Progressing from v2 to v3 boulders

I’ve been climbing for about a year now, although haven’t been making it to the gym 3 days every week until the last 2 months. I’m definitely more into lead then boulders but I recently haven’t always had a partner to climb with so I’ve been settling for bouldering routes at my gym. I can climb on sight 5.10’s in the gym and sent a few 11’s but I feel like I suck way worse at bouldering!! Any advice on getting better.. specifically from such a low grade as v2 and bettering myself to v3 or v4 bc I feel like there is a huge gap in hold size and distance between holds as well as odd starts. Any advice would be awesome!

V2- V3 should be an easy 5.11 so it sounds like your wall and boulder grades are about the same. Generally bouldering in most gyms I have been in are alot easier than boulder grades outside though but it varies from place to place. Only way you will get better is to do it more, maybe your setters who mainly do boulders are different than those who do your rope routes so the style is different and you have more trouble with the boulder style.

Yeah, once you get into V3 and up bouldering you need to consider why they call it a "problem" rather than a route. Each one is a little puzzle waiting to be solved. Like you, I much prefer to lead climb than boulder but I made a huge leap from V2 to consistently onsighting V4 and even sometimes V5 problems just through being more thoughtful about figuring them out in advance.

The French system works very well for this, in general the boulder to lead difference is 2 and a half grades if the route suits you. 

If you are a 5.11 climber (6c+ French) and a v2 boulderer (6a font) you are pretty much in line with the usual conversion. 

Now this being said style is everything and this conversion may get screwed up if you completely lack any aerobic capacity so pump out after 15 moves or you have really poor power base or if like ondra or sharma you do allot more routes than bouldering. 

So it’s hard to say based on your description without a video or analysis of why you’re falling off V3s, but...I will say that V3 appears to be where “real” bouldering starts in most gyms.  As Andrew said, this is when you have to really *think* about how you’re pulling on holds and positioning your body, and this is also when bouldering specific techniques (heel/toe hooks, mantles, etc) become obligate and technical/tricky.  I used to mostly lead and would occasionally boulder if short on time or partners and was stuck where you are.  It took focusing on bouldering for a while to get to the point to where I can regularly onsight V3s and occasionally 4s and get up the occasional V5.  I’m not a strong climber by any means, but I do remember what that plateau felt like.

Taking a guess based on your experience, I’m betting what you lack the most of is power.  Although there is a boulder/lead conversion, they’re really two different styles of climbing, as lead routes tend to be longer and more endurance focused while boulder problems are short and powerful.  When your feet cut, do your hands come right off?  Can you campus easy jug hauls without using your feet?

To my experience V3/6B is the first "real bouldering" grade in most gyms. I mean one could pull thru virtually any V2/6A+ by applying some extra muscular tension, but most likely it wouldn't work starting V3/6B grade. One needs to develop basic footwork and body positioning skills to get there.

Good news. It is not that hard to develop those basic climbing technique skills. Just stick to your "doable" grade for a couple weeks or so with a somewhat strange attitude - you do not want to "send". "Success" of sending is nothing in the context of learning. Process of getting better is everything. You do want to perform any and every move like perfect. All moves and (even more important) transitions from one move to another should feel just right. Moves should feel natural and fun. If you feel a tiny bit of struggle stop here (and I mean it, read - jump off) and work the move (or transition from one move to another). Do everything possible and imaginable - rotate your heels, drop your knees, press your body left and right, seek for that "like perfect" move execution.

Often it is a good idea to reverse that tricky move - often we cannot execute a move due to lack of knowledge how should it feel after sticking to the next hold. When reversing move we start from that "after the move" position and we already know the "before the move" position, thus all we need is to decipher a way to transit from one position to another via some non-obvious coordination.

Basically my advise is to concentrate on climbing movements quality. There is a need to limit boulders stiffness to reduce the stress level so you can concentrate on the task. The last but not the least - do not stick to a particular wall angle, and holds type, and climbing style. The goal is to develop a broad set of footwork and body positioning skills.

P.S. Strive to repeat any and every problem was hard to send. The ultimate goal is to develop a solid climbing style so yet another "near impossible" project will be a nice warmup problem in a mere couple weeks.

Excellent advice!

One thing you could do is try to get to know other people bouldering. In most gyms I have been people are friendly and will give you advice on how to climb stuff if you ask. I regularly help newer climbers send boulder problems when they want help in our gym. Not every problem can be climbed the same by every person so alot of times I show a person a couple of different ways to climb something and they have to figure out which one works for them.

All of this is accurate.

Go around to different gyms and get some variety.   Also outside bouldering if possible.

