Training for V15 with Kiernan Tong

Kiernan is one of the best climbers I’ve seen in person. I first encountered Kiernan via YouTube watching him dance up local choss at Mortar. Over time, he’s blossomed from a Bridges Rock Gym comp kid to a versatile undercrover crusher. He recently went to Joe’s Valley and has been crushing V12/V13 on the regular with the goal of soon ticking his first V15.

Overall, Kiernan is honestly a climber I aspire to be like - from his humbleness to his flow. It felt natural that I had to interview him.

I know you started off comp climbing as a kid. At what age did you start and what was your training like? How do you think it gave you a leg up nowadays?

I think I started training for competitions around the age of 16-17. For me, the hardest part of competing was never the difficulty of the boulders. I mainly had trouble with power endurance so for a while my training consisted of 4x4s and then I would also add in hangboarding and campus boarding to maintain/ gain strength and power. When I was training for nationals I started training twice a day doing strength/power in the mornings and then ending the day with more climbing and endurance exercises. I think my main takeaway from training for competition climbing is just learning how to be disciplined and consistent with training as well as figuring out what your body needs to perform best (rest, diet, etc).

What are, as you see it, the main differences between comp and outdoor climbing?

Nowadays the main difference I see in comp climbing is movement. The setting has shifted into a lot more dynamic and coordinated movement. Comp climbing has also introduced a lot of new parkour-style movement that we rarely see outside. I think training for competition climbing involves a lot more of just trying weird dynamic moves and trying to create muscle memory so that executing in a 4 minute window is a lot easier. 

I’ve seen you climb and you have incredible flexibility (high feet, awkward angles, etc). Is this something you worked on or came naturally to you? How would you recommend one acquires this skill and how valuable do you think it is in climbing (e.g. does your beta often deviate from others)?

I think I got lucky as far as hip flexibility, but I also played soccer and other sports when I was younger so we would stretch a fair amount. I think the most important muscles to stretch are the hamstrings and hips. For heel-hooks, hip and ankle/knee mobility are pretty important. Being flexible in climbing just makes movement and everything a lot easier. A lot more feet become more accessible which ideally lets you take more weight off your hands. I think for the most part my beta remains similar but I definitely have experienced first-hand how flexibility makes climbing flow better and feel easier.

I feel like you go through training/climbing lulls. You don’t go outside for a while, but then go on an absolute rage and send everything. I recall particularly that you hadn’t climbed outside/inside for a while during the pandemic and sent Endless Basement (V13) in a session! How do you maintain your climbing ability when not actually climbing?

During the pandemic I was lucky enough to have the space to build a campus board and hang a hangboard. I think the most important part of climbing is contact strength so for me this was a pretty good way to stay strong without climbing. I also did a lot of ring work and weight lifting.

I always found your training super interesting. You always emphasized how that outdoor climbing usually consisted of one crux surrounded by a bunch of fluff. Hence, you trained in a circuit style - campus boarded, followed by trx, followed by pullups - with no rest. It seems kind of heinous, but do you think it works?

My training has changed and progressed a lot throughout the years. I think for sport climbing, and longer boulders that workout you mentioned is really good. It tires out the entire body with an emphasis on the pull muscles. Nowadays I do a lot more movement and boulder specific training. So I do a lot of board climbing (moon, tension, or kilter) as well as making up hard moves on a spray wall. I also hangboard and lift. My training schedule now is 3 days on 1 (sometimes 2) days off. First day, I double sesh, hard climbing, hangboarding and lifting in the morning, then I do more climbing and movement boulders in the second session. For days two and three I taper off the intensity and up the volume so i’ll do more climbing at a lower difficulty or climbing circuits on the spray wall and lift in the morning and then just climb for movement in the evening

I also notice that you use a weight vest very often. Critics often say that using a weight vest will hinder your movement and body awareness. What are your thoughts on it and why do you use it?

I think using a weight vest is very beneficial if done right. I only add 6-12 pounds when doing max limit boulders. I also make sure to prioritize movement with the weight vest on. So I think it helps with contact strength but also can help with figuring out how to climb boulders more efficiently. 

I know you’re a big fan of the three-finger drag to conserve energy and close/half crimp when coming to a crux. How do you use this grip and do you think varying grips in the middle of a boulder is a valuable skill?

I love being able to open hand any chance I get. It saves energy and can also give you more reach than a full or half crimp. I think being comfortable with all crimp position variations and knowing when to use different grips is really important.

How do you see your growth trajectory in climbing? What are your short/long term goals in climbing?

I think my growth in climbing is not going to be linear but as long as I stay psyched on training and climbing hard boulders I’ll keep getting better. My short term goals right now are to climb a V15 by the end of 2021 and to keep sending as many V12s and 13s as I can in a session. Other than that I just want to keep pushing myself to get better and just send as many hard boulders as I can.