WORLD'S HARDEST CLIMBING TEST

one of the nice things about crack climbing for me  is that I don't have any expectations to myself so   I can just have fun with it but today we're not  doing crack climbing no because today I'm trying   to lattice test and for this test I definitely  have expectations to myself this is one of the   most scientific and hardest climbing tests I  have ever tried the test has been developed   by Tom Randall we all know by now and his partner  ollie tour who's a former gymnast v13 Boulder and   holds a degree in sports science based on a series  of different tests that will reveal my strengths   and weaknesses by comparing my score to a huge  database of climbers ranging all the way from   professionals to beginners and at the end of it I  will get a score in form of a boulder and a sport   climbing after having done more editing than  real climbing since retiring from competitions   a couple of years ago I was nervous that the  tests would reveal I'm physically well sorry   for saying it but only a v10 bulger and ap sport  clamber but I guess it's time to find out today   we're not doing any hand jamming or way note  we are hopefully changing up now we're doing   the latest test lattice test right yeah yes sense  the lattice testing kit yeah and what is what is   that it's firstly a way for us as coaches so it's  what Holly and I do and we are going to take you   through a session together where we're going to  find out your personal strengths and weaknesses   in climbing and then really push you hard through  a series of tests to understand strength power   endurance and endurance right okay this look  is very scientific yeah so we're gonna start   off by doing a couple over strength testing and  we've got this new force plate up so it's gonna   start off nice and easy with really hard testing  see how strong your forearms are and then we go   into the really fun bit where we just make you  suffer one for you yeah it's great to watch so   then we'll test your power endurance okay so  we're gonna push it to your absolute limit one   things I always do as a coach and when I'm doing  any kind of profiling work with an athlete is like   go into it very open-minded yeah kind of know a  little bit about you and your climbing yeah and   I am genuinely going in just looking at what the  results say about Magnus okay what are the good   things wasn't not such good things and I'm ready  to be surprised yeah and I think we will have some   surprises today which a lot of people will go huh  I didn't realize that but that's exactly why we do   this kind of profiling and you've already tested  some pretty big names right some strong climbers   yes you had people like Steve McClure Ben moon  Alex main yeah yeah so we've got a lot of people   at the top end and then all the way down some  shane below how many people have you tested find   a pair in all the different tests we've got Al's  the data points now say thousands of climbers all   over the world yeah Wow okay I'm ready yeah I'm  warmed up I'm good to go so we need to dig way   in first away yeah this is that well last time I  weighed myself on camera I was seventy two and a   half kilos assisant pounds or kilos is it this is  the bit that all climbers hate doing is they're   gonna find out how everything really undo that Oh  kind of like today 69 kilos 69 kilos yeah I think   it's the freshest food okay okay I have fish  and chips yesterday I don't think it's British   harnesses on cool so what we're gonna do now is  Magnus has put his harness on we're gonna start   gradually attaching more and more weights to his  waist and make that until he gets his maximum load   where you just can't hang on any longer we're  gonna tie me using the crimp top and he's doing   seven second hangs and until he fails pretty  much you're nervous I am nervous so we're gonna   do 10 second countdown seven second time then  a little break so that we can make the weights   higher how much light is on that I'm not gonna  say anything yeah you just you just get one with   a hang in three two good down pretty casual don't  give me a feeling of how that velvet that's your   max where was that so I can start to work out  how much I think I can do 20% more 22 more yeah that felt like a bit of effort but comfy if Sean  says yeah you still not gonna tell me how much   weight is this what we'll do is we'll collect all  of the results meantime we'll talk about it and   whisper and then so we'll reveal all the results  Riley and okay it's actually quite good if you are   doing a proper testing session to not know too  much yeah about the numbers that you're getting   involved with straightaway because then the  psychology doesn't gain weight so if I told you   I'm here yeah there's 75 kg yeah and you'd already  done your PB yeah I don't have a ppm on this   whole stuff on this edge I don't I don't know how  much I'm able to also I don't have any reference okay come on see that one down still pretty  casual what's out twenty percent more yeah   there's actually that with more into  each time she come on no thank you it   was shaken yeah that was close to my  limit what would you be unhappy with   as a way I'd be unhappy with fifty kilos  we talked about this off-camera my guess   was between fifty and sixty sixty I would be  happy with 50 yard be unhealthy with anything   in between would be like okay you're gonna be  surprised that's getting heavy on my legs too good come on yeah all right moment of truth  right just before yeah before we learn what   do you reckon 58 I'm feeling strong today knowing  the data yeah I'm pretty damn certain it's more   than that I've been surprised you do 58 you're  gonna be up closer to 17 so 15 30 40 50 60 70   75 oh crap 75 killer that's more than I would  never have guessed I mean I wasn't