Worlds Strongest Climbers, Insane 1 Minute Knockout...

In this insane training event of Rock City and Hull, none of us knew we were about to take part in a one minute knockout competition. Miho Nanaka, Serato Anraku, Yoshiyuki Ogata, Daiki Sano, Yannick Floyd, Alex Megos, Jim Pope, Max Milne, Aaron McNeese, Hamish McArthur, Jack McGoogle and myself, Toby Roberts. In my latest video, thanks for all the feedback on that, I spoke about how hard the boulders in Japan are and in particular Bipom Ogihubo, which is owned by Katsu, a coach, route setter and an incredibly unique character. So I was looking forward to two days training in Hull, courtesy of Rock City, who we were all incredibly grateful for, for organising an unbelievable training camp. With Bipom setters Katsu and Tsukuru providing 15 blocks on the Rock City Comport, an incredible selection of holds thanks to Rock City and Sirius Climbing Distribution and a selection of World Cup climbers that included six World Cup gold medalists. After warming up, we all couldn't wait to get started, but suddenly, as things were about to begin, Katsu announced an unexpected competition format. Isolation conditions, which as with all fun comps, was sitting with your back to the climbing. With some instructions half provided in Japanese, we became loosely familiar with the rules. There were three styles of boulders, Balance, Coordination and Power, each with level one to level five. Fail to top a level within one minute with a maximum of two tries and you're eliminated. Top the boulder and then proceed to the next level. The rules were sort of clear and the competition was on. Get set, yes! First up was Balance, or as most people know, Slab Climbing. Aaron McNeese started the strange competition off, a solid flash and the tops of Balance level one started rolling in. Soon, it was my turn. As a comp climber, you're used to being put under pressure. I wouldn't have thought twice about this block if it was training. Here, I'm thinking, is it a static start, a jump start? What's high percentage? What were the setters thinking? How is the best way to do this boulder? You're quickly running through the options and making quick decisions about your beta in your head, which is basically just over-complicating it. I didn't know what grade a level one slab was. I just knew I didn't want to fall off after having seen so many other people flash it. Everyone made it through Balance level one successfully and proceeded to level two. Let's go! Aaron again started with a solid flash before the challenges of the format suddenly became very apparent when losing a large UK contingent. It's mini UK. Mini UK! Serato moved on to level three, whilst Jack, Alex Megos, myself, and Miho all succumbed. Yannick was next with an impressive top, followed by Max, and Yoshiyuki impressively topped with under a second left. On to level three, but only one would make it to level four. Max with incredible flash moving left across the Rock City macros. This was very impressive. Level four was a striking problem on the new Rock City Safari holds, which almost sure to make an appearance at the World Cups this year. And Max, now the only climber remaining, did incredibly well to flash it. This was a hard problem and one I was already excited to go on in the working session after it. Level five finally claimed Max, which was an incredibly hard slab with clear daylight between him and the rest of the field. Max was a worthy champion of the Balance round. On to coordination and another five boulders. Next! Coordination! Change the mind! It quickly became clear that this was an incredible format for training. Some of these problems, like level one coordination, were really not that hard. Put in this format, it was a complete test of execution and so relevant to the World Cups. With competitions, you're up against the clock whilst trying to keep attempts low. With flash and on-site climbing, you only get one go, so this is almost harder than the competitions. On to coordination level two. In training sessions like this, no one is competing with each other and every climber was at a different stage of their training or prep. No one's competing directly with each other, but also no one wants to fall off. These boulders were not easy. Trying them within a minute with some of the best climbers in the world was making this a full value training session. Level three coordination was a great example. The move itself wasn't incredibly hard, but doing it within a minute and only two attempts was very hard, and four climbers managed to top out and move on to level four. On to level four. This was another excellent boulder. Most climbers could easily hold the jug you have to catch at the end of the first move. This would undoubtedly be the zone in a competition, however, arrive with the jug at speed after a lache and it suddenly becomes a totally different test. That would leave only three climbers heading into the final round. On to level five. Coordination boulders on this level require a complex set of movements. Generally a combination of generating and stopping momentum in different ways with subtle body positions and finding a way that works for you. An unbelievable flash by Jack to claim all five coordination boulders and win the round. The best training sessions are not competitions, they are fun and collaborative with a great collection of people, and this training session was quickly becoming one of the best I'd ever had. And it was on to the power boulders. It's safe to say the room did not lack powerful climbers, and the first few power boulders offered little opposition. Although I was grateful to Alex Megos for pointing out the massive Mint Rock City hold was in when I stupidly missed out. A lot of things have changed over the last seven years, but Alex's colourful shorts definitely wasn't one of them. Everyone advanced to level four power. That's the thing with powerful boulders and World Cups, that you generally find that everyone's really strong that can do the power boulders, so it requires much more to split the field. I didn't manage to top this one, which was the level four power, but I was happy with how I was feeling, being midway between the end of my harder aspects of physical winter training and the start of the comp season. There are a range of impressive styles and tops on display as seven climbers proceeded to the final level five power problem. This was a great physical problem, through the roof with a tough finish. Would anyone reach the top? Serato, the only climber to claim a top of level five power. This guy's a legend. Fourteen of the fifteen boulders were topped, and each of the three rounds would have had separation if being scored based on a top or nothing scoring format. Climbing is so much more than the physical ability, and competitions magnify this hugely. In one of my previous videos, I'd shown what training in Japan and especially B-Pump was like, where both Katsu and Tsukuru regularly set some of the world's hardest indoor boulders. At Rock City, Katsu was very much there on a role of coach, as well as setter, as this format was his idea. We weren't initially sure what to make of a one minute time limit with two attempts, but in practice, this became an incredible valuable test of execution. In climbing, execution is understanding the requirements and subtleties of a climb and piecing together a performance exactly in line with what's required to top. Competition climbing is doing that with a time limit, sometimes under immense pressure. That's why so often you find that the strongest climber isn't the best comp climber. Whether or not you could do the boulder or not was irrelevant. This is not redpointing. It's very hard to recreate real-life comp scenarios in a training environment, but this was done very well in this particular exercise. The set of boulders was excellent, with a great crew and energy and enthusiasm was high with everyone. As an example of how relevant this format is, at the Brixton Boulder World Cup in 2023, with just over one minute of the competition remaining, this has to be one of my best climbing comp moments. Okay, now he'll rest a little, or not. Presses in with the palm. Remember, there's an incredible knee bar in there as well that is available, if you can see it. I don't think he has time for the knee bar. No, he doesn't. Yeah, true. This is it for Toby. He's got to get it done now. Gets the right foot in, presses in. Come on, Toby, come on! Okay, he's got one press. I'm holding my breath. Left hand up. And now, if he can drop over to the left, he's a gold medalist. If not, fourth place. Holds it, one move away from a medal. Massive moment for Toby. One hand on, he matches and he has done it and that is a gold medal for Toby Roberts. Oh my goodness. Unreal at the end of this competition. Well, he's gone from not being a boulderer to making finals, to getting a medal, a bronze and now getting a gold. Unreal. The one minute comp will definitely be part of my training in the future. This was day one of a two day training camp. Keep a look out for the day two video coming soon. If you like the content, remember to like, subscribe and turn notifications on so you're the first to see the next video. And yeah, thank you so much for watching, I hope you enjoyed.