Rockworks is a dynamic company, always looking to improve the products and services we offer to our customers.

We will use this page to announce new products and wall installations, post updates on current developments and to create a focus for thoughts and ideas on training and techniques from some of the country's leading climbers.

We begin with input from Malcolm Smith, respected as one of the strongest climbers in Britain today.

Welcome to part 1 of my section of the Rockworks website. I'll be updating it every couple of months to provide training info, interviews and general climbing miscellany. First off, a bit about me by way of an introduction. Here goes:

Name: Malcolm Smith
Age: 26
Years climbing: 11
Progression: Age 15 - started climbing, 16 - 7c+, 17 - 8b, 18 - 8c+.
Hardest bolt route: Hubble (8c+), Ravens Tor, Peak District.
Hardest Traditional route: Transcendence (E8 6c), Back Bowden, Northumberland (1st ascent).
Hardest boulder problem: Pinch II (Font 8b), Stoney Middleton, Peak District. (8b+ indoors if it counts)
Hardest boulder traverse: Leviathan (Font 8b+), Kyloe-In, Northumberland (1st ascent).
Preferred types of climbing: For me the most interesting thing about any climb, whether it's 40 metres long or one move long, is the climbing itself - not the danger and not the bolt clipping. After all, one moved performed at the absolute limit of your strength and technique can be just as rewarding as an entire 40 metre on-sight.
At the moment my leanings are towards bouldering, where I'm not encumbered by harness, rope and danger, and can focus purely on the moves. You also end up getting a lot more done in a day. Like most, I'd rather be outside, but I also enjoy climbing and training indoors. I don't believe there's anything inherently more worthy about an outdoor climb, unless just to impress the traditionalists. In the end climbing is about enjoyment, not earning Brownie points, and as long as we respect the rock and an areas ethics we can't go wrong.

The American wonder kid. What amazes me is his casual, laid back attitude, even in major competitions when the pressures on. He also has incredible 'contact' strength (i.e. if he hits a hold it can't escape). His young age and newly acquired technique make him very hard to beat, as I can testify.

Needs no introductions. Still a candidate for the best red-pointer/boulderer in the world. Brilliant on real rock. If you took all the top climbers to a brand new, undeveloped crag and let them loose, Ben could well come out on top. A real natural. He now mainly boulders.

I've never actually met the guy but he's taking bouldering by storm, with several Font 8b+ problems under his belt. Unusually for a top climber he's also a big guy. Thank God dieting can go out of the window!

Technically the best climber I've ever seen. Decades spent bouldering at Fontainbleau may have helped. His precision, grace, and above all economy on rock is great to watch. A perfect model for technique. Watch the "Real Thing" video if you don't believe me.

In his day the best all round climber in the World. Even today he could give absolutely anyone a run for their money. His main strength is his mental strength - his ability to be positive, focus and get the job done. Again, now concentrating on bouldering.

These are only a few, for me there are many more, especially in the area of the hard on-sight. I hear Yuji Hirayama has just on-sighted 8c!

When I started training on indoor walls a decade ago, my approach was a little un-scientific. A power session indoors was treated exactly the same way as a bouldering session at the crag.

(i.e. work on a problem for a bit, do it then move onto the next). While this approach certainly got me strong, in retrospect I could have been a little more measured. As time went by I began to realise a few things;

• Within a training session, volume (number of problems) and variety are more important than always attempting problems 100% at your limit. Better to do 20 problems at 80% of your limit and not fail than have 19 attempts at a desperate one and eventually do it on your 20th attempt.
• Try to experience as little failure as possible within a session, but judge it so you only just do some of the harder ones (difficult to achieve every time, but that's the idea).
• Working individual moves on desperate project problems has its place but again emphasise quantity and quality over difficulty.
• You can increase the intensity of a session by reducing the rest between problems, even resorting to timed laps.
• It's important to have a big repertoire of problems at a training venue to limit time spent working them out every time and to increase variety.
• Try to iron out any weaknesses you may have by inventing problems that exploit them. Also, try to boulder with someone else. Their problems will be in a different style - it's so easy to concentrate on our strengths and ignore our weaknesses.
• Be prepared to gradually build up to a peak over weeks, rather than trying to shortcut the process by trying things that are too hard, too soon.

To help put these principles into practice I eventually built a systems board (after an article by Alex Huber had convinced me of their usefulness). Since then I've always found it very easy to get a balanced, all round workout on them.
When I first built the board I had to use homemade wooden holds as there were no bolt-ons on the market, which were identical for either hand. The holds I've designed for Rockworks have remedied this situation. Wood is good, but resin simulates real rock more effectively - wooden holds tend to be a little too flat and regular, and it's very hard to produce good slopers and pockets in wood.

As far as I can see there's no disadvantage to using a mirror-image systems layout on a board. If needs be you can easily create non-systems boulder problems anyway. You only need two of each hold to create the most basic, but still perfectly effective, systems board. Just a draw a line down the middle and build a mirror-image pattern on either side.
Symmetries are also great for one-arm deadhanging, the best way to target pure finger strength, where you need the holds identical for either hand. You can even use them to make your own fingerboard, just mount them symmetrically on a piece of plywood and away you go!

| Home Page | Indoor Structures | Outdoor Structures |
| Bolt on Holds | Rockshop |
| News & Views | Contact | Portfolio |