EP 130: Stian Christophersen & Martin Mobråten — Writing The Climbing Bible, Finger Strength vs. General Strength, and Strategies for Improving Technique

Stian Christophersen & Martin Mobråten are the coauthors of The Climbing Bible. We talked about their careers and proudest climbing achievements, their goal in writing their book, what holds back climbers at different levels, finger strength vs. general strength, mental strengths that separate climbers, strategies for improving technique, and the Play Box vs. the Think Box.

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Show Notes:

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/stian-and-martin

Nuggets:

0:07:56 – Where we’re all tuning in from

0:09:29 – Stian and Martin introduce each other

0:17:14 – What Stain and Martin admire about one another

0:22:43 – Stian’s proudest climbing accomplishments

0:26:29 – Stian’s process of projecting his hardest route (FA of a new 9a)

0:31:04 – A day in Martin’s life

0:33:16 – The pros and cons of being a route setter, and trying to balance route setting with climbing

0:38:24 – Martin’s proudest climbing accomplishments

0:43:31 – Writing The Climbing Bible, and how the book got its name

0:46:40 – Why The Climbing Bible was published as two different books, and how they interact with one another

0:48:58 – Who the books are for

0:52:06 – Question from Rannveig: When coaching, how do you balance the physical, technical, and mental sides of the sport?

0:55:29 – The shortcomings of modern gyms, and the value of making up your own boulders

1:02:09 – Stian’s thoughts on what holds climbers back from breaking into 5.11 or 5.12

1:04:28 – The importance of different physical characteristics for climbing performance, and finger strength vs. general strength

1:12:22 – The 9c test, and the benefits and limitations of physical assessments

1:20:00 – Mental strengths that separate climbers with the same physical and technical abilities, and tapping into aggression

1:29:21 – How Stian and Martin have worked on improving their own technical abilities

1:37:39 – Spray wall training vs. commercial gym sets, and separating strength sessions from technical slab sessions

1:50:00 – Separating indoor and outdoor climbing

1:51:23 – Another question from Rannveig: What are the biggest gimmicks in climbing and training right now, and what old-school methods are the most legit?

1:56:51 – “Never respect grades.”

2:01:03 – The Play Box vs. the Think Box, and the story of Stian’s FA of Eurofighter V13/14 (8B/+)

2:11:06 – What to expect if you buy The Climbing Bible

2:14:49 – We should be movement optimists

2:16:47 – Where to buy the book, and wrap up