Oh, I'm the world champion? It's okay? I have
my goal? Wow. It's finished? Wow. And I have
a goal. I have a goal. It's to be rich. And I
do around 60 to 100 pull -ups all the world.
Wow. A lot of people, when I go climbing in the
gym, they say, why don't you come climb at 7
o 'clock? A lot of people, you can climb. A lot
of people want a picture with you, autograph,
whatever. This was the best moment. We are a
climber because we like to share, like that.
Welcome to another episode of the That's Not
World Climbing podcast. I'm your host, Jinni,
and I'm excited to introduce my in -person guest
for today, Mickael Mawem. Micka is a French boulder,
and he is the bouldering world champ from Bern
2023. In this episode, we have an extremely honest
conversation about how growing up poor motivated
him to make money as a climber, why he stuck
with climbing despite the lack of financial prospects,
what his training looks like, which includes
warming up with a pull -ups and of course what
happened during the burn world champ finals shout
out to mad rock for hosting this interview at
their headquarters and i hope you enjoy this
episode with Micka. Please pardon this brief intermission,
but I'm excited to talk about Mad Rock's newest
and softest shoe yet, the Remora Pro. If you
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any questions about the shoes or sizing, and
you can use the discount code NOTREALCLIMBER
for 10 % off your entire Mad Rock order. Thank
you to Mad Rock for helping to sponsor the podcast.
Now, back to the show. How has LA been so far?
This is kind of your first time in LA? My second
time in LA. Second, first real time in LA. Yes,
first real time, because my first time I don't
stay in LA, it's just for a TV show. Yeah. Just
for a TV show, and now I see LA. The people of
LA. What was the show about? I didn't even, I
didn't hear about it until today. On Netflix,
it's Ultimate Beastmaster. Okay. Yeah, it's after,
it's 2016, we come. And with my brother, for
us to show TV, it's a big moment, like, US show,
like, it's a big ninja war. Oh, yeah, yeah. More
strong, more strong, more hard. Yeah. And then
after this, you're going to Red Rock. What are
your plans there? At Red Rock, it's... With Mad
Rock, we want to take the time for climbing.
I don't have a plan for climbing this boulder.
In case that, just climb a lot. I like climbing.
I like climbing. I like climbing a lot. I don't
like... You know, I train for a lot of fear,
only for one goal. Yeah. Just for performance.
Now when I go outdoor, it's like for chill. Okay.
For climb, for... Enjoyment. Exactly. And share
a big moment with some people. And that's the
priority. Just the pleasure. Because competition
is not a pleasure. It's not a pleasure. You have
the pleasure when you have the result. Just before,
it's not a pleasure. Yeah, that's interesting
that you said that. We'll definitely get into
that. But for now, before we get too deep into
things, how did you and your brother get into
climbing and competing? I guess, like, what interested
you about it? Oh, my brother started climbing
before me. Before me, like, six months, eight
months before me. How old was he? He started
around 16. Oh, that's actually really late. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. From my brother to 16 and me 11.
Yeah. 11 because we have six year difference.
And... Yeah, it starts, it's like just a friend
of my brother. In my small city in France, we
have an outdoor wall. It's like just, it's nothing.
It's just an outdoor wall, artificial outdoor
wall. And he climbed just for fun with a friend.
And one friend said, okay, maybe you can go in
school. In school, we have a small climbing wall
and maybe you can come and just play with me
and just go. And he go one time and he say, okay,
it's good. It's good. It's a good moment. And
we start like that. And after six, eight, ten
months, I don't remember exactly the time. Just
my brother say, Mike, you want to come with me?
Yeah, for sure. If my brother tell me like, come
with me, play a little bit of sports. Yeah, I
go. And directly when I put my ass on this climbing
gym, it's not a climbing gym. It's like just
a... For school, you know, you have a place for
football, handball, whatever, and just a small
climbing walk. And I come and directly I'm in
a good environment with good people and respectful
people. And that's directly I say, OK, wow, what
a place. It's amazing because I can be me. And
that's why I want to stay in the climbing team.
Not because climbing is cool, the movement is
good or whatever. No, because when I put my feet,
my body, when I come into the climbing gym, just
it's like, okay, I'm in a family. I'm in a place.
I can be me and say, wow, I want to stay here.
So you don't like the movement of climbing? Youth.
After some years, I found some parts of climbing
I like. For example, I like training a lot. And
if you like training, you like pain. If you like
pain, you can like climbing. Because climbing
is pain. Yeah, I know. You need to accept the
pain all the time. If you climb for the pleasure
or not, you go climbing, up, you touch a hole,
like, oh, no, the legs, you sleep, this, that.