trying to be   humble I was actually like I did not think that I  would be at 75 because I've tried this at home on   their campus runs and I've not been able to be  an eternity see one of the things that we have   in the knowledge that we have over you on this  testing is then obviously this testing edge we've   test a lot of very high-end athletes and the top  end in terms of international performers will be   holding at least their body weight down a little  bit more as to arm test so it doesn't surprise me   at all that you're operating around your body  weight or a little bit more my endurance it's   not going to be as good as it has been will  be really interesting once we get to the end   and we're looking at the results how the results  look in terms of insurance versus strength yeah   and whether it matches up with you well tell us  a little bit more about how much of a natural   you are all right all right let's move on to the  next test we're gonna do now is we're gonna have a   look at the forearm flexor so that's the ability  to roll the forearm up and Coler fingers closed   yeah and then the other side which is the for an  extensor which is to roll the wrist back woods and   then open the fingers out I'm doing a look at the  balance between those two and then keeping your   elbows fixed you're gonna be bringing your wrists  backwards to a flex point Calabar yeah so relax   and Mia forwards one good okay how was that that  was or you know supposed ell me I don't really   bad yeah how many reference here is a no clue it  was surprisingly good okay then we're saying I'm   gonna add it up in a second when we get to max  but that one's already really surprised me sir   we're getting really interesting is to see the  balance of those flexor curls now and whether   you have a nice athletic balance because there's  a ratio that we're looking for here okay I think   this one's gonna be pretty hard okay okay that's  too much [ __ ] right think we have your number   from the previous set he's so gonna see because  you look so disappointed when you can't do you rolling down my fingers okay and now place those  close close plays a role well we're all good I   think what's nice about this a particular  exercise here is that you you get a normal   finger curl but you also get a wrist curl yeah  in the same movement so you add both of those   elements into it yeah okay ready for next level  up yeah okay this is kind of heavy just to mr.   Pearson yes good so we'll roll all the way  up two fingers extended okay and now close rolling up oh good okay yeah form start to go on  the wrists copilot net and still that   yeah I don't like fifty yeah okay  so now we're gonna go for the money   shot and we're gonna try and test your  biceps out and see how strong they are okay now we're okay now we're okay right let's  make the map now looks like a lot I'm feeling   bogus for Magnus not as good I don't haven't  done much like bicep curls I haven't done much   oh I'm already looking at the weight and  it looks could kill hi Dumbo we we use in   the preacher bench so that it means isolate  that movement alone and you can't get away   with swinging or doing anything else that you  might do with a bicep curl standing up no chance Thank You Larry okay that's a surprising  actually to go for the other arm first   now when you're ready just from that you go  slightly bent arm good good good good just   a lot of people may assume that because you  can do loads of one-arm pull-ups yeah your   biceps are going to be really really overly  strong and but so far it kind of shows that   there's loads of love for the muscles around  shoulders they're actually helping that out   and it's just not about having a big biceps and  pulling hard so slightly bent arm yeah that was we're trying again or if we'll go for  one more and see if we can reach that   max level I want you to fail but not  just fail completely it needs to be   doing one rather absolutely maximum and  then the other one is just too hard to do I think it's a lot easier though when I start  with the fence I'm slightly better yeah that   thing you were fit to straighten yeah this  is my lifetime 200 grants less muscle mass   in this one really I give this next to scanner  it's not major weakness but it's definitely   behind other climbers we've tested a standard  yeah yeah I think that's so far in terms of   those basic now weight strength exercises that  wants the most surprising yeah and you can see   how much we've we're surprised why because we  put you on the edge wait where's musty nasty hi way too easy you say left arm it's interesting go  quite long and connected points on your biceps oh   yeah like you know you see like bodybuilders  and they have that like peak yeah it's not   very good for force but yours goes quite far  down okay right yeah just by yes that's good   though like one arms strength yeah yeah  let's go come on going nice when you're   doing a movement like that if you start fight  straight it's really hard yeah we always say   start with a slight Bend but if you start  just a little bit more you've got that bit   closer to finishing the rep and that time on  your left arm that's a little bit closer but   if the right arm was again the right arm is  perfect yeah say yeah so we just call it that so what you're about to do now like this  now we're about to do a one dead hang with   one hand max seven seconds putting on a little  bit of extra weight so my feet will be touching   the ground but I try to apply as much force  as possible to this crimp yeah we're seven   seconds that's it 37 seconds and then when we  do the testing later on and we're still keeping   the Sun it means that is B I'm gonna come off  the ground during the parents testing so we've   got this force plate which thanks to Dave Giles  