(c) Lars Ole Gudevang

(c) Lars Ole Gudevang

http://www.magnusmidtboe.com/

Magnus Midtbö has been an active and succesfull competition climber for ten years. He ended 2010 by being #5 in the European Championship and started 2011, by being #3 and #5 in the World Cup, followed by being #4 in the World Champion.

He did his first 9a in 2007 and he has done another four up to 9b. In 2011, he did Nordic Flower in Flatanger giving it a personal grade of 8c+.

How would you summarize 2011 and what did you learn?
2011 has surely been a year with a lot of ups and downs for me. At the start of the year I was not sure whether I wanted to do any big international comps or not. I have been competing for quite some years now, and played with the thought of having a year off just to climb outside. But instead I decided to do the complete opposite. I wanted to train really hard, to see how well I could do in the World Cup and in the World Championships.
 
The first few comps went better than ever before, which made me really confident. Too confident. After some success I thought I had the shape needed, and not had to train that hard for the rest of the season. That was my big mistake. My focus was elsewhere, and the second part of the season did not go well at all.

Training in Norway it is sometimes really hard to know if I'm in shape or not. I can do all the hard routes at the gym without any problems, but that is really not enough to do well in the World Cup, where the level is so much higher than here in Scandinavia. I really like living in Norway, but climbing-competition wise it's not very good.
 
I would love to say that I learn from my mistakes, but that would be a straight up lie. I do the same mistakes over and over again. Impulsive and restless are probably the two best words to describe my personality. When I really want something I will work really hard for it, but the psyche never last for a very long time. Staying psyched for something over a long period of time is a big problem of mine. That's probably why climbing is the only sport for me. When you get tired of a route or a place you can move on to a new one. That's the beauty of our sport.

Unfortunately it's not the same with comps. Though they are being held at different places they feel very much alike to me. Besides, titles and trophies have personally never been a great motivation. Do you become a World Champion, you are really just the world champion that exact day. Next day you might not be the strongest although you are the World Champion. That being said, I do like competitions. For me the goal is always to make finals. I like climbing in front of a big crowd knowing they want to see me climb. That to me is a privilege.

But when I don't feel strong competitions feel like a waste of time. Competition climbers are there to entertain, but if you haven't done what it takes to be entertaining to watch there is not really any point of going at all. For me the result is just a number, that alway will change and be forgotten. Sounds like a dumb cliché, but I find it to be true.

What is your plan and hope for 2012?
In a week I'm leaving for Spain. My plan over this winter is to spend a lot of time there. Travelling back and forth from Norway. If I win the lottery I might even buy myself a house somewhere around Lleida. I love the place and the atmosphere! As I'm sure everyone having spend time in that region knows, it's the place to be if you want to climb hard routes all year around.
From April my plan is to devote my time to Flatanger. Still a lot of work to be done and routes to be climbed. Then in end of June the comp season begins. I hope to do well at at least a couple of comps. And if I'm not in shape I hope to be smart enough not to show up at all. Hopefully, ultimately I will learn from my mistakes.

What do you mean by training hard?
Periodization is my most important tool when it comes to training. My restless personality makes it impossible for me to follow any training program that looks too much alike from week to week. When I train hard for something I usually do 10 days on and 10 days off. During my hard 10 days I will train so hard that I feel more tired each day. In a hard period I do two sessions some days. Despite experts advise I usually do endurance in the morning and power (bouldering) in the evening. In the morning I always feel a lot more tired and I need to have an exact execution plan. If I try to boulder in the morning I will just end up leaving the gym within half an hour.

By 10 days off I mean normal climbing. During those 10 days I will feel stronger each day. Between the 10 days periods I usually take 2 rest days.

I'm one of those people who really likes other kinds of training as well, such as weight training. I try to do the weight training long before I have to be in shape as it makes me gain unnecessary muscle wight. Though I think that has helped me stay away from injuries. Being all over strong I think has a huge long term benefit.