You have all the time, maybe all the week. If
you climb two, three times in a week, you have
a small injury. Small, just small. That is climbing.
For me, I found some parts in climbing I like.
Just in first. I climb. It's just for the environment.
And after some years, it's because I don't have
the choice to come back and change my life. Why
change my life? And I like for sure climbing.
I found, yeah, it's a good world. Just for me,
it's just a step in my life. It's just a step.
It's not finished. It's just a step. I guess
one of the audience questions that had come in
kind of related to the community around climbing.
How did you feel being one of the few black climbers
on the circuit and then growing up in that environment?
Yeah. I'm, you know, about that. I never opened
my eyes on me, what's happened. It's just, I
go in competition. I won the world for a lot
of years. It's just for me. It's just for my
family. It's just for my brother. And I don't
put politics or I'm black or whatever in my sport
because it's only for me. And for sure, I have
a lot of questions about that. I don't see a
lot of black people. And not just black people,
Arab people. Before, at the beginning when I
started, we didn't see a lot of Asian people
coming climbing. It's not just about black people,
just for sure now, if you check the list of competitors,
you see just two black men. It's twins from Canada.
And just that. And in high, high level. No one,
only my brother and me. And I think, you know,
we talk about that sometimes with my brother
about why. And we try to understand why we don't
farm a lot of black people, some communities
don't have a lot of money. And I have a story.
My brother goes for five years to work in New
Caledonia. And he come in a place, it's like,
it's a city, it's a big problem in New Caledonia
because you have the white, you have some local
people, and he fights all the time because white
people take all the work, money, and the local
don't have nothing. That's it. It's the life.
It's that. That's when my brother come in this
city from... To manage the gym, the gym, it's
an outdoor gym. Directly, all the local, young
local, normally have a lot of problems with the
gym because the gyms are in a place, are in a
local place. When Basa comes, a black man, to
manage a big gym like that, all the young, the
local guys come to Basa and say, hey, you can
manage that, you. You black people, you are black.
Yes, yes, I work for that. He said, okay, it
was good. And now all the young have more respect.
I have more respect for my brother. And my brother
said, okay, come climbing. All the young come
climbing, come climbing. He come climbing. It's,
you know, the local young in New Caledonia are
very strong, have a lot of energy directly, so
a lot of... Good clever, say, oh, you can maybe
start climbing. And directly, all the young say,
no, I don't want climbing. I don't want to do.
My brother just want to know for what. All young
say, we can have a good life with climbing. My
brother say, it's possible, just maybe it's very
hard. And the young say, okay, I don't want time.
i prefer take a bowl play football and maybe
maybe i'm i have more chance to have some more
money and to have a good life yeah and and it's
for that i think uh we don't found a lot of black
people uh climb because uh there's not a lot
of money in it not a lot of money and and you
need to choose a way you can have a good life
like okay you don't put off people and like me
i don't i don't i don't want to use uh the sport
only for pleasure what what i have what i do
all the all the day it's for something for a
goal all the time it's just for that and and
the second part it's uh the price timing is expensive
yeah climbing in a gym it's depending country
it's 50. 60, 100 euro, dollar for memberships.
More than that here? More. Shoes, more to 150
euro, dollar for the good shoes. Armets, short
calls a month, you need to buy a shirt. It's
very expensive and you need to be very strong
if you want to, if you want. and if you're used
to climbing for your work too. And for me, maybe
some reasons we don't find some people, like
black people, African people, because it's really
expensive. And to have a good level, if you check
the list in IFSC or World Climbing, if you check
the list. It's only country where you can find
a lot of money. Europe, now China, Japan, it's
okay. And just that. Yeah, there's a lot that
goes into growing a climbing career. And you
mentioned growing up without having a lot of
money. How did you manage the finances of training
for competition climbing? Especially, I think,
getting into competition is even more expensive
because you need to get experience in different
gyms and different holds and styles. I don't
know, it's a lot. Yeah, if you're not sure, you
need to be very strong after that. You need to
be very strong. My brother and me, we have nothing.
Nothing. We have nothing. We have only support
of all the family. We don't want to ask my mother,
my mother -in -law to give me some money or whatever
for my sports. It's very hard. And when we take
the decision to give hold for climbing, to use
climbing for... our personal goal, we need to
find a solution to be strong. And we know when
we start, we start in a small city, in my region,
a small city. We have nothing, a small wall.
