Adam Ondra : what does it mean to train like a Champion
Adam Ondra is the winner of the Climbing World Championships 2016, in Paris, in lead competition. La Fabrique Verticale has met this great champion. We asked him how did he train to prepare this event and what does it mean to train like a Champion.
“The main and ultimate goal was actually trying to make the double again – winning both bouldering and lead. Maybe a bit too ambitioius and big ! But goals must be big enough to be motivating, right? At the same time, it released the pressure a little as I knew I had two chances to be the World Champion.
Train like a Champion : a pretty strict regime
It might seem that I have been focusing on outdoor climbing this season, which is partly true. But at the same I was not just hassling around the crags. I was on a pretty strict training regime in between the trips outdoors and trained hard. Especially in spring when I was finishing university and did not have the time to travel around very much. Combining boulder and lead and building the training for that is not such a big problem. We agree with Patxi that in order to be in a good shape for lead, you must feel in a good shape for bouldering. Being just really fit and light is not enough nowadys for the lead comps.
Arco, last step before the goal
When I arrived to Arco, I think I was well trained. But there was no gym training right before as I had spent in Flatanger trying my 9c project. Thus, I did not have the opportunity to turn the hard training into the endurance, as project in Flatanger is more bouldery than pumpy. So I did not feel so good on the lead routes. But bouldering was just fine. I also tested that climbing 3 days in a row does not really affect due to the all previous training I had done this season.
Train for winning
After Arco I trained for about 8 days, mostly in the bouldering gyms, doing circuits and trying to set the boulders in competition style, combining it with campusing. And then last couple of trainings I was really focusing on very similar style of climbing like in Paris. Climbing on big lead wall in Prague, mock comp with Martin Stranik and friends, trying routes that I knew well before on my home wall… And the very last training in Innsbruck was extremely satisfying as I could feel I was getting stronger than ever. Arriving to Paris and feeling fresh and strong in every single round was making me progressively more confident. And it is easy to compete with such a feeling. PUC training I had done was working pretty well. I did not admit any kind of fatigue on my 5th day of climbing in the final route in lead…”
