A Plea to Gym Setters

Hank Caylor wrote: But fuck do I bang my elbows off of them trying to thrutch around them.

I've been known to hurt myself putting my jacket on and doing dishes.

Those basketball slopers are pretty comfy, if you're small enough to sit on them.

I still havent figured out why there arent more slopers with some real texture to them. Maybe its a sales thing so people buy more of them?

If you want to train technique, make up your own problems. Ask the setters to throw some extra jibs on the wall if there aren't enough small feet.

^^^ NOT THE SAD HALF-PENISES!!!!11111

Those are the worst sloping holds I think I have ever seen, and I have climbed on most of the sloper sets going back to the classic Pusher sets. The sad half-penises look purpose designed to induce injury to anyone who tries to move to or from them dynamically. I have not even bothered to touch any of the problems set with them at the gym I frequent. Kilters other holds are by and large acceptable to very good in my opinion, but I think that hold set is terrible. The hueco slopers are on the tweaky side due to the un-ergonomic curvature of a sloper hueco as the hand has the opportunity to curve the wrong way while trying to wrap around a grip, thus causing outer hand and wrist strains if used without care, but used with caution they are excellent open handed holds to hit with a lot of force with minimal risk of hand injury.

As far as slopers inducing wrist and shoulder injuries, while I don't disagree, I think it is because trying those moves on crimps would blow out the fingers instead. I find "bro climbing" on slopers in the gym to be the most effective workout for gym climbing with respect to training the large skeletal muscles to be able to generate their maximum potential forces. As a result I take a pass on all but a small sampling of the "creative" "body position" stuff, especially anything which is overly friction dependent, and focus on "bro climbing" with a healthy dose of the MoonBoard.

evan h wrote:We now have a brand new Moonboard, a monster decked-out woody, and the systems board has been re-set with a bunch of really nice variable-depth crimps. I really think this is the best compromise. A good mix of all of the above is the best way to progress.

Wait, you climb at DBC and you're complaining about the problems not preparing you for outdoor climbing? It's the most climber-focused gym I've ever been to. Most of the setting team climbs double digits outside.

And you complain about "bros" lining up for "showy" dynamic problems...maybe there's a reason why they're getting stronger and you aren't? Kick the superiority complex and embrace the burl.

D B wrote: Wait, you climb at DBC and you're complaining about the problems not preparing you for outdoor climbing? It's the most climber-focused gym I've ever been to. Most of the setting team climbs double digits outside. And you complain about "bros" lining up for "showy" dynamic problems...maybe there's a reason why they're getting stronger and you aren't? Kick the superiority complex and embrace the burl.

Fine detective work there DB. I intentionally never named DBC because I agree that it is one of the best for being climber-focused. I actually wrote the original post after climbing in a different gym while out of town. I didn't want anyone to think I had a beef with DBC -- quite the opposite, as I alluded to in your quote.. I've been with them for 5 years despite all the Movement hype. Either way, some of the points I made apply to any gym, as others here have corroborated.

And since you are so emboldened by your anonymity to discuss my performance, I'll mention that my performance has drastically improved since the day I started using focused training and associated devices and quit just doing problems in the gym.

Edit to add: I'll admit, especially as this thread seems to have a second wind, I would re-write the original post in a more constructive manner. My dry sense of humor doesn't carry over the internet and I'm really not a dick in real life. You guys keep using the "Bro" thing against me!

evan h wrote: I intentionally never named DBC because I agree that it is one of the best for being climber-focused.

Agreed, that gym is fantastic. Best gym I've seen for building power. Now that they have a Moonbaord too...

evan h wrote:And since you are so emboldened by your anonymity to discuss my performance, I'll mention that my performance has drastically improved since the day I started using focused training and associated devices and quit just doing problems in the gym. Edit to add: I'll admit, especially as this thread seems to have a second wind, I would re-write the original post in a more constructive manner. My dry sense of humor doesn't carry over the internet and I'm really not a dick in real life. You guys keep using the "Bro" thing against me!

