Here we go, probably the most personal video I've released to date 😅 It's taken me a while to piece together what I wanna say here (around 8 months to be more precise...) and I hope this will give some of you a new perspective on weight and it's relevance in climbing. Thanks for watching, ya'll are awesome ❤
Hey Emil, you mentioned taking creatine as a supplement. From what I’ve seen (haven’t really researched) it causes better water retention in muscles helping them maintain volume… but not increasing strength? Wondered what if you have insight into it
@@jonathanyes112 It doesn't increase strength instantaneously, but if you train the right way whilst taking creatine you should certainly see power/strength gains! In a very simplified way it just gives you more total output when training. My experience was that I could push my body harder without feeling completely smashed afterwards, and therefore just get more high-quality training sessions in!
@@jonathanyes112 many studies have demonstrated that creatine monohydrate results in small but statistically significant increases in strength performance. The positive effect may be partially due to the increased water retention in muscle tissue.
@@jonathanyes112 It's the most studied supplement in the world, so if you want you can find a plethora of information online. But easiest answer is, it helps recovery a bit which helps with hard training and therefore become stronger.
Laying down the law 💪👊. Turns out being strong is useful in a bodyweight sport, and we need food to get there. Which is good, because I happen to like both climbing and food. (Sidenote: BMI is a trash metric for individuals and especially athletes, as you've clearly demonstrated, and the guy who created it rolls in his grave anytime a doctor uses it that way lol). -Emile
It's also particularly trash at the end of the height spectrum. I'm 156cm tall and 51 kg which puts me at about 21 BMI. I could go down to 45kg and still be considered within healthy range, but i can hardly lose 2 kg without getting into a lot of trouble. I'm even planning on eating more and gain a little bit of weight in the upcoming months...
As a beginner in bouldering and overweight I’d be very happy to see such positive examples a lot more. In the gyms I’m usually going to, as good as the best ones climb, lots of them seem skinny. I was active in other sports in the past, but in bouldering and climbing it seems a bit extreme. But you don’t need to go the extreme ways to become good.
As a climber who struggled with ED most of his life, this video almost made me cry (in a good way). I wish someone would've told me this when i was younger. Such a fantastic way of using your platform to spread positivity, thanks man.
I'm up from 68kg to 79kg this year (over about 3 years). I climbed my second 5.13b, and a ton of 5.12 quickly this season despite being objectively much heavier and other problems (including an old injury). I can echo that at 39 years old this year, staying light is not the right approach. Staying healthy, consistent, and doing what you need to do for yourself is priority #1. I'd like to be stronger, but i'm not worried about my weight anymore - i'm focused on consistency, quality, and assessing and addressing gaps in fitness and skill objectively, vs just following random training plans or getting sidetracked. It's making a huge difference for me. Great video, as always :)
@@denislejeune9218almost certainly a mix. Gaining lean muscle mass while also gaining zero fat is nearly impossible, especially for an athlete who’s already highly trained.
Really appreciate a video like this from a climber like yourself. I've been climbing since 8 yrs old (24 now) and the last 5 years have been rough for my mental game in terms of weight. When I was climbing my strongest at 18 I was underweight, and assumed it would never be a problem for me to stay light. Then covid and gaining weight, and it's still hard to motivate to go to the gym because of how heavy I feel. Lots of shame and self-hatred. And that never helps with actually working out or climbing, leading to bad spirals downward. I really needed this Emil, thanks
Thanks mate for sharing your story. I’m sure I’ve battled with very similar thoughts as you over the years, it’s definitely not easy to figure out how to deal with it
@@EmilAbrahamsson It's a journey! Yours might be to V16 and mine only to V11, but we're all human, and hearing the perspective of someone you respect is always awesome. Keep up the great content Emil :)
Perfect timing to release a video that draws attention towards this important topic (not only) in climbing sport. Appreciate you shared your story and put sheer numbers (like the BMI), your training schedule and your personal persception of how strong you feel and obviously are ;) into a healthy perspective. Thumbnail deserves an extra thumbs up.
Wondergul video, Emil. I'm also considered a heavier climber 1.81 cm and 83kg currently but I'm jacked as hell. So I've often been told that if I lose some kgs I'll become a better climber etx. And it always made me feel sad and not good enough so of course I cut weigth. But every time I started to train harder I'll gain the weigth back because well I ate more because I needed the fuel. Until I saif F it and decided to fuel my body properly, train with weigths and keep bouldering and just see where it gets me. Long story short: I've never felt stronger on and off the wall. I was able to do my first 1 arm pull up, hold the front leaver for the longest. Everything got better and I'm the heaviest I've ever been since I started bouldering. So yeah. Thanks for speaking up! Your message will reach a lot more people :)
Then again, calling anything under 90kg "heavy" sounds wild to me from the POV of other sports. I got into bouldering at 100kg coming in from other sports, stayed there for a couple of years while continuing to climb. Made meager progress. Decided to finally lose some to improve my bouldering (at the cost of some other sport performance metrics) and immediately started going up in grades for every kilo lost. It has been the single biggest impact on my climbing since all the other strength was there already besides the BW to finger strength ratio. The weight discussion is all relative, climbers just tend to forget what weight other athletes tend to be at and what is normal outside of climbing; I would be seriously concerned for anyone at your height and under 80kg, but in climbing it is treated as normal.
This video really hits home, When I started climbing 4 years ago I was over a 100kg with no muscles, quickly this number went up. to a 115KG. Despite this depending on the style of boulder I could climb up to 6c, after 3 years of climbing I finally lost about 30kg but unfortunately due to a long term injury I regained most of it. This is really motivating to keep pushing my training even when it can feel very hopeless right now.
Injury sucks, been through something similar, though it was the opposite for me, my injury turned into a lot of weight loss and loss of power. Took awhile to build the body back up again. You'll get back to health, just keep moving forward dude!
That was really inspiring, we are the exact same height and weight (thought you definatly have more muscle), and for the last year I was paranoid on trying to lose weight to improve my climbing, and for a lot of months I was staying in a calorit deficit that was killing my energy suplies, even my dad, a PE teacher, told me it was bad for me but I didn´t listen, but when I saw your interview on the nuggetclimbing podcast it completly shifted my perspective, and I decided to give myself more freedom when eating, and in a couple of months time I felt my performance sky rocketing, I am really thankfull to you Emil, you are a great example and inspiration for all!
I’m so grateful for you making this video, thank you - I’m a relatively new climber, 30, female and I weigh 80kg. (173cm) I’ve also been a weightlifter and trained powerlifting for 12 years, so despite my weight being a lot of muscle, BMI deems me as “overweight”. (Agree that BMI is rubbish, lots of research to back this up too!) I’ve definitely fallen into the trap of looking at smaller female climbers sending routes and thinking that if I lost some weight it might enable me to climb like that too, but with a bit of a complex history with eating, consciously manipulating my weight just isn’t for me anymore. It’s so good to see (and read) that if I focus on learning to move well on the wall, eating to fuel my body and keep getting stronger that the climbing gains will come (in time). Thank you for sharing your story and allowing others to do the same!
BMI isn't rubbish. It doesn't work for people with a lot of fat free mass but it is extremely useful for simple assessments and large-scale study. Of course it's limited but it is still important and lots of things centered around BMI hold true most of the time.
This helps. With 75kg at 167cm as a woman I'm definitely overweight per BMI, however I'm feeling really strong in my climbing performance lately. I train between 3-5 times per week and noticed some muscles that weren't there before :) and some routes feel much easier compared to a year ago. Eating can be difficult, especially when I see some really skinny girls do some routes that I can't or wear clothes that would look odd on me. I tend to not eat anything at all for half a day and then it backfires. I really appreciate your video about this topic (perfect timing btw) because this is so important! I also believe that more people struggle with it than we know. Thank you ❤️
This video came at a great time for me. I started climbing a few months ago. I’m currently in a weight loss journey and I’m pretty happy with my progress and current body but I have thought about the number on the scale holding me back. Good to hear your perspective and to know you and many others are and have been where I am right now
Love this. Been feeling super weak and exhausted lately. Had a big eating day after a day out scrambling on Saturday then sent my first outdoor V7 in less than a session on Sunday. Nourishing the body is so important
I hope this helps open more people’s eyes to different people being healthy and strong at many different weights. Some people’s bodies will hold a bit more fat on them at times, but as long as you feel strong and can do healthy and fun movements, your weight should be at the bottom of your worries. It can be hard to get that lesson from you on the surface since you look ripped at any weight nowadays, but I enjoyed your nuanced explanation of your journey and thoughts :)
As someone who fought my body for almost a decade trying to stay at 82 kilos while climbing (when my body naturally wanted to sit at 90kg), this video rings so true for me. When I decided my body and health were more important, I was injured far less often, more energy, better mood, and all of that led to me being a much better climber. Ive been preaching this myself and I'm glad I came across someone else doing the same. Loved the video.