We can train at this small wall because just
six meters or seven meters high, only jug, a
vertical wall. And we reflect about what we need
to be strong. For now, we need a good level,
okay? We start training with what we have. We
have only one hang bob and one pull -up, and
just that. Yeah. And it's for that. But I knew
we are very strong with harm because we have
just that at the beginning, and we pull up, pull
up, pull up, pull up for the guard. And when,
yeah, okay, we move directly, we know, okay,
we need to move. We need to move. We need to
move from the level, from other gyms, to see
how we train in climbing, because we don't know.
We don't have trainers, we don't have experiments,
we have nothing. We don't know what's the possibility.
And we move. And me, for example, when I have
16 years, I move to another city. in another
city with my brother. And it's Clermont -Ferrand.
It's the first city we moved. Clermont -Ferrand
in France, it's the center of France. And why
we moved here? Because we know one guy of the
French team trained in this gym. And we said,
okay, we need to go for a see how this guy trained
and just for a see. And he trained, oh, he trained
like that. we repeat the same. We repeat the
same. And we move in Clermont -Ferrand, and after
we move in Grenoble, we move in Nancy. And it's
for the sports, it's for fun money, and with
the life. It's like all together. And yeah, and
after, when the level goes up, and we are not
so close to come in the French team. Now we know,
we check all the athletes, know you have a lot
of material, you have easy life, you can train
in the same place all the day, you don't walk,
you don't go to school. We know directly, Bas
and me, it can be, I think, yeah, directly we
say, maybe it's very hard to have that. We need
to reflect about, okay. Oh, we can found a little
bit money or material. Because Basa and me, okay,
we are just a climber. We don't have an image.
We don't have good results. We are just a climber,
a human, want a good life. Okay, we say, okay.
Oh, for sure, we need to train. We need to have
a good result. That's it for us. That's it's
hard because you are just one first place, one
second place. At the beginning of social media,
with Facebook, all people have Facebook for friends.
You try to have more friends and maybe 500 friends.
And after that, you can build a page on Facebook,
have some different friends. Maximum 5 ,000 people
can follow you. and I just totally just for pleasure
I use Facebook like all the people and Instagram
is coming and I saw something like hmm maybe
we can use because in France no no no I think
just one glamour use some social media for put
video or photo of the sport just just for pleasure
and and me I I reflect about how maybe we can
build something. We can build something on social
media. I don't know why. Just we can create nice
movements, nice big jumps. It's the beginning.
We don't show a lot of videos of some athletes
jump and play with their arm, no foot or whatever
like that. And we... I start like, okay, I'll
go just... All the day, all the today, I create
a video, I put a video of just that. And directly
with my brother, say, the social media, we have
more people follow us. Just we try to stay true.
It's just for, it's for funny, because I like
that. Just maybe, maybe, in the future, I can
use that. I'll start one year, two year. And
I saw one brand want to give me nothing, just
one tooth. I don't know. I don't remember what
is it. Give me maybe a shock bag. Just take a
shock bag. I want nothing. Just take it because
you have a good image. Okay. Thank you. And after
that, she said, oh, maybe we can have some material,
a little bit. We don't have money. And if we
have, one or two shoes free, shulks free, some
material in climbing free. It's okay. It's better
for us. And we start slowly like that. We found
some good partners. And this partner, the first
partner we have, don't follow us because we have
a good level. Don't follow us because we have
a big community. Because he, you know, maybe,
I don't know for why, just he gives us like for
free because maybe we are just good guy, good
guy, I don't know. He gives us material, yeah,
just not a lot, not a lot. And I remember the
first one start to give us some material is snap
climbing. And snap climbing walk with my dog.
Long time ago, it was the same. The cash pad
are at the same place. We have some story together.
And it's Patrick from Stapp. Now it's Sarcos
by Stapp, and it's different. Just Patrick gives
some material to my brother. My brother has a
better level to me. He's older. Yeah. He gave
more material for my brother. My brother gave
me a little bit more material. And when we start
like that, just with the shoulder bag, a little
bit short, two crash pads. I have the same crash
pad since 20 years. Really? Wow. The same, the
same. He gave us the first crash pad. And slowly,
someone gave some material. And now... One time,
I listened a little bit to all the people, and
he talked about LeframoM, LeframoM, like a brand,
like LeframoM, so you know, yeah, not a brand.
I was just a poser. I just created a social media
with my poser and me because we have the same
sports, we have the same goal, and why we...
We put time, why do I suddenly need to put time
and me put time separately? No, you put all together,
it's more easy. It's more easy. And all people
talk about brand, brand, brand, brand. Okay.
Just for me, it's just not a brand, it's just
brother. It's just my brother and brother account.
