0 Hours of Bouldering VS 100 Hours of Bouldering

I revisit bouldering after 100 hours on the wall to see if I've improved. Clips from similar graded climbs are compared to highlight improvements, if any, to my abilities over the past year. Have I improved in the grade? Let's see.

Thanks as always to my lovely wife, Kim, for filming and making the thumbnail, avatar and banner art for the channel!

[hannahmorrisbouldering]

psyched to see you’ve made a dedicated climbing channel. Welcome to the climbing YouTube club 🎉

[ToasterAttack]

as someone who has been climbing for 10 years, my biggest tips would be 1. be more confident and hesitate less, those microadjustments you make while hestitating burn a lot more energy than you think 2. focus on keeping your feet on the wall, you burn sooo much energy everytime you cut feet. unless it is a dyno, there is almost ALWAYS a way to keep your feet on the wall when making a move. Keep up the good work and try and hit v6 by April!

[WideBoyz]

Nice Mike. Love both the frustration and joy of the yellow V5 😂 can't wait to see the next progressions for you 💪
P.s. Good to catch you guys again the other night 👍

[bjrnalmlof]

I think the most noticable improvement is in the easier climbs! Your confidence seems higher, your trust in your ability to do this, and also your footwork has markedly improved

[mobyzwick]

8:47 If I was just listening to this video I'd think that's Adam Ondra climbing.

[Mythricia]

Let's go! More climbing channels is more better :)

Real talk, your first climbing video is what made me go climbing for my first time. And, looking back at it, I had no idea what a life changing decision that would be. My life has changed, drastically, for the better; specifically thanks to climbing. Matter of fact, I will begin working at my local climbing hall soon! My first job after years of unemployment due to disability. Over the last year (slightly less) of climbing, I've spent at least 330 hours on the wall, according to my habit tracker. That's a lot! And I've done outdoor sport climbing, bouldering, top rope... And still do tons of indoor lead climbing, but mostly bouldering. I've made more friends than I ever thought possible, I've become physically stronger and more fit than I ever thought possible, for someone starting their first real physical activity at 35 years old.

So, genuinely; thank you. You are such a legend!

[peternosal]

Two tips for you:
1. Never compare yourself to the other ppl, everybody is different and everybody have different progress pace...
2. You are never stagnating, platoing, grades means nothing... If you feels that you are making zero progress just do a boulder that you did week ago, compare video if you want and you will see difference, maybe small but there will be difference, and that difference, my friend, is called progress...

[johnl]

Your initial video got me into bouldering! Great to see what’s to come on the channel

[airspeed]

Hey @mikeboydclimbs, (V8/V9 climber with ~10 years experience) I was most surprised by 2 things: first, that there appears to be no downclimb jugs installed on the walls. Almost every gym I've been to (nearly 100 gyms) have large single colour full jug handles (not a part of any boulder) to allow the climber to safely descend. And second, that it appears you aren't comfortable jumping or falling from the wall. Personally, I would recommend learning how to fall safely. It's a skill just like a drop knee or a backflag. I think the fact that you're still uncertain about falling after a year is very likely holding you back in your movements on the wall. Obviously I can't tell how firm the mats are at that gym but if they are close to standard firmness you should be able to safely fall or jump from anywhere on the wall and land with minimal impact to your body. I would recommend watching a video or two on proper fall technique that includes landing with arms folded in and rolling from your feet onto your upper back, and then spending some time practicing the technique starting standing on the mat and falling, then slowly expanding your comfort zone until you are comfortable falling at any height on the wall. I believe this will help you tremendously in your progress! And keep moving those hips! Bending and twisting from the hips even more will help trap your body weight to the wall and keep you feeling fresher further into each attempt. Drop knee when possible even if you feel strong enough to pull the move squared up face on to the wall. As I'm sure you've experienced the closer you can keep your hips to the wall the more restful each position will feel. And beyond that, you're already doing great and I look forward to more! Good luck!

