How I went from 8b to 9a in 18 months 

i clicked very fast, and I agreed very fast, good one Dave!

“Trying really ambitious projects is so important because once you get emotionally committed to them, you don’t want to give up. You are also forced to see the hard reality of not being good enough, and this is a deeply uncomfortable place to be. It is exactly that mindset of deep discomfort that brings about the circumstances for change.” He’s talking about climbing of course but this applies to anything in life. Pure wisdom. Thank you Dave.

lmao i love how the subtitles say "knocking out mayonnaise" instead of 9As

I love your editing style, no waffle, almost no salesmanship, just solid information.

So you're telling me I have to try harder?! Surely theres something I can just sprinkle on my cereal.. Great vid dave!

How I went from 5b to 6a in 4 years.

Thanks dave for sharing my story at the end! You really did inspire me so much, and i'm really stoked you shared this story again in a more focused format because i'm sure it will help so many others as well. Also totally agree on trying "ambitious" projects. The whole thing started because I tried the 8a last season, and hit a wall of ability with it, and it was the motivation I needed to make huge changes, and get into a highly consistent, progressive routine to train in order to do it this season.

Loving the auto-generated closed caption/subtitle "I was never one of those climbers who was automatically knocking out mayonnaise, more like 80"

Thanks Dave, as always great content!

Solid advice clearly laid out. Thanks Dave. 🦾

Another awesome video Dave! Thanks so much for the wisdom!

Ace video as always, really liked seeing all the old footage too. Watching this as a very average climber is really inspiring, the dedication you have to the sport is amazing. Looking forward to the next video!

Thanks for sharing. Your videos always inspire me and inform me.

Love your videos Dave! Have been trying to get past a plateau and had just started fingerboarding when I started watching this, good timing 🙂

Dave, love your videos. Getting better at climbing is a balance between effort and tactic and it takes a long time to learn the right formula. Great work and keep the videos coming!

Dave thanks so much for this series - I learn so much from every episode! Also, I coach in another discipline and I use these principles with my students every day! Keep up the great content!

Dave is amazing! When I moved to Scotland from the Alps a while ago I got quite frustrated with the (mostly really) bad weather and the lack of good crags. Seeing how good Dave got within this is incredible and made me realize I just had to adapt, look around the corner and put in more effort. Thank's for all Dave, absolute legend!

Thank you for not only sharing successes but also moments of doubt and failures. We tend to only focus on achieving things but in reality working towards them is a lot more fun. To me, you're releasing the best content about training/climbing on youtube. thank you so much once again.

Thanks for the absolutely sincere and no bullshit video about grade progression. Your channel really stands out.

Hi Dave, thanks for your high quality content you put out every time! As a sports scientist in Pro Sports I really appreciate the effort you make in combining your vast practical experience with scientific knowledge. I can learn so much for my own climbing!

Good video, Dave. After glancing through the comments it seems everyone wants to know exactly the right Hangboard protocol to use. I think the key here is just to use it. Use it often and challenge yourself.

Awesome thanks for the video dave

Awesome video!

Thanks Dave!

Great message 😊 makes perfect sense to me

I've been climbing for about 1 1/2 years and I've been stuck around v4/v5 with the occasional v6/v7. I just started fingerboard this week after returning from 2-3months of barely climbing and almost all surfing. Im excited for what's to come! Doing 7 3 repeaters atm.

Almost the same happened to me. Before the quarantine i was a 7b climber then the lock down came and for a month and a half i was training on the hangboard every other day. And then on the first time outdoors i did my first 7a onsight, my first 7b+ and did it on my second go and the following week i send my first 8a in 5 tries, jumping through 3 grades haha. It was awesome!

You inspire me to work harder everyday.

I am stuck on 8a, finger strenght is really what I need .Thanks for motivation!

Simple, timeless advice. Discipline is the big ingredient to tangible improvement!

