Dylan Barks is an elite-level boulder and sport climber, and a dark horse in the climbing scene. He sent ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’, his first V16, just two weeks after this interview. We talked about how Dylan uses a spray wall for 95% of his training, how he prepares for both bouldering and sport climbing trips, and about recovering from an eating disorder to climb his hardest ever.
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Show Notes:
thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/dylan-barks
Nuggets:
4:00 – Vanlife pipedreams, Dylan’s work and school, and finding his groove climbing outside
7:05 – Being in both the competition and outdoor worlds
8:30 – Bad haircut timing, and the alpine as a harsh and special place
11:32 – How Dylan prepared for his trip to RMNP, and spray wall training for both bouldering and sport climbing
14:11 – Dylan’s training philosophy, and why he uses the spray wall
16:24 – The value of benchmarks, and mixing limit bouldering with perfect repeats
17:58 – ‘A Day in Boone’, how Dylan has trained his capacity, and session format
21:40 – The line between capacity training vs. junk mileage
23:45 – Deep dive: spray wall session format
26:32 – 60 move circuits, running, and pushing through vs. resting
31:23 – Watching Dylan on ‘Wild Cat’, and his story about competing against Daniel Woods
37:00 – Internalizing the feeling of a move, and bringing intention to all of your climbing
39:17 – Sending ‘White Noise’, and finding another gear on this trip
40:20 – Taking the lower grade, and being his own harshest critic
41:32 – Where Dylan sees a lot of climbers going wrong in their training and improvement
43:44 – Coaching Jon, and coaching the team in MI
45:43 – Starting climbing at summer camp
46:33 – ‘Southern Smoke Direct’, taking a hiatus due to an eating disorder, and the light at the end of a dark tunnel
48:52 – Sharing about an eating disorder, and how Dylan’s struggle started
51:51 – Dysmorphia, and “Your body’s got it.”
56:00 – A couple of paragraphs from ‘Weighing In’
1:01:13 – Trusting the process, seeing things working, and the tricks our mind can play on us
1:04:57 – Looking at old pictures
1:06:04 – What 18-year-old Dylan needed to hear
1:08:28 – Going to the hospital, rebuilding relationships, and turning things around
1:10:48 – Mike, and “feed the beast”
1:12:14 – Untapped potential for strength, and thoughts vs. actions
1:15:08 – Navigating negative thoughts
1:17:00 – Using your climbing and training as the main driver for body composition
1:20:19 – Climbing ‘Arrested Development’ second try
1:24:15 – Mindful climbing, and being in the present moment
1:25:52 – Practicing mindfulness
1:26:52 – If you could only do one more hard rock climb…
1:28:35 – That “click”
1:30:14 – Southern sandstone
1:31:21 – Go-to climbing shoes
1:33:02 – Warming up your technique
1:34:35 – Trying ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’
1:36:04 – School, and getting out his “ya yas”
1:37:25 – Aspirations to be a pro-climber?
1:39:01 – Vulnerability and the gift of sharing
1:40:10 – Gratitude, and meaningful connections
EP 133: Neil Gresham — Using Ballet to Climb Harder, Developing Your Finishing Game, and Extensor Training for Stronger Fingers
EP 132: Rebecca Williams — A Deep Dive Into Fear of Falling, the Self-Soothing System, and Climbing Smarter
EP 131: Ryan Devlin — Life as a TV Actor, Progressing From 11b to 12c in a Year, and How Pro Climbers Relate to Struggle
EP 130: Stian Christophersen & Martin Mobråten — Writing The Climbing Bible, Finger Strength vs. General Strength, and Strategies for Improving Technique
Follow-Up: Matt Fultz — How to Train for the Hardest Crimp Boulders in the World (Teaser)
EP 129: Dorian Evers — How to Navigate Different Stoke Levels in Your Relationship, and Getting Vulnerable with Your Partner
EP 128: Callie Joy Black — Training During Pregnancy, Climbing Hard with Kids, and Being Your Own Project
Follow-Up: Steve Maisch — My Summer Training Plan, and How to Get Stronger on the Moonboard (Teaser)
EP 127: Jesse Firestone — Bouldering Tactics, Quantum Leaps, and Non-Physical Factors That Affect Our Performance
BONUS: Michelle LeBlanc — An Upcoming 2SLGBTQ+ Pride Event in Squamish
S1E2: The Great Equalizer (Repost from The American Climbing Project)
EP 126: Devin Dabney — Getting Uncomfortable, How Climbing Saved His Life, and How Competition Makes Us Better
Follow-Up: Alita Contreras — Sending Her First 5.14a, and Training With Lattice (Teaser)
EP 125: Zofia Reych — The Heritage of Climbing, Breaking Down Gender Roles, and What It’s Like to Be Autistic
EP 124: Karly Rager — Mental Strategies for Developing Focus, Learning vs. Performing, and Building a Coaching Business
EP 123: Magnus Midtbø — The Hard Work Behind Success, Go-To Climbing Workouts, and Takeaways from Training with Adam Ondra
Follow-Up: Chad Andrews — The Pros and Cons of Living on the Road to Climb, and Having a Healthier Relationship with Money (Teaser)
EP 122: Jared Vagy — How to Prevent Knee, Shoulder, Elbow, and Finger Injuries as Climbers
EP 121: Carol Simpson — Being a Girl in the South in the 1950s, Yoga as the Fountain of Youth, and Ageism in Climbing
EP 120: Lea Volpe — The World of Paraclimbing Competitions, How We Perceive Wheelchairs, and Empathy in Coaching
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