who's one of the researchers that works with us   and as soon as he pulls down on that hold which  is the same one as we tested before it's gonna   read through onto my laptop it's gonna tell us  what force is pulling how many kilograms and   it's going to be really close in terms of the  amount of time it is on there so it's really   detailed and it means all the parents testing  can be tracked and recorded I need to weight   it your own weight as fast she can say soon as  you go on you're gonna own the Edmonton it's   also gonna measure the rate of false production  sites that was hard that was I couldn't I had   to keep my feet on the ground I wasn't able to  hang off one hand for seven seconds with this   extra weight yeah yeah so a little rest and then  we're gonna go on the same on the other side and   see if there's a difference between you two hands  different and then we have a little bit of arrest   nobody the current Joe suspects deafening which  is the fun bit for us to watch and the horrible   bit for you to do okay is that your strong arm  that was my stronger but the finger strength is   almost as good on the left arm it's more the  upper arm strength that's better on my right   arm that's very interesting because we often  say that the strongest arm have slightly weaker   finger strength scores that yeah this is like it  is in contrast to each other yeah but that's the   arm is in talking about what you yeah you know  exactly okay yeah I've got their shoulder then   has the more positive influence on the finger  strength so is that strong shoulders right that   makes sense there so Magnus how you find in the  training so far is a bit more in-depth than what   you were expecting this I'm excited to see the  results a little bit stressed about this timer come on come on that's not that strong I think so now what we're gonna look at is this  critical force testing which is effectively   power endurance and and if you ever wanted  to watch a climber just suffer and suffer and   suffer this is the test to do that it's it's  great fun to watch is horrible today so they   set seven minutes and total seven minutes  and you're doing seven three repeaters so   seven seconds hanging three seconds after  seven minutes and most people think and I   think you said this a minute ago is okay so  I'm gonna pace myself there's absolutely no   pacing it's max effort suffer as much as you  can and just try as hard as possible on every   single hang so that's all you're gonna add  some more way again come on come on come on good this is why it's really fun am i trying on the chalk come on come on yeah come   on okay come on I say oh this  is really good this is torture good no flicking those hands a little bit don't  relax and just focus on chalking up your hand   each time good that's it that's it yeah good  on me damn I'm really good you're like I'm   fully we're like five no you're doing good  it looks good on it yeah that's really good good we're getting to the middle zone  now Pete's watching and he wants that   we go now Cara so stick with it  we did use that body weight to   exert the force yeah use your body  weight okay come on good come on yeah looking really good here oh  really nice consistent chords come   on yeah really nice can I see  you just gotta keep fightin   that feeling come on as you try Keys  consistent really Tang keep consistent oh really well just think about this big  on the room now come on we're just keeping   a really consistent all the way through he  could squeeze therefore on it's really good   now second off for your sake just keep pulling  really good keep me healthy to keep using that   body weight to pull it down is really hanging  up the body bringing this for you almost good with it 84 more last for now you enjoy  this holy this is great good and ready last two now nearly come on come on oh sort of a   week after us okay last one now  it's the last one come on and that's the worst thing I've done in like years I  can remember being in that much pain oh my god oh   yeah that's reasonably popular I was just waiting  for you guys to say that this is not really part   of the test we're just messing with you nice  it's really hard that test exactly it's like I   feel like it's also like almost a mental test you  know because I just thought I just wanted to give   up honestly because you're you're in so much pain  yeah yeah I think I really can tell you the good   athletes are suffering by the end you it's so  hard and I exactly what we want to see really   good thing about this now so now we're taking  you through the full kind of fatigue profile   I mean singing you all the way from the very  freshest that you'd be all the way through to   that absolutely most fatigued yeah and then that  sort of takes you through to the end of the test   and we get to see ya amount of power that forced  you're generating fresh us is totally enough ly   petite we've just got to do that five more times  and then we can call it a day I know I'm leaving that's past record I was told times tech that was recording yeah I  don't know I don't know how I did it felt like   I was not applying a lot of pressure at the end  there so I'm excited to see what the test says   otherwise the that's why it's really important  that when you were doing that test we really   have to try really hard way through because what  you can see is that with climbers or athletes you   don't have the mental strength they deliberately  try and pace themselves because they don't like   going through the unpleasant part of that cycle  okay like you're easy on themselves yeah and   then when they get to the last minute of the tech  nothing okay now I'll just put some effort in for   the last minutes like I like that yeah where as  you can clearly see that you can get to the limits   