Motivated?What is motivation?Motivation is a psychological state that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal. Motivation can be extrinsic or intrinsic. In the first case, you do the action because you will receive something in return. In contrast, if you do the action because you feel free and happy and not to receive any physical thing, that would be considered internal motivation.Here, I want to show what do I do when I am motivated.In this video you can see me wake up at 6:20 A.M. because the regional bus to go to Val-David leaves at 7:30. I...

Dante and I had the great pleasure of attending the Pan American Continental Championships in Tucuman, Argentina. We got a chance to experience some of the best Dulce De Leche Crepes and some of the worst flooding from torrential rains in Buenos Aires before we met up with the rest of the U.S. DH team for the final leg of the journey out to the Tucuman. The race course came down a grazing, high desert, field outside the town of Tafi De Valle. It was somewhat similar to Napa Valley dirt (Excellent wines come from this region) and the...

Tenerife being an awesome spot for rope climbing is well known. With Bouldering we are talking about a lot of uncertainty. Doing his homework of preparation and planning GU (Guntram Joerg) quickly realized that this island had already rejected the brave ascent attempts of many strong guys and girls. It was only after short scouting-session with Walter Gollner - THE austrian-stranded-in-tenerife-local that GU realized that there still was loads of potential to crush. GU got to work and it was only a fews days that the first hits on his ticklist - some of them boulder problems that had...

I battled my first nationals of the year in a new division, male youth C. I ended up in 17 but learned a lot about resting between climbs and knowing when to stop to prepare for the next route. My coach said I climbed very smart. We knew nationals was going to be a struggle because I have put on 20 to 25 pounds since last year. I have gotten stockier while everyone else got taller. Since getting back from nationals I am working hard on nutrition, (eatting 5 times a day), Strength training and core/balance exercises along with...

Last weekend I competed in my first ABS national competition. This was the first national bouldering competition I had attended. Going into this competition, I knew that it would be a great experience. I also learned about what I need to improve for next year. The qualifying round as well as semi-finals went fairly well. I was trying to conserve as much energy as I could. This strategy seemed to work since I made finals with plenty of skin and energy. The finals problems were amazing. The first boulder problem was a technical slab climb. Every hold...

Val-David has become almost a home for me. I really love this place. There are many good problems, some of them easy and some very hard. But the amazing thing is that all the problems have something to teach to you. I think that’s the real reason why I climb.I don’t believe in a universal level of climbing. For example, just because someone can do a V8 doesn't necessarily mean they can do a V6 or V7. The best approach to training is not just improving a general climbing level, but improving one or two specific types of...