Patrick Matros the trainer of Megos

Patrik Matros, Alexander Megos and Ludwig "Dicki" Korb

Patrick doing the FA of Archon 8b, the hardest trad route in Frankenjura. (c) Raimund Matros

Major goal for us is, to maintain a joyful attitude towards the sport. The psychological terminology calls it a high level of intrinsic motivation for climbing itself. This also means to support the self-development of the athlete in order to get him more and more emancipated and so called self-determined. Last but not least we do our best to prevent the athlete of injuries due to balanced training. 

What are you best advice to get stronger and to get more endurance?
Well, at first I have to clean up with some misbelief: Getting stronger has nothing to do with top secret training programs or the one and only exercise which gets you in shape. It is a process where you learn more and more about your body and your individual response to training exercises. Also it is a question of volition. Some major rules are:

-       Train minimum 60% discipline-specific, the best strength in your forearms is worthless without the ability to transfer it on complex movements, which sportclimbing or bouldering consists of. On the other side train your antagonists (5-10% of your training) with high intensity  (link: http://vimeo.com/24776832). This will also help you to get more specific-strength, because of your muscles working in a more functional way.

-       To get stronger: take a complete break between the load and then set 110% will in it.

-       To get more endurance: never take a complete break between the loads and learn to climb with pumped forearms.

How do you see climbing performances develop the coming 10 years?
It’s not easy to give an concrete answer. The way I see is, that the base of the pyramid of performance-oriented climbers is going to broaden. More talented persons will get into the sport and performances will be rise. In my opinion more horizontal than vertical, but certainly there’s space upwards, too. Especially the onsight and flash level will rise as well fast ascents of hard routes and numerous ascents of them within a day from one climber. Overall more climbers will onsight/flash 9a and some climbers will push the limit to a 9a+ onsight/flash in the next decade. It’s the result from more specific training routines which start in an early developmental stage of the athletes. Climbing is going to get more professional. As the complexity rises, athletes more and more will need partners to market and manage themselves. If climbing gets an olympic sport, a new dimension in professionalism will rise, with negative and positive aspects for the sport.

More countries, which are a blank spot on the climbing map will get into the sport and into Competitions like the World Cup and the World Championships. There will be an upswing for performance-oriented training in the youth sector and associations have to get along with it.

What are the plans for Megos in 2013?
Everything what comes is kind of an add on. He achieved much more than expected. No injury is the most important thing for us.

What it is all about with your Training DVD?
We noticed that there’s little information in detailed descriptions about balanced strength training for climbers. Our philosophy is, that you have to train your antagonists in a complex and intensive way to prevent injuries. It’s remarkable, that our athletes gained more specific strength due to this exercises, too. Together with my counterpart Ludwig (Dicki) Korb and Hannes Huch (professional filmmaker and owner of a bouldering gym) we decided to start a video and book project. We extended the subjects a little bit, and you will find specific exercises for climbing in it, too. Also we invited some top climbers and asked them about training. As a bonus, you can see some training footage of  Wolfgang Güllich, commented by his former professor and coach. All this will be released in fall 2013, not only in German, but also in English language.

More information under www.gimmekraft.com