I love your passion :) good job, i am trying to go to 6a

Dave, you asked me why I was sitting watching in a chair when I could have been finger boarding. Thank you for the reminder, my wooden slat was collecting dust!

my favorite video of yours yet. Your knowledge in the sport is so deep that sometimes it feels a bit too dense for a climber like me to implement, but this video felt like something I could really embrace. Thanks for all the great content :)

Thank you for share this knowledge keep doing these videos because they are great, I hope you do a video about fingerboard routine o how to make one.

Dave, i bouldered down Dumby Also, Stayed above The Dehi Dar Bar @ same time you stayed on Glasgow Road i seen you and friends arriving for first time climbing for your group i also overheard you discussing your Diet ! I looked @ a friend with that West of Scotland Dick ! look lol. I also climbed hard both rock & ice but MS raised its ugly head unanounced so life has changed. Ive just moved ro my New Flat down Dumbarton Harbour due ro seperation and health ! Shit but true and just life. My Daily View Now is Rapsody and have many a happy memory of Life @ Dumby ! i climbed with Andy #Anyway Sir, felt compelled to drop a line praising you on quality of your productions, they are very Simple, enjoyable & informative. The future advance in our sport has a lot to thank you for so much knowledge for people looking, which they are now a days more now as its become Trendy pmsl ! Your Pods Transfer me to an Area unfortunatly i will never see again but in my mind eye my Special Memory is waiving @ the 2nd Tornado Jet Pilot as he waived back at me !! I was half way ran out leading 'The Curtain' my first pure ice lead !! Memories and wilting Muscles are all i have now ! not a lot of people got our kind of memories Sir and for that i am grateful through the long days now. We have spoke on a number of accassions, you would recognise me, i think, I used to use the Ibrox Wall and Kelvin. Well Done You Young Sir, an Educated Genteman, and i can confirm for all your subscribers just a lovely Genuine Guy as your pods portray, real. Thanks again, hours ive disappeared from up the Ben to Patagonia ! Thank You. also eyesight & shakey hands causing me problems here typing this novel lol but i just wanted to ! God Bless All, and Live for Today x Stay Healthy x

Hi Dave, great video (and indeed all of your others!). A quick question: should I take x days off fingerboarding before I go attempt a project or just persistently train every day regardless?

Thanks Dave, I do a couple of fingerboard sessions per week. Each lasts one hour and it involves fingerstrength exercises and weighted pullups. And, honestly, there is no way I would be able to do one of these every day even if I had the time. My arms are pretty knackered after the session. Would it be better to shorten and lighten the session but do it more often? Thanks.

Hi Dave, I'm 48 and took up boldering 3 years ago and have become totally hooked. I played rugby until my early 30s and have always weight trained to keep my strenght up. I bought a finger board about 18 months ago as I had plateaued at my local climbing gym. Using the App I added it to my training schedule and work on it at least twice a week as well as climbing twice a week. I noticed an improvement within weeks .However I quickly developed severe Carpal Tunnel symtoms in both hands and had no option but to stop using the hangboard. When lockdown came into force in March I was determined to come back stronger and fitter when everything reopened. I started back on the hangboard once a week as well as using 25mm campus rungs on my regular training nights. I agree that finger strength is vital to progress and whilst I will never be a great climber/boulderer I would like to keep improving. Have you any advice?

I've leveled off at about 6a+ trad and 6B-ish boulders. So I guess in 18 months with a huge effort, I can get to 7a/7A...

Very insightful video, thank you very much! I have a question : I'm a beginner (27 years old, Male, fairly in shape), I've been going to a climbing gym for almost a year (2 times a week mostly), and I started lead climbing outdoors 4 months ago and I'm around 5B/5C onsighth grade. Am I right in thinking that at my level, focusing on physical training instead of building experience on pure climbing on rock, would be a lot less useful or even detrimental? At this point I climb 100% for the pleasure of doing it, but obviously the will to go up in grade is there all the time ;)

Hey Dave, great video thanks for putting it up! You said you only took 1 day off the routine if you were going out trad climbing? So you pretty much never rested? What about sport climbing? Did you take a day off for that?

