Training to go from 7a to 8a in 1 year (and calculating my critical force)

[@AmirNickname]

I managed to improve my critical force by 5.5kg! I went from a critical force of 36.5kg to 41.5kg! As a portion of my max pulling power, it went from 34% to 39%. My critical force (aerobic endurance) is still bad by sport climbing standards, but this improvement is huge and I feel very lucky that strengthclimbing.com helped me out with a training protocol. However, despite the huge gains in finger strength and critical force, I made a lot of mistakes. I'm on my way to Spain right now, which will be my last chance to succeed my goal and climb an 8a this year.... and my body is all banged up. I have a lumbrical injury in my left hand, a TFCC injury on the right, and I am showing signs of overtraining. I took plenty of deload weeks, but I SERIOUSLY underestimated the accumulated stress and fatigue of going on a climbing trip (Thursday to Sunday) every week for months on end. So please, learn from my mistakes. Oh and, if you're in on near Chullila in December 2022, send me a message and we can climb together :)

[@gp9608]

Your results are awesome dude! What's your weight? So do you do your weight plus 41,5 kg on a classic 2 cm crimp ? Thanks, I'm trying to get to 7b before the next year :)

[@AmirNickname]

@@gp9608haha I wish! I’m 78kg, so I REMOVE weight so that I’m holding on to a 20mm edge with exactly the weight of my critical force. If I do 7/3 repeaters like that, I could theoretically do that forever. So it’s aerobic endurance, not max strength :) Sorry to disappoint! + 41.5kg for max strength would be pretty awesome

[@gp9608]

@@AmirNickname okkk awesome too, so how did you train your critical force ? How can I understand my critical force to improve it ? What do you mean with max strength? I mean 6 sec on a 2 cm crimp with max weight added, you too ?

[@AmirNickname]

@@gp9608yes I mean the same thing by max strength. I think strengthclimbing.com does a good job of explaining critical force and how to calculate it, check it out!

[@noone-ld7pt]

Damn dude! this is an awesome channel, so happy i stumbled upon it! Will definitely go through all your videos when I have time! 7a to 8a in a year is absolutely insane, but just seeing that it might be possible gives me some hope that maybe I can get there myself eventually!

[@AmirNickname]

Thank you so much! Honestly, I think climbing hard depends first and foremost on your life circumstances: having a stressful job, busy family life, or poor access to climbing facilities or real rock makes things very difficult. On the other hand, if you do have the time, energy, and resources to spend on improving, then it's just a matter of time before you start crushing your projects :) Good luck, and enjoy your journey!

[@dark-o]

I did the StrengthClimbing pyramid. It helped me improve significantly. You are on a very good track. Jedrzej is a great coach. Hope you reach your goal 💪

[@AmirNickname]

Yes I’m so grateful for his help, and very cool to hear he also helped you! He’s a good guy 👍🏾

[@Antash_]

Seeing your hips mobility, and your grade, and have realized I just lost one more excuse ^^ I'd love to see a new vid on this channel

[@AmirNickname]

Thank you for the kind words! I've been incredibly busy and my next video will take forever to edit... But fingers crossed I might be able to release something this year :)

[@luke00jordan]

Glad to see an update. Best of luck on succeeding your goal!

[@AmirNickname]

Thank you so much! Fingers crossed I get to post a joyful update some time this week 🤞🏾

[@michalmalicki9613]

Great Video! I hope you can get your 8a this year! It seems like you're an engineer or otherwise a technical person. Very structured approach to training. Cool! You may like doing an all-out one-arm test for critical force. Guys from Lattice published a paper about such a test a couple of years ago (i can't put a reference here, it seems). The all-out test will give you the entire force-time curve which is more detailed than just the CF single number. Also, the CF is measured directly in the all-out test, as opposed to calculated from a best fit. I have done the all-out test on myself and some friends using a simple electronic strain gauge and a 20 mm Tension block. It is pretty straightforward. If you need help I'd be happy to (I'm not a climbing coach though and I do it for fun). I am located in Den Haag. Good luck!

