michiel nieuwenhuijsen

Looking for a new way to really push your physical and mental climbing limits? In Part 2 of the MoonBoard training video series, Michiel shares how you can include Power Endurance training in your session and what grade range you should be aiming to practice on.

In this three part MoonBoard training series, Moon Climbing athletes David Mason and Michiel Nieuwenhuijsen share their insights into board training and how you can get adapt your training routine to get the most out of your session.

You’ve just finished climbing the last of the new circuit of boulder problems at your gym… now what? 

Moon Climbing athlete, Michiel shares this useful approach to indoor circuit training that will open up your mastered problems to a whole new method of working your weaknesses to make you stronger!

The first time I tried the Island was in January 2013. What a beast! I could desperately make (most of) the single moves, but not the transitions from one body position to the next. Nevertheless I was intrigued by this problem, the most brutal and perfect compression climbing I've ever encountered. At this time I had never climbed anything near the level of difficulty of the Island. It weights in as a hard 8b+, and the full line ‘the Big Island’ is 8c. I knew I had to get a lot stronger to make a chance at climbing this problem, but I also knew that it would be a huge motivation for the upcoming years. Over the next couple of years I gradually started to train more and with that I became a better and stronger climber. In that period I visited the Island every now and then, and almost every time I made some progression. I think it was in the winter of 2014/2015 that I had the feeling of making an actual chance of climbing this problem in the (near) future. By that time I had already done my first 8b+ and felt a lot more confident to try those grades. I could do all the single moves and the necessary body position transitions. I also started to do some links, but after every link I was totally exhausted. At the end of the season I could do the full problem (the 8b+ version) in two overlapping links. Motivation stayed high and I started to do more specific strength training with the pullup-bar, rings and - my personal favourite - campusing boulder problems. All my training is as climbing specific as it can be without adding any extra weight. Physically training was paying off and this also had a great effect on my mental state. I was (and still am) climbing with a lot of confidence. I think that truly believing in your abilities makes you a better climber. Doubt, on the other hand, holds you back. At this time I knew I could do the Island, I actually wasn’t speaking of the Island anymore but of his big brother; the Big Island. I wasn’t feeling any pressure or doubt, the

Day 1:   First day of the 15/16 Font season. Conditions are far from ideal, but we are in the forest and we can climb. With Les Étoiles Filantes (8a) I did my 96th 8th degree boulder, only 4 to go!!

Day 2:   It is still a bit too warm for me to send this beast (The Island), but I am not complaining with this kind of weather in October. And I reached a new highpoint.

Day 3:   Almost three years ago I tried the Island (8b+) for the first time. Such an intense problem and maybe the best compression boulder in the world. Even I only have been there for 6 or 7 days, it has been on my mind since. Yesterday it went down, but this isn´t the end. The Big Island (8c) always has been the main goal. It is time to go BIG! Earlier that day I did le Mandarin (8a), a tricky and funky problem you rarely see outside.