I'd love to climb etee or nenee.. and i love your videos! :)

i do exactly that. watching videos while hanging/training ;)

For your hangboard, routine did you continuously increase the difficulty as you got stronger? How quickly did you progress on the fingerboard compared to outside climbing?

Thanks again Dave for a new high quality and inspiring video. I have a question concerning the training protocol you describe: If I understood correctly, you ran 6 days a week in the evening for basic fitness and stamina. However, as you mentioned in previous videos quality sleep is paramount in order to take advantage of training. Can running in the evening disturb the circadian rhythm? How much time should be safe between running and going to sleep?

Hi Dave, the the shunt top roping video not available any more?

I've been doing fingerboarding from my first day in the gym, a year and a half ago, but it's been only useful in the gym on crimpy plastic routes, as on rock i haven't been able to reach the grade where i need that much finger strength. Still working on 6a on rock as I've only done 29 ascents outside so far, so there are also cases of doing finger strength too early, just for the challenge of it, but equally useless. Fingerboarding becomes useful from 6b and above, from what I hear. Also, because I'm mostly a gym rat long easy routes are also too hard for me, because I don't have enough power endurance for 22 - 30 m when I've trained mostly on 8 - 10m in the gym. Plenty of work left for me, but it's oh so fun and my only competition is myself. Love this sport.

Hi Dave, I have a daily access to a fingerboard, dut I can go to a climbing gym for the endurance only 2/3 times a week. Is there an alternative? And just to make it clear, your endurance routine was to do a really long climb (takes 40 minutes to complete), rest for something like 10 minutes on the ground and then do it again? Were you exhausted after each climb? Thx

Dyslexic/maybe Asperger's climber from Erskine here - is there any audio books available. It will probably be my first book I've ever commited to because I struggle to absorb written language.

This is awesome stuff Dave, thanks a lot! Just to make it clear - you were fingerboarding (max hangs) + 2 x 40 mins circuits + some jogging without a rest for six days in a row and then there was a one day rest. What did you eat for breakfast to boost that regeneration?:))

Hi Dave, I've been struggling to commit to putting 100% into max hangs since I broke my back last year. I'm also a little cautious at adding weight using a harness because I broke it at L4. Should I really be that cautious now that a year has passed and do you have any suggestions for getting the most out of my finger board sessions? I feel that my hesitant approach is holding me back. I was consistently bouldering 7c outdoors and I had good endurance but not much sport or trad near to home when I had my accident of which I also sustained bilateral calcaneal fractures. I know that I can definitely surpass that level still reach my full climbing potential. Your books have been a great help to me. Thanks, Sam.

Another goodun, Dave. One question: how do you get a minute and a half of high intensity work from a daily thirty minute fingerboard session? Surely it’s a lot more?

Thanks for the video Dave. Would you mind popping a link somewhere to the video of how you work routes please - I can't find it although that might well be my fault. I've been wondering about it when I noticed the shunt in your lexicon video because I thought the shunt was no longer recommended for top rope soloing.

Hi Dave, I am wondering whats your opinion about the influence of the size of en edge on hangboard...I mean...is there any difference/benefit between hanging on bigger edge with massive extra load or rather hanging from smaller edge without or with small extra load? I am talking about max hangs. Thanks Jan

I love the comparison at 8:31 ... hahaha :-)

When you say max hangs are you adding weight? Or do you like to just use smaller edges or even transition to 1 arm? Feels like I’m not quite ready for 1 arm hangs but hanging on less then 10mm is super uncomfortable. Great video. Max hangs 6 times a week is wild.

I have a question, maybe you already mentioned it in the vid then i'am sorry. During the one and a half year of time between 8b to 9a, did you do only the fingerboard thing + aerobig capacity on easy routes or did you also do semi hard routes on the same days you were fingerboarding? Thanks for your videos I do really like them cheers.

