Board Meetings | How Nate Assesses Climbing Movement Skills and How You Can Self-Assess
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It’s the million dollar question: How do we decide where to focus our efforts when it comes to becoming a BETTER climber – rather than just a stronger one?
In this subscribers-only Board Meeting, Kris puts Nate in the hot seat and asks all about his process for movement assessments. They then try to translate what Nate does to help inform how you might better learn to assess your own movement skills.
EXPLORE FURTHER
You might enjoy these related articles, episodes, and other resources:
Our Movement Practice Resource Page
BREAKING BETA | Can We Accurately Assess the Movement Skills of Sport Climbers?
BOARD MEETINGS | Systematic Tactics vs. Battle Mode
BOARD MEETINGS | Is It a Weakness or Is It Just Hard?
Adam Ondra Lords of Trad video
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CHAPTERS
(0:00) Intro
(1:09) Topic Description
(7:43) Where Nate Starts When Assessing Movement
(9:46) Coaches Often Feel the Need to “Do Something”
(11:24) Observe and Take Notes
(12:23) 3 Considerations: Are You Aware? Can You Do It Well? Do You Use It?
(14:32) Ask Tangential Questions
(15:56) Look for Underlying Issues
(17:00) Better Climbers are Better at Compensating (Cheat Codes)
(21:20) What Are the Common Themes You Look For (Goldilocks Zones)
(25:28) The Stories We Tell Ourselves
(26:54) Everything Is Limiting (Relative and Absolute Skill)
(28:19) Healthy and Unhealthy Comparisons
(39:35) Call the Destination
(41:00) Judge Where You’re At (Filling Gaps)
(47:22) Adaptability Is the Most Important Skill
(48:25) The Front Flag Fallacy
(51:20) Skill Begets More Skill Begets Adaptability
(56:05) What are the Wide Lens Goals?
(1:00:34) What Part of a Move Do You Usually Fail On?
(1:05:55) What’s the Hardest Part About Sending Your Top Grade?
(1:07:47) What Movement Style Do You Value?
(1:10:02) Video and Observation
(1:15:15) Pay a Coach
(1:17:03) Wrap Up
(1:18:01) Theme Song
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Kris Hampton
A climber since 1994, Kris was a traddie for 12 years before he discovered the gymnastic movement inherent in sport climbing and bouldering. Through dedicated training and practice, he eventually built to ascents of 5.14 and V11.
Kris started Power Company Climbing in 2006 as a place to share training info with his friends, and still specializes in working with full time "regular" folks. He's always available for coaching sessions and training workshops.
We are rarely in a position to take advantage of what we're physically capable of if we can’t shift our mindsets.