I began climbing back in May. At that point i was 105kg with two chronic injuries, one on my right elbow and one on my left knee. At that moment it was impossible for me to do anything that began or in most cases even contained a slopper, but i enjoyed climbing so much that i didnt care. Right now, im climbing around v4-v5 (My gym uses a colour coding i had never seen but its 6 levels and im climbing in betweeen level 3 and 4 being 6 the highest and judging by videos i have seen, i would say im in that v4-v5 range) and, even if right now i stay around my original weight, i have lost quite a bit of fat and gained a lot of muscle. In these past months, i have noticed both the physical and mental benefits of it. I decided to give it a go after watching creators like yourself and magnus, so thank you for showing this world to people like me. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for telling your really encouraging story. My personal story is a bit different, I've naturally always been really lightweight (60 kg @ 1,87 m) and sticking around at boulder grade 6a to 6b atm I think, due not to really constantly doing the sport the last years. I never felt really weak but always wanted to gain more muscle mass. Over the last 6-8 months I did, now I'm almost 72 kg, next goal is 75 kg and my long term goal would be around something between 75 to 85 kg I think. All over I feel stronger than ever before. My finger strength feels a bit weak in comparsion to my actual weight, but after I saw your video some months before I'm sure to be able to gain even more relative strength than I could with my old weight.
At 178cm and 87kg I've always felt quite heavy as a climber, and often considered losing weight. It's really cool to hear your perspective, and that you can perform so well at higher weights. Thanks for sharing!
As a ‘bigger’ climber I’ve been waiting for this video for so long! Loads of talk about how Climbing has a problem, very very little actual ‘proof’ that dealing with this ‘problem’ might actually advance the sport instead of just stall it to keep people healthy. Thanks Emil, I hope this gets spread far and wide. ❤
THANK YOU for making this. Climbers are absolutely terrible at having this conversation. I weigh about 220lb/100kg and am only 5'9"/175cm, so definitely 'overweight' but still manage to climb 5.12/V6. I can't tell you how many times people have told me that I should "loose weight so I can climb harder". It just isn't that simple, and also why should other people care about how hard I climb? It's my body. "A body that climbs is a climber's body" is my favorite phrase (I first heard it from Drew Hulsey but I'm sure it's been said elsewhere).
@@MrCmon113 Definitely 100% not true and overly simplified. I climb much harder than a lot of people who weigh 80lb less than me. You need muscles and energy to climb, not lightness. Excess weight can be a factor in some instance but it isn't the ONLY factor, and this is the point. Focusing on weight alone is completely the wrong approach.
@@nickhenscheid369being low bodyweight is just better as a climber from a purely joint health perspective, same goes for say running. you're very very overweight, obese in fact
@@nickhenscheid369do you think youd be a more effective climber if you weigh'd less? Specifically less fat mass and a lower bf%, thats all that matters, being able to climb better than someone else is irrelevant to your own progress and ability.
I really appreciate the message here. I’m in my late 30s, I’ve struggled with my weight my whole life (I’m 5’11” and ~250lbs) and for a long time had assumed that activities like this were just out of reach for me. I’ve been bouldering for a few months now, this week I sent my first v4 and can feel myself getting better / stronger / enjoying it more every session. Obviously in some clear ways it would be easier for me to progress if I weighed less, but realistically that’s a way off and it’s been really wonderful realizing that the limitations are less profound than they probably appear to a lot of people in similar situations.
What a cool video on a very important topic 👍 3 years ago I've lost over 30 kg because of IBS and went from 90+ to 61kg witch was really painful to deal with. As it started to get a little bit better I decided to start climbing. I must say your channel helped me to discover this sport and start enjoying being active again. Thx a lot Emil 😉 RN I feel slowly better and gained back some weight witch helped with my climbing. Can't wait to feel better and keep improving my technique watching your content.
Thank you! I've been training more for awhile now and reached 81kg instead of the usual 75-77kg i was used to. Been feeling a lot stronger too but always doubting the usefulness of the weight gain. Watching this video gives me hope I'm still on the right path :)
Dude! Emil, I have been discovering the same things on my own. I'm 6-2, ~86 kg, and am definitely climbing better with more muscle. I work outdoors, so I have to stay big (at maintain my energy with loads of food), but it's reassuring to see someone doing such incredible climbing with a bigger body. I've always wondered if I really focused on cutting weight if my climbing would improve, but I would likely just have less energy to exercise and be more prone to injuries (especially at work). Sidenote: I split my exercise time between climbing and trail-running and feel like the two compliment each other very well in maintaining full body fitness. I strongly recommend trail-running (with lots of breaks if you're starting out) as an exercise that helps with balance and foot/leg strength.
I really appreciate you having made this video @EmilAbrahamsson! I appreciate the openness and vulnerability and in sharing your path I imagine it allowing folks additional perspectives that help them walk a path of being okay with themselves as they are. I started climbing at 80kg (~175lbs) and kept trying to get stronger and lighter because I thought this was what made a person climb harder and it took me down some not so great paths. During isolation and pandemic I went down to 159 lbs and eventually gained weight to be 210lbs and started back at the gym. I am getting back to climbing the grades I use to and in a body that is way different than I envisioned would climb these grades and it has me realizing that staying true to my path and allowing my body to be how shows up and transform itself I don't have to beat myself up over some image of what it means to be a climber.
Damn bro. I literally just posted something similar to this. I had eaten “not so healthy” a few days in a row and weighed around 9lbs heavier than my previous strongest climb, but smashed a bunch of boulders I could barely get halfway through before. I was confused. Sloppy, heavy… but better? I’ve been keeping it going since (the slight mass increase/weight gain), but eating healthy, and I think I’ll get through some plateaus. I was just testing this idea out slowly, but after watching this, I’m going full fledge 💪🏾
Thanks for the video you don't know how much I needed that. I'm currently training for ultra-marathons while trying to keep my bouldering level at v7-v8 and keeping up with strength and weight has been a major issue. It's very refreshing to see a climber embrace his body and stop worrying about his weight, thanks for the reminder.
Thanks for making this. I've been climbing since my late teens and spent a lot of my mid twenties with the disordered eating that gets normalized in climbing circles. It wasn't until recently when I came back to the sport after a 6 month hiatus with a renewed mindset (and training to become stronger no matter the weight I put on) that I came back actually a better climber. The myth of overweight climbing is not only unhealthy, but also impractical and wrong. For me, I had to learn to adapt to my body and not to what I perceive as the ideal style and the ideal body type. Thank you for making this video. You made me feel less alone
Great video, thank you for sharing Emil. I’m 189cm and 88kg and worried about how my weight was effecting my climbing. I’m resting easy now, thank you!
I’m 6ft2 just started climbing and this video helped me greatly. I have always struggled with my weight. I’m around 72-75 kilos and my aim is to get to 90 kilos. Thank you Emil to talk about that in te name of the tall community
Thank you Emil. I’ve been struggling recently with a lot of fatigue. I keep burning out and feeling like my training sessions aren’t what they should be. I’ve been thinking a lot about it and I’m pretty convinced that nutrition is the issue (or lack thereof). This video has been really helpful. I’m slowly learning that there’s more to life than worrying about weight… but sometimes, videos like this really help to remind me of that. Thank you! ❤️
Wow! Great video! Thanks for sharing your personal experience, along with numbers. I've been debating many times throughout the years if I should lose weight or not, but whenever I tried to eat less, I felt like my climbing sessions and recovery got a whole lot worse. And if I just didn't care what I was eating (mostly healthy, homecooked meals), I felt pretty strong and my weight stayed generally the same, around 70kg. You've just convinced me it's much more important to train hard!
Excellent. A really important video, probably your most important ever. You are evolving as a climber, filmmaker and a person. Keep it up hombre, you are a source of constant inspiration for me
Emil, thank you so much for your bravery and your willingness to open up. After Alex Megos made a video regarding to RED-S and bodyweight issues in climbing, I'm much more relieved and thankful that there is conversation. I've gotten into running, and even though I no longer climb, I think the biggest takeaway I can take from this video is the @7:48 where you mentioned that "whatever your goals are, the only thing that really matters is that you train hard for it -- and making damn sure you have the energy to do it." Thanks again.
Awesome work. So valuable to have someone of your standing sharing their journey and experience with what is often a difficult subject for people. Thanks!
This was a great video, Emil. I’ve recently started climbing again after a pretty bad motorcycle accident, and gained quite a bit of weight during my recovery. Getting back on the wall felt awful at first and very discouraging, but after a couple of months of consistent training, I’m climbing at almost the same level I was while being 10 kilos heavier. I’m glad to see you’re finding so much happiness and success in what you’ve been doing ❤
Hi Emil . Just want to thank you for you for sharing this.🙏 I listened to the nugget climbing podcast. This was realy what i needed to hear being a climber of the same size and body type as you. And the problems you described acording to "ideal weight" and "cant be more than X kg to climb hard" realy spoke to me. I too was literaly fixed on 76kg😅 As a result of the interview i too started worying less about weight and more about training and eating what i want and need. And i just send my hardest route yet (first 8a+) and had the best outdoor season ever. So thank you a lot you are a big inspiration! Now i just got to eat and train well to send that 8b!😅
Thank you so much for this video. It’s exactly what I needed. I lost quite a bit of weight in the last few years, and this year I have been bouldering alot and been slowly regaining weight. Initially I was concerned that it would hinder my climbing, but along the weight gain I have also seen amazing progression in my general power and endurance, so I try to focus more on benchmark and less on the number on the scale. I also am considered overweight on the BMI scale… yet I have never felt so strong!
Fantastic video Emil. This was just what I needed to see. I weigh in around 80kg about the same height and have been trying to get to 77kg with no luck. I'm going to forget about the numbers and just climb
Fear of being to heavy to achieve your dreams is certainly very common. It has certainly been with me for quite some time until I made the same decision you made almost a year ago and I certainly dont regret it in the least. Thanks for sharing your story and inspiring people to live a healthy and happy life. Much love from Austria
Nice vid Emil, appreciate you sharing. As someone who had an eating disorder growing up and years of body dysmorphia (both in regard to climbing and just my own self worth) I would like voice that GETTING A NUTRITIONIST can be life saving.