of what you're capable of for the whole seven  minutes who's not pleasant yeah but it gives us   so much better so much better data yep and better  results that we can actually do something with   I can see that there that critically good care I  know she's looking at that I was looking at after   when you were like a minute and a half in I know  I was really shocked actually that's good she's   outrageously good halfway something was really  interesting and you were saying that's your you   found it so mentally hard all of a sudden you just  tried even harder and kicked him but like this   score here is still pretty good yes that's really  interesting to see that because I would have put   good money on the fact that if you're spending a  lot of time in a bouldering phase not doing loads   of room fitness now that critical for SAP value  that we're seeing the bottom of the curve really   quite low yeah but it's it's a lot higher than I  was expecting yeah kind of tells you a bit about   why you achieve what you do with some of the brute  climbing you're doing yeah really interesting yeah   cool all right we're gonna have quite good rest  now yeah and then we will massacre last part   of the test yeah okay dip it now we're gonna be  moving on to the lattice board mm-hmm and the last   board for what we do with lattice is a climbing  specific way of really looking the fitness of a   climber and how quickly they can recover so we're  going to be doing one particular test with Magnus   today which is called the lactate curve and this  is all about looking at how you manage fatigue and   recovery and a climbing experience so your root  climber so we're expecting your root recovery   to be quite good okay we hope it's another very  hard test if any of you went on to this test here   you'd finish it and go well I probably have never  done think as hard as that before so I'm gonna be   pushing him harder and the first thing we need  to do is we need to find out max score so the   amount of time and the amount of moves that  Magnus can do on the board first of all and   then I'm gonna take him through a series of tests  I'm not gonna tell him where the end is but then   when we get to the end I'll let you know and you  can lie down the floor and you can get wallow in   your misery and then I'm done oh yeah you're done  I'm never gonna covers all of your sauce let's go - one go joints 10 feet now you can really want to collect  try and recover the space that lactates much as   possible as quickly as possible here because you  have just under 4 minutes rest now noticing a 5   minutes rest so we did this first test and Magnus  did it all out Perrin Juran's test essentially and   his forearms will be really really acidic now so  lots of lactate produce or some lactic acid and   now we get to see how quickly is he disposing  of those metabolites those waste products in   the forearm and it kind of render us a 5 minute  period and then we test him again now to max and   see the relationship between that first max score  and then the second effort so how much recover is   he getting what's really interesting as we  progress through these tests is we put this   muscle into an increasingly acidic environment  and it's spending more and more time in that so   we understand what's called buffering capacity  so that's the ability to deal with the acidity   in the muscles and the relationship of what's  happening in your climbing in the performance   that you have over a longer period so we get  to see two different types of recovery here   right initial recovery rate and then all out  to total destruction rate and it's interesting   with this test as well as that we tested a  lot of people who aren't just root climbing   specialists they're laundering specialists as  well yes and I always get this where foreigners   go but what's the point in doing this kind of  test ever actually it's very relevant because   we have particular expectations in terms of  how the muscle performs for both bouldering   and sport climbing so if we understand what we're  expecting from a boulder we look for that profile   in the results if we understand what we're looking  for a root climber then we look for those same set   of results so we have different expectations  and I know what I'm expecting for you yes 1514 sometimes I just wish I could remote-control  myself so I didn't have to be in my body while   doing this stuff like playing PlayStation you  know hang a remote controller myself it's not   has to be in this pen well they always always  see stay on your feet yeah do you move around   recovery rates a little bit better yeah keep  shaking out shaking out but not stretching oh   that's a bad thing right it's not want to stretch  I don't know have any evidence that's gonna say   that you're gonna recover better from getting  pumps while stretching no the best evidence says   being active and moving around that's best for  recovery that was a short break so I'm currently   going through the results from the previous  testing we've done once this is finishing up   now and trying to not die and so going through  the results is really interesting because what   we found is a lot of the athletes that are really  really good they've got a lot of intuition about   what area is the good at and butter in whatever  phase they are in training and I think Magnus is   gonna be surprised so we'll see what at the  end of this testing I will see what it is so hard to stay motivated and not  just like let go with us abstain try   to I really want it I like I don't even  know when this is gonna stop you know you check it out you check it  out okay ten seconds yeah this   is good though this is a good workout at least yeah I just started to wonder whether you should   have agreed to this yeah I enjoy the pan  