UKH

Has anyone had any experience using a coach to improve outdoor climbing, specifically sport climbing?

To set the scene I'm looking to get properly stuck into making improvements in my outdoor grades. I've been largely happy bumbling along at kind of 6a+ onsite level for a while but now wish to push that. I'd be looking at potentially using a coach for an initial assessment session to identify weaknesses and give me a strategy going forwards then perhaps revisiting with them a few months later. Obviously more sessions would be preferable but expense is a bit of a factor here as they all seem to be around £200 a day.

Yes I've had great experiences with a coach.  One who I have used a couple of times in particular.  I did a couple of hours with him indoor when I was still fairly new to climbing then a weekend in North Wales when I had been climbing 3/4 years.  Was planning another weekend away with him this summer till lockdown put the stoppers on it.

Each time I've seen a marked improvement in my climbing.  What I really like is that it wasn't so much that he gave me minute instruction on how to move or place my foot or whatever (although he did a little for the odd move here and there!) but gave me the tools, techniques and the input to go off and be able to progress and improve on my own.  He identified things that weren't right with my climbing that I would have taken years to realise on me own.

So yes, if you're looking to speed up your progress I can vouch for the assistance a good coach/instructor will give you.  DM me if you want the details of the guy who helped me, he's been brilliant and is a good lad and all.

You'd be best placed investing the money in some movement coaching which is certainly somewhat costly but will make vast differences to your climbing ability - fitness is unlikely to be the limiting factor at this level. 

A whole day is actually a vast amount of time and you'd be far better placed arranging 3-4 two hour sessions over the course of several weeks, where you can apply what you've learnt in between. 

I tend to point people towards Andy Swann because his description of how to do a proper rockover has stuck with me for years - you find his website here: https://www.climbforlife.me/performance-coaching 

He's also broadly in your area and wants £45 for a two hour 1:1 session which is very budget friendly IMO. 

Hope this helps and enjoy the process  

That's great feedback, I was hoping for something like that as oppose to feedback that was too route specific. I'll drop you a DM now.

That's very interesting feedback on the session length, I hadn't thought about less time but more frequent to be honest.

To cheekily piggyback this thread, this is also somthing I have been thinking about but got a bit bewildered after some intitall googling, how do people find coaches? or could anyone give any recommendations in the east mids  / s Yorkshire? I'm looking to improve in the low f and F 7s and low e grades but a lot of stuff on the web seems to be indoor focused which I'm not really interested in.

I've always been rather 'old school's in my approach and rather stupidly regarded this sort of thing as cheating but after plateauing for years and rapidly approaching middle age it seems like a pretty sensible option!

I highly recommend John Kettle, he has also published several books over the years.

https://www.johnkettle.com

Based in Kendal so not super far away.

I’ve sent you an email Jack.