Climbing
10 qualities that make Shauna Coxsey a brilliant boulderer
Shauna Coxsey is the UK's first Bouldering World Cup winner, so we asked her trainer Leah Crane how she's risen to the top of the sport.
Scampering up a boulder route like a spider is second nature to two-time World Cup winner Shauna Coxsey. But how did she get so good?
Rob Warner recently met the British climbing phenomenon as part of his Rob Meets… series. He also met her trainer and long-term friend Leah Crane, herself a three-time British bouldering champion. Watch it all in the player above.
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Crane is Coxsey's performance coach, but they're also close friends
© Band of Birds
It turns out there are lots of lessons to learn from the duo. So we asked Crane what qualities have helped Coxsey get to the top and how to apply them to make yourself a better boulderer.
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1. Be stubborn and strong-minded
Focused on success
© Toby Ziff/Red Bull Content Pool
Crane believes Coxsey’s stubbornness and strong mind has been a key factor in helping her step up to the top level of bouldering. It’s what makes it possible for her to keep pushing the limits.
“When you take on a hard climb, you fail again and again and you need to be stubborn enough to get back on,” says Crane.
“With Shauna, there’s not much that will stand in her way. She won’t take no for an answer, she will train more, think differently and try harder until she succeeds. And in competition, how you adapt and control your mind is what really determines whether you become a top performer.”
2. Be a caring, friendly and respectful
Ambitious yes, but Coxsey doesn't shut herself away from fellow competitors
© Henry Knock/Red Bull Content Pool
You don’t need a partner to go bouldering – but that doesn’t mean it’s not a sociable sport. In fact, being caring and friendly can help you progress and, according to Crane, they are two of Coxsey’s greatest traits.
“At a crag, you can learn a lot from those around you,” says Crane. “The nicer you are, the more connections you make. Shauna’s extremely sociable and caring and that’s really helped her develop as a climber.”
With Shauna, there’s not much that will stand in her way. She won’t take no for an answer, she will train more, think differently and try harder until she succeeds
A caring nature brings with it respect and, despite the strong competition between climbers at the top level, Crane believes the respect in pro competition is “the highest it’s ever been” right now.
“The top girls are friends, they laugh and joke, but they also understand each other,” she adds. “On the mats, they get their game face on, but whatever happens they have a lot of respect for each other.”
3. Keep yourself motivated, or get others to pump you up
Crane is always nearby to give Coxsey support if she needs it
© Band of Birds
Motivation is at the core of any successful athlete, and for Coxsey that comes both from the inside and from the support around her.
“I wish I had as much self motivation as Shauna,” says Crane. “She’s always on the climbing wall in her cellar, training away. Her motivation to better herself and to hit her own expectations is so high."
Crane is an accomplished climber is her own right
© Leah Crane/Leah Collection
“She does have times when she’s not so motivated, but that’s where our relationship comes back in. She can rely on me to know when to say ‘you need to dig in and do this’ but also not to force her if she’s not feeling it.”
4. Keep cool when you’re at the limit
Top climbers often perform at their best under pressure, and there’s a good reason for that. Crane calls it ‘last-move fever’ – and says the trick to becoming a better boulderer is learning how to keep your cool.
Competitors often share the best way up a wall
© Suguru Saito/Red Bull Content Pool
“When people are trying so hard, in competition or on a new climb, they often panic and fall off, one move short,” she says.
“Keeping cool comes with experience. Shauna’s had so many highs and lows, she can always keep a cool head because she knows what’s coming and how to deal with it.”
5. Use experience to build your move toolbox – and know how to use it
Route reading is all-important and it's something you learn quickly
© Band of Birds
Building up a ‘move toolbox’ is an obvious but essential quality for any boulderer, but knowing how to use those tools in new situations is what separates the great from the good.
“The more climbs you do, the more is in there,” explains Crane. “That helps you with route reading and it helps you react on the climb. Shauna has so much experience, sometimes her body just intuitively knows what to do.”
6. Be keen to learn, because bouldering won’t stand still
Coxsey and Crane will try anything that gives them that added advantage
© Band of Birds
Bouldering is constantly evolving as a sport and Crane believes Coxsey’s long-lasting success in competition climbing is helped by her determination to keep learning, even though she's right at the top level.
“There are lots of dramatic crowd-pleasing moves turning up in competition and you need to keep learning,” says Crane. “But you can’t just go in at the deep end on a really hard move. You start easy and get harder as you go.
“If there’s a complicated new move, I video Shauna and we watch it back. We discuss the movement, break it down into parts and work on it until she’s successful. Then she does it again to make sure it’s ingrained.”
Coxsey visualises a move for her next attempt
© Elias Holzknecht/ASP/Red Bull Content Pool
7. Reflect, review and practise the problem areas
Analysis is as important as performance to progress in bouldering, whether that’s in competition or on a tough outdoor problem. That’s why Crane and Coxsey regularly take time together to look back on past climbs.
“After a big event or at the end of a season, Shauna will let things sink in for a couple of weeks and when she’s ready, we go for a coffee to discuss the areas she wants to improve on,” says Crane.
Coxsey and Crane regularly review areas where Shauna can improve
© Band of Birds
“Always review the areas you are struggling with in a positive mind. And if you want to see gains, you need to practice the things you find difficult, not just do the things you love all the time.”
8. Commit to training and never slack off
1 min
A day in the life of Shauna Coxsey
Britain's climbing superstar Shauna Coxsey takes us through a typical day, from training at her local climbing wall to getting creative in the kitchen.
When Rob Warner meets Coxsey in her gym for his Rob Meets series, it’s clear she has an absolute commitment to her training regime. She's made a lot of personal sacrifices to gets things done.
Crane explains: “As soon as Shauna gets up, her life revolves around the training she’s going to do. She has things she wants to improve, sessions to complete, certain hours in the week, and nothing gets in the way.
“For anyone who wants to progress, a weekly list with aims and aspirations, number of sessions, and so on, is good. If you tick off 90 percent you’re doing alright; if it’s 50 percent, maybe you can commit a bit more.”
9. Accept not being in control
Crane's gymnastic background has been beneficial to Coxsey's development
© Leah Crane/Leah Collection
As a former acrobat, Crane is comfortable being out of control. Being able to cope with that is a key trait of a good boulderer, because it helps the climb flow. But it’s one thing Coxsey really had to learn to get used to.
“When I started to train with Shauna, we did gymnastics moves and when she was upside down, she was totally disorientated,” explains Crane. “It was clear she wasn’t fully aware of her body out of the climbing context."
1 min
Yogabatics with Shauna Coxsey
Yogabatics with Shauna Coxsey
“We now do AcroYoga (acrobatics combined with yoga) before each climbing session, with me as the base and her on the top. She’s completely under my control – and that’s been a real learning curve for her.”
10. Let your body flow
The ultimate goal of any boulderer is to manage momentum through the climb. The ability to balance the ebb and flow of being in control and not in control is, arguably, the culmination of all other qualities put together.
There is total trust between the girls
© Leah Crane/Leah Collection
Crane explains: “You have to let your body flow smoothly through your moves and then have the strength to stop. If you’ve not experienced that feeling it can be quite scary. It’s often what stops people succeeding.
“Shauna is incredibly dynamic but also incredibly strong. She’s had that out of control feeling a lot and knows how to regain control. And it’s that which gives her such a great ability to get up a bouldering wall so well.