EP 117: Yves Gravelle
May 2, 2022
Yves Gravelle is a V15 boulderer from Canada and a 3x APL World Champion (i.e. grip competitions). We talked about lessons from grip training that we can apply to climbing, the importance of simplicity and consistency, how to break down a bouldering project, basing your training on the demands of a specific goal, top 3 finger training methods, how to train full crimps, and much more.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts
Other episodes with Yves:
EP 237: Yves Gravelle Returns (Sept 9, 2024)
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Show Notes:
Related Podcast Episodes:
Armlifting Professional League (APL)
Yves’ Resources:
Nutritional Considerations for Bouldering (research paper)
Other References:
Boris Sheiko (Russian powerlifting coach)
Boulders Mentioned:
‘So What’ V15 (8C), Kanata-Tremblant, Canada
‘Terremere’ V15 (8C), Hueco Tanks, TX
Yves’ Links:
Nuggets:
0:07:18 – How to pronounce Yves’ name, and living in Ottawa
0:09:20 – The most legendary training montage I have ever seen, and an introduction to APL
0:12:32 – Why Yves thinks climbs could represent themselves well in grip sports, and what a competition is like
0:15:22 – Specializing vs. being a well-rounded athlete in grip
0:18:11 – Balancing climbing goals with grip competitions
0:19:28 – What Yves has learned from grip sports, and taking training ideas from powerlifting
0:22:26 – How Yves bases his training around the demands of a specific boulder or goal
0:24:49 – Is it possible to combine outdoor climbing with quality finger strength training?
0:31:07 – An example training week with outdoor bouldering on Sunday
0:35:05 – Preparing your body for the amount of training you want to do, and progressively working your way up
0:36:19 – Building capacity, and learning about nutrition
0:37:55 – Reading nutritional research about bouldering
0:39:33 – How Yves has changed his diet
0:42:28 – Maintaining finger strength during off-seasons, and pushing hard for goals
0:45:51 – Finger training principles, keeping things simple, consistency, writing things down, and using RPE to measure your training
0:51:38 – Training strength when you are fresh, finishing fresh, and not going to failure (adding a buffer)
0:54:14 – Yves’ session load calculator spreadsheet
0:57:36 – Preparation cycles, and competitive cycles
1:00:45 – Jazz
1:02:13 – How Yves trained for ‘So What’ V15, and building shoulder strength and mobility
1:05:15 – Patron question from fdclimbs: Any tips for building climbing-specific shoulder strength?
1:07:34 – Yves top 3 finger training exercises for climbing
1:12:01 – Progressive warmup for finger training
1:13:58 – Micro edge training
1:15:39 – Contact strength training
1:19:20 – Summary of Yves’ top 3 finger training methods
1:21:08 – Patron question from Alan: Does Yves have a favorite way to train full crimps?
1:22:39 – Yves’ full crimp story, and how he prevents finger injuries
1:26:14 – Patron question from fdclimbs: Tips for training individual fingers? (And Yves’ grip positions and anatomy)
1:29:53 – Patron question from Alan: How does Yves balance different methods of training fingers and grip strength?
1:33:19 – Prepping for ‘Terremere’ and Hueco
1:34:17 – Patron question from Daniel: Any plans to travel to world-famous bouldering areas and try the classic V15s or V16s?
1:35:38 – 1-7-11 on the campus board (with slightly different spacing)
1:37:00 – Patron question from Daniel: Is there such thing as “enough power”? What about finger strength?
1:38:18 – Patron question from Xander: Do your finger strength gains still transfer to climbing?
1:39:28 – One of Yves’ favorite coaches to learn from
1:40:59 – When you are starting off almost anything will work
1:41:44 – Patron question from Michael: What is the smallest edge you can hang with one hand? What about two hands?
1:42:54 – Being muscular and still being strong on tiny holds, and putting on muscle mass in the right places
1:44:30 – Patron question from David: How does Yves look after his skin, especially splits and tears?
1:46:48 – Contributing to local bouldering areas, and winning the world championships
1:47:41 – Yves’ daughters and gymnastics
1:50:26 – Listen to your body, and enjoy the process
1:53:10 – Be present
1:54:39 – Wrap up