Pavel Burov wrote:

To my experience V3/6B is the first "real bouldering" grade in most gyms. I mean one could pull thru virtually any V2/6A+ by applying some extra muscular tension, but most likely it wouldn't work starting V3/6B grade. One needs to develop basic footwork and body positioning skills to get there.

Good news. It is not that hard to develop those basic climbing technique skills. Just stick to your "doable" grade for a couple weeks or so with a somewhat strange attitude - you do not want to "send". "Success" of sending is nothing in the context of learning. Process of getting better is everything. You do want to perform any and every move like perfect. All moves and (even more important) transitions from one move to another should feel just right. Moves should feel natural and fun. If you feel a tiny bit of struggle stop here (and I mean it, read - jump off) and work the move (or transition from one move to another). Do everything possible and imaginable - rotate your heels, drop your knees, press your body left and right, seek for that "like perfect" move execution.

Often it is a good idea to reverse that tricky move - often we cannot execute a move due to lack of knowledge how should it feel after sticking to the next hold. When reversing move we start from that "after the move" position and we already know the "before the move" position, thus all we need is to decipher a way to transit from one position to another via some non-obvious coordination.

Basically my advise is to concentrate on climbing movements quality. There is a need to limit boulders stiffness to reduce the stress level so you can concentrate on the task. The last but not the least - do not stick to a particular wall angle, and holds type, and climbing style. The goal is to develop a broad set of footwork and body positioning skills.

P.S. Strive to repeat any and every problem was hard to send. The ultimate goal is to develop a solid climbing style so yet another "near impossible" project will be a nice warmup problem in a mere couple weeks.

Wow nice advice man

you're probably have three main issues.  Grip strength is too low.  The holds seem too small or not positive enough.  You cant stay (or won't) in the weird posture that is required for the move.  Your feet keep popping off.  All of these issues can be addressed with better technique.  Id suggest two books  better boldering and the self coached climber.  My guess is that you climb ugly and tend to manhandle your climbs, top out with brute force or wiggle and squirm to the top .  Watch the people who smoothly flow up a climb.  They have better balance and do way more work with their feet and their core.  Technique gives you this.  If you just want to be a brute train on the campus board 2x a week for 10 minutes and train your core every day at home.

Pavel Burov wrote:

To my experience V3/6B is the first "real bouldering" grade in most gyms. I mean one could pull thru virtually any V2/6A+ by applying some extra muscular tension, but most likely it wouldn't work starting V3/6B grade. One needs to develop basic footwork and body positioning skills to get there.

Good news. It is not that hard to develop those basic climbing technique skills. Just stick to your "doable" grade for a couple weeks or so with a somewhat strange attitude - you do not want to "send". "Success" of sending is nothing in the context of learning. Process of getting better is everything. You do want to perform any and every move like perfect. All moves and (even more important) transitions from one move to another should feel just right. Moves should feel natural and fun. If you feel a tiny bit of struggle stop here (and I mean it, read - jump off) and work the move (or transition from one move to another). Do everything possible and imaginable - rotate your heels, drop your knees, press your body left and right, seek for that "like perfect" move execution.

Often it is a good idea to reverse that tricky move - often we cannot execute a move due to lack of knowledge how should it feel after sticking to the next hold. When reversing move we start from that "after the move" position and we already know the "before the move" position, thus all we need is to decipher a way to transit from one position to another via some non-obvious coordination.

Basically my advise is to concentrate on climbing movements quality. There is a need to limit boulders stiffness to reduce the stress level so you can concentrate on the task. The last but not the least - do not stick to a particular wall angle, and holds type, and climbing style. The goal is to develop a broad set of footwork and body positioning skills.

P.S. Strive to repeat any and every problem was hard to send. The ultimate goal is to develop a solid climbing style so yet another "near impossible" project will be a nice warmup problem in a mere couple weeks.

Yeah man, thanks for the advice, really helps!

Marcus Corner wrote:

Yeah man, thanks for the advice, really helps!

Thanks!

Yet one more advice is to try "impossible" problems or moves. Do two or three (not more, it's just dangerous - trying too hard moves more then three times in a row is too injury intensive) full-throttle attempts on a couple of impossible moves of problems (important note - they should be of completely different style, e.g., an overhanging problem, and a near-vertical problem, and a dihedral slippery problem) each gym session. It will give you a sort of understanding of how really hard moves feel like. The best time is right after complete warm-up routine (read - after repeat of the last "project" problem, you should warm-up both body and mind before throwing yourself to a real battle). Again, this is not about "sending", it is about getting better.

^^Really helps if you can then watch a stronger climber float up your “impossible” project, as the beta will make some sense and you can properly assess what strength/technique deficits prevented you from solving it.