Thank you for this video. It was something I have been struggling with and spent a lot of energy worrying about. After watching the video I felt way more at ease.
I'm so grateful you shared this with us and delved into your personal battle. I beleive it will help so many climbers struggling with body image and weight fixation, you just go to prove exactly what your tititle says! Great to see you uing your own data backing up your claims, (wich you're good at anyway) and this provides a good reference for myself at a similar weight. There are videos popping up now on this issue and talking about "RED", but none hit home like this does. Thank you.
I gained 10lbs this month after being severly underweight. My pullup reps decreased from about 12-15 to 8-10. very demotivating, but this video gives me hope!
This 1 is normal, ur pulling more body weight, for example when I was 180, I was doing pull ups with 45+ lbs now I'm 193 and doing it with 35+lbs but the thing is now I weigh more so it balances it out, just like adding weight to any other workout :)
How old are you? That can determine how much of your gains are muscle or fat. Either way, if you keep pulling, you should be back to repping 12-15 at your new weight.
10lbs in one month! How old are you? If this is lean muscle mass you must be about 16 and using gear. It takes mature natural body builders years to gain that amount of muscle.
@@AlanCarne-tf2zn I'm 17, I don't think it was all lean muscle mass. I started taking a bit of creatine and eating more, so some was fat, and some was water weight. also after that first month, it's been slowing down a lot, I was about 110lbs when I wrote that comment, now I'm 117lbs
This is awesome Emil, thanks for sharing. I've always been on the heavier side and have found myself eventually abandoning myself to the "train hard and eat what you need" attitude regardless of weight, which I also feel is the best way to go! One thing to clarify for the general audience tho is that although BMI has no meaning in climbing at the higher end of the spectrum, it does in the lower end, and it is a great tool to assess climbers health (the video of Megos with Dr. Schoffl for example wass very enlightning). I would be sad to see people missusing the contents of your video if you know what I mean.
Thankyou for sharing your story Emil. Important for people to understand that being lightweight isn’t everything in climbing. Gets old seeing climbers who are small and then seeing all of the “well if I were 80lbs I could do it too” comments. Thankyou for letting all of us know that it’s more about strength. I also think that being a little chunky as a young person probably actually helped you because your body adapted to carrying that weight and now as an adult your bones and tendons are already more mature and able to shoulder carrying a little more as a result of already having done it. Great video Emil
WOW, this is amazing to see! I've been climbing for almost 10 months and im getting my first v7s now, I am a lot bigger compared to others both in the fat i have and the muscle. Thank you for sharing this and I look forward to try your workout routine.
Thanks man. I’m a 16 year old and am the same way. Shorter (5’10 or 179cm) but still in the mid 70kg range and lean. I have good mass genetics like you and have stipend my eating when I started. A month or two ago I realized I was getting weak so I ate more. I jumped 3kg (6lb) and have actually gotten really close to V8 for the first time in my 1 1/2 year journey. Thank you so much.
This is super important. This video makes a great case against one of the biggest problems in climbing. Also the growth you showed in reflecting on your weight and changing things up is amazing. Fantastic video Emil!
I had a very similar experience growing up being a tall big kid, this was an amazing video to see! Thank you Emil.. im just starting my climbing journey and this will definitely influence my approach in a positive way. Great content!
Thank you so much for this video and the important message it shares. It takes strength and vulnerability to open up about these things, so thank you for sharing! I love what you say about being flexible and forgiving with yourself around your training schedule and eating habits (something I think many of us have struggled with at some times in our lives). It super inspiring to see and hear about your progression! So keep it up and keep making these awesome high-quality videos!
I love the message in this video. for the last 3 years I've grappled with how much I *should* weigh for climbing, as I'm naturally more of a broad person + I've been doing weight lifting and climbing next to each other for 3 years, always hovering around 75-80 kgs. The mentality that being light will automatically make you a better climber is very toxic. I've noticed the times I have cut down weight and I try to watch what I eat closely I always end up feeling worse then when I'm eating consistently.
I actually started climbing while being overweight. About a year into my climbing, i started trying to do a semi-aggressive weight loss, and my climbing plummeted. I tried adjusting it so i could keep energy, but i felt like every climb was on half battery. I ended up having to take a break (covid hit) and my weight loss program became even harder as supply distribution haulted. When i came back i decided not to focus so much on weight loss, i try to eat healthy but for the most part just looking to climb better and to have fun. I'm also a woman climber, so I'm not sure if it hits different, but it's interesting to hear everyone's perspective on this.
This is reassuring to hear. I'm pretty heavy myself (90 kg) and my biggest issue with my weight is that I feel it in my joints. Some moves just end up hurting a lot pretty quickly.
Thanks for this Emil. I'm a big climber, as in I'm 193 cm tall and consequently quite heavy (currently 87 kg). I find that I climb much harder when I'm lighter (say 82 kg), but I get injured super easily at that weight. If I were to walk around at your bmi, that would put me in 92+ kg territory. I'm (actually really) nervous thinking about climbing at that weight. Your story makes it a little bit less scary...
Since I started college about 3 years ago, I've gone from ~74kg to ~88kg. Near the beginning I was climbing around V9 or so. My main problem was that during COVID, I took a long break from climbing consistently, and when I came back, I was too strong for my body to handle. I've essentially been in a constant state of mild to slightly worse injury, usually little things like pulleys or wrists but sometimes bigger things like tearing a hamstring on a heel hook. During that time I tried my absolute best to keep my training mild to avoid reinjury, but it never seemed to help. Finally, after so long of trying to get my body up to speed with my weight, everything feels like it's running on full cylinders. And although I can definitely feel the weight difference, I feel like I'm getting close to where I was before COVID... It's a very satisfying feeling. That's the main thing I'd want to say to someone who has gone through something similar --- if you gain that kind of weight, make sure to ease into it slower than I did. If you don't have connective tissue of steel like Emil, it will take a few months at least for your body to catch up. But if you keep having to stumble over injuries, you'll never make it back to where you want to be, so it's important to listen to your body and take it slow. Anyway, super stoked to hear about how successful you've been at such a "high weight". I'm really hoping I can make it all the way back to where I was and keep going (probably have to lose some of the fat too though 😆)
I’m trying to loose weight to climb harder, but I’m aware of the paradigm of healthy weight and lifestyle as well as the paradox of BMI where I would be rated as overweight but that’s mostly my bone density and build so I don’t want to loose too much weight. Just did my first muscle up in years last week so dropping some kilos has made it easier but it’s definitely the strength gains and technique improvement that have helped the most. I think this is one of the greatest things about climbing though, it creates a really functional relation between training and body health where so many people are glued to ridiculous perceptions of aesthetics instead of continuous progression and personal development. Thank you for sharing your journey. Befok!
Awesome journey mate and glad to see you coming out strong at the end of it. Others are not so lucky. But it's so so good to hear that a focus on energy and intensity should trump constant weight watching. Coming from road cycling I feel at times the other sports I did since (running, gym, bouldering, soccer), I suffered from being anxious about my weight. I kept looking at other people around me doing these sports and telling to myself, heh, they don't look like (practicing said sports), and they'd then proceed to wipe the floor with me. This is a really good reality check and reminder to focus on what truly matters: being healthy and enjoying ourselves and not get attached to images and numbers. Mega kudos you are truly rad! :)
Waw Emil, that really resonated with me. I have been at 80kg at 1.85m for a while now and always felt like I should lose weight to climb harder I run and boulder every day on top of having very intense work days and let’s say counting calories and eating celery has not been a focus of mine for while, and I was feeling guilty about it. Coincidentally, I also feel pretty strong at the moment, both in fingery and physical movements. I’ll keep this up and make sure I fuel myself to train hard Cheers
Thank you man, really thank you ... I suddenly feel like a part of me deep deep down really wanted to hear this. It's been a while since I feel my progress in this sport has plateaued and feel like my weight is the reason, but maybe I will re-think things through. Thank you !
Yeah man I couldn't agree more and it's great to hear it from such a great climber as well. I feel like bulking and not worrying about weight just makes you super strong, and then when you lose a few kilo the weight reduction mixed with strength feels sooooo good if you're adequately fueled.
Really awesome video -- we need more of this in climbing!!! I'm also 6'1 and 185 lbs and I wondered if my weight was a hindrance to hard climbing. Since I'm also a surfer and runner/hiker/backpacker, I carry extra muscle from these activities that I (falsely) believed might be holding back my climbing potential. Clearly you prove this wrong! In short, I'm stoked to see more muscly looking climbers like you and Magnus crushing it and being physically strong. It's a great contrast to amazing climbers, like Adam Ondra who is the same height as me, but 30lbs less!
Love to see this. I'm a 6'6 climber weighing in at 96kg currently (thicc boi) and was trying to drop weight to around 87kg as I assumed that's what I needed to push the next grade. It hasn't worked because I'm always so damn hungry and tired. I'll try your method.
