Haha I feel like that should be my catch phrase. It's funny when the boulders give you the little one two combo you weren't expecting. wham, not today buddy :)
Maintenance sessions carry over well into almost everything in life, even outside athletics. Adjusting goals and expectations to how you’re feeling on a given day is essential to long term growth
That was a breath of fresh air! I feel like all we ever see are the pros in their peak performance and it’s easy to think a V16 climber can just climb V16 on any given day. It was very enlightening to see that even someone like you can have a hard time with V9/10. I think you’ll help a lot of people to stop being so hard on themselves, especially on an “off” day.
Thanks, max. Psyched you got something from it like that. It really is easy to think we should be improving every session and that the ‘pros’ are a different creature. They’re not. They’re just a normal person struggling in the same ways 😀✌️
Ive gotta say I love your videos they are always so positive and have inspired me to take climbing more seriously. I have started my actual training journey and look forward to seeing where I am in the future
That's awesome to hear. Psyched for you :). It only takes a little bit of focus and intention and you can make a big difference in your climbing performance. Good luck
Thanks for sharing this quality content man! Definitely agree on the fact that not every session is gonna be the best and that hard problems can be even harder on some days. This channel is so underrated man, keep up the good work.
Yeah it’s hard to always be ok with the fluctuating performance. But knowing it’s a part of it and looking long term, that’s the key 😀. Psyched you’re enjoying it Matt, appreciate it mate.
Brilliant vid. No frills and honest as always. I’ve needed this input. Gone from sending projects, hitting new PB’s in conditioning, repeating previous limit boulders and then falling apart pretty quickly. Then repeating that. Yes we ebb and flow in performance but maintaining a degree of base ability to enjoy this thing called climbing, rather than feel shite coz we can’t constantly get stronger…. It’s just not realistic. Thanks Tom
Awesome video! It was the perfect thing to watch when I just hit that valley where my body is telling me to chill tfo and I'm trying to be easy on myself😂
I super love this video and your channel! I’m just curious - how often do you find yourself doing a maintenance session vs a high intensity session? And how often do you throw in the super low intensity sessions? Or do you do these instead of super low intensity
Thanks mate. Probably most of my sessions are ‘maintenance.’ Let’s call it 60%. 20% intense, 20% cruise/lazy session. I’m keen to dig a little deeper on this in a future video
@@TomOHalloranAus I can’t speak for others, but I would find that super helpful! Your channel has been really important for me as I’m trying to break into this new level of “serious training,” and trying to figure out what that balance is has been 80% of the battle. Thanks for the reply!
after a period of recurring injuries that came with trying to breakthrough a long standing plateau I've been incorporating this approach into my trainings. Yesterday for instance I had such a maintenance session, because saturday was a send session. My goals are defined a bit differently though. Everything I do should feel 'easy' to a degree. This is why I will not allow myself to project a particular boulder too much. If it doesn't go in a couple of tries, than that will be a nice project for a send session. Also no risky moves, such as catching a big dyno on a crimp or something. When your not feeling up to it it's just not worth it. I also try to redo boulders I've done before and try to make them feel easier. Also I try to do 'strange' boulders. My gym has xs boulders for children and smaller people. I'm 1.94 so I don't fit into that category. Quite often they are set such that the boulder is actually quite difficult as a taller person, which requires me to apply interesting techniques and fit my body into strange boxes and positions, all on relatively doable holds. In general I really think that if you have conscious 'off' sessions you really set yourself up to perform in sessions when your in on mode. You can not excel in every session but you can in some if you choose them wisely.
Totally, Sam. Great to be able to know when you’ve had a win, call it good and not feel like you need to keep squeezing out the juice. Being engaged in what you’re doing in each session is a massive win
Yep, own board in the garage. Like it a lot 😀. Psyched to hear you got something from it. Probably a good one to keep in mind as you keep on truckin through the years ✌️
Great vid Tom! With my current travels I need to dial down my expectations of what I can do (try to find Kilter or Moonboards so I have some kind of reference.) Just getting to do stuff is great though.
Hard to do, dialing down the expectation and ego. I’ve often tried to just switch to learning something new, better at toe hooks, smearing etc in those times as well. It’s a different little thing to think about away from difficulty
I see you've received one of those scam calls and I think I've heard that exact one. Their business model is based gullible people picking up the phone and doing what they say and not gullible people hanging up immediately. With this in mind, I like to wind them up and waste as much of their time as possible. After doing this a few times, they haven't bothered me since!