And we continue like that. And I post a video,
video, video, video, video, video, video. Maybe
I post maybe 3 ,000 videos on Instagram. Yeah,
it's a lot. Yeah. It's a lot. For my more than
200 ,000 followers, I have 3 ,000 videos. Yeah.
Oh, it's a joke. Yeah, it's a joke. I do that.
I don't create all the videos just for something.
I create for show my sports, for show what I
do. And I train a lot. And if I have some material,
it's perfect. I don't need to put money for that.
And then slowly, yeah, I go like that. And just
that's, it's one time you have a limit because
you can have a good image, you can have material,
just now if you want a good level, you need money.
Yeah. You need money because you need to pay
your food, you need to pay your travel. Yeah,
it's a lot. It's very expensive. We have the
chance in France, when you are in French team,
The foundation pays all. The travel, food, when
you travel for the camp, that's it. It's very
easy. But getting there is the hard part, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. And yeah, we need to form that. And
now we know it's like, for our money, we need
results. And it's a mix of results and image.
And if you have both, you can have some money
for the... Present life, okay. Like present,
you can live just in the present. You can't live
like, okay, I have money for the present and
the future. Okay, yeah. It's only enough for
the present. Exactly. Just for us, we don't want
that. Beside me, we don't want that because climbing
is just a step for us. We use climbing for something.
And we put all the motivation, all the power,
all the focus on climbing for something. It's
not just because climbing is cool, because it's
a sport, because we like that. No, it's because
we need something with that. And with my brother,
we say, okay, for our goal, what do we need?
Okay, maybe after the career, we need a climbing
gym. We need to work for our climbing gym. After
that climbing, maybe we open a climbing gym.
We need to open a climbing gym. And if we have
a business, maybe we can build the future life.
Okay, and we have a certain money for that? No.
Okay, we need to work. And all the career of
my brother and me, We train and work all the
time. Yeah. My brother works for some gym. Me,
I work as a teacher and a setter. I create all
the videos on social media. Oh, yeah? I develop
les frappes à rem. And, yeah, just we work all
the career. For example, story in Olympics, all
the coaching Olympics are. I'm not okay with
us because we work all the day. We go three weeks
before Olympics in Tokyo. We are in a small place
in Tokyo. It's COVID. We stay in the same place.
We go out, hotel, go out for training, just like
that. We go out for training with our brother.
We come back at the hotel. We work all the day,
all the night. Computer, two pieces, na -na -na,
na -na -na. And all the coaches say, no, no,
don't take a break. Put your brain here. You
have a big camp. No, no, because the camp, it's
a, yes, it's a final stage. Just for now, we
have a, we have a big life. We need to build
a big life after that. And we need to work, work
all the day. And is that all the courage? Work,
work, work, work. And, and yeah, and I think.
It's hard to have money from climbing. Just like
all the work in this world, if you want money,
it's hard. Okay, if you want the money for heat,
sleep, and take one, two week, three week holiday
in a year, okay. A lot of people can do that.
Yeah. If you want more, You need to walk. Do
you regret choosing climbing since you aren't
able to make a lot of money from it? Not regret
because I breathe a crazy life. It's a lot of
work to do what I have now and what I can have
for the future. I don't have regrets. Just if
the world come back 20 years or 25 years ago,
I choose other way. Yeah. Other way for sure.
Yeah. Maybe I continue school. I don't need to
wait my 34 years for whatever, for my first step
in my life or build my goal. And yeah, I choose
other way. For example, if I need to choose a
sport, because school, I'm young. And I choose,
I say, for me, I can be good in school. And I
say, okay, it's not good. And maybe if I can
come back, I choose the same decision. Just maybe
the sports. If I know, I play football. Because
football, maybe you don't need to be professional
for. have money. Yeah, yeah. You don't need to
be professional. You are just a good team. You
have some results. You can have 2 ,000 euros
per month just for training two days in a week.
You think so? In France. Really? Two, three days
in a week. Football, French football is like
here. And two days in a week, one... One camp
all the Saturday, one match all the Saturday,
two thousands, if you have a good level. Just
a small kick, small kick. Just for me, I choose
all the way. Like maybe tennis. Yeah. Because
I know I can be strong in all sports. I can give
what I give for my sports, for my goal, I give
all my life. I give all my time. I put my family
back, at left, wife, and I go here alone. I put
my friend here, go alone. Just like give all
for the goal. And I know if I give that for other
sports, for school, it's more easy. It's going
to be more easy. Did you try any of these other
sports? Before climbing. Yeah. Before climbing.