Hey! Loved the video! A couple things I want to share - a note on BMI and my personal story. First - BMI is a poor indicator of health and is actually being phased out in medicine/training to my knowledge. This is due to a poor data set and biased creation. So, don’t sweat BMI specifically! Body fat percentage is a bit better, but how you feel and perform is what matters most! And I have been climbing since I was 17 and I’m 24 now, so I have had a wide range of climbing experiences over various weights and injuries. I’ve climbed at 212 lbs and at 266 lbs (thanks injuries and covid lol). You can still perform well climbing hard even at all these weights. But 266 with more fat than ought to be there does increase injury risk. It’s a delicate balance, I’m at a spot where weight loss is helpful for general health and climbing. But in Emil’s case, that extra weight is in muscle (which weighs more than fat) which is going to provide more power (food and muscle increase) for these INCREDIBLY IMPRESSIVE CLIMBS! So, again, all goes back to how you feel and perform. And based off that, that’s how you should make changes. Numbers can help track it, but aren’t the goal imo
I brought into the lighter is better theory a lot as a teenager. What I feel saddest about was all the anguish I put myself through about food feeling bad about eating and the lack of energy I suffered from due to not eating enough. Thanks so much for putting this video out there to correct this misconception.
Good video. Agreed. Was a bit stuck with route climbing progress. Did a few months of hard boulders/kilter, eating/hydrating a lot during and after sessions. Gained 4-5 lbs, but began sending harder boulders than ever. Got back to sport and immediately started sending routes a grade higher than previously. The moves and sticking holds just felt way easier. Training strength/power and fueling appropriately helps a lot 🤘.
Dude, incredible video, incredible message. As someone a similar build to you its hugely insightful to see your journey, and understand that if you can climb far harder than me at the same height and weight, that its really something that deserves none of my attention. Amazing content amazing climbing - as always. Cheers.
Terrific content Emil. Thanks for sharing something so near and dear. It is appreciated. As a climber that got started later, I'm thankful for this message and it needs to get out to more people. I started climbing last year at age 43, and about 220lbs, well "over-weight" according to doctors and science even here in the states, but its my comfort spot where I, like you have power and energy to burn and a great balance of the two. And like you mentioned, your body will naturally get stronger to support the weight. Just like grades in a gym, weight is just a number. Keep Climbing! You got this everyone! Keep up the great work and content, Emil.
I'm a new and passionate climber and my friends are all much smaller and lighter than me. Recently I've found myself worrying about my power to weight ratio and this video among others is a great reminder to eat as much as my body is hungry for, and to focus on feeling strong rather than feeling light.
hey newish climber here. Im 6'4 and at my biggest weighed 89 kg. I was extremely lean. 7-8% bf. I had a fully visable seratus in any light, u could see all the details if i tensed any muscle. I had been climbing hard hard for a year, dieting hard waking up so hungry id run to the toilet cuz the hunger pangs would make me feel nauseous. I got tfcc strains in both wrists from overtraining, liking 5-6 times a week 4 hour sessions that would continue till i felt like i would pass out. I quite literally dragged a zombie corpse to the gym on somedays. From january to july my forearms always ached i never rested them more than a day maybe 2. I had this idea in my head i wasnt doing enough climbing if i took more than 2 days off ever. Currently havent climbed since july. BMI gave me a twisted idea of my weight as a chubby very tall child, and ive harboured the same ideas since. Your video is extremely motivating! once i start again i plan to eat much more, and better. Let my body decide what weight is most comfortable.
Amazing video, real input for every self aware athlete. Fear of being different is such a danger for our self esteem. We are all Unique, always follow your feeling good guide within. 🙏🏻🤘🏻
"We are all unique individuals, and our bodies can do pretty crazy things, the number on the scale means nothing in this context." Formidable summary for a topic that can affect anyone. I recently discovered, with a calory tracking app, I was not eating enough. My appetite was gone and my food intake was WAY below what it should be for my weight and training regiment. I was always tired and not progressing much in my performances. I was flirting with eating disorder since I was content in being light for climbing. But not eating enough was making me sick, inducing sleep disorder, depression symptoms, chronic tiredness and even cognitive losses. Not thrusting my stomach and giving my body the fuel it needs changed everything. I feel like I can accomplish every (realist) goal I set for myself, I have energy, I am always motivated to go training and I can push, I also think more clearly and my memory is better, my social skills are more fluid. I am now myself. So, for me, the number on the scales indeed means nothing, your video is a clear demonstration of that fact, but the number of calories I eat means a lot. Without being obsessive about it, it at least needs to be ENOUGH. Thank you Emil for sharing your story. ❤
Thanks for this one! Great one. After covid and going into my thirties my weight has increased and worried me for the potential effect on performance. But its good to see you example here
thank you very much for your honesty and insight. I will watch and listen it carefully more times. It´is a topic I´m dealing with for some time. and your solution is quite interesting. tusen takk!
I'm quite big for a climber, 200 cm and 100 kg. I use to be 94kg when I focused on weight management. I shifted my focus recently to strength gain (obvious weight gain) and I now climb harder and more consistently than before.
I just started climbing around 8 months ago and love it so much! I'm struggling a bit though coming from sports that benefited from being larger and stronger - I'm 188cm and hover around ~100kg at 10-12% body fat. I can definitely push and lose 5-10kg but I resonate a lot with what you're talking about Emil in listening to your body and getting to a balanced place where you can eat to feel good and still train hard. I feel like I've reached that place physically still find it hard to get my body into certain positions that lighter people find no trouble with. Do you / anyone have tips (technical or strength wise) for improving? I'm in the v4-v6 range but really struggle on small holds and scrunched problems. Thanks sm and love your vids
Great video. Love how clear you made the empirical evidence be. Get your nutrition right, and you will thank your body for doing the rest. We tend to be good at pushing limits, us climbers. Really good. Speaking for myself, it's my happy place. . . Sadly, we're also really good at underestimating how much fuel we need, how much rest, for recovery. Neglecting the variables in the training equation that decides how much adaptation/effect you get from the work put in.
Thank you so much for this video! I am 192cm tall and weigh 84 kilos and I always feel like I need to cut weight. I see now that it is more important to fuel my body appropriately than to cut weight and that I will make gains in climbing without cutting
Good shit bro. We need more of this right now. Never seen a strength sport with so many athletes (wrongly) afraid of muscle as climbing. My personal belief based on nothing empirical (yet nobody will ever convince me otherwise) is that for people that already climb and train their upper body hard, adding "overall" strength training like squats that may not seem directly applicable to the sport could actually be more productive than the same amount of time of additional sport-specific upper body training would be. Do you really need massive quads to climb? No. But you just miss something if you can bang out multiple single-arm pullups but your max deadlift is 50 kg. Bodies are only meant to tolerate so much asymmetry, and the positive, whole-system stress that comes with full-body lifts at max effort just isn't substitutable with even the hardest upper-body only lifts in the gym climbers are generally more fond of. All of that is to say nothing of any mental fortitude gained from learning what it takes to push 100% of your muscles to complete a heavy squat, which is again objectively not a level of effort substitutable by just adding more weight to a pull up. I guess I'd say it's analogous to something like kidney health: does anything ever walk around saying you gotta take care of your kidneys if you want to be able to climb hard? No. But is it also true that if they're working optimally then everything else, the things that people *do* mention first when it comes to climbing ability, will have more ceiling room to improve? Yes. Make sure you don't skip leg day bros.
The dominant meta in climbing for a long time has been a dangerously thin body. Thanks for sharing your story that helps the community to rethink this.
I’m 6’3 and almost 96kg and it’s interesting seeing this perspective. I’m predominantly a gym goer so I consider myself to be pretty fit as I can run a 7 minute mile and rep 315 on squats pretty easily but I’ve always struggled with reconciling my weight and my bouldering performance. This video has helped me shift my perspective but I think it’ll definitely still benefit me to lose a bit of weight.
something to consider, strength doesn't vary linearly with body mass ( a naturally bigger person similarly proportioned to a smaller one will likely be weaker in relation to body weight ). Unfortunately i don't have any numbers to make things concrete ..
Here we go, probably the most personal video I've released to date 😅 It's taken me a while to piece together what I wanna say here (around 8 months to be more precise...) and I hope this will give some of you a new perspective on weight and it's relevance in climbing. Thanks for watching, ya'll are awesome ❤
Hey Emil, you mentioned taking creatine as a supplement. From what I’ve seen (haven’t really researched) it causes better water retention in muscles helping them maintain volume… but not increasing strength? Wondered what if you have insight into it
@@jonathanyes112 It doesn't increase strength instantaneously, but if you train the right way whilst taking creatine you should certainly see power/strength gains! In a very simplified way it just gives you more total output when training. My experience was that I could push my body harder without feeling completely smashed afterwards, and therefore just get more high-quality training sessions in!
Such a good video, the editing is awesome
@@jonathanyes112 many studies have demonstrated that creatine monohydrate results in small but statistically significant increases in strength performance. The positive effect may be partially due to the increased water retention in muscle tissue.
@@jonathanyes112 It's the most studied supplement in the world, so if you want you can find a plethora of information online. But easiest answer is, it helps recovery a bit which helps with hard training and therefore become stronger.
Laying down the law 💪👊. Turns out being strong is useful in a bodyweight sport, and we need food to get there. Which is good, because I happen to like both climbing and food. (Sidenote: BMI is a trash metric for individuals and especially athletes, as you've clearly demonstrated, and the guy who created it rolls in his grave anytime a doctor uses it that way lol).
-Emile
Thanks homie. Totally agree about the BMI scale being trash!