Thanks for the awesome content Tom, really appreciate it! I've been struggling with tendonitis in my finger for the past few months, which is why I stopped training two weeks ago. Before that I also tried reducing volume and intensity to a minimum level, but that didn't improve my situation. I was wondering if you've experienced something similar and what you did for rehab. I love climbing so much that I find it really hard to stay away from it..
Did you watch my video prior to this one about injuries? I’ve certainly had a few finger injuries over the years. Not sure I’ve had tendonitis in them though. Would recommend finding a good medical professional involved and sticking to the plan. Not only are you paying for a good diagnosis, rehab plan but also the peace of mind that you’re heading in the direction of healthier digits
Yeah, I guess sticking to the non-climbing-plan is the last resort now. Thanks for your support, appreciate it!! Btw. would be awesome to see some lead content
Haha don’t think of it as last resort. Think of it as an opportunity to level up other things without the distraction of pull on the fingers 😀. Yes, keen to get some lead stuff happening soon 😀
Hate to abuse the fact that you respond to all comments, but I was curious: how long does each one of your sessions last? Both the full session, but also how long do you actually spend on the wall in the "training zone?" As I progress I'm trying to figure out how long until there are diminishing returns. Thank you!
It really depends on the type of session and what my intention for the session is. Usually I’m not more than 2hrs for any session, and would guess that actually hanging on time would be less than 15 minutes. A ‘normal’ boulder will take about 30 seconds, would be very rare to do more than 20 boulders in a session after the warm up circuits. I want to dive into something like this a bit more in future videos
Yes. We climbers have a twisted way of looking at that : i tell people to look at it the way track and field athlete would look at their time on a distance. PR or PR material (very close time on a 10k run, 10 or 20 seconds) is very rare. It's about some occurences within a year. Good times (so, within a minute in our example) occur occasionnaly, but not at each session. Maybe a couple times a month ? (not a T&F expert!) And then, you have "OK times", which are training times. Well, we sould be thinking about our climbing sessions in the same way. Max grade, and one grade under (because of the inherent variation to grades) is PR material. 2 and 3 grades under are "good runs". 4 or 5 grades under is "ok run". My advice would be no to seek too much PR material, especially as an amateur, where surcompensation is not easy to exploit, when it actually happens. A good goal is to find/create as many "good runs" as you can, particularly in training (because the mileage of that will actually enable you to get these PR materials), and so focus on climbing well those "hard, but not hardest" problems. Lastly, you shouldn't worry about those days where you climb only "ok" stuff. You'll have those sessions. It's fine. You should only think about it if you start having, say, a whole 4 weeks straight without any "good" material.
Yes exactly. It’s so obvious when the sport goes to something like track, swimming, weights etc. But we want to be nailing PB benchmarks on the moonboard every session. I’m doubly appreciative of your running comparison as I’m diving deep on trail running atm haha
Ah ! You look like you could have good performances on that. Don't forget then to really support well your running by fueling your body more, i've seen quite a couple of climbers who were already fit become too thin when beginning to run. The energy consumption is quite high after 40-ish minutes of running !@@TomOHalloranAus
Not really. Only a shoulder tweak when I pushed too hard when I was super fatigued and dropped out of the wide position. They are high potential for carnage. I’d recommend building up slow and steady. But if you’re having chronic pain issues it’d be worth working with someone who knows how to do them safely and can spot what’s going wrong/imbalance/technique etc.
Hey, just found your channel, good stuff I like it, have you ever done a hand care video? Odd request but I'm climbing 4-5 times a week and my hands are fucked
Awesome, welcome along. Psyched you enjoyed it. I haven’t cover that specifically, but I do have one on taping tips. Could be helpful. My hands were destroyed when I was training for the Olympics and I sure learnt a thing or two. I’ll and hand care to the ‘to make’ list 😀
@TomOHalloranAus ahh you're a legend mate, thanks for even replying, the market in hand Care is saturated and confusing, what we need is one from a REAL climber like you 💪
Haha thanks mate. Plenty of folk out there doing cool things. Just adding my 2 cents :). I'll have to have a dive into your vids. Just had a look and there's some good looking stuff. You're smashing it! Nice one :)
@@TomOHalloranAusThanks! Its been a fun journey! Hope it can give you a cool look into the Canadian scene! and if you're ever on this side of the pond would love to do some professional media with ya through RAGE !