I'm one of the 15 bros crowded around the moon board. No hard feelings :p

D B wrote: I'm one of the 15 bros crowded around the moon board. No hard feelings :p

Ha! I'll be the other one of 15. I'm all in on the Moonboard -- but I'll be the guy NOT sending.

You won't see me in line for the running jump-start problem though. That was all I was ever trying to get across here. Definitely a huge proponent of dynamic problems otherwise.

As usual, Mark does a much better job of summarizing my original main points, about half-way down: rockclimberstrainingmanual.…

Haha, I think know the problem you're talking about, and the funny thing is it's based on a real V11 in Font

youtube.com/watch?v=5T-ZDGc…

So maybe one of the setters is planning a trip :)

I realize now you're talking about other gyms, but I'm glad DBC keeps a good ratio of training vs fun problems.

D B wrote:Haha, I think know the problem you're talking about, and the funny thing is it's based on a real V11 in Font...So maybe one of the setters is planning a trip :)

That's funny, because I didn't have a specific problem in mind, I was just talking in general terms. I think there is a trip to the Font this summer for the youth team, so that sounds about right.

So actually in that case it sounds pretty specific!

I won't pretend some of those aren't fun, I just have a wife at home who doesn't partake so I do what I can with limited time!

Tony Monbetsu wrote:There a million varieties of crimp out there. Kilter found something that wasn't already offered by their competitors, and they profited from it.

And that is?...

My local Gym has two locations, one is a bouldering only gym and they have some of the comp style gymnastic routes, the other gym has a good variety of climbs from steep, to slabby to severely overhung. Definitly different style setters in both gyms.
Makes for good variety with the same gym pass.

Nivel Egres wrote:My local gym has recently switched the route setters and the new boulders are wildly difficult. Not really in terms of finger strength, instead it's all big holds requiring complex moves and very tricky body positions. I am not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, even v5 feels hard and requires work. On the other hand I am not certain of the training value this style of route setting provides. I think whatever sloper and pinch strength this style provides does not really translate back and forth with real rock, at least in the areas I climb. Is the body tension and the slap/bump style worth it? Do I switch gyms now? Ps. I usually rope climb for training but this gym is so close and convenient

if its not fun then you should move on

Brassmonkey wrote:My plea to gym setters is for anyone with literally any sense of skill to come to Go Vertical in Philly. Worst. Setting. Ever. Monkeys smearing poo on the walls would do a better job.

Yup!

Did you see this?

Michael Schneider wrote: ROTFLMAO INDOOR East Coast gym?! & I've climbed at Safe Harbor, it is not as good as it looks. The idea I recommended. . . . .

The setters are putting up soft routes with a high grade to stroke the Gumby ego.

Nivel Egres wrote:My local gym has recently switched the route setters and the new boulders are wildly difficult. Not really in terms of finger strength, instead it's all big holds requiring complex moves and very tricky body positions. I am not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, even v5 feels hard and requires work. On the other hand I am not certain of the training value this style of route setting provides. I think whatever sloper and pinch strength this style provides does not really translate back and forth with real rock, at least in the areas I climb. Is the body tension and the slap/bump style worth it? Do I switch gyms now? Ps. I usually rope climb for training but this gym is so close and convenient

I don't think that type of route has any training value outside of the puzzle solving. The routes at the gym I frequent are the same, with the addition that however the route was intended to be done is purposely made non-obvious. Given that this type of friction dependent route is also body position dependent (and therefore highly size dependent) I spend little to no time climbing on these routes, and view them as a bad use of resources, especially when done in large quantities. The gym has a MoonBoard, a campus board, a hangboard, and a nice weight room, so those are the gym facilities I frequent, and thus I have not switched gyms. I still use the wall, but mostly I use it to make up gymnastic problems of my own with especially large (for me) moves since the smaller holds on the MoonBoard are more limiting for that.

Brassmonkey wrote:My plea to gym setters is for anyone with literally any sense of skill to come to Go Vertical in Philly. Worst. Setting. Ever. Monkeys smearing poo on the walls would do a better job.

LOL