Strong girls bouldering Session!

This video is sponsored by Squarespace. My friend Jess and I climb at around the same grade so we thought it would be fun to take you along on one of our indoor bouldering sessions on the V5 to V7 set. We ended up getting pretty stuck into a project so stick around to see how it came together and if we were able to get the send. Welcome back to another video. Today we are at Manchester Depot and I am with a guest this is Jess and today we're going to be taking you around a V5 to V7 circuit which is the purples here at the depot. So Jess and I would you say we climb at quite a similar level? Yeah I'd say similar similar level but like maybe different slightly different style. Do you think? Yeah. What styles would you like say you gravitated towards? Um it's a funny question because I'm like I'm not really good at everything like I'd say like I avoid dynamic movement but also I'm really bad at locking off so that would suggest that. Okay. I don't like either. So neither static or dynamic. Okay cool. No I if if if either more static. Yeah. Is that you as well? Yes I think more recently I've been trying to incorporate more dynamic movement. Yeah yeah that's the same for me. Generally lock off go for something. Yeah but I think this session will be really interesting because Jess and I are at quite a similar level so yeah we're just going to pick out a few purple projects and take you along on the session with us. With our warm-up done and a first boulder dispatched fairly quickly we moved on to some projects. How do you normally get on with these poles? I think I usually struggle with pinching in general but I think I think you these ones are quite narrow so actually feels like it favours small hands again. Sure. And I think actually these ones look quite positive so you can you can maybe yeah maybe. If in doubt. Yeah. No I think I think I think these ones don't look too bad. They're not like rounded they're quite they've got like a good edge. Yeah which I think helps. It also looks to me like it might be quite body positioning. Yeah. So I think it seems like it'd a yogi. Boulder one is a bit of a vertical balance fest with some sloping pinchy holds requiring us to move slowly or risk wobbling off the wall. Whilst the holds aren't all terrible there are some particularly nasty ones and they do all require some form of precision and definitely a stable base to move off from. Okay it's quite a like pop for the top isn't it or not? You can move your body slightly right you can you can probably reach it it's actually quite pretty close to your head. I think it's good that last hold. Are you going to go up with left or are you going to go up with right? I don't know I'm going to go try right I think but this hold feels so bad. Might you could you match that the one with your right hand on instead? Okay that's really I found really like balancy. What I found surprising is that actually I've seen people use a drop knee and you didn't think about yeah like for the last move because you're trying to pull far right on that left hand hold like really sink over to the right but I don't know if maybe I had my maybe the drop knee would have helped because I was like coming up against my thigh yeah yeah I wanted to like pop. Your foot was quite low on that as well like I reckon if you could have got your right foot higher you'd have felt like oh I can just reach it yeah. Before we get into the rest of Jess and I's session I wanted to have a word from the sponsor of today's video which is Squarespace. I use Squarespace to host my online website hannamorrisfoldering.com and I also use Squarespace's commerce option to run my online shop which by the way has just been restocked. What I love about Squarespace is that it really is just so simple without any coding experience to arrive at a design using their templates that just looks really professional without having to put hours and hours of work into coding a website. I also run my blog over through Squarespace and it really is just a fantastic way to keep everything in one place and keep everything looking nice. If you'd like to try Squarespace for yourself head to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com forward slash hannamorris for 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. And now back to the depo and mine and mine come on um yeah I actually just used that to like stand up yeah but you because that's what you said when I was trying to figure out the move you're like oh can you match and I ended up yeah over so I didn't drop any actually I sat low on the right uh right toe to come like into that yeah um but I used that hole to stand up to get my foot on but you don't actually maybe need that because you didn't you get your right foot on I think I got my foot higher fairly yeah yeah so actually if you could do what you did get your right foot higher you might just be able to go on top and skip that hold all together oh yeah just use it for like well I think I'm gonna go your method can you drop a knee that's surprisingly a lot easier without the you didn't even use it we're so bad when you get there it's like I like the palm to get you right yeah that's really nice so I I've been climbing for maybe over 10 years so a long time but not consistently in that time so um yeah I started when I was a teenager just um climbing like top roping a little bit of yeah yeah yeah and then kind of quickly realized that I was way more into the bouldering a bit when we were going into lots of indoor walls and then I'd say like maybe in the last four or five years I've been climbing bouldering um specifically consistently and that's when I've seen like the like progress in my in my ability um and then like more recent years than that like one or two recent years I've got like way more sight on actually getting better and trying harder outside as well. Jess is a climber but she's also a yoga teacher so how much do you feel your yoga practice influences like the way that you climb do you think it makes a big difference on the kind of things that you like are best at in climbing um yeah I think um yeah so I'm a yoga teacher and I teach here at