I am interested in hearing what your finger rehab is, I currently have a slight tweak. Right now doing some light hangboard with feet on ground and fingerboard pulls with a light band
Each rehab journey and protocol is different based on severity, type etc. But essentially I'm loading in the 'vulnerable high angle,' position for a 30 seconds, rest for 30 and do this a few times. Check with a physio or similar though. You want to rehab it properly. An incorrect recovery protocol will bite you on the bum later with it not being properly healed and vulnerable to going pop again
There's a ton. Endurance on long circuits, max power, lower level capacity, upper level capacity. I've covered a few of the sessions on my channel before, but have been playing with the idea of one vid that covers them all. would that be helpful?
I think a lot of people need to heat this, especially myself lol. You won't always climb your hardest and if you do you aren't actually at your max. Savor those good days people🙏
It's a hard one to hear and accept. We want the progress to be linear and everything to keep being awesome. But it's not always like that and that's actually totally ok and awesome :)
Thanks for sticking up a v relatable session - I swear I say “this feels hard today” in like 90% of my board sessions
Haha I feel like that should be my catch phrase. It's funny when the boulders give you the little one two combo you weren't expecting. wham, not today buddy :)
Maintenance sessions carry over well into almost everything in life, even outside athletics. Adjusting goals and expectations to how you’re feeling on a given day is essential to long term growth
100% agree. Keeping the perspective is massive
That was a breath of fresh air! I feel like all we ever see are the pros in their peak performance and it’s easy to think a V16 climber can just climb V16 on any given day. It was very enlightening to see that even someone like you can have a hard time with V9/10. I think you’ll help a lot of people to stop being so hard on themselves, especially on an “off” day.
Thanks, max. Psyched you got something from it like that. It really is easy to think we should be improving every session and that the ‘pros’ are a different creature. They’re not. They’re just a normal person struggling in the same ways 😀✌️
Ive gotta say I love your videos they are always so positive and have inspired me to take climbing more seriously. I have started my actual training journey and look forward to seeing where I am in the future
That's awesome to hear. Psyched for you :). It only takes a little bit of focus and intention and you can make a big difference in your climbing performance. Good luck
Please make more of these types of videos!
100% will ✌️
Watching your videos always makes me want to jump on the board.
haha nice. hope you were able to have a good session :)
This video changed my life. Thanks.
Haha that's a big shift to have. Cool :)
Thanks for sharing this quality content man! Definitely agree on the fact that not every session is gonna be the best and that hard problems can be even harder on some days.
This channel is so underrated man, keep up the good work.
Yeah it’s hard to always be ok with the fluctuating performance. But knowing it’s a part of it and looking long term, that’s the key 😀. Psyched you’re enjoying it Matt, appreciate it mate.
Brilliant vid. No frills and honest as always. I’ve needed this input. Gone from sending projects, hitting new PB’s in conditioning, repeating previous limit boulders and then falling apart pretty quickly. Then repeating that. Yes we ebb and flow in performance but maintaining a degree of base ability to enjoy this thing called climbing, rather than feel shite coz we can’t constantly get stronger…. It’s just not realistic. Thanks Tom
Finding the eb and flow and riding it with joy is key. I’m really keen to dig into this more in a future video
I almost thought we have the same Quicksilver shorts ;). But the color isn't the same. Awesome for climbing
Haha yeah I love these. Got some black and blue ones as well which are great. Boards are the most under rated climbing shorts
Awesome video! It was the perfect thing to watch when I just hit that valley where my body is telling me to chill tfo and I'm trying to be easy on myself😂
Haha awesome. Yep, it’s totally ok to have the rest periods and just let the body and mind recover. Enjoy the down time ✌️
your channel is so good man
Thanks Oscar, appreciate it mate ✌️
I like your style, dude.
Thanks, man. Appreciate it ✌️
I super love this video and your channel! I’m just curious - how often do you find yourself doing a maintenance session vs a high intensity session? And how often do you throw in the super low intensity sessions? Or do you do these instead of super low intensity
Thanks mate. Probably most of my sessions are ‘maintenance.’ Let’s call it 60%. 20% intense, 20% cruise/lazy session. I’m keen to dig a little deeper on this in a future video
@@TomOHalloranAus I can’t speak for others, but I would find that super helpful! Your channel has been really important for me as I’m trying to break into this new level of “serious training,” and trying to figure out what that balance is has been 80% of the battle. Thanks for the reply!