I’m sure you’ve covered this elsewhere but what stimulus/process did the finger board trigger that the bouldering/climbing didn’t? And, any insights as to why it is that some people (the regularly cited examples are Ondra and Sharma) seem to be able to reach their finger strength potential just climbing.

In the season i am climbing outside a lot. When and how to organize fingerboard training? Thx

So the next big question is: How to go from 7a to 8b? For discussion's sake, could it be possible in 18 mounths (or even 7a to 8a)? Or does the gap in the required fitness and technical abilities is just too huge to close in that amount of time? Thank you again for all your quality content.

Question totally unrelated to fingerboarding: Is there a reason why you prefer to use the shunt over a petzl microtraxion or another progress capture device for top-rope soloing?

Dave, you mentioned hanging 6 days/week. I know a lot of training forums/books suggest at least a day off after a hard fingerboard session, I assume this wasn't a hindrance to you since you said you only took a day off if you were going trad climbing. Does that mean that you didn't take days off for sport routes, or that you were just climbing less frequently because you were so focused on training? Great video!

I do a lot of new routing, about 1 new sport route per week this year. I can't make myself stop yet, but i'm always worried about overdoing it if i'm on a big hangboard routine simultaneously with multiple huge 9 hour days outside each week hammering, brushing and climbing. Am i being a wuss? Should i just get on with it and do my max hangs in the morning regardless? I worry about overuse injuries so i take multiple rest days instead of training after days out.

I am struggling to overcome more than 7a in rocks and it feels like very hard. What can be done to become better?

Hmmm so militant self-discipline and relentless willpower are useful too??

the watchers have to be wise because in another video he said: " a fourteen journey". So get your body in to and you will get in to whatever you want

When did you start neck training? Jeez. It's like 3 sizes bigger than in your vids from 10 years ago.

What if you already boulder quite a bit and are (still) a bit heavy? Then fingerboarding becomes a huge overuse potential. Would you say it's Ok to completely stop climbing for like 3 months?

What you say about the climbing evolution that many people have the raw power but not the technic i think is absolutly true, I consider myself as such a guy😂. But in most cases the raw power is higher that fingerstrengh

How i went from 7a+ to 6b in 2 months of self isolation covid 19!

How mindful do you need to be of finger/pulley injuries while training with the fingerboard? Same as climbing? If you progress slowly and with proper therapy and rest, should be no issue I think?

Legit.

8a is still fucking good

I'd argue 7C+/V10 boulder is already way above average ability at any age. I feel like most climbers - with training - never make it past V7 outdoors.

Boss man🦾

Holy crap...max strength hanging 6 days a week?! How did you not blow every tendon in your body?

I think its important to think about it like this: You dont build a strength foundation with maxhangs . You access your already possible strength by making your nervous system more efficient. Thats why Daves progress was so quick. He already had all the tools Boy climbing all these years but couldnt access them.The muscles and the foundation are build slowly.

"I've never been naturally strong" "Not as naturally strong as most people top level climbers."

Do you have Amy tips for fingerstrenght for children

Hi Dave, love your content.. you know if you extend your videos over 10mins the RU-vid monetization is exponentially better. Same with the algorithm improving views etc.. you may as well when your videos are already 9.59

Star Trek.

I think you mean that the importance of fingerstrength can't be overestimated, but it can be underestimated. English is confusing.

"9A" "_naenae_"

I got from 6A to 7C (boulder) in 5.5 months

i‘m almost convinced that i already reached my potential (V3) =D

'Not one of these natural climbers' ... 'it was more like 8As' :'D

My dude, much respect for your achievement, very well done, but some of us will never be physically able to climb that hard. Your message is very noble, but oh so very very wrong.

to summarize you did 3 different grip types for 5 hangs (5-10?) seconds with how many minutes of rest between? Then 40x2 minutes of endurance with how much rest? This is all 6 times a week?! madness. +1 hour of run***

titel is "How I went from 8b to 9a" starts with saying "ive never been a strong athlete" hahaha

Alright, who are the 2 jabronis who disliked the video?