though steep downside three two one go it's really bad news thank you know and so it's  really it's really interesting actually so you   told us a couple of things at the start today  mm-hmm one being that you weren't in very good   form particularly not a good route cheap yeah no  it was interesting to hear your thoughts on what   you thought would be good what you thought would  be bad and your intuition on it and generally like   most food climbers you're actually pretty accurate  was that okay so basic finger strength so that was   the two arm test and one arm test first of all  they were both pretty placed so left arm right   arm it's an almost identical in strength the  two arm hanging and one arm hangs were close   which means that his shoulders are strong so he's  not really weak when he's going onto one arm and   he's not really weak when he got loads of weight  around his waist and and your finger strength came   out at 90 plus and be 1308 b-bomb I'm happy with  that that was more than you thought I wasn't it it   was more than I thought I thought I'd be in like  80 plus maybe the 11 me 12 shape right now I do   you think that one thing that's been really cool  to see from this in terms of the results is that   the base level of fitness that you have developed  over the year so all that competition experience   that you have who has set you at such a high level  which is almost your untrain level yeah and the   value that we got out the critical force today  it's kind of like a dream number those climbers   would just just die you're going to love to have  that number yeah you have that as your base number   yeah of season so it just shows that when you have  a you know an athlete that's been training for you   and years and years that really counts and all  that experience has established that base level   as being very very high so anytime now you want  a peak on it and refine it you're in a perfect   position yep it's good to know I think somewhere  else it was really interesting was the fact that   you actually got that really good trihard why  during that seven minute test we actually made   you go for a minute longer than normal Baxter yeah  and you just shine so hard all the way through and   I think realistically that's what makes the  difference between the really good climbers   and the okay class I agree 100% and it's when  you have that ability to be able to try really   hard and say you can put that into your training  session every single week every month every year   for 10 years then that's the thing that really  brings out that top 1% in people but it's very   hard to do it sounds easy on paper yeah but do  it for 10 years every week yep it's all different   color fish yeah so what what should I work on  to be to be a very clamoring what what am i weak   well say so the other winter testing which didn't  come out why is good we're looking at the energy   systems and this kind of marries up with what  you said about not being in good root form right   now yeah so one of those was that critical force  test we did earlier on waves just hanging on and   hanging out at home you know and do repeaters  until there are some screens going on we were   laughing yeah the really enjoyable section and so  that's God with your Basinger and so your critical   force and effectively it means the critical force  results came out and that shows us what four she   can reduce for a very long period of time well  you're not getting pumped and you're not getting   really acidic in the forearms and powering out  mmm and that level of force means that we can   predict how hard you can keep climbing yeah and if  you can raise that up it means you can work on a   certain level of efficiency so effectively based  endurance and that came out I was really really   good it could be a little bit better but it shows  that all of that training you did for years and   years and years and then the mileage is still  there any means to you constantly maintaining   that with what you're doing right now okay power  endurance on the other hand that wasn't as good   okay so power endurance is the thing that tends  to go down and up along quicker when people are   training and when they stop training hmm right  now that's around eight c standard okay and that's   based on max moves on the board and the initial  part of that earlier testing on the fingerboard   yeah and so effectively what you're gonna find is  you might have one good attempt and every climbing   and about AC AC plus standard and then it's going  to drop down and you get to tired throughout the   day to work on that yeah so you need to get  prompts more often yeah people watching they   want to try this what do you recommend and there's  a lot of different ways to do this first of all   measuring yourself is a really good way of testing  and there's loads of testing protocols on the CREM   tap which is free to download and that give you  a taster of how to measure yourself throughout   the training season and then we are lattice we  offer loads of different assessments and that   can be done remotely or in person in Sheffield or  with all of our Assessors around the world and I   guess there's several spread out wherever you  guys are locally and as you'd also said this is   not sponsored I wanted to take this test so this  is not sponsored in any way you can tell because   of how much we made himself yeah yeah if you  enjoyed this video please make sure to LIKE and   subscribe as always with post notifications  on and I will see you in the next video

Channel: Magnus Midtbø

Views: 2,867,917

Keywords: Climbing, Klettern, Climb, Gym Climbing, Bouldering, Training, Wide Boyz, Tom Randall, HOW TO, Test, Lattice

Id: wS9OGHe16R4

Length: 40min 31sec (2431 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 29 2019