C'mon the BMI scale has a lot of applications and it is still widely used for a reason. We just need to be aware of its limitations.
@@thebadclimberthat's why he said that's it's trash for individuals and athletes, it's applications are really only useful on a population level
It's also particularly trash at the end of the height spectrum. I'm 156cm tall and 51 kg which puts me at about 21 BMI. I could go down to 45kg and still be considered within healthy range, but i can hardly lose 2 kg without getting into a lot of trouble. I'm even planning on eating more and gain a little bit of weight in the upcoming months...
If taken in isolation without doubts yes! @@IronGland
As a psychologist, I'm really happy to see such positive examples in the climbing community. Great video and storytelling ❤️
as a regular viewer, im really happy to still be looking for the person who asked.
As a beginner in bouldering and overweight I’d be very happy to see such positive examples a lot more.
In the gyms I’m usually going to, as good as the best ones climb, lots of them seem skinny.
I was active in other sports in the past, but in bouldering and climbing it seems a bit extreme. But you don’t need to go the extreme ways to become good.
As a climber who struggled with ED most of his life, this video almost made me cry (in a good way). I wish someone would've told me this when i was younger. Such a fantastic way of using your platform to spread positivity, thanks man.
Does ED mean erectile dysfunction or eating disorder in this context?
@@BigDickMark the latter
I think you can work that one out for youself mate @@BigDickMark
@@gustawkoszewski2606 why not both
I'm up from 68kg to 79kg this year (over about 3 years). I climbed my second 5.13b, and a ton of 5.12 quickly this season despite being objectively much heavier and other problems (including an old injury). I can echo that at 39 years old this year, staying light is not the right approach. Staying healthy, consistent, and doing what you need to do for yourself is priority #1. I'd like to be stronger, but i'm not worried about my weight anymore - i'm focused on consistency, quality, and assessing and addressing gaps in fitness and skill objectively, vs just following random training plans or getting sidetracked. It's making a huge difference for me.
Great video, as always :)
So good to hear, thanks for sharing my friend
This added weight, is it muscle or fat, or a mix? Would be interesting to know.
@@denislejeune9218almost certainly a mix. Gaining lean muscle mass while also gaining zero fat is nearly impossible, especially for an athlete who’s already highly trained.
Really appreciate a video like this from a climber like yourself. I've been climbing since 8 yrs old (24 now) and the last 5 years have been rough for my mental game in terms of weight. When I was climbing my strongest at 18 I was underweight, and assumed it would never be a problem for me to stay light. Then covid and gaining weight, and it's still hard to motivate to go to the gym because of how heavy I feel. Lots of shame and self-hatred.
And that never helps with actually working out or climbing, leading to bad spirals downward.
I really needed this Emil, thanks
Thanks mate for sharing your story. I’m sure I’ve battled with very similar thoughts as you over the years, it’s definitely not easy to figure out how to deal with it
@@EmilAbrahamsson It's a journey! Yours might be to V16 and mine only to V11, but we're all human, and hearing the perspective of someone you respect is always awesome. Keep up the great content Emil :)
Perfect timing to release a video that draws attention towards this important topic (not only) in climbing sport. Appreciate you shared your story and put sheer numbers (like the BMI), your training schedule and your personal persception of how strong you feel and obviously are ;) into a healthy perspective. Thumbnail deserves an extra thumbs up.
Thanks! Cordi is my co-thumbnail creator here and deserves a lot of credit for it
@@EmilAbrahamssonShe does 👍
Wondergul video, Emil. I'm also considered a heavier climber 1.81 cm and 83kg currently but I'm jacked as hell. So I've often been told that if I lose some kgs I'll become a better climber etx. And it always made me feel sad and not good enough so of course I cut weigth. But every time I started to train harder I'll gain the weigth back because well I ate more because I needed the fuel. Until I saif F it and decided to fuel my body properly, train with weigths and keep bouldering and just see where it gets me. Long story short: I've never felt stronger on and off the wall. I was able to do my first 1 arm pull up, hold the front leaver for the longest. Everything got better and I'm the heaviest I've ever been since I started bouldering. So yeah. Thanks for speaking up! Your message will reach a lot more people :)
Then again, calling anything under 90kg "heavy" sounds wild to me from the POV of other sports. I got into bouldering at 100kg coming in from other sports, stayed there for a couple of years while continuing to climb. Made meager progress. Decided to finally lose some to improve my bouldering (at the cost of some other sport performance metrics) and immediately started going up in grades for every kilo lost. It has been the single biggest impact on my climbing since all the other strength was there already besides the BW to finger strength ratio. The weight discussion is all relative, climbers just tend to forget what weight other athletes tend to be at and what is normal outside of climbing; I would be seriously concerned for anyone at your height and under 80kg, but in climbing it is treated as normal.
This video really hits home, When I started climbing 4 years ago I was over a 100kg with no muscles, quickly this number went up. to a 115KG. Despite this depending on the style of boulder I could climb up to 6c, after 3 years of climbing I finally lost about 30kg but unfortunately due to a long term injury I regained most of it. This is really motivating to keep pushing my training even when it can feel very hopeless right now.
Injury sucks, been through something similar, though it was the opposite for me, my injury turned into a lot of weight loss and loss of power. Took awhile to build the body back up again. You'll get back to health, just keep moving forward dude!
That was really inspiring, we are the exact same height and weight (thought you definatly have more muscle), and for the last year I was paranoid on trying to lose weight to improve my climbing, and for a lot of months I was staying in a calorit deficit that was killing my energy suplies, even my dad, a PE teacher, told me it was bad for me but I didn´t listen, but when I saw your interview on the nuggetclimbing podcast it completly shifted my perspective, and I decided to give myself more freedom when eating, and in a couple of months time I felt my performance sky rocketing, I am really thankfull to you Emil, you are a great example and inspiration for all!
Thank you my friend
👏👏👏👏👏
I’m so grateful for you making this video, thank you - I’m a relatively new climber, 30, female and I weigh 80kg. (173cm)
I’ve also been a weightlifter and trained powerlifting for 12 years, so despite my weight being a lot of muscle, BMI deems me as “overweight”. (Agree that BMI is rubbish, lots of research to back this up too!)
I’ve definitely fallen into the trap of looking at smaller female climbers sending routes and thinking that if I lost some weight it might enable me to climb like that too, but with a bit of a complex history with eating, consciously manipulating my weight just isn’t for me anymore. It’s so good to see (and read) that if I focus on learning to move well on the wall, eating to fuel my body and keep getting stronger that the climbing gains will come (in time).
Thank you for sharing your story and allowing others to do the same!
BMI isn't rubbish. It doesn't work for people with a lot of fat free mass but it is extremely useful for simple assessments and large-scale study. Of course it's limited but it is still important and lots of things centered around BMI hold true most of the time.
Of course.
You also get better at running marathons by training running. But you also always profit from low bodyfat/weight when running marathons.
This helps. With 75kg at 167cm as a woman I'm definitely overweight per BMI, however I'm feeling really strong in my climbing performance lately. I train between 3-5 times per week and noticed some muscles that weren't there before :) and some routes feel much easier compared to a year ago.
Eating can be difficult, especially when I see some really skinny girls do some routes that I can't or wear clothes that would look odd on me. I tend to not eat anything at all for half a day and then it backfires. I really appreciate your video about this topic (perfect timing btw) because this is so important! I also believe that more people struggle with it than we know. Thank you ❤️
The way to lose fat isn't to not eat anything for a while, it's to keep proteins the same (or increase them) and decrease carbs and fats.
This video came at a great time for me. I started climbing a few months ago. I’m currently in a weight loss journey and I’m pretty happy with my progress and current body but I have thought about the number on the scale holding me back. Good to hear your perspective and to know you and many others are and have been where I am right now
Love this. Been feeling super weak and exhausted lately. Had a big eating day after a day out scrambling on Saturday then sent my first outdoor V7 in less than a session on Sunday. Nourishing the body is so important
I hope this helps open more people’s eyes to different people being healthy and strong at many different weights. Some people’s bodies will hold a bit more fat on them at times, but as long as you feel strong and can do healthy and fun movements, your weight should be at the bottom of your worries. It can be hard to get that lesson from you on the surface since you look ripped at any weight nowadays, but I enjoyed your nuanced explanation of your journey and thoughts :)
As someone who fought my body for almost a decade trying to stay at 82 kilos while climbing (when my body naturally wanted to sit at 90kg), this video rings so true for me. When I decided my body and health were more important, I was injured far less often, more energy, better mood, and all of that led to me being a much better climber. Ive been preaching this myself and I'm glad I came across someone else doing the same. Loved the video.
I began climbing back in May. At that point i was 105kg with two chronic injuries, one on my right elbow and one on my left knee. At that moment it was impossible for me to do anything that began or in most cases even contained a slopper, but i enjoyed climbing so much that i didnt care. Right now, im climbing around v4-v5 (My gym uses a colour coding i had never seen but its 6 levels and im climbing in betweeen level 3 and 4 being 6 the highest and judging by videos i have seen, i would say im in that v4-v5 range) and, even if right now i stay around my original weight, i have lost quite a bit of fat and gained a lot of muscle. In these past months, i have noticed both the physical and mental benefits of it. I decided to give it a go after watching creators like yourself and magnus, so thank you for showing this world to people like me. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for telling your really encouraging story.
