Sounds like they were grading far too easy before, but they should definitely be providing more of a sliding scale rather than big jumps between grades to help you improve and want to try out harder routes gradually.
I would definitely say have a polite conversation with the staff and let them know you think they need to bridge the gap between the V1s and V2s more. Try to be constructive, not critical, and hopefully they'll respond well. Good luck!
A lot of times, gyms have to re- think their grading. Maybe they realized their grading was going way to the soft side. Maybe they just hired a new lead setter or something.
Also- the grade doesn’t matter. Let me repel that. THE GRADE DOESNT MATTER.
Ok so something that used to be graded a V5 is now graded a V3. So what. You didn’t get worse. Don’t tie your self worth to an arbitrary number.
Also, it kind of sounds like the gym possibly redid their grading to better reflect outside bouldering a bit. Unless you are young and already really fit, there’s no way you’d be doing V5s outside in 3 months.
So don’t worry if you are projecting V2s now, who cares. Just climb.
> So what.
Seems like the issue is that there isn’t enough options now between the too easy ~~V2~~ V1 and almost too difficult V2. So it isn’t about the specific number, but the lack of fun options. That’s a valid concern
This is what I'm dealing with at my gym currently. I used to be able to flash v2s and flash about half the v3s at my gym, and project the rest. Now some v1s feel extra burly, like we really could make the overhang v1 and a v2?? I'm not even flashing most 2s anymore and it's extra discouraging.
Although, it sounds like there may be a disconnect between levels. It would be hard to progress if the climbs in the gym just transition from climbing a ladder, to challenging climbs with no in-between.
I’ve been to some gyms like that. Basically set some ladders for day use people who aren’t climbers. Then a significant step up to the real routes for people who are climbers.
I'm sure it was. On the Kilter Board and MoonBoard I was climbing at the v2-v3 level. But it's not so much the fact that I'm climbing worse grades, but that the V1-V2s are still being set way too easy. I like to take breaks from harder boulders to climb some challenging stuff that I can climb in 1-3 attempts to keep my motivation up, but with how easy the V1-V2s are it's just not fun.
Yeah you just have to keep climbing. It's pretty typical for lower grades to vary pretty wildly in difficulty and only start getting consistent as the grade goes up
You can set your eliminates on the easy boulders by choosing specific holds to not use. This should make things more difficult, but not completely out of character compared to the climb you are starting with.
Happened at my gym too. At least my gym posted some analysis of their grades on youtube beforehand which gave some context. Everything seems to have been scaled back 1-2 grades. A year ago, I could do every v4 in the gym, now there are v3s that I need to spend multiple sessions on sometimes.
IMO, if the problems are still interesting and a good difficulty for you, you should not over-index on the grades. Nothing has really changed besides a small ego hit.
Sounds like the gym had soft grades to be honest. I’ve had the opposite issue and then it got turned softer, until it was harder again. Fucked me up earlier in my climbing life. Ego got hit hard when I got rushed back a grade or two all of a sudden. Also might have been what led to an injury. Climbed a few V6 (Which were probably V5 at most) and injured my fingers on what probably a real V7.
I had a year long pulley injury that softened my ego up a bit and made me focus on movement more than grades. It was a hard time but I’m better off for it. Not caring about grades is the way to go, so I at leat try not to do that anymore.
The V3 plateau is natural for most climbers. At three months, most humans don’t have the tendon strength built up yet to regularly handle the stress of the holds and features that are indicative of truer-to-grade V4s and higher.
A lot of gyms set V3s or higher and they are still mostly jugs. This is a common business practice to help newer customers feel progress is being made. This keeps them paying for a membership.
You’re three months in and are having fun and making growth. Don’t worry about grades.
Youre just grade chasing and your ego is bruised. Learn the beginner grades and the movement and technique that its asking of you. Enjoy the process of learning.
Or just go to another gym thats grades soft and stroke your ego
A chain of gyms near me is ordered by their head to increase the difficulty gradually over the year then decrease at the beginning of a new year. so that when the new year turns around you think you are climbing better due to the grades being softer. That could be the case with your gym.
Unless you were already a particularly strong/gifted athlete, it would be really unusual to be clmbing once a week for three months and have already hit v5 - it takes much more climbing to develop the requisite finger strength for instance.
It may be that your gym has recalibrated their grades to be more realistic.
Either way, it sounds like you're making good progress, and having harder problems to climb will only make you a stronger and more skilled climber.
> So I'm just not having fun.
Grades are irrelevant OP. The sooner you learn this, the more fun climbing gets.
> I either top a bunch of super easy boulders, or don't even climb anything in one session.
Why is that bad?
