¡Force it!
As a routesetter sometimes, in the right context of training period, I find useful both for athletes and setters to force a move.
When a move is very complex both to learn and set instead of waste time to make the move works perfectly and not cheatable, I prefer to offer the athlete a working and propedeutic version of the move and just climb in the way we want to.
Very important is to make the athlete aware about the chance to breake the move and only then try to force it. (never and never put the athlete in the vicious circle of routesetting thinking)
After the move is achieved I usually make some small adjustments with the help of the athlete to make it not breakable, often this process makes it slightly harder and therefore perfect for another working session for the athlete.
This procedure can lead the athlete to master a very complex move with a lower intensity and the setter to understand how to make moves working faster.
Complexity and Intensity are two topics I’m going to deepen with the next posts.
In the video @camilla.moroni works her way to unlock a very intricate sequence in @bigwalls_climbing last year in preparation to OQS.
#tb to the sweaty 💦 training sessions in @bigwalls_climbing the month before the OG when @pietrobiagini (@trap_setting ) was pushing me at my very limit on every single move 🥊
Scrolling through my camera roll finding hundreds of these videos makes me feel a bit nostalgic 🥺
@italiaclimbing
¡Comp setting!
Even more than in commercial setting when I approach setting comp style boulder I always start defining two main things, the goal and the context in which the goal must work.
Goal defines the style of the boulder, while the context defines multiple points such as intensity, risk and complexity.
Goal even sets the terrain on which the athlete will have to express their abilities, if the ability required is coordination should be enhanced the athlete who is best at coordination.
While for commercial setting the context is defined by the gym itself and customers feedbacks, for comp style setting we can have severals, like comps, comp simulations, trainings, selection…
Once these two aspects are defined and clear, I always start to set a quick draft that I try immediately to define and work on the complexity of the moves, I always keep a little margin to work on the intensity instead, which I believe is the most difficult aspect to calibrate precisely.
The boulder @selma_em_ climbs in the video had coordination as a goal, while the context was a training session on the intensity similar to that of a World Cup semi-final.
I set something really complex and precision dependent that didn’t require too much power, so that it was possible to try it out a lot to learn the move.
With the next videos I will go into more detail about the various goals and contexts in which I worked.
¡Commercial setting!
I ended the first post by saying that unfortunately I don’t always find possible to replicate the characteristics and targets I talked about in all contexts, one of these is certainly in the commercial gyms.
A big limit of Italian gyms is definitely the predominance of overhangs and the trend to aesthetically prefer single-set blocs and walls full of holds, another one is the number of blocs required per day and frequently the material available doesn’t allow to make necessary changes quickly enough.
Climbing around I often find blocs that seem like pieces of a route, all similar to each other, that I personally find very “aseptic” and not able to satisfy the 3 “Es”, if not on enhancing the conditional abilities and arm span of climbers or fulfil the visual appeal with needless compositions of holds.
What however push me beyond these limits is set less moves and every move should have a proper aim to really keep it challenging.
But always respecting the decisions and visions of the headsetter and gym I'm working for.
I also believe that working in a stimulating gym environment is helpful, if the style of setting of the gym you are working in doesn’t stimulate you it is difficult for you to commit yourself and often the aim become to just bring home the work without leaving a mark.
In the video @_.giulia_rosa._ on a boulder that I recently setted in @bigwalls_climbing I’m very proud of, that in my opinion fully reflects the 3 “Es” maintaining an intensity and complexity appropriate to the grade and context, and above all without being breakable.
Anyway I’ll explain how I achieve these targets in pratice with a next post.
¿What’s routesetting? (for me)
DISCLAIMER: this is my vision, this is just what moves me through the intricate game of routesetting
When setting I have 3 keys in my mind: Enhance, Educate and Excite.
I believe the core of routesetting is Enhance climbers qualities rather than the more credited definition of challenge them, at first it may seem like the same thing, but I learned the first approach is healthier and safer.
To me, enhance even means to set a learning condition, here is the word Educate.
The third goal is to Excite the climbers, making them do something they didn’t think they could do.
This is the purpose, which must work in various contexts and the skill is also to be able to adapt this according to the contexts in which we work, mainly commercial and comp setting.
To achieve these target I aim to have a pretty pragmatic approach, I always walk over the wall with a clear idea in my mind to make this happen, I am rarely dragged by the unconscious, which at times is good to do, and even more rarely I waste hours to make what I had in mind work, I let it evolve and make it work in the context in which it needs to work.
At the same time, however, I do not set a certain move just for the pleasure and satisfaction of making it succeed, but always for the goal I’m looking for.
When forcing a movement, however interesting it may be, is an altruistic action and not an egoistic one to the purposes of the 3 “Es”?
Unfortunately all of this not always possible, often the conditions in which we are forced to work do not allow us to do so, but this is another matter…
From now on I’m going to break down some of my latest works to deepen all of this