[patrykstaniszewski]

Ugh YES, seeing this progress just brings a tear (of joy) to my eye. One general tip for improving I can give...don't be afraid to start trying board climbing. This could include the moon board, tension board, kilter, or simply your gym's spray wall (assuming you have access to these things). They may seem intimidating at first, but once you start doing it more often, you'll see that board climbing has loads techniques that will really transfer over to all other climbing. Anyhoo, really great work!!

[ProxxyReloaded]

Glad to see you're still at it man! Huge tip here, don't focus too much on your "grade" (meaning the grade you normally climb) and start trying harder stuff, and I mean really trying, working like 2 or 3 full sessions on a single V7 or V8. You'd be surprised at what you're able to achieve when you really hone in on a high grade project and just keep trying until you can do the moves.
In my earlier days climbing I'd try a climb like 2 or 3 grades above what I was climbing at the time, try the first move, fail, then go "oh nah this is too hard for me". What I learned is to just keep trying and working different moves on the climb. It'll all come together after a few sessions and you'll go "oh shit I just climbed a V7"

[scallyz]

i’ve watched you for years and watched your first climbing video when it came out. thought it looked kinda fun so i tried bouldering for the first time around may of last year and i have been addicted since. so far, i have gotten two v8s and still improving. thank you for helping introduce me to something i now love

[ChikaChikaboww]

Just stopping by to say your original videos inspired my wife and I to give climbing a go, and we are totally hooked. Happy to see a dedicated channel for this as checking for a new climbing video from you is a nightly ritual at this point!

[mobeen]

Congrats on the progress!
One thing that worked for me was planning on working one area each session e.g. I'd focus on twisting. So for each climb I was hyper-aware that i needed to twist into the wall more to help with reach. Then the next session I'd focus on something else but the twisting from the last session became more natural. So with time, everything built up.

[ethandoades]

Glad to see a new channel dedicated to climbing. As for tips, something that worked really well for me when I was trying to break through the ~V5 plateau was board climbing. I only had a moonboard at my gym and so the first few weeks were rough, but after about a month of 30 minutes of moonboarding at the end of every session I started to really see a difference in my climbing. Not only did powerful moves feel a lot easier, but I learned to be much more aware of my feet and how I'm using them. The moonboard punishes you a ton for cutting feet, and learning to stay in control on big moves had a huge impact on my climbing. Hoping to send my first moonboard V8 sometime this month.

[tahruun]

I started climbing at around the same time and saw a lot of similar improvements. For me a big change was my speed; I started out rushing up the wall pretty fast but as I kept climbing I became a lot slower. One piece of advice (from a noob to a noob) is to try and do some moves on really hard climbs like v9s. I think it really helped me out to try and just get a move or two on something really hard. Good luck and I’m super excited to see where the new channel goes!

[cernsb]

Your content is very relatable. I've often watched Magnus' content and thought I have no idea how difficult I would find a lot of his warm up routes, but with yours I can relate to the same struggle, and it's great to see someone go through a very similar journey to myself

[kylerclarke]

Next month I will also have been bouldering indoors for one year thanks to your climbing videos. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say my life has changed from the physical challenge and the positive people I meet at the gym. Thank you massively for the inspiration!

[TheDopoqob]

1:45 Must be the stiffest V0 I've ever seen? Those footholds are super small!

[simonwolton]

I've also been climbing for just over a year, and as others have said, more hours = more better. With that said, some specific things:
Being creative with the easier warm up routes will help you feel less apprehensive about trying certain moves on harder climbs (practicing outrageous drop knees, inside flags, rose moves etc)
Climbing with people who are better than you will encourage you to try climbs that you think you can't top (or, if you're the best climber you hang out with, do an excercise where you try to pull on to every climb in the gym and see how far you get with one attempt - you'll be surprised)
Downclimbing easier routes using only the holds for that route (honestly harder than you think when you start hitting V3 or more dynamic territory)
Playing games like elimination, sticky hands/feet, 4x4's, pyramids all helps route reading and beta building.
Project with other climbers on the same routes. What works for some will not work for you, but will help you highlight deficiencies in your own climbing (short climbers are brilliant at this!)