My personal story is a bit different, I've naturally always been really lightweight (60 kg @ 1,87 m) and sticking around at boulder grade 6a to 6b atm I think, due not to really constantly doing the sport the last years. I never felt really weak but always wanted to gain more muscle mass.
Over the last 6-8 months I did, now I'm almost 72 kg, next goal is 75 kg and my long term goal would be around something between 75 to 85 kg I think.
All over I feel stronger than ever before. My finger strength feels a bit weak in comparsion to my actual weight, but after I saw your video some months before I'm sure to be able to gain even more relative strength than I could with my old weight.
At 178cm and 87kg I've always felt quite heavy as a climber, and often considered losing weight. It's really cool to hear your perspective, and that you can perform so well at higher weights. Thanks for sharing!
As a ‘bigger’ climber I’ve been waiting for this video for so long! Loads of talk about how Climbing has a problem, very very little actual ‘proof’ that dealing with this ‘problem’ might actually advance the sport instead of just stall it to keep people healthy. Thanks Emil, I hope this gets spread far and wide. ❤
Bro's videos are well structured, clear, concise, informative, and inspiring my guy is making literal art.
dang homie thanks for that
THANK YOU for making this. Climbers are absolutely terrible at having this conversation. I weigh about 220lb/100kg and am only 5'9"/175cm, so definitely 'overweight' but still manage to climb 5.12/V6. I can't tell you how many times people have told me that I should "loose weight so I can climb harder". It just isn't that simple, and also why should other people care about how hard I climb? It's my body.
"A body that climbs is a climber's body" is my favorite phrase (I first heard it from Drew Hulsey but I'm sure it's been said elsewhere).
All of the best climbers are extremely lean for a reason.
It's simply part of the sport that you can do more the lighter you are.
@@MrCmon113 Definitely 100% not true and overly simplified. I climb much harder than a lot of people who weigh 80lb less than me. You need muscles and energy to climb, not lightness. Excess weight can be a factor in some instance but it isn't the ONLY factor, and this is the point. Focusing on weight alone is completely the wrong approach.
@@nickhenscheid369being low bodyweight is just better as a climber from a purely joint health perspective, same goes for say running. you're very very overweight, obese in fact
@@nickhenscheid369do you think youd be a more effective climber if you weigh'd less? Specifically less fat mass and a lower bf%, thats all that matters, being able to climb better than someone else is irrelevant to your own progress and ability.
😐
I think it's a great addition to the video on Alex's channel recently. Great story, thank you for sharing!
I really appreciate the message here. I’m in my late 30s, I’ve struggled with my weight my whole life (I’m 5’11” and ~250lbs) and for a long time had assumed that activities like this were just out of reach for me.
I’ve been bouldering for a few months now, this week I sent my first v4 and can feel myself getting better / stronger / enjoying it more every session.
Obviously in some clear ways it would be easier for me to progress if I weighed less, but realistically that’s a way off and it’s been really wonderful realizing that the limitations are less profound than they probably appear to a lot of people in similar situations.
hey man great to hear! im also a bit heavier (100 kg) but after a few years of climbing you learn to use that to your advantage. keep crushing!!
What a cool video on a very important topic 👍
3 years ago I've lost over 30 kg because of IBS and went from 90+ to 61kg witch was really painful to deal with.
As it started to get a little bit better I decided to start climbing. I must say your channel helped me to discover this sport and start enjoying being active again. Thx a lot Emil 😉
RN I feel slowly better and gained back some weight witch helped with my climbing. Can't wait to feel better and keep improving my technique watching your content.
Thank you! I've been training more for awhile now and reached 81kg instead of the usual 75-77kg i was used to. Been feeling a lot stronger too but always doubting the usefulness of the weight gain. Watching this video gives me hope I'm still on the right path :)
Dude! Emil, I have been discovering the same things on my own. I'm 6-2, ~86 kg, and am definitely climbing better with more muscle. I work outdoors, so I have to stay big (at maintain my energy with loads of food), but it's reassuring to see someone doing such incredible climbing with a bigger body. I've always wondered if I really focused on cutting weight if my climbing would improve, but I would likely just have less energy to exercise and be more prone to injuries (especially at work). Sidenote: I split my exercise time between climbing and trail-running and feel like the two compliment each other very well in maintaining full body fitness. I strongly recommend trail-running (with lots of breaks if you're starting out) as an exercise that helps with balance and foot/leg strength.
I really appreciate you having made this video @EmilAbrahamsson!
I appreciate the openness and vulnerability and in sharing your path I imagine it allowing folks additional perspectives that help them walk a path of being okay with themselves as they are.
I started climbing at 80kg (~175lbs) and kept trying to get stronger and lighter because I thought this was what made a person climb harder and it took me down some not so great paths. During isolation and pandemic I went down to 159 lbs and eventually gained weight to be 210lbs and started back at the gym. I am getting back to climbing the grades I use to and in a body that is way different than I envisioned would climb these grades and it has me realizing that staying true to my path and allowing my body to be how shows up and transform itself I don't have to beat myself up over some image of what it means to be a climber.
Damn bro. I literally just posted something similar to this. I had eaten “not so healthy” a few days in a row and weighed around 9lbs heavier than my previous strongest climb, but smashed a bunch of boulders I could barely get halfway through before. I was confused. Sloppy, heavy… but better? I’ve been keeping it going since (the slight mass increase/weight gain), but eating healthy, and I think I’ll get through some plateaus. I was just testing this idea out slowly, but after watching this, I’m going full fledge 💪🏾
I remember when you mentioned making this video a few months back - glad to see it here.
Cheers mate. Wish I could’ve made it sooner but this one needed to stew a bit
Thanks for the video you don't know how much I needed that. I'm currently training for ultra-marathons while trying to keep my bouldering level at v7-v8 and keeping up with strength and weight has been a major issue. It's very refreshing to see a climber embrace his body and stop worrying about his weight, thanks for the reminder.
Thanks for making this. I've been climbing since my late teens and spent a lot of my mid twenties with the disordered eating that gets normalized in climbing circles. It wasn't until recently when I came back to the sport after a 6 month hiatus with a renewed mindset (and training to become stronger no matter the weight I put on) that I came back actually a better climber.
The myth of overweight climbing is not only unhealthy, but also impractical and wrong. For me, I had to learn to adapt to my body and not to what I perceive as the ideal style and the ideal body type. Thank you for making this video. You made me feel less alone
Great video, thank you for sharing Emil. I’m 189cm and 88kg and worried about how my weight was effecting my climbing. I’m resting easy now, thank you!
I’m 6ft2 just started climbing and this video helped me greatly. I have always struggled with my weight. I’m around 72-75 kilos and my aim is to get to 90 kilos. Thank you Emil to talk about that in te name of the tall community
Thank you Emil. I’ve been struggling recently with a lot of fatigue. I keep burning out and feeling like my training sessions aren’t what they should be. I’ve been thinking a lot about it and I’m pretty convinced that nutrition is the issue (or lack thereof).
This video has been really helpful. I’m slowly learning that there’s more to life than worrying about weight… but sometimes, videos like this really help to remind me of that.
Thank you! ❤️
Wow! Great video! Thanks for sharing your personal experience, along with numbers.
I've been debating many times throughout the years if I should lose weight or not, but whenever I tried to eat less, I felt like my climbing sessions and recovery got a whole lot worse.
And if I just didn't care what I was eating (mostly healthy, homecooked meals), I felt pretty strong and my weight stayed generally the same, around 70kg.
You've just convinced me it's much more important to train hard!
Excellent. A really important video, probably your most important ever. You are evolving as a climber, filmmaker and a person. Keep it up hombre, you are a source of constant inspiration for me
Emil, thank you so much for your bravery and your willingness to open up. After Alex Megos made a video regarding to RED-S and bodyweight issues in climbing, I'm much more relieved and thankful that there is conversation.
I've gotten into running, and even though I no longer climb, I think the biggest takeaway I can take from this video is the @7:48 where you mentioned that "whatever your goals are, the only thing that really matters is that you train hard for it -- and making damn sure you have the energy to do it."
Thanks again.
So good!! This should be mandatory for all young climbers to watch!!❤
As a bulky climber myself, I appreciate this video
Awesome work. So valuable to have someone of your standing sharing their journey and experience with what is often a difficult subject for people. Thanks!
This was a great video, Emil. I’ve recently started climbing again after a pretty bad motorcycle accident, and gained quite a bit of weight during my recovery. Getting back on the wall felt awful at first and very discouraging, but after a couple of months of consistent training, I’m climbing at almost the same level I was while being 10 kilos heavier. I’m glad to see you’re finding so much happiness and success in what you’ve been doing ❤
Hi Emil .
Just want to thank you for you for sharing this.🙏
I listened to the nugget climbing podcast.
This was realy what i needed to hear being a climber of the same size and body type as you.
And the problems you described acording to "ideal weight" and "cant be more than X kg to climb hard" realy spoke to me.
I too was literaly fixed on 76kg😅
As a result of the interview i too started worying less about weight and more about training and eating what i want and need.
And i just send my hardest route yet (first 8a+) and had the best outdoor season ever.
So thank you a lot you are a big inspiration!
Now i just got to eat and train well to send that 8b!😅
Probably the best climbing related video I’ve seen! Thanks for this!
Thank you so much for this video. It’s exactly what I needed. I lost quite a bit of weight in the last few years, and this year I have been bouldering alot and been slowly regaining weight. Initially I was concerned that it would hinder my climbing, but along the weight gain I have also seen amazing progression in my general power and endurance, so I try to focus more on benchmark and less on the number on the scale. I also am considered overweight on the BMI scale… yet I have never felt so strong!