Before climbing and... There's some difference
for just all the time. We are not, we don't have
a good welcome with my brother. You come in a
sport like athletics or we try athletics, theoretically
we want to, I want to jump on, I don't know that
in English, the sport when you run and you jump.
Oh, okay. The long jump? Yeah, long jump. Yeah,
just that. I won't do that. And I come for a
try for the first time. Say, I won't do that.
Say, okay, go run five kilometers. I don't want
to run. Say, no, you need to go. Okay. And after,
I won't jump. No, you need to do whole. Because
you are young. Say, okay, I don't want that.
And after I tried gymnastic for two years, the
same. The same, the same. I'm not... Yeah, I'm
not really... I can do what I want. I say, okay,
stop. And, you know, it's a sport like that.
You're not... It's a sport you... Gymnastics,
you're alone. Betis, you're alone. Yeah, when
you train, you're with a group. Just really,
you're alone all the time. And team... Sport
with team, like football, handball, or whatever
like that, Okay, so Tim just woke up in a tin
in my city. It's very hard. And that's because
I come from a small region in France. My first
five years in this region when I was a child,
we are only in this city, only one black family.
It's five families. And the mentality, it's a
little bit hard with the whole people. All people,
you know, in my city. A lot of years ago, it's
a German city. It's a German city. You have some
not good mentality. A lot of people don't have
culture. Germany is not that now. It's finished
a long time ago. Just the mentality of old people
is not about racism. It's about... You don't
have culture. Only that. You don't... a lot of
people, it's like, okay, black men are people,
he's not a good person, he's not a good person,
just you don't know because you don't live with
people like that. And, you know, all my life,
I don't have, I don't find a good place and for
that, when I put, when I go try climbing, I say,
wow, wow. The community was good. Yeah, it's
a community and all is welcome. It's like, my
daughter can come. Sure, I had it last night.
You can come, you can stay you, and there's that.
For that, I try different sports, and when I
test climbing, it's not about climbing, it's
just about all. No one looked at me, just all
called me, like, okay, come play football with
me, because my first four years in climbing,
If I go climbing for three hours, I climb only
one hour. One hour is football. One hour is climbing.
One hour is football. It's like that. I'm glad
you found a good community in it. Yeah. So let's
get a little bit into your time competing on
the World Cup circuit with IFSC slash world climbing
now. The first one, I'll kick it off with an
audience question. They want to know, will you
ever compete again on the IFSC circuit? compete
again. No, no, no. For my brother, it's finish.
I have a goal in my life and climbing is a step.
My first step is to be the best in climbing one
time in my life for my brother too. And directly
when I am the best, when I win the world championships,
say, I have my first step. For sure, sometimes
you wait. It's like, okay, you have a good level.
You can continue. I have that in my head. And
the last question is for what? I don't have a
response. I don't have a response for what? For
pleasure? No. It's not a pleasure to go to the
comp. Yeah, stressful. So stressed. And if you
win, maybe you have a pleasure. If your level
is like 100 % at this comp, okay, maybe it's
a pleasure. If you have a mistake, it's not a
pleasure, and you have a lot of mistakes. If
your level is not at 100%, it's very hard to
be at 100%. Maybe one time in your life, you
can maybe hide 99%, something like that. Or maybe
120 % sometimes, one time in your life. It's
like, I died. And for me, yes. My first step,
it's okay. I won that. Now I can go in my second
step. And for my brother too, it's finished because
maybe my brother, after Olympics in Tokyo, he
can stop. Because he's been two times World Cup
champion in speed. He has a lot of good results.
For him, it's okay. I mean, the Olympics is a
great goal. Exactly. And after that, why continue?
Because I don't have my goal. And after World
Championships, why I continue? Because Basa continue.
For 24, I need to continue with it. That's for
sure. After 24, stop. Did you feel relieved that
you didn't have to compete anymore? Was it like,
oh, finally I can stop? Or was there like bittersweet
feelings about stopping? Nah, you know, I remember
after I finished my last bullet and final in
World Championships. I go at the pace with all
the athletes. You know, your chair, you can sit,
if you are the first player, you sit on the middle.
I go on the ground like that. And just it's like,
I'm free. I'm free. Yeah. Like that, it's like,
I can put this part of my life just here and
I'm free for that. Yeah. And I, after that, wow,
it's, It's a big moment. I want to give this
moment for, I want to explain this moment for
a lot of people about, okay, found your goal.
Found that and your goal is here on your heart.
And found that and follow this way, go, go, go.
And if you have your goal, this association you
have, it's like you're just alive, you know.
It's just the life starts. Oh. Yeah. When you
are born, you don't know. You are too small.
You don't remember that. For me, it's like, this
moment, it's like, okay, I'm born now. Right.