Zephyr Manchester um on a on a Thursday night if you want to come um yeah I think actually I think if you thought of a yoga teacher and the type of climbing that they would prefer I think you would you would find that you would think that I would like like kind of techie balancey slabs which are not my forte um I find that I'm quite I think how my yoga actually influences my climbing is that I'm it kind of really improves my awareness of my body and how I'm moving so a lot of people don't have yeah that kind of mind body connection where they can be aware of how their body's moving when they're climbing um I find that I'm quite good at that quite good at like um if I fall off knowing what happened like recognizing oh this is what was happening in my body to to make it that I didn't get the move um so yeah and obviously being being flexible a little bit more flexible helps on the wall being able to balance does help on the wall but yeah body body awareness mainly I think like having control over um my body and movement hopefully I can learn a couple of things from you yeah because my body awareness or like my awareness of what's gone wrong on a climb yeah is pretty much non-existent okay well sometimes I'll like watch it back and be like oh that's what yeah I mean I guess yeah that does happen sometimes yeah I guess but um yeah being able to feel it and able to like identify specific movements that might help next boulder is quite a different style it's kind of like an erect crimpy thing with what looks like quite a like deep heel hook to start with and like a rollover move big roll over move yeah it's how I'm reading it oh that's where the left arm goes you can see that's where you're like static yeah your tendency towards static like so slow and controlled but like I lost the height because my left arm's like giving in I think yeah oh my gosh nice oh come on come on oh I felt a strong position to hold on my did it so would you suggest the match the match into the crimp felt better for me yeah just as an intermediate yeah but to be fair I didn't really properly go for that you were so close you literally like straight yeah I mean the thought of like going left and then matching in has crossed my mind like bump left what as the first move yeah I don't think you could reach could you but it'd be a really difficult like piano match you've got longer arms than me are we a little bit longer I would say yeah yeah are we the same height what are you five five five four yeah five five and a half I'll try matching like you did yes I don't know the heel feels I'm like tempted to try and go right toe left toe that's stupid try it you're using the wrong hand for your start though you don't oh oh yeah oh come on you go up with left nice come on Hannah come on it's good I don't think it's the intended way but the match felt hard I think that that next move felt like that could be the crux yeah maybe I don't know I don't think I was trusting this at all we think we might have broken the sequence on the bottom half of the wall there but it's quite intensive and we've kind of come up against a bit of a second crux so I think what we've decided is we're going to work the crux in isolation and try and get that figured out and then we can add like the bottom part on yeah we know we can do the bottom now but it feels what's your plan are you just same again but I think that's the only yeah I think that's the only way because there isn't any other feet yeah the foothold that we're dealing with it's like what was the kind of shallow crimp for the hand the left hand pointing in the wrong direction yeah but that's what's the problem and because it's on this side of the wall as well you know like you're not like under it yeah yeah you're trying to like navigate a changing angle you want to go this way but your foot's like sending you that way I wouldn't do like right yeah that's what I think would be better more that way you can't see it at all yeah gorgeous yeah oh no that was a fight oh nice okay how's that hold so that really good yeah um I kind of like use this to pull yeah rather than just going off the back I think the neck they look okay yeah we've got them yeah go like that go on oh okay yeah that'll go the beta that we've worked out for the bottom is currently we're matching on this these these two screw ones and it's not very nice it's quite messy and it's zapping a lot of energy so we're trying to think of a way to avoid that um and I think what we could do is essentially we want to go up with that with right hand rather than left so that way we can just move straight into the left crimp um so what we're going to try is keeping both feet on when we make the move and dropping the right knee to go over with the right hand rather than what we were doing before is dropping the right foot off and going up with the left hand so yeah yeah we'll try it yeah I think it'll be quite bunched to keep both feet on though yeah um that'll be the challenging bit I think but yeah yeah yeah oh I can't do if you match first and then go oh that's minging I think I thought but having both feet on would be manageable but I think what I did before was kept the left foot off to match get left foot on and then drop the right foot off so it was never at any point for a long period with both on yeah and it feels really bunched it's like a weird hip position it's just like very open straight on hips and your hand you're matching the hand hold which is essentially like at waist height if you've got both feet on so it feels really bunched oh my leg come on yes come on finish it off come on are you okay good news and bad news the move goes but the bad news is the hold I don't know I think I stayed on it a long time I was trying to place the foot so I felt like confident yeah and then I just like fired off you were so close to sticking that that'll go I feel like it will go have a have a little rest and that move just felt like what did I do I was quite straight on the move going up to this yeah I just like like really pulled my hips out and yeah you sat your your hips cracked I swear like yeah they did you sat low in your hips and then went yeah yes oh that