So as Covid restrictions intensified in the UK to a full lockdown in Spring 2020, images and videos shot onto the internet of home boards, home training setups and routines. During this time, I was lucky enough to be able to build my first home board. While it was my first home board, it was one of dozens I have climbed on over the years. But it got me thinking about what I valued in a board, what I valued in holds, and how I actually used the tool. This led me to make a series of Informational Board Videos, detailing the process from build, all the way thorough to setting individual problems and movements. While I wasn’t sure whether there was an appetite for this information, the questions came in and people seemed interested.
This led me to eventually make a few videos sharing some tips on my general approach and mentality towards climbing. We often see the same things on the internet; campussing routines, fingerboard protocols and max hang tests. We see a lot less about the mental approaches, the tactics and the psychology that are just as important. I am a firm believer that climbing is equal parts Strength, Psychology, Technique and Tactics. Being weak in one area will expose you, and being weak in two can cripple you. So hopefully some of these videos will shed some light on some things that perhaps are obvious, and some that are not. If people gain even a little bit of information from them that helps their climbing, and allows them to continue enjoying climbing, I’ll be happy.