EP 85: Emil Abrahamsson — Trying Hard Projects, Hangboarding Two Times Per Day, and a Career on YouTube

Emil Abrahamsson is an elite boulderer, route setter, and YouTuber from Sweden. We talked about goal setting and projecting his first V15 as a V9 climber, the importance of psych and inspiration, experimenting with hangboarding two times per day, how to do one-arm pullups, sharing the experience of outdoor climbing through films, and making a living through his YouTube channel.

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Show Notes:  

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/emil-abrahamsson

Nuggets:

3:11 – Building a van and planning a bouldering trip around Europe

6:01 – My bouldering goals, Emil’s progression, and setting goals

9:27 – Trying a V15 as a V9 climber, and how a lot of climbers stay “comfortable” at a specific level

12:53 – ‘The Big Island’ 

17:17 – Emil’s first day of climbing, struggling early on, and getting hooked

19:38 – Alternating difficulty and volume goals

21:32 – ‘The Queen Mother’ (Emil’s first 8B/V13 project in Stockholm), and the limiting power of expectations

29:21 – Reflecting on ‘The Queen Mother’, and prioritizing psych and motivation

32:00 – Felix

37:13 – “Swiss Recruitment”, or the Swiss style of projecting

41:00 – How Emil got into YouTubing, capturing the experience of outdoor climbing, and my impression as a viewer

44:27 – Forgetting to charge the batteries, and the stress vs. fun of filming

47:42 – Work-life balance when you love your work, and turning YouTubing into a career

49:34 – How to balance capturing footage with training or performing, and capturing the good and the bad

51:15 – Emil’s “No Hangs” hangboard video, and his caveat for training advice

56:00 – Quick overview of the “No Hang” hangboard protocol, and Emil’s theory of why his fingers got stronger

1:00:16 – We get most of our strength through climbing

1:01:41 – 4x4s and other climbing games 

1:04:10 – Training your strengths, and practicing weaknesses through climbing

1:06:59 – How Emil structures his training, and embracing the stretching “pain game”

1:11:49 – Turning challenges into positives, and the benefits Emil has noticed from stretching

1:14:46 – Patron question from Florian about avoiding crimping early on in his climbing, and how Emil worked to improve his crimp strength later

1:18:34 – How Emil rewired his brain to think, “Full crimps are comfortable. I can enjoy these.”

1:19:32 – Emil’s crimp progression and current level

1:21:53 – One-arm pull-ups, 4mm crimps, front levers, and getting weaker on purpose to get better at technique

1:28:55 – Emil’s recommendations for progressing to a one-arm pullup

1:33:41 – How Emil pronounces his name, and a Patron question from Flynn about training for indoors vs. outdoors and competing in World Cups

1:41:12 – Flash training 

1:43:44 – World Cup goals, and the flame of competition

1:47:34 – What is one of the weirdest/worst training experiments that you’ve tried?

1:50:24 – Favorite films, the critical eye, and the need for consistent content

1:54:48 – Recommendations for new viewers

1:56:35 – Emil’s dream collaboration

1:58:17 – Gratitude

2:01:03 – Finishing the van, and plans for Switzerland and Italy