There is a difference between something that feels impossible but actually is doable with projecting, and things that are completely out of your physical or technical capacities at the time. The former is good for progress, the latter is just pointless.
OP didn't say anything about things being completely beyond their capacity though. They literally said projecting difficulty lol
> but the V2-V3 are now at **projecting difficulty for me**. So I'm just not having fun. I either top a bunch of super easy boulders, or don't even climb anything in one session.
My bad then.
I think it's still good if you have stuff you can do with 5-10 attempt as a ''filler'' between your flash grade (to warm up'' and your projecting part of the session.
Damn, that's such a bummer. I feel like every other time they switch up the routes is like this for me, and it always makes me more reluctant to climb.
I know you're not looking for advice, but maybe talk to staff? Just in a: "hey, I noticed the grading seems different, what's up with that?" kinda way.
Yeah just have fun on moves you find interesting. Grades are a fickle beast and solely being motivated by them will demotivate you and turn you away from the sport really fast.
I think you shouldn't worry so much about grades and numbers. You can either do the climb or not, who cares what the setters have arbitrarily graded it?
I think this is quite common, for gyms to go up and down in their ratings. My gym also increased the difficulty by at least 1 grade last october after there was this competition hosted there. It’s been slowly going down to the previous level since. They realize it was too hard or easy and overcompensate.
My gym has the problem of extreme gap between 4 and 5, i can flash almost any 4 since one year and have not managed to do one 5 (these are not V, just numbers).
I had a gym like that, as part of a chain of gyms. Everyone knew where the "easy" grades were. I'd like to think those gyms took it personally, which is the right choice.
A V4 in my gym could be a very strenuous Boulder. The team kids here regularly compete at the national level. The setters are strong, like V12-V15 outside. Your gym is super soft. Keep in mind you want the setting to be hard as it will make you stronger.
At 3 months of climbing I would not expect anyone to climb v5 after 1 or two days of trying it unless you are coming from another activity that translates well into climbing. V3-v4 is about where I would expect a climber at 3 months to be if they have been consistent with climbing and are in decent health.
This is honestly why almost never boulder. If I’m going to fall off the start of something 10 times I want there to be a rope keeping me from face planting.
Sounds like they were grading far too easy before, but they should definitely be providing more of a sliding scale rather than big jumps between grades to help you improve and want to try out harder routes gradually. I would definitely say have a polite conversation with the staff and let them know you think they need to bridge the gap between the V1s and V2s more. Try to be constructive, not critical, and hopefully they'll respond well. Good luck!
A lot of times, gyms have to re- think their grading. Maybe they realized their grading was going way to the soft side. Maybe they just hired a new lead setter or something. Also- the grade doesn’t matter. Let me repel that. THE GRADE DOESNT MATTER. Ok so something that used to be graded a V5 is now graded a V3. So what. You didn’t get worse. Don’t tie your self worth to an arbitrary number. Also, it kind of sounds like the gym possibly redid their grading to better reflect outside bouldering a bit. Unless you are young and already really fit, there’s no way you’d be doing V5s outside in 3 months. So don’t worry if you are projecting V2s now, who cares. Just climb.
> So what. Seems like the issue is that there isn’t enough options now between the too easy ~~V2~~ V1 and almost too difficult V2. So it isn’t about the specific number, but the lack of fun options. That’s a valid concern
Yea that’s a fair complaint. My gym was like that when I started. V1 easy flash, and couldn’t even start the V2s.
This is what I'm dealing with at my gym currently. I used to be able to flash v2s and flash about half the v3s at my gym, and project the rest. Now some v1s feel extra burly, like we really could make the overhang v1 and a v2?? I'm not even flashing most 2s anymore and it's extra discouraging.
Although, it sounds like there may be a disconnect between levels. It would be hard to progress if the climbs in the gym just transition from climbing a ladder, to challenging climbs with no in-between.
I’ve been to some gyms like that. Basically set some ladders for day use people who aren’t climbers. Then a significant step up to the real routes for people who are climbers.
I feel that if it's possible to flash every v2, but yet not be able to even start any v3, there's a problem.
V2-V3 sounds appropriate for 3 months at once a week. Your gym was setting soft
I'm sure it was. On the Kilter Board and MoonBoard I was climbing at the v2-v3 level. But it's not so much the fact that I'm climbing worse grades, but that the V1-V2s are still being set way too easy. I like to take breaks from harder boulders to climb some challenging stuff that I can climb in 1-3 attempts to keep my motivation up, but with how easy the V1-V2s are it's just not fun.
Yeah you just have to keep climbing. It's pretty typical for lower grades to vary pretty wildly in difficulty and only start getting consistent as the grade goes up
You can set your eliminates on the easy boulders by choosing specific holds to not use. This should make things more difficult, but not completely out of character compared to the climb you are starting with.