[@AmirNickname]

Wow that’s a great offer! I might contact you for some help sometime in the new year :)

[@alexbarcovsky4319]

I managed to kind of, sort of get from 7a to 8a in a year. I lead climbed a lot and every time when I felt I stagnated I switched to bouldering for a couple of weeks, came back stronger. The only catch is that I underestimated the mental phase, and even though I am very capable of sending an 8a as of now, my last high point I fell due to a slip on an easy move from being too scared of messing up the highpoint. Pretty much I still had a lot left in the tank, but the route was on the very limit so it still required ton of focus in comparison to a 7c. I got an extremely important high point, 3 times in a row, and it was the last harder move before getting to a final giga jug and super easy finish. Most people usually send the route after reaching this hold. Unfortunately, the weather turned for worse day by day and last couple of sessions the stress of not sending this year got to me and I always messed up some easy part that I never fell on before. So basically I have the ability to climb an 8a but just ran out of good weather for this year and had to postpone my goal. My suggestion for you is to before every send go bolt to bolt, do the moves to feel comfortable and also practice some meditation or breathwork (whatever gets you into a zen state) before the actual try. I discovered this way too late and my hands were freezing on the easy moves at that point, so there was no way of sending. Getting strong enough to send 8a is important, but the mental part is also important and keeping calm while achieving this grand goal is super hard. Celebrate small victories and accept that it might take 10+ hard sessions to send it. If you start stagnating, take a week or two off the project. Also, have a side project thats around 7c that you try after giving your best tries for the main 8a project. This is probably the most important mental thing that I undeerestimated. I didnt care about other routes and as a result, my motivation and fear of failure was always worse and worse, up until a point I started believing I will NEVER send in my life, ever again, which is of course nonsensical. Funnily enough, thats why I have not sent it yet. Good luck on the journey, its definetely doable, just super hard on your head,

[@gergelymartonffyclimbing]

That is awesome congratulation! I am on that route myself, but it is going to be slower than that.

[@annaschwarz1601]

Really awesome Amir!!!

[@AmirNickname]

Thanks! Fingers crossed for actually reaching the 8a this year, but in any case it's been a fun, crazy, transformative, and honestly also a pretty epic period in my life :)

[@J_punkt_O_punkt]

I find that a small cycle of min-Edge training (for example 6x / 2 Weeks) after a Max-Weight cycle helps me a lot to transfer my gains to the rock. But OTOH i strongly prefer half crimp...

[@AmirNickname]

That's a great tip! Whenever I get to actually finish a max hang cycle, I will definitely try this. Thank you!

[@floflo9390]

looking strong!

[@AmirNickname]

Thanks! I’m hunting a project in Chulilla right now. Looking for something that is friendly for my hips, my lumbrical injury and my wrist (tfcc) injury. If you have any recommendations, I’d love to hear ;)

[@michaelpook6651]

Very nice video! However, I'm curious why you opt for a Romanian or Straight Leg Deadlift instead of a Sumo or Conventional Deadlift? I understand a mobility restriction may be an issue but wouldn't a Sumo or Conventional from blocks or boxes be a better compromise than a RDL or Straight Leg?

[@AmirNickname]

Well, honestly I’m doing whatever the physiotherapist tells me to do. He is a climber too, so he can give me really specific exercises that help manage the pain in my knees, hips and back (all of which is a result of my hip issue, as the rest of the body will compensate and also get hurt). I have many more exercises, the whole routine takes me about 2 hours a week, so I was very happy to combine it with a climbing drill :)

[@isakhammer6558]

So much finger injuries! They are so hard to avoid when training hard

[@AmirNickname]

Although you are right, I think my training volume was way too high. But it’s hard to see when you’re in it, chasing a big goal :)

[@isakhammer6558]

@@AmirNickname yes! I definitely think having more rest is the key to progress here

[@feet_first_on_the_moon]

very well presented video :) , interesting!

