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Robbie’s Beast Building Series

Training and Climbing

Who IS Robbie Phillips?

Profile

I’m a 20 year old climber living in Edinburgh. I work as a climbing coach and route setter based at EICA: Ratho (the world’s largest climbing centre!).

I have been climbing for a relatively short period of time; however since I started I have racked up a wealth of experience. My aim in climbing is to become the best climber I can possibly be, pushing the physical and mental barriers as far as I can take them in the sport.

On my quest for climbing perfection, I was introduced to the concepts of training to improve, and this is what ultimately brought me to coaching. After many years of training, reading on training, more training, more climbing, more reading… then even more climbing, I became more passionate about passing on what I had learnt to others.

Coaching has become as much a part of my own enjoyment in the sport as actual climbing! Seeing someone accomplish their goals and reach their potential is an amazing experience and I get to witness this every day with my job!
As much as I can learn at home, reading books and climbing at the wall, there is only so much you can learn in this environment. So in the pursuit of improvement and fulfilling dreams, I regularly travel to new and exotic places, climbing on different rock types and rock styles to experience as much as I can of what climbing has to offer! I am actually writing this biog from a mosquito ridden shack in Kalymnos (Greece).

When I am home in Edinburgh, I can regularly be found at the wall (Monday-Sunday, 10:00 – 22:00) either up a cherry picker route-setting, showing some enthusiastic kids some new tricks on the boulders or more than likely hanging upside down on the competition wall! Oh yeah… and in the evenings I’ll be hanging off the fingerboard…

Sport Climbing
Over the past three years, I have been broadening my climbing horizons by travelling to Europe and climbing as much as possible! I have travelled to France, Spain, Greece and across the UK in search of the best sport climbing experiences and have been improving every year!

Since my first trip outdoors at 16, I have continued to progress and now I am 20 my passion for climbing has not gone away, and I find that I am only more motivated. This Autumn I have been climbing in Kalymnos (Greece) where I have racked up a good deal of hard sends (for me) including several 8b’s and 8a+’s, lots of 8a’s including a few on-sight and stacks of 7c+’s and 7c’s mostly on-sight!

My plans include a big trip to Catalunya in Spain at the beginning of next year, possibly France and the UK in summer then more Kalymnos action in the Autumn! Next year should be good.

See Robbie’s blog for more information

Will Carroll

The stunning photos accompanying these articles are from Will Carroll:

For as long as I can remember, I've loved being active and outside. Hillwalking progressed to scrambling, and on again to climbing. I first picked up a camera with real purpose when it became apparent that I couldn't hope to keep up with all the climbers with whom I spend much of my free time. It started off as 'something else to do'. Based near Edinburgh for the past three years, you'll find me at the EICA:Ratho with the camera as much as with chalk-dusted hands. Now I find it hard to distinguish between a climbing trip, and a photography tour. These days I rarely tackle a mountain without cursing the weight of the glass in my backpack. In the hills, I hope that my eye is sharp enough to compose a frame. On the rock, I hope my finger is quick fast enough to catch the action."

You can see more of Will’s photography on his website

In this series of articles that first appeared in Scottish Mountaineer magazine, Robbie Phillips gives detailed descriptions of how you can train to get better at climbing. Robbie is an active climber and uses his climbing experiences to illustrate exactly what he is talking about.

He insists that anyone can use these techniques to see positive gains whatever their level of climbing ability and encourages you to give them a try.

Part 1 Climbing to Get Better: What is Training?
(November 2010 pdf)

An introduction to what ‘training’ really is! Robbie dispels the myth that it’s hard to plan a training programme and explains some easy steps to use your regular visits to the climbing wall in a more structured manner: Warming up at the wall (recruitment); the ‘pump’, ‘flash pump’ and ‘the burn’; using route climbing as training; being your own new route-setter; an easy plan for an ‘after-work’ bouldering session; and warming down!

Part 2 Training for Endurance
(February 2011 pdf)

With winter still with us, but spring and warm rock on its way, the time is right to prepare yourself for climbing outdoors, by setting some goals and training indoors for route stamina. Robbie helps you set some simple goals, then looks at endurance training: measuring the intensity of a session (the 'PUMP'), high and low level endurance, using training circuits and finally how to use a campus board - that strange looking ladder hidden away in the dark corners of some climbing walls and something of a dark art if you don't have the knowledge!

Part 3 Strength and Power
(May 2011 pdf)

Robbie explains what the terms 'strength' and 'power' actually mean and ow they relate to the kind of climbing you may undertake, be it sport, bouldering or trad. These two physical attributes are really closely linked and training one cannot be done without training the other. Robbie decided to get ready for an extended climbing trip to Spain in the spring where he needed strength and power to climb his intended routes and he shares in this article the way he trained specifically for this. He looks at the excercises that can help strength including hard bouldering, the 'three second lock', static climbing, and using hard route projects; then at training power including dynos and speed climbing.

Part 4 "That's Pure Mental Man!"
(August 2011 pdf)

One of the biggest causes of failure in climbing for most people is surprisingly not physical, but mental blocks that stop them being able to perform at their best. In this issue Robbie shares his experience of these fears that are actually easily overcome when you know how. Learning to deal with failure by using it as something positive rather than negative can change your performance a lot. This may involve facing your demons and Robbie gives examples of how you can do this. One of the biggest fears in climbing is falling off - even with the safety of a rope! Robbie describes some simple techniques to help you get used to falling progressively, learning how to fall and becoming familiar with the feeling so that it no longer is a fear and does not hold you back.

Part 5 "The Redpointing Process"
(November 2011 pdf)

Once upon a time it was simply a matter of getting up the rock as best you can! Use anything you can for aid. But climbing has always had its ethics and you can only really claim an ascent of a route if you have done it in the respected style of the day. The best style nowadays is that of an on-sight ascent - you got up it on the first go without falls and without any information about the climb. But when you are pushing your body to its limit, its inevitable that you will fall off and thats when 'Redpointing' becomes a measure of how well you have done. Its certainly not that easy but there is a skill to how you approach it and make redpointing work for you.