Adam Ondra: "Any climber with mediocre stregnth can climb at least V8 given perfect technique" Thoughts?

What do you think? What constitutes perfect technique? How far can technique alone carry you?

Technique+repetition=V8 for average climbers.

Depends on what "mediocre strength" is.

Do you have a link to where this was said?

I'm not convinced Adam Ondra is an authority on those of us with mediocre (or worse) strength.

But it's encouraging.

Assuming he means some and not all V8s

Slabs ok.. Bouldering what?

I could see that statement holding true for slab climbing where you don't need strength but good technique. I've taken a few very strong gym climbers up slabby routes. They thought the combo of no holds and no pro was suicide.

Bouldering on the other hand takes strength and technique.

Pontoon wrote:Assuming he means some and not all V8s

Agreed. Some V8s are all about your grip strength, while others are all about technique, with plenty in between.

I am a climber of mediocre strength and I am definitely not capable of drinking V8. That stuff is nasty, even with perfect technique.

If he knew how fat my belly was he might think again.

He might be right with perfect technique, but it's all academic because nobody ever has exactly perfect technique. I may be middle aged, weak, and barely able to do a V5 in the gym, but it's still more likely that I'll buff up and fight my way through a V8 than that my technique will improve to where I can float through one like a butterfly.

I can agree with this. I have a beer belly, can bareley do 10 pull ups / 25 push ups in a row but have topped out two or three v8s. yes, one of them was a slab.

Or maybe that V8 isn't really a V8...

Well, I've got decent technique but I can't send V8.

I think he's getting a little beyond himself.

I might be strong, but with a poor body fat ratio, my fingers will break before I could possibly send a v8. So 'strength' means nothing for me :)

I'd agree if he'd said V5...maybe.
I think he's a bit out of touch with the common wo/man.
There's a lot about 'perfect technique' that directly correlates to strength.
It's definitely worth thinking about though...and his general point is valid.

Adam Ondra can say anything he wants.

Doesn't make it true.

Or how about this: It takes quite a bit of strength to execute perfect technique. Think body tension.

My guess is that Adam Ondra is uniquely qualified to have absolutely no clue what really constitutes "mediocre strength."

I think everyone is taking his comment too literally. I read it to say "Most people are strong enough to climb a lot harder than they do, they just need to improve their technique."

B-dog wrote:Do you have a link to where this was said?

...Anyone?