I'm born. And I'm born with, like, I can build
a normal life. And also, you've mentioned, like,
this goal. So the goal was the world championships?
And then after the goal, it's only a step? Just
a step. We have a lot of steps in life. And I
have a goal. I have a goal. It's to be rich.
Please excuse this brief intermission, but if
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To be rich, when I'm 16 years old, when I decided
to give all in climbing, I chose climbing. I
chose climbing because I just like that. I have
just school and climbing, and I chose climbing.
I want to be rich. I want to have one million
on my account. I want that. Because I saw the
life of my mother. My mother had a hard life
for all the children. And I saw my mother fight
with my real father. That's not a good guy. All
the life for my brother, my sister. We are six
children in my family. Fight all the year for
that, for the children. She has nothing. She
comes from a hard family in Guyana, south in
America. She moved to Frankiana, and after she
moved to France, and after she moved to, yeah,
she stayed in France. Just my real father, our
legionnaire, military. My legionnaire, it's a
part of my career. It's just crazy people. Just
crazy people. No rules. It's legionnaire. It's
like crazy. And it's for that my mother moved
to France. We are now Nîmes in France, South
Street, France. And my great -grandfather, the
nationality, it's Cameroon. And yeah, my father
take all the children in Cameroon, burn the passport.
just for put problem for my mother. And because
my mother have nothing. She work only for wash,
some industry, the ground, just that. She have
nothing. She fight lot of year for take the children,
forgive for all the children, a good life, like
just eat, house, just that. And when I am children,
because now it's like I have three, four, five,
six year, seven year. It's not for me. I don't
see that. It's, you know, you are children. You
don't see there's a pain and just that. Just
at eight, nine, ten, I saw my mother all the
time tired, all the time nervous. I don't understand
for why. I saw my mother wake up very early to
go work, maybe for church. to go walk two two
hour just get in the sea watch something i don't
know up she come back at house she prepares the
breakfast before school uh all clothes wake up
up you go to school she go walk it's that's all
the day no holidays no pleasure of nothing she
should break his life uh for the children and
All my, when I was a teen, when I saw that, I
go to my bed all the night to pray, I think in
English. All the night I go like, okay, I hope
God, please, I hope you can help my mother to
have more money, to have more time for her. I
don't want to see my brother cry. Just that,
all the night, all the night, all the night.
Give a good life for my mother. We need nothing.
We have a hole. Just that, just that. And after
seven years, all the night is that. When I have
14, 13, 14, I stop. I stop all to wait for God
to come to help my mother. Just I stop that and
I say, okay. He can help my mother. I need to
find a solution. And when I'm 31, it's like,
it's very easy. It's just my mother don't have
money. It's how she work a lot. She move all
the time. With more money, maybe the life is
more easy. A lot of people can underfund that
because they don't have maybe a lot of problems.
A lot of problems or not, in some community,
money is important. Oh, for sure, yeah. And it's
very important. And yeah, just that. And after,
now it's like for that, I decided to try to be
rich, forgive very fast, maximum of money for
my mother, build a house, buy a car, and not
just for my mother, after for my sister, for
the children of my sister, for all my family.
For first, my mother, just my mother, need nothing.
I need nothing for the... When I won't give money
to my mother, she said, no, she won't. Now, she
is only proud of us. And that is very sufficient.
I think the money for my mother is like that,
just to see, okay, all my children are in a safe
place. Yeah, to see that you have a good life.
Yeah. And yeah, that's why I want to be rich,
to give the opportunity to all my family. Build
a good life. A life, another life. Yeah. Now
I see why it was hard for climbing to do that
for you. But you're making it work. You're making
it work. Yeah. Yeah. So back to, I guess, the
step to your goal of winning world champs. Did
you feel like the boulders suited you best there?
