In the last two weeks we have been honoured to have been coached by two inspiringly strong people: James Garden and Shauna Coxsey. I unfortunately was unable to make James’ session but Beth thoroughly enjoyed it. This is what she has to say:
"On the 1st of May, James Garden held a coaching session which included Me, Alfie, Alex, Martha and Ella. The session was very useful since he taught the group a lot about technique. He asked us which climbs we were struggling with and he gave great advice to help us complete the climbs. He also helped with the group’s fitness by creating a circuit. The circuit pushed the group’s core ability as well as their fitness. The session was very useful since the team had all learnt at least one thing new which they can use in their climbing. It was a good session and I learnt a lot about different techniques to use!" –Beth
I did make Shauna’s session and I really enjoyed it. But I thought it’d make a change to ask everyones else how they found it! So here are a few words from Georgia, Billy and Gracie.
"I found the training useful Shauna definitely knew what she was talking about. We did a lot of one armed climbing and one legged climbing. While it was a hard session she made it fun as well. Climbing quietly and precisely was another thing we concentrated on during the session. Over all I enjoyed it a lot and would definitely like to do it again!" -Georgia
"Firstly, a huge thanks to Shauna Coxsey who ran the session brilliantly despite the slightly overwhelming amount of us who turned up for a quality beasting session. We began with an unorthodox but effective warm up involving double handed dynamic movements, and one handed climbing. The idea of the exercise was to force us into going for holds more confidently and to demonstrate that dynamic climbing is more energy efficient. Some of us were a bit reluctant to leave behind our static ways (Gracie) but in the end it proved an awesome way to start off the training. _Once we were all warm, Shauna split us into groups to begin the proper crushing. The aim was to get us all to really put the effort in so that we could get the most out of our training. As she said, "I know it sounds stupid but trying really hard actually works!" We then went on a problem that we couldn’t quite do and with a bit of encouragement... tried really hard and in most cases we succeeded. Shauna then got us to incorporate this climb into a power endurance session by adding multiple climbs on the end that varied from one legged climbing to silent footwork to keeps us on our toes during the training (okay that pun was really awful). The best bit being that the reps didn’t ever seem to end until everyone were satisfied that they were sufficiently pumped, sweaty and utterly powered out.
In all honesty the training was about the most pumped I’ve ever been and I really feel that it has made a big difference to how I train and my attitude towards training in future. I want to say thanks again to Shauna for running the session and managing to dart between us all to make sure we all did the best we could." -Billy
"The session with Shauna last week was wicked! She introduced me to new and different training ideas and made me realise just how hard I can push my body. The power endurance bouldering training we did was specifically aimed at helping us in our european next weekend! I just want to say thank to Alpkit and Shauna for a really great evening, it was thoroughly enjoyed and much appreciated! Cheers guys!" -Gracie
So basically they were both totally awesome training sessions! Thank you a million times to both Shauna and James and Alpkit/Ben for organising it!
Also a heads up: our very own team GB climbers (Billy, Flo and Gracie) are competing in the first European of the season at Ratho this weekend. Keep up to date with how they’re doing on the IFSC website, look under the competition calendar. So a big good luck to them!
Naomi Tilley, El Capo
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