The straight forward Russian machine

Alexey Rubtsov started climbing at 17 years old and three years later he was the 2009 Boulder World Champion. This is the first year the Russian has been a full time climber due to more support from his federation, prize money and better sponsor deals with Mad Rock, Nihil and Russia Climbing. He started the season by doing his first 8C and he is #2 in the Boulder World Cup after he won the last event in Tokyo. He has no coach and most of the time he trains by himself. "I climb mostly my boulders. I train 4-5 times in gym in week, 3 hours a day. More than last year. Sometimes I do body power training after climbing but mostly just bouldering, I like it. Yoga can kill you, running did not work. This is my opinion." Talking about advantage of any starting positions and the new trend with slabs in the World Cup, he is equally outspoken. "Starting 1st in final and in semi are best. No pressure and better friction. So many slabs this year. It seems like best climber is the one who can walk better along the wall. Slab and jump and jump on slab that is so far from rocks. I don't like it. I like more power boulders. Slopers and crimps on steep walls :) I hope we will see it this year! This is the first year when I am a professional climber. I almost did not work, just trained. I spent more time thinking about the training process, I found several interesting techniques. Last year there was a new strongest team in bouldering (the Japanese), and I took it into account. I am very pleased with the strong rivals, they do not allow me to relax but to push for progress. I'm training alone and making programs, but it's even more interesting, no one tells me what to do and I decide what's good for me. Honestly, going out for the season I did not know what to expect from myself this year I was more aiming for the whole season, and not for the first positions, as in the past. As a result, now I feel better than a year ago in the middle of the season." (c) Eddie Fowke - The Circuit Climbing