-V4, although can go higher V grades depending on the type of boulder and the gym- like you say, they can vary at gyms a lot.
I don't like training, so just climb. 1-2 times a week max. I know I'll likely never progress much beyond my current level, but it's such a fun hobby that I almost don't care. So long as I don't get injured I want to do it for the rest of my life.

[dylanroberts]

In my main gym I’m a consistent v3 climber. At the gym 50 miles away I am a v7-V8 climber. This experience made me not really care about the grades as much as looking at fun climbs.

[gman]

Honestly, if you're in that intermediate range the best thing you can do is completely ignore grading and just climb whatever interests you. It's really important to make moves on things that you'd generally consider "too hard" and you'll be surprised how quickly that impossible route suddenly becomes a viable project and eventual send. Watch what the really good climbers at the gym are doing, how are they moving their hips and keeping tension instead of constantly cutting and muscling through moves.

Most importantly, don't only climb in "your style" or restrict yourself to only routes with familiar holds or climbing styles. If you don't do a lot of slab, start working on it so you can better trust your feet. If you hate overhangs, find juggy routes so you can focus on keeping tension and learning how to properly use your legs to push you up the wall. We often doubt our capabilities and trying things outside of our normal style is what keeps climbing interesting and keeps those happy brain chemicals flowing.

[lukasz-dgrn]

Grading is just for help to find projects in rocks. People make mistake of measuring their progress by looking at grades. But let me tell you about one boulder that we have in Poland which proves that it's a bad approach. There is a line which is oficially graded 7a. Let me be an example of "short" climber - 174cm of height. I was able to do this 7a before I was level 6c. A friend with 180+ cm height and a very very long ape index did this boulder when he was already on level 7c+ with his boulders, he couldn't do it before that. And the more extreme example. A guy over 190cm was able to do this boulder only after doing several 8a+ boulders (I think he also did one 8b before that 7a). So the grades should be more like: ok, I think I should be around 7a level, so I should check out anything between 6a-7b and just find something cool to climb or project. For measuring progress you would want to use hangboards, weights and see that "oh, I can hang longer with more weight on this 25mm edge, it means progress to me". :) So to answer the question "how long does it take to reach level 7a for average climber" I would say: If you are 190cm tall guy and it happens that your area has this long 7a dyno to a jug, you will do it without climbing in 1-2 tries. And your 165cm tall friend will be climbing for 5 years before he manages to jump far enough to grab that jug. So you should not even care about those grades, you should have fun with challenges that climbing gives you and climb lines that you really want to, not because it's "the grade I should do". :)

[kevinlofthouse]

Congrats on the v5! I remember when I got mine and I was in shock! Seem to be back to averaging a v4 grade every now and then getting a v5 and the odd V6. Chasing numbers is always in my head but try to just enjoy climbing 👍

[matan]

I climbed V5 in 2 different gyms after only 3 months of climbing. I attribute my success to watching strong climbers and asking questions, being relatively fit and strong, and climbing regularly (2-3 times a week, every week). BUT, the major thing in my opinion - is belief. At the beginning, when I encountered a new route that seemed out of my skill level, I would many times try it anyways. it started with many V4 that seemed really really hard in the beginning. I would break down the moves, and try them all separately. Once I understood the beta, I would work on the hard route and eventually climb it after a few times.
This mind set of climbing harder routes that I didn't really think I could climb, and then facing them anyway, really improved my climbing a lot, and very fast.

[steakyhumus]

This is one of the best rock climbing videos i've seen in a while, you just have so much soul and its clear in all the research and overall quality.
Also, I'm so so happy that you got a V5 dude! congrats!!! these videos are really inspiring but not in a way that's gonna fade by the morning, I'll think about this video when I go climbing again.

[jonnykidnap]

Very well done Video. Your journey pretty much sums up my own climbing story so far. Eventhough many guides suggest to do all kindes of wierd training cycles (Hangboarding, Campusboard or Calistenetics), I agree with the fun part the most. Having fun and just doing your thing, let lose from any grading, is the greatest motivator and makes you innevetably stronger.

[fubbalo_]

I got into climbing about a month and a half ago and did my first V4 just last week (aside from an obviously soft v4 I had completed a week or so before). For the next few weeks I'm going to be focusing on V4s, but I think I'm not too far from doing my first V5. I tend to be most limited by strength, so I've been doing at least an hour of workouts at home on top of climbing 3-4 times a week, to get stronger. Feeling super motivated, just wanted to share. Great video, by the way!

[williamwalker]

Congratulations on the V5. Enjoyed listening to you and hearing about your journey. My son introduced me to climbing a few years ago and I'm totally hocked. Can flash a 6a and project a 6c. Just love the climbing fellowship. By the way I'm 58😁🇬🇧🧗‍♂️

[danielc]

There’s little better than watching someone send a tough climb. I feel your joy and all the hard work, pain and frustration that got you there. Skills!!

[coryblake]

Great video... im also a recreational climber... just started back in July at the age of 37... I do more route climbing than bouldering but same principles apply... essentially started at 9d and just climbed my first 11a last week... super addicting...

[jannehyvonen]

I have climbed for 1, 5 years now, and just recently started getting 6C tops, sometimes even flashes.

There was a plateau for me to move from 6B to 6C for sure, as the leap between the grades here in Finland is big in my opinion. Biggest factor to succeeding was that I stopped overdoing climbing. I bet we all know the feeling when you just are so excited to climb every possibility you get, and I was doing that. It led to my wrists getting injured and I couldn't utilize them 100%. I started keeping my climbing sessions more reasonable and focused on trying the different problems just 3-5 times and when failing them, trying to think what went wrong and what to do differently next time. Being 100% in climbing condition goes a long way.

Also trying the 6C problems and getting the feel for different(harder) holds and moves that easier problems didn't have(and I didn't have the physical knowledge) increased my confidence and little by little the contact/finger strength that was needed for 6C.

Consistency is key, don't over do it and think about your failed attempts. That is a good recipe for getting the next grade.

[aasmundnrsett]

Totally agree! Ive been climbing 2-3 times a week for about a year now, doing both specific strength exercises and the climbing ofc, and last week I climbed my first 7A. But theres another gym in my town where the grading is harder and there I havent climbed anything over 6B+. Kind of frustrating but at the same time, like you say I shouldnt view it like that. its better to be happy when you climb a boulder that was hard for you and not worry too much about the grade.

[sseb]

You seem like a very genuine guy! Thanks for the video :)

[uncleiso]

This was a great video. I've been climbing for a little over a year and managed to hit my first v7 in 7 months, but I DEF was not improving by 1 grade a month haha. I agree that the best thing someone can do in order to improve as a climber is to climb consistently and frequently and experience will naturally give you skills and techniques to improve, but beyond that, if you want to climb harder, you have to *want* to climb harder. There's nothing wrong with climbing casually either! When I first started it was mainly just because it was the most fun way for me to stay active, but because I'm a naturally competitive person and saw myself progressing quite fast, I decided to climb intentionally and that was what eventually helped me break into the v6/7 range

[jjimena]

Just discovered your channel! I hope you continue making videos to document and share your progress!

[ArkJorn]

Hey, I'm a "bleausard" climbing since 20 years and traveling for bouldering as much as I could . Also a routesetter in France for quite a few years . Thx for sharing your experience as an indoor climber. It gives me great insights on how people see their progression indoors . Keep pushing ! V10 is only a few steps ahead if you enjoy the process !

[chadus_]

Great video! Greetings from Canada - Climb on!!!