feels it feels awful like I want the left hand to be really good because I'm going up with right and apparently because I'm trying to match my left my pinky fingers are off and I can't I can't generate I think we practically decided our method up the boulder there's just a couple of bits that are like a little bit what's the word low percentage like this move out to that crimp up there and this move into the pinch um I think this one's like a kind of like precision thing because you've got the crimp and then the thumb so you've got to get like place this properly and that properly it's quite easy to fumble but I'm gonna give it a go from the start nice come on easy come on nice nice yeah I feel like I really exaggerate the yeah you do like the bum comes out and then goes in but I think I'm rushing that bit because my hands don't feel great yeah yeah come on yes yes come on come on come on Jess come on just it oh no yeah yeah that was good better um I think nothing changed in actually my movement I think I just was more precise yeah which means it might not go again because I should keep going yeah you need to get it right on but that's so frustrating oh I don't know I why I can't do that move once I'm once I've done the bottom I got the distance and I'm just not latching when I'm getting it I think I think I only want like one good go so if I if I try again and I like do a foot slip or something unfortunate happens then that's not classed as a good go yeah okay yeah and then if I have a good go and I just come off that same move again because I'm tired then we'll move on we'll call it I'm trying to drive some rain down I need to drive some blood into my big toe but the move that I'm falling off on is on my right foot yeah oh that's why I can't feel I can't feel the hole Jess would have sent it like five goes ago if it weren't for the fact I feel like it's a common common climber problem especially at this time of year yeah methods to warm up your toes in your socks yeah it's more usually more of a problem when you're outside right is it gonna go yes okay go on do it solid come on yes come on go on yes Jess come on it's good yeah come on yeah that was a journey yeah that was good just worked yeah all you needed was a rest yeah actually that was a really long rest that's it good you looked so much more precise on that you like hit it yeah yeah yeah it felt even that move like it felt like I could just generate I think you don't realize that you need a lot longer rest often like I'm just like oh I feel fine let's try again you've got a bit more yeah I think it's it's way more it's way more fun enjoyable to climb when there isn't just one crux as well because I think if there's like one crux and then the rest of the climb is really easy it makes it that actually you're just like frustrated that it's just that one hard move where this one I think was quite consistent other than like the the last few moves we found relatively easy I think the rest of that wasn't a giveaway like we had to try hard yeah through the majority of it which actually is yeah and actually makes it way more enjoyable I think definitely when you send it which we did yeah it always helps when you get to the top of the boulder how you feel about the boulder in general yeah exactly we love this yeah the last boulder that we're going to try is quite a different start than ones that we've tried already definitely a little bit more dynamic and a lot more open hands there's some pinches involved and there's some like I wouldn't call them slopers like yeah open pinches nice come on I need more umph I think I need to come a little bit higher maybe left foot on first actually nice really strong in that left shoulder nice Hannah oh my gosh come on half speed that was really good how did like every move felt the shoulder moves felt like I was really having to squeeze to bring the right foot back in yeah it comes out but then as soon as the right foot was back in it was like okay fine I'm good oh it's such a high left foot though isn't it yeah go on go on yes Jess go on yeah strong come on oh gosh that's hard yeah it's fighting this the sink yeah like the as soon as your arms are here it's like so difficult to engage back in yeah nice Jess come on don't know where the best yeah oh come on strong come on yeah come on can you just go oh oh no I got the height but I just missed it I missed the hold you went like oh that's so annoying I was like focused on just getting really high without being precise oh that's annoying come on nice come on get that yeah come on strong yeah get your feet right drop that right knee yes come on yes yeah nice one I almost thought you were gonna drop the last move then you're like almost didn't catch it and then you're like it's another like shoulder yeah yeah but it's good like it's well good mini pocket like it's got something behind it yeah yeah that's helpful after all them rubbish ones success power endurance yeah it just feels so intuitive to go to the right doesn't it it's the exact same as what you did it just doesn't feel you're like I can't go left it feels like it yeah I don't know how you I mean to what I needed to do what is like really sink into that right and hip press the left leg yeah like straight on the left leg but it felt like it could go matching it but yeah that brings to an end our session on the v5 to v7s on the purple set I feel like we picked some really good boulders a couple of good yeah I feel like it was a it was a positive session yeah I feel like yeah there's something to come back for for sure yeah definitely I feel it's always really nice when you pick out a good selection of boulders like some that you get up so you get that nice confidence yes and then others that you have to try harder really kind of like think through yeah it's way more satisfying when you yeah actually they tried hard first time yeah yeah for sure so hope you enjoyed the session I'm going to leave links to Jess's social media in the description of this video so make sure you go and check her out and give her a follow thank you very much for being my guest thank you for having climbing with me and I'll see you in my next video