Fantastic video Emil. This was just what I needed to see. I weigh in around 80kg about the same height and have been trying to get to 77kg with no luck. I'm going to forget about the numbers and just climb
Fear of being to heavy to achieve your dreams is certainly very common. It has certainly been with me for quite some time until I made the same decision you made almost a year ago and I certainly dont regret it in the least. Thanks for sharing your story and inspiring people to live a healthy and happy life. Much love from Austria
Nice vid Emil, appreciate you sharing. As someone who had an eating disorder growing up and years of body dysmorphia (both in regard to climbing and just my own self worth) I would like voice that GETTING A NUTRITIONIST can be life saving.
Thank you for this video. It was something I have been struggling with and spent a lot of energy worrying about. After watching the video I felt way more at ease.
I'm so grateful you shared this with us and delved into your personal battle. I beleive it will help so many climbers struggling with body image and weight fixation, you just go to prove exactly what your tititle says! Great to see you uing your own data backing up your claims, (wich you're good at anyway) and this provides a good reference for myself at a similar weight. There are videos popping up now on this issue and talking about "RED", but none hit home like this does. Thank you.
I gained 10lbs this month after being severly underweight. My pullup reps decreased from about 12-15 to 8-10. very demotivating, but this video gives me hope!
This 1 is normal, ur pulling more body weight, for example when I was 180, I was doing pull ups with 45+ lbs now I'm 193 and doing it with 35+lbs but the thing is now I weigh more so it balances it out, just like adding weight to any other workout :)
How old are you? That can determine how much of your gains are muscle or fat. Either way, if you keep pulling, you should be back to repping 12-15 at your new weight.
10lbs in one month! How old are you? If this is lean muscle mass you must be about 16 and using gear. It takes mature natural body builders years to gain that amount of muscle.
@@AlanCarne-tf2zn I'm 17, I don't think it was all lean muscle mass. I started taking a bit of creatine and eating more, so some was fat, and some was water weight.
also after that first month, it's been slowing down a lot, I was about 110lbs when I wrote that comment, now I'm 117lbs
@@zackklapman3569 I just saw this but you were right, I recently tested my max pullups reps and I hit 14
This is awesome Emil, thanks for sharing. I've always been on the heavier side and have found myself eventually abandoning myself to the "train hard and eat what you need" attitude regardless of weight, which I also feel is the best way to go! One thing to clarify for the general audience tho is that although BMI has no meaning in climbing at the higher end of the spectrum, it does in the lower end, and it is a great tool to assess climbers health (the video of Megos with Dr. Schoffl for example wass very enlightning). I would be sad to see people missusing the contents of your video if you know what I mean.
Thankyou for sharing your story Emil. Important for people to understand that being lightweight isn’t everything in climbing. Gets old seeing climbers who are small and then seeing all of the “well if I were 80lbs I could do it too” comments. Thankyou for letting all of us know that it’s more about strength. I also think that being a little chunky as a young person probably actually helped you because your body adapted to carrying that weight and now as an adult your bones and tendons are already more mature and able to shoulder carrying a little more as a result of already having done it. Great video Emil
WOW, this is amazing to see! I've been climbing for almost 10 months and im getting my first v7s now, I am a lot bigger compared to others both in the fat i have and the muscle. Thank you for sharing this and I look forward to try your workout routine.
Thanks man. I’m a 16 year old and am the same way. Shorter (5’10 or 179cm) but still in the mid 70kg range and lean. I have good mass genetics like you and have stipend my eating when I started. A month or two ago I realized I was getting weak so I ate more. I jumped 3kg (6lb) and have actually gotten really close to V8 for the first time in my 1 1/2 year journey. Thank you so much.
This is super important. This video makes a great case against one of the biggest problems in climbing.
Also the growth you showed in reflecting on your weight and changing things up is amazing.
Fantastic video Emil!
I had a very similar experience growing up being a tall big kid, this was an amazing video to see! Thank you Emil.. im just starting my climbing journey and this will definitely influence my approach in a positive way. Great content!
Thank you so much for this video and the important message it shares. It takes strength and vulnerability to open up about these things, so thank you for sharing! I love what you say about being flexible and forgiving with yourself around your training schedule and eating habits (something I think many of us have struggled with at some times in our lives). It super inspiring to see and hear about your progression! So keep it up and keep making these awesome high-quality videos!
I love the message in this video. for the last 3 years I've grappled with how much I *should* weigh for climbing, as I'm naturally more of a broad person + I've been doing weight lifting and climbing next to each other for 3 years, always hovering around 75-80 kgs. The mentality that being light will automatically make you a better climber is very toxic. I've noticed the times I have cut down weight and I try to watch what I eat closely I always end up feeling worse then when I'm eating consistently.
I actually started climbing while being overweight. About a year into my climbing, i started trying to do a semi-aggressive weight loss, and my climbing plummeted. I tried adjusting it so i could keep energy, but i felt like every climb was on half battery.
I ended up having to take a break (covid hit) and my weight loss program became even harder as supply distribution haulted. When i came back i decided not to focus so much on weight loss, i try to eat healthy but for the most part just looking to climb better and to have fun.
I'm also a woman climber, so I'm not sure if it hits different, but it's interesting to hear everyone's perspective on this.
This is reassuring to hear. I'm pretty heavy myself (90 kg) and my biggest issue with my weight is that I feel it in my joints. Some moves just end up hurting a lot pretty quickly.
@Emil As an almost 99kg 186cm 40yr old climber currently doing v8's this video hits home on so many levels. Much appreciated 🤛
Thanks for this Emil. I'm a big climber, as in I'm 193 cm tall and consequently quite heavy (currently 87 kg). I find that I climb much harder when I'm lighter (say 82 kg), but I get injured super easily at that weight. If I were to walk around at your bmi, that would put me in 92+ kg territory. I'm (actually really) nervous thinking about climbing at that weight. Your story makes it a little bit less scary...
Since I started college about 3 years ago, I've gone from ~74kg to ~88kg. Near the beginning I was climbing around V9 or so. My main problem was that during COVID, I took a long break from climbing consistently, and when I came back, I was too strong for my body to handle. I've essentially been in a constant state of mild to slightly worse injury, usually little things like pulleys or wrists but sometimes bigger things like tearing a hamstring on a heel hook. During that time I tried my absolute best to keep my training mild to avoid reinjury, but it never seemed to help. Finally, after so long of trying to get my body up to speed with my weight, everything feels like it's running on full cylinders. And although I can definitely feel the weight difference, I feel like I'm getting close to where I was before COVID... It's a very satisfying feeling.
That's the main thing I'd want to say to someone who has gone through something similar --- if you gain that kind of weight, make sure to ease into it slower than I did. If you don't have connective tissue of steel like Emil, it will take a few months at least for your body to catch up. But if you keep having to stumble over injuries, you'll never make it back to where you want to be, so it's important to listen to your body and take it slow.
Anyway, super stoked to hear about how successful you've been at such a "high weight". I'm really hoping I can make it all the way back to where I was and keep going (probably have to lose some of the fat too though 😆)
I’m trying to loose weight to climb harder, but I’m aware of the paradigm of healthy weight and lifestyle as well as the paradox of BMI where I would be rated as overweight but that’s mostly my bone density and build so I don’t want to loose too much weight.
Just did my first muscle up in years last week so dropping some kilos has made it easier but it’s definitely the strength gains and technique improvement that have helped the most.
I think this is one of the greatest things about climbing though, it creates a really functional relation between training and body health where so many people are glued to ridiculous perceptions of aesthetics instead of continuous progression and personal development.
Thank you for sharing your journey.
Befok!
Awesome journey mate and glad to see you coming out strong at the end of it. Others are not so lucky. But it's so so good to hear that a focus on energy and intensity should trump constant weight watching. Coming from road cycling I feel at times the other sports I did since (running, gym, bouldering, soccer), I suffered from being anxious about my weight. I kept looking at other people around me doing these sports and telling to myself, heh, they don't look like (practicing said sports), and they'd then proceed to wipe the floor with me. This is a really good reality check and reminder to focus on what truly matters: being healthy and enjoying ourselves and not get attached to images and numbers. Mega kudos you are truly rad! :)
Waw Emil, that really resonated with me.
I have been at 80kg at 1.85m for a while now and always felt like I should lose weight to climb harder
I run and boulder every day on top of having very intense work days and let’s say counting calories and eating celery has not been a focus of mine for while, and I was feeling guilty about it.
Coincidentally, I also feel pretty strong at the moment, both in fingery and physical movements.
I’ll keep this up and make sure I fuel myself to train hard
Cheers
Thank you man, really thank you ... I suddenly feel like a part of me deep deep down really wanted to hear this.
It's been a while since I feel my progress in this sport has plateaued and feel like my weight is the reason, but maybe I will re-think things through.
Thank you !
Yeah man I couldn't agree more and it's great to hear it from such a great climber as well. I feel like bulking and not worrying about weight just makes you super strong, and then when you lose a few kilo the weight reduction mixed with strength feels sooooo good if you're adequately fueled.
Think you've missed the point of the video haha
Really awesome video -- we need more of this in climbing!!! I'm also 6'1 and 185 lbs and I wondered if my weight was a hindrance to hard climbing. Since I'm also a surfer and runner/hiker/backpacker, I carry extra muscle from these activities that I (falsely) believed might be holding back my climbing potential. Clearly you prove this wrong!