Or was it one of those 100 % days for you? Or
what do you think allowed you to get the gold
there? The World Championships, you know, I worked
a lot. I trained a lot for a long year. I failed
a lot. I continued all the year to try to have
my first day, my first goal. In 23, after around
10 years in French team. Wow, yeah. Yeah, after
10 years in French team, if you check my result
in IFSC on the website, you check my result,
it's so bad. I have just one year, one better
result for staying in French team and continue,
continue, continue, continue. All the time I
fight for that. Before the World Championships,
for me, I can't ask my goals. I can't. It's too
late. I'm tired. It's okay for my second step
because I work hard. I have a good image. I take
a lot of experience. I know what I can do. Okay,
for the next step, it's okay. For the next step
of my life, it's okay. Just this goal I don't
have. Just for me, it's maybe the last World
Championship. Maybe the last. Two months before
the World Championship, I have an interview with
a sponsor and just I talk with one athlete, Marie
Patouille. It's a French athlete, para -athlete
in cycling, speed cycling. I don't know. I have
a talk with her. It's a good talk because I talk
with her about difficulty and about goal. She
remembers me, the goal, what is the goal. And
we talk about the goal, the goal, the goal, the
goal. And for now, I say just, okay, maybe I
don't have the title and I'm not the best climber
in the world. I win a lot of experiments for
my life. That's maybe the last step. If it's
not, I go like, okay, I don't know what's going
to happen. I don't know what's going to happen
at the World Championship. And I go like, I go
just, I train, I have a good heat, I try to sleep
good. And I go without, I don't want to raise
a client, just I go for going to World Championship
and only that. We have six, seven hours before
the final and maybe two, four hours before I
go to isolation. Normally, it comes like that.
I go to the hotel, I take a shower. I try to
take a nap, to make a nap. Just for me, it's
very hard. I try. And after I hit and get hold,
and I go back and run. And I go to the hotel,
I take a shower, try to make a nap. One minute,
two, five. Okay, very clear stuff. My brain is
like... I don't understand what's happening in
my head. Like, just, I can't, I can't. And the
first time in my life, normally, I'm very strict.
I have a routine, and I follow my routine all
the time. I'm very, very strict. And now I say,
okay, I take all my bag, my stuff, I go to the
place, the exhibition place, I walk up a street
with some brand, it's a chilly place, I go, talk
with some brand, sell some material, I walk,
just I stay here. Like, okay, for two hours,
I walk outside. That's time to go to the isolation,
I go to the isolation. I am in isolation at the
moment, normally, Start for warm -up. I go, I
put my shoes, I start to warm -up. I'm tired,
I won't sleep. I won't sleep, I'm tired, it's
like, wow. I try five minutes, ten minutes to
warm -up, I stop. Say, okay, I can't warm -up.
I can't, I can't, I'm so tired. And if I warm
-up, I don't know what's going to happen, just
I'm so tired, I can't warm -up. Then I stop,
I take off my shoes, I put on my bag, I wait.
I wait. But now it's the beginning and we go
to read the boulder, to read all the boulder
for the final. We are ready to the final. I will
read all the boulder. I understand only the first
boulder. Yeah. Only the first. Only the first.
I come back to isolation, the coach of the friendship
and Nico Januel, my... I started when I started,
he coached me the first three years in the French
team. They are here, because now, it's been so
many years, I coach alone with my brother. I
talked with him, he said, you understand? What
about the boy? I said, I understand nothing.
No idea. Wow. He said, and all the attacks, it's
like a little bit that. The first is okay. The
second, the slab, it's just slippery road, like
360 slab, like bam, bam, bam, bam. Okay, the
third boulder, it's like the jump, like up, like
that. Oh, yeah. I saw the video of Meiji, and
maybe it's like that. Yes, I never try a movement
like that. I don't understand. And the last,
it's a plastic hole. Oh, it's new. Yeah. Okay.
And now just Nico tell me like, okay, it's good
for you. Why it's good for me? I understand nothing.
It's not good for me. I understand nothing. I
say, oh, good for you. It's good for you. You
have the difference with all the people, the
young people. You have the experience. Say, no,
for me, it's like experience, experience. Yes,
I understand nothing. It's okay. Okay. And now
it's just, it's not the beginning of the final
because for me, okay, I have a small break in
isolation, just my brain, stay in the camp. Like
when I saw the first bullet to the semi -final
and the last bullet to the final, my head is
like the same cock, the same circuit, as we say.
And just I am the focus on the first bullet.
You need to do it because the first bullet is
the holes, it's like basic. Yeah. This one you
need to do. And I did. And after, my body is
like just here. And I climb. I have the vision
of my climb, not the sensation of my climb. I'm
out of my body. So that's a good thing. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah, it's good. It's good because I have...
Yeah. I did the Buddha. I have the first place
after that. Yes, it's... Yes, it's... Different
moment because it's so hard to explain what's
happening at this moment. And so I guess like
now looking back, we see the no -text holds a
lot nowadays, but that was like the first time
that you guys saw no -text in a comp, right?
Yeah. So did you even train on no -text holds
before? Same is, you create a coordination with
no text. Oh, yeah. You have a boulder with no
text. You don't use it. It's just like that.
Just okay. And in final, before we made the boulder,
we found a new hole on the spray wall, on the
wall for warm -up, a plastic hole. Yeah. So,
why put that here? why you put that on the isolation?