[@AmirNickname]

Thank you, Steven!

[@KevinPtollano]

Nice to see and learn from your training, many thanks. I Hope you get your first 8a en my country Spain, some like me we Will continue trying also. Keep sharing tour training bro ..🤟

[@AmirNickname]

Thank you, I hope so too! The climbing in Spain is world class, very grateful I get to enjoy it :)

[@daanschone1548]

I noticed you climb in Spaarnwoude. Since I am also from the Netherlands and on a similar schedule I am curious what crag your project is in. Where is it?

[@AmirNickname]

I have other things going on in my life right now and barely get to outdoor climbing... But Hermann Buhl was the first project I tried, I loved it but it's 8a+ so a bit too ambitious. Then Glucose in Belgium, had great progress on it but then I got injured on the pockets and had to give it up. I then tried some things in Spain, but spoiler alert: I had several injuries and it did not go well :p

[@daanschone1548]

@@AmirNickname ah well, it is quite ambitious to make such progress in a year. Injuries are often coming right when one increases the load... I gave myself 5 years to make the same progress. Which area is the 8a in Belgium? Freyr?

[@AlexGalvezz]

Amir awsome video🔥, I like the way you schedule your trainings. Could you recommend any book about training? Pd. Pásalo bien en Chulilla

[@AmirNickname]

Gracias! I hear good things about Training 4 Climbing, the Rock Climbers Training Manual, and Beastmaking. That said, I prefer to learn from podcasts (because I spend a lot of time driving to the crag). I can highly recommend the Power Company podcast (board meetings), The Nugget climbing (the one with Steve Bechtel and the one with Steve Maisch).

[@AlexGalvezz]

@@AmirNickname Thanks, I will hear this podcast. Keep uploading videos good quality information.

[@sd1fa53s4fa5s65d]

What was your redpoint when you were primarily bouldering? 7a to 8a is crazy!

[@AmirNickname]

Before this year I was seriously underperforming whenever I was sport climbing due to a fear of falling. My hardest sport climb before this year was a 7a (a very short bouldery one in France that I did a few years back), and my hardest boulder was a 7A. But the 7a route was a bit of a fluke, for instance 12 months ago the hardest route I managed to climb during a month in Spain was a 6c I think.

[@rs1ng3r]

Wow Amir, good work you’ve done for reaching your goal👏🏼. But I’m impressed you’re still training fingers with the great amount of force you can handle, I mean, my partners and myself we all are 8a+ and 8b climbers but non of us have your finger strength… don’t you think you should spend more time climbing instead of that huge time at the gym? I know you’re following a program but there’s nothing more meaningful to push our limits than real rock.

[@AmirNickname]

Thank you for thinking with me on this! But keep in mind, we are very different. First of all, I am mostly a boulderer and relatively new to sport climbing. Second, I live in Holland, so I have to drive to a neighbouring country to climb on real rock. I've done the 9 hour round trip almost 30 times this year to get as much experience as possible, but it still doesn't come close to people who live nearby a crag. Finally, the biggest issue: I have a hip impairment. The video shows how limited my side split is, but my flexion is even worse: I can barely lift my feet up to the height of my knee. As a result, I often need to lean out from the wall to create space and bend from the back to get my foot on a foothold. And this of course requires MUCH more finger force than if I had flexible hips (or even normal hips). If you're interested, attach a string to your ankles so that you have a similar limitation to your range of motion and see how that affects your climbing :) Oh and, funnily enough,, my finger strength is still much lower than that of the average 8a climber.... Did you measure you finger strength for 2 hands on a 20mm edge? And your critical force? Critical force explains 61% of sport climbing performance, and mine is low... Anyway, I'm glad you and your partners can climb that hard with weaker fingers! But it's really cool how climbing allows each of us to develop and progress in our own way.