after a period of recurring injuries that came with trying to breakthrough a long standing plateau I've been incorporating this approach into my trainings. Yesterday for instance I had such a maintenance session, because saturday was a send session. My goals are defined a bit differently though. Everything I do should feel 'easy' to a degree. This is why I will not allow myself to project a particular boulder too much. If it doesn't go in a couple of tries, than that will be a nice project for a send session. Also no risky moves, such as catching a big dyno on a crimp or something. When your not feeling up to it it's just not worth it. I also try to redo boulders I've done before and try to make them feel easier. Also I try to do 'strange' boulders. My gym has xs boulders for children and smaller people. I'm 1.94 so I don't fit into that category. Quite often they are set such that the boulder is actually quite difficult as a taller person, which requires me to apply interesting techniques and fit my body into strange boxes and positions, all on relatively doable holds.
In general I really think that if you have conscious 'off' sessions you really set yourself up to perform in sessions when your in on mode. You can not excel in every session but you can in some if you choose them wisely.
Totally, Sam. Great to be able to know when you’ve had a win, call it good and not feel like you need to keep squeezing out the juice. Being engaged in what you’re doing in each session is a massive win
Is this your house because damn, awesome setup. Also really helpful video even though I have only recently started my climbing journey.
Yep, own board in the garage. Like it a lot 😀. Psyched to hear you got something from it. Probably a good one to keep in mind as you keep on truckin through the years ✌️
Thanks Tom...Missed watching the board sessions, keep them coming!
Thanks mate. Appreciate it. Keen to bring some board sessions back in. Got another in the works atm. Just a fun frothy session 😀
Great vid Tom! With my current travels I need to dial down my expectations of what I can do (try to find Kilter or Moonboards so I have some kind of reference.) Just getting to do stuff is great though.
Hard to do, dialing down the expectation and ego. I’ve often tried to just switch to learning something new, better at toe hooks, smearing etc in those times as well. It’s a different little thing to think about away from difficulty
Tis the season for finger tweaks, my middle A2 put me on notice.
Ahh dang. They're not the most fun are they. Look after it. Hope you're back at full crank soon
awesome, as usual!!
thanks mate, appreciate. glad it could be :)
I see you've received one of those scam calls and I think I've heard that exact one. Their business model is based gullible people picking up the phone and doing what they say and not gullible people hanging up immediately. With this in mind, I like to wind them up and waste as much of their time as possible. After doing this a few times, they haven't bothered me since!
Haha good beta. I'll have to try it out. Being a total pain is always great haha
Thanks for the awesome content Tom, really appreciate it! I've been struggling with tendonitis in my finger for the past few months, which is why I stopped training two weeks ago. Before that I also tried reducing volume and intensity to a minimum level, but that didn't improve my situation. I was wondering if you've experienced something similar and what you did for rehab. I love climbing so much that I find it really hard to stay away from it..
Did you watch my video prior to this one about injuries? I’ve certainly had a few finger injuries over the years. Not sure I’ve had tendonitis in them though. Would recommend finding a good medical professional involved and sticking to the plan. Not only are you paying for a good diagnosis, rehab plan but also the peace of mind that you’re heading in the direction of healthier digits
Yeah, I guess sticking to the non-climbing-plan is the last resort now. Thanks for your support, appreciate it!! Btw. would be awesome to see some lead content
Haha don’t think of it as last resort. Think of it as an opportunity to level up other things without the distraction of pull on the fingers 😀.
Yes, keen to get some lead stuff happening soon 😀
as always, an amazing video! Really appreciate your youtube channel Tom :)
Thank you. I appreciate. Psyched to hear you're getting some value from it :).
Hate to abuse the fact that you respond to all comments, but I was curious: how long does each one of your sessions last? Both the full session, but also how long do you actually spend on the wall in the "training zone?" As I progress I'm trying to figure out how long until there are diminishing returns. Thank you!
It really depends on the type of session and what my intention for the session is. Usually I’m not more than 2hrs for any session, and would guess that actually hanging on time would be less than 15 minutes. A ‘normal’ boulder will take about 30 seconds, would be very rare to do more than 20 boulders in a session after the warm up circuits. I want to dive into something like this a bit more in future videos
Yes. We climbers have a twisted way of looking at that : i tell people to look at it the way track and field athlete would look at their time on a distance. PR or PR material (very close time on a 10k run, 10 or 20 seconds) is very rare. It's about some occurences within a year. Good times (so, within a minute in our example) occur occasionnaly, but not at each session. Maybe a couple times a month ? (not a T&F expert!) And then, you have "OK times", which are training times.