In short, I'm stoked to see more muscly looking climbers like you and Magnus crushing it and being physically strong. It's a great contrast to amazing climbers, like Adam Ondra who is the same height as me, but 30lbs less!
Thank you for putting this out. This has been my thought process throughout my training, and it's nice to have some validation.
Love to see this. I'm a 6'6 climber weighing in at 96kg currently (thicc boi) and was trying to drop weight to around 87kg as I assumed that's what I needed to push the next grade. It hasn't worked because I'm always so damn hungry and tired. I'll try your method.
Hey! Loved the video! A couple things I want to share - a note on BMI and my personal story. First - BMI is a poor indicator of health and is actually being phased out in medicine/training to my knowledge. This is due to a poor data set and biased creation. So, don’t sweat BMI specifically! Body fat percentage is a bit better, but how you feel and perform is what matters most!
And I have been climbing since I was 17 and I’m 24 now, so I have had a wide range of climbing experiences over various weights and injuries. I’ve climbed at 212 lbs and at 266 lbs (thanks injuries and covid lol). You can still perform well climbing hard even at all these weights. But 266 with more fat than ought to be there does increase injury risk. It’s a delicate balance, I’m at a spot where weight loss is helpful for general health and climbing. But in Emil’s case, that extra weight is in muscle (which weighs more than fat) which is going to provide more power (food and muscle increase) for these INCREDIBLY IMPRESSIVE CLIMBS! So, again, all goes back to how you feel and perform. And based off that, that’s how you should make changes. Numbers can help track it, but aren’t the goal imo
Just on thing : Thank you. It was for me one of your best video ever and really interesting! Keep up the amazing work!
This is such a thoughtful and effective breakdown of a pretty complex topic.
I brought into the lighter is better theory a lot as a teenager. What I feel saddest about was all the anguish I put myself through about food feeling bad about eating and the lack of energy I suffered from due to not eating enough. Thanks so much for putting this video out there to correct this misconception.
Good video. Agreed. Was a bit stuck with route climbing progress. Did a few months of hard boulders/kilter, eating/hydrating a lot during and after sessions. Gained 4-5 lbs, but began sending harder boulders than ever. Got back to sport and immediately started sending routes a grade higher than previously. The moves and sticking holds just felt way easier. Training strength/power and fueling appropriately helps a lot 🤘.
This video couldn’t come at a better time in my life thank you Emil I definitely need to watch this
Dude, incredible video, incredible message. As someone a similar build to you its hugely insightful to see your journey, and understand that if you can climb far harder than me at the same height and weight, that its really something that deserves none of my attention. Amazing content amazing climbing - as always. Cheers.
Terrific content Emil. Thanks for sharing something so near and dear. It is appreciated. As a climber that got started later, I'm thankful for this message and it needs to get out to more people. I started climbing last year at age 43, and about 220lbs, well "over-weight" according to doctors and science even here in the states, but its my comfort spot where I, like you have power and energy to burn and a great balance of the two. And like you mentioned, your body will naturally get stronger to support the weight. Just like grades in a gym, weight is just a number. Keep Climbing! You got this everyone! Keep up the great work and content, Emil.
I'm a new and passionate climber and my friends are all much smaller and lighter than me. Recently I've found myself worrying about my power to weight ratio and this video among others is a great reminder to eat as much as my body is hungry for, and to focus on feeling strong rather than feeling light.
Thanks for teaching us through your experience, Emil! Respect!
hey newish climber here. Im 6'4 and at my biggest weighed 89 kg. I was extremely lean. 7-8% bf. I had a fully visable seratus in any light, u could see all the details if i tensed any muscle. I had been climbing hard hard for a year, dieting hard waking up so hungry id run to the toilet cuz the hunger pangs would make me feel nauseous. I got tfcc strains in both wrists from overtraining, liking 5-6 times a week 4 hour sessions that would continue till i felt like i would pass out. I quite literally dragged a zombie corpse to the gym on somedays. From january to july my forearms always ached i never rested them more than a day maybe 2. I had this idea in my head i wasnt doing enough climbing if i took more than 2 days off ever. Currently havent climbed since july. BMI gave me a twisted idea of my weight as a chubby very tall child, and ive harboured the same ideas since. Your video is extremely motivating! once i start again i plan to eat much more, and better. Let my body decide what weight is most comfortable.
Amazing video, real input for every self aware athlete. Fear of being different is such a danger for our self esteem. We are all Unique, always follow your feeling good guide within. 🙏🏻🤘🏻
"We are all unique individuals, and our bodies can do pretty crazy things, the number on the scale means nothing in this context."
Formidable summary for a topic that can affect anyone.
I recently discovered, with a calory tracking app, I was not eating enough. My appetite was gone and my food intake was WAY below what it should be for my weight and training regiment. I was always tired and not progressing much in my performances. I was flirting with eating disorder since I was content in being light for climbing. But not eating enough was making me sick, inducing sleep disorder, depression symptoms, chronic tiredness and even cognitive losses.
Not thrusting my stomach and giving my body the fuel it needs changed everything. I feel like I can accomplish every (realist) goal I set for myself, I have energy, I am always motivated to go training and I can push, I also think more clearly and my memory is better, my social skills are more fluid. I am now myself.
So, for me, the number on the scales indeed means nothing, your video is a clear demonstration of that fact, but the number of calories I eat means a lot. Without being obsessive about it, it at least needs to be ENOUGH.
Thank you Emil for sharing your story. ❤
Thanks for this one! Great one. After covid and going into my thirties my weight has increased and worried me for the potential effect on performance. But its good to see you example here
Absolutely excellent video. You're so correct. Outstanding message.
thank you very much for your honesty and insight. I will watch and listen it carefully more times. It´is a topic I´m dealing with for some time. and your solution is quite interesting. tusen takk!
I'm quite big for a climber, 200 cm and 100 kg. I use to be 94kg when I focused on weight management. I shifted my focus recently to strength gain (obvious weight gain) and I now climb harder and more consistently than before.
Probably one of the best climbing videos out there
You present these topics so well!
I just started climbing around 8 months ago and love it so much! I'm struggling a bit though coming from sports that benefited from being larger and stronger - I'm 188cm and hover around ~100kg at 10-12% body fat. I can definitely push and lose 5-10kg but I resonate a lot with what you're talking about Emil in listening to your body and getting to a balanced place where you can eat to feel good and still train hard. I feel like I've reached that place physically still find it hard to get my body into certain positions that lighter people find no trouble with. Do you / anyone have tips (technical or strength wise) for improving? I'm in the v4-v6 range but really struggle on small holds and scrunched problems. Thanks sm and love your vids
Great video. Love how clear you made the empirical evidence be. Get your nutrition right, and you will thank your body for doing the rest.
We tend to be good at pushing limits, us climbers. Really good. Speaking for myself, it's my happy place. . . Sadly, we're also really good at underestimating how much fuel we need, how much rest, for recovery. Neglecting the variables in the training equation that decides how much adaptation/effect you get from the work put in.
Thank you so much for this video! I am 192cm tall and weigh 84 kilos and I always feel like I need to cut weight. I see now that it is more important to fuel my body appropriately than to cut weight and that I will make gains in climbing without cutting
Thanks for sharing! It is really gets to you when it is more personal
Good shit bro. We need more of this right now. Never seen a strength sport with so many athletes (wrongly) afraid of muscle as climbing.
My personal belief based on nothing empirical (yet nobody will ever convince me otherwise) is that for people that already climb and train their upper body hard, adding "overall" strength training like squats that may not seem directly applicable to the sport could actually be more productive than the same amount of time of additional sport-specific upper body training would be. Do you really need massive quads to climb? No. But you just miss something if you can bang out multiple single-arm pullups but your max deadlift is 50 kg. Bodies are only meant to tolerate so much asymmetry, and the positive, whole-system stress that comes with full-body lifts at max effort just isn't substitutable with even the hardest upper-body only lifts in the gym climbers are generally more fond of. All of that is to say nothing of any mental fortitude gained from learning what it takes to push 100% of your muscles to complete a heavy squat, which is again objectively not a level of effort substitutable by just adding more weight to a pull up. I guess I'd say it's analogous to something like kidney health: does anything ever walk around saying you gotta take care of your kidneys if you want to be able to climb hard? No. But is it also true that if they're working optimally then everything else, the things that people *do* mention first when it comes to climbing ability, will have more ceiling room to improve? Yes. Make sure you don't skip leg day bros.
Such an important topic and something everyone should take notice of. Well done for being open about this and teaching an important lesson.
The dominant meta in climbing for a long time has been a dangerously thin body. Thanks for sharing your story that helps the community to rethink this.
That's just physics.
Besides sports climbers have become more powerful and heavier since the early day of the sport.
I’m 6’3 and almost 96kg and it’s interesting seeing this perspective. I’m predominantly a gym goer so I consider myself to be pretty fit as I can run a 7 minute mile and rep 315 on squats pretty easily but I’ve always struggled with reconciling my weight and my bouldering performance. This video has helped me shift my perspective but I think it’ll definitely still benefit me to lose a bit of weight.
something to consider, strength doesn't vary linearly with body mass ( a naturally bigger person similarly proportioned to a smaller one will likely be weaker in relation to body weight ). Unfortunately i don't have any numbers to make things concrete ..