[@rs1ng3r]

​@@AmirNickname How nice of you to answer back! We were discussing exactly what you mentioned related to your hip mobility, we were talking about how strong you must be, not only fingers but your whole body and mind, to being able to grab the holds for the longer time you must require to move your body in the best possible position during all the lead to compensate the hip range! We salute you!🍻 To answer your question we do have tested ourselves; we scored high enough in maximum force development over time and contact strength under 100ms, only one of us have similar finger strength as you and he is the only one with and 8b+, he's also not flexible at all compared to what he is supposed to be, I'm as well not so flexible but as you said, our current grade may not match the "assumed standard" since it is relative to other variables that are measured in the tests and all the ones missing in the tests, like that 9a climber that couldn't get to 20 pull ups or the V15 boulderer stiff as a chunk of wood. We are sure you're going to send your project! you're making an amazing job!🤯and you're motivating us to push ourselves more. One last thing, we are also sure that if you were able to enjoy a crag every weekend for the year, you'd surely already got your 8a!! Keep it up! and our best thoughts goes for you as your climber friends from across the Atlantic!🧗‍♀

[@AmirNickname]

Cool to hear! 8b+ is a magical grade. Very impressive! Did you ever torture yourselves and do the critical force test? For sport climbing I feel like it’s a better predictor of performance than raw finger strength (which is a great predictor for bouldering performance). Oh and another thing to keep in mind, we test finger strength on a 20mm edge. If you get strong fingers by climbing outdoors and then test on a 20mm edge, your fingers will be stronger than the test suggests (because you’re used to a wide variety of small holds). In my case, I’m used to open hand (due to modern gym climbing) and most of my finger strength comes from hangboarding on a 20mm edge. Since the test is also on a 20mm edge, my score will be much higher than what I can practically apply in a real world setting. So it’s like studying for a test by doing a load of practice tests… great way to get better at the test, but less applicable. Anyway, very cool that you have a group of strong friends! Sometimes I think that’s the best way to get better :)

[@bryanhaakman]

Great video, I find it refreshing that someone shares their struggles with becoming a better climber instead of just being a superhuman already like many of the popular channels. You seem to be pretty hard on yourself though, perhaps you should try to enjoy the progress a little more instead of pushing hard all the time?

[@AmirNickname]

Thank you so much! Finding a more sustainable approach is exactly my goal for this :) Great observation!

[@p3scful]

8a is not important as (10) 7c (20) 7b if u can redpoint 8a but still fall on easy move 7s is not the good idea.

[@AmirNickname]

I agree, but it's possible to work on that pyramid in different orders if that inspires someone :)

[@lazeavlad]

how's the training going?

[@AmirNickname]

I'm not training like this anymore, it was fun to have a crazy goal and battle for it for a year, but I have a much more sustainable (and sensible) training schedule now. I'm thoroughly enjoying it, and getting stronger every week :) Thanks for asking!

[@lazeavlad]

@AmirNickname glad that you still climb man, don't give up on it and take care of your hips!

[@lucaa4480]

So you did an 8a?

[@gergelymartonffyclimbing]

I am very curious as well. That would be so great. I really want him to send. I am on the road as well but 8a is years away i think.

[@lucaa4480]

@@gergelymartonffyclimbing to me when i started sending my first 8a i did a lot of moonboard, maybe it can help, usually the weekend outdoors and two days full moonboard during the week, like e hours each day pushing and trying things to my limit

[@lucaa4480]

@@gergelymartonffyclimbing ah and outside there are a lot of 8a that are harder than 8a and 8a than are softer, so maybe check 8a nu before trying your first 8a, don't try something to hard

[@gergelymartonffyclimbing]

@@lucaa4480 Exactly, I climbed my first 7b in September, and i did the same, i tried to pick routes that are very much my style and not too hard for the grade. So 8a is a bit out of reach at the moment, but thatnis the big goal.