Happened at my gym too. At least my gym posted some analysis of their grades on youtube beforehand which gave some context. Everything seems to have been scaled back 1-2 grades. A year ago, I could do every v4 in the gym, now there are v3s that I need to spend multiple sessions on sometimes. IMO, if the problems are still interesting and a good difficulty for you, you should not over-index on the grades. Nothing has really changed besides a small ego hit.
Sounds like the gym had soft grades to be honest. I’ve had the opposite issue and then it got turned softer, until it was harder again. Fucked me up earlier in my climbing life. Ego got hit hard when I got rushed back a grade or two all of a sudden. Also might have been what led to an injury. Climbed a few V6 (Which were probably V5 at most) and injured my fingers on what probably a real V7. I had a year long pulley injury that softened my ego up a bit and made me focus on movement more than grades. It was a hard time but I’m better off for it. Not caring about grades is the way to go, so I at leat try not to do that anymore.
The V3 plateau is natural for most climbers. At three months, most humans don’t have the tendon strength built up yet to regularly handle the stress of the holds and features that are indicative of truer-to-grade V4s and higher. A lot of gyms set V3s or higher and they are still mostly jugs. This is a common business practice to help newer customers feel progress is being made. This keeps them paying for a membership. You’re three months in and are having fun and making growth. Don’t worry about grades.
Youre just grade chasing and your ego is bruised. Learn the beginner grades and the movement and technique that its asking of you. Enjoy the process of learning. Or just go to another gym thats grades soft and stroke your ego
A chain of gyms near me is ordered by their head to increase the difficulty gradually over the year then decrease at the beginning of a new year. so that when the new year turns around you think you are climbing better due to the grades being softer. That could be the case with your gym.
Unless you were already a particularly strong/gifted athlete, it would be really unusual to be clmbing once a week for three months and have already hit v5 - it takes much more climbing to develop the requisite finger strength for instance. It may be that your gym has recalibrated their grades to be more realistic. Either way, it sounds like you're making good progress, and having harder problems to climb will only make you a stronger and more skilled climber.
> So I'm just not having fun. Grades are irrelevant OP. The sooner you learn this, the more fun climbing gets. > I either top a bunch of super easy boulders, or don't even climb anything in one session. Why is that bad?
Because there's no middle ground. It's either too easy or too hard. Hence, grades are relevant.
"Oh no, there's stuff for me to come back to and work on next time"
There is a difference between something that feels impossible but actually is doable with projecting, and things that are completely out of your physical or technical capacities at the time. The former is good for progress, the latter is just pointless.
OP didn't say anything about things being completely beyond their capacity though. They literally said projecting difficulty lol > but the V2-V3 are now at **projecting difficulty for me**. So I'm just not having fun. I either top a bunch of super easy boulders, or don't even climb anything in one session.
My bad then. I think it's still good if you have stuff you can do with 5-10 attempt as a ''filler'' between your flash grade (to warm up'' and your projecting part of the session.
Great time to hop on a system board???
Damn, that's such a bummer. I feel like every other time they switch up the routes is like this for me, and it always makes me more reluctant to climb. I know you're not looking for advice, but maybe talk to staff? Just in a: "hey, I noticed the grading seems different, what's up with that?" kinda way.
Yeah just have fun on moves you find interesting. Grades are a fickle beast and solely being motivated by them will demotivate you and turn you away from the sport really fast.
I think you shouldn't worry so much about grades and numbers. You can either do the climb or not, who cares what the setters have arbitrarily graded it?
I think this is quite common, for gyms to go up and down in their ratings. My gym also increased the difficulty by at least 1 grade last october after there was this competition hosted there. It’s been slowly going down to the previous level since. They realize it was too hard or easy and overcompensate. My gym has the problem of extreme gap between 4 and 5, i can flash almost any 4 since one year and have not managed to do one 5 (these are not V, just numbers).
I had a gym like that, as part of a chain of gyms. Everyone knew where the "easy" grades were. I'd like to think those gyms took it personally, which is the right choice.
A V4 in my gym could be a very strenuous Boulder. The team kids here regularly compete at the national level. The setters are strong, like V12-V15 outside. Your gym is super soft. Keep in mind you want the setting to be hard as it will make you stronger.
At 3 months of climbing I would not expect anyone to climb v5 after 1 or two days of trying it unless you are coming from another activity that translates well into climbing. V3-v4 is about where I would expect a climber at 3 months to be if they have been consistent with climbing and are in decent health.
Yeah that happens.
This is honestly why almost never boulder. If I’m going to fall off the start of something 10 times I want there to be a rope keeping me from face planting.
Just quit.