Well, we sould be thinking about our climbing sessions in the same way. Max grade, and one grade under (because of the inherent variation to grades) is PR material. 2 and 3 grades under are "good runs". 4 or 5 grades under is "ok run".
My advice would be no to seek too much PR material, especially as an amateur, where surcompensation is not easy to exploit, when it actually happens. A good goal is to find/create as many "good runs" as you can, particularly in training (because the mileage of that will actually enable you to get these PR materials), and so focus on climbing well those "hard, but not hardest" problems.
Lastly, you shouldn't worry about those days where you climb only "ok" stuff. You'll have those sessions. It's fine. You should only think about it if you start having, say, a whole 4 weeks straight without any "good" material.
Yes exactly. It’s so obvious when the sport goes to something like track, swimming, weights etc. But we want to be nailing PB benchmarks on the moonboard every session.
I’m doubly appreciative of your running comparison as I’m diving deep on trail running atm haha
Ah ! You look like you could have good performances on that. Don't forget then to really support well your running by fueling your body more, i've seen quite a couple of climbers who were already fit become too thin when beginning to run. The energy consumption is quite high after 40-ish minutes of running !@@TomOHalloranAus
Yeah for. Very conscious of it. Partner is a sport dietitian/climber/runner too so she’s helping
How often do you bash your hands off of those rafters? I winced seeing you dyno up to holds between them.
Haha not once so far. Thankfully
Have you ever had sternum/pec/shoulder trouble with frequent TRX? Making it look easy btw!
Not really. Only a shoulder tweak when I pushed too hard when I was super fatigued and dropped out of the wide position. They are high potential for carnage. I’d recommend building up slow and steady. But if you’re having chronic pain issues it’d be worth working with someone who knows how to do them safely and can spot what’s going wrong/imbalance/technique etc.
Any tips for holding tension on training boards?
Practice practice practice. I am keen to make a vid on this topic. It’s an ultra underrated skill
Hey, just found your channel, good stuff I like it, have you ever done a hand care video? Odd request but I'm climbing 4-5 times a week and my hands are fucked
Awesome, welcome along. Psyched you enjoyed it. I haven’t cover that specifically, but I do have one on taping tips. Could be helpful. My hands were destroyed when I was training for the Olympics and I sure learnt a thing or two. I’ll and hand care to the ‘to make’ list 😀
@TomOHalloranAus ahh you're a legend mate, thanks for even replying, the market in hand Care is saturated and confusing, what we need is one from a REAL climber like you 💪
Haha yes, difficult to sift through the weeds for sure. I’ll try to make the vid asap
Best climbing youtuber. Hope my youtube can be like yours one day! Keep the videos coming!
Haha thanks mate. Plenty of folk out there doing cool things. Just adding my 2 cents :). I'll have to have a dive into your vids. Just had a look and there's some good looking stuff. You're smashing it! Nice one :)
@@TomOHalloranAusThanks! Its been a fun journey! Hope it can give you a cool look into the Canadian scene! and if you're ever on this side of the pond would love to do some professional media with ya through RAGE !
Haha sounds like a plan 👍✌️
I am interested in hearing what your finger rehab is, I currently have a slight tweak. Right now doing some light hangboard with feet on ground and fingerboard pulls with a light band
Each rehab journey and protocol is different based on severity, type etc. But essentially I'm loading in the 'vulnerable high angle,' position for a 30 seconds, rest for 30 and do this a few times. Check with a physio or similar though. You want to rehab it properly. An incorrect recovery protocol will bite you on the bum later with it not being properly healed and vulnerable to going pop again
Cheers Tom! What's other type of board sessions would you define and what are the key differences between sessions?
There's a ton. Endurance on long circuits, max power, lower level capacity, upper level capacity. I've covered a few of the sessions on my channel before, but have been playing with the idea of one vid that covers them all. would that be helpful?
@@TomOHalloranAus absolutely! ❤️🌞
Would be awesome
I think a lot of people need to heat this, especially myself lol. You won't always climb your hardest and if you do you aren't actually at your max. Savor those good days people🙏
It's a hard one to hear and accept. We want the progress to be linear and everything to keep being awesome. But it's not always like that and that's actually totally ok and awesome :)
100%@@TomOHalloranAus
looks like you take warming up very seriously! 45min, out of how much for the overall session?
The warm up is slightly misunderstood, I think. Keen to make a video on it soon
The classic scam call mid sesh 😂
Forced rest haha