And directly, we reflect about, oh, maybe we
have that. We have that. And we try with coca,
we use coca, try with coca, we buy lots of things,
we put, no, water, salt with water, I don't know.
We try, we try. For me, I think it's my particularity
in climbing. The first is to have a good tactic.
I'm not the strongest climber in the world. In
camp, in outdoor, I have the big title. Just
about my level is very different. And I'm very
strict with my life. I have a good tactic. I
have a routine I can follow. And for that, directly,
I try to find solutions, up, up, water, na, na,
na. And just about, okay, I have a good situation.
It's really like two or three, four, five seconds.
Like, okay, now maybe it's good. And after, a
lot of people test all the Japanese. We love
a lot about the Japanese guys because all try
the water, half we know, we don't try the shot
because you have dry skin, you sleep. You know,
Japan are very like that. we can change the rule
and he go climb like to put shark oh how tall
goes oh stop stop you test in isolation with
water and on the safety you put shark yeah because
it's like two different he can't like that and
me yeah maybe me i found just a good moment and
if you check the video of this boulder when i
go climbing when i did the movement I touch my
hand. I have the flow up. And I have the feeling
I put my hand, say, no, that's a good time. And
now it's a good time. And now I did the movement.
Yes. We have that. And my tips, it's very easy
because sometimes we say, you put something,
na, na, na, na, na, na. It's just water. And
I put, I take a little bit liquid shock and water.
And just I don't mix my liquid chalk. And on
the liquid chalk, you have chalk, alcohol, and
resin is like, it's like, resin is like you can
found on tree. Yeah, yeah. It's like a glue.
Yeah. Yeah. And just I put that with water and
a little bit and found the good moment for the
forego. Okay. Forego and just for me, yeah, for
this boulder, just I go and I, At the last boulder,
I know if I have the zone, I am the watcher.
Okay, so you did know. That was an audience question.
So you knew ahead of time. If you did that, you
would win. Yeah, at the last boulder. Before
my focus, my brain is not on me. When I finish
my third boulder, my brain comes, the whistle
comes. I can, my eyes are open. You know, when
you go in the first boulder, you have two places
in the relation. One place with other athletes
and a small place here. It's when the first climber
goes to the boulder. When he's finished, he goes
to this place. Because you don't want to come
here and maybe you can talk with other athletes.
And up, other athletes like that. And after,
when the last athletes are finished. All come
back here. Just here, you have a screen. You
have a screen. On the second place, you have
a screen with a score. Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, you have that. You can see the score just
after you boulder, after you try. After the first
boulder, I go. I did this boulder. I remember
only I check me like, good job. I put my house
on the chair and I check the screen and I saw
nothing. The screen is just here, big like that.
I try to see the number, zone, the result. I
see nothing. Like for five, ten seconds, I try.
Nothing. My heart is low. My body is not here.
I can't see the number. It's just here. Okay,
I stop. Okay, it's not a booger. Second one,
boom, I did the booger. I come back, I try to
read the screen, nothing. The third one I did,
and when I did the roller, when my feet touched
the mat, now all is gone. And at this moment,
it's like, I just want more. I talk a little
bit, just want more. It's maybe my day. Maybe.
It's maybe my day. I go back to the lesson. I
don't need to check the screen because I know
it's maybe my day. All the information comes
directly in my head. And after the focus of the
last boulder, just I'm not really focused about
the results. I'm not focused about, okay, I need
to did this boulder, this zone, whatever. Just
I know it's maybe my day. Give your maximum.
And the first step. It's to have the zone. That's
the first step. It's not, I have the zone, I
win. No, it's like, maybe I can win. The first
step, it's to did the zone, the second, to did
the boulder. And after I go, I try, I try, I
try, I have the zone, I continue the boulder,
I fall, that's the last move. And when you watch
the video, it's like, okay, Diweki, I've touched
the ground, like, yeah. For me, it's like, 30
seconds I touch the mat in my head it's like
30 seconds like oh I'm the world champion it's
okay I have my goal wow it's finished wow and
like yes it's like 2 seconds just in my head
it's like 30 seconds yeah and and yeah and after
that you know I'm free yeah What if you had never
reached that goal? If I don't have the title,
it's okay. I have a lot of experience. I imagine
it's okay. I know I can put a lot of energy for
one goal. I can put a lot of energy on work.
The last four years before World Champions, it's
the first year I can put money in my bank, save
money. It's the first time after a lot of time.
Wow, yeah. Just when I take my place in the Olympics.
I can save money. Before, I can't. Wow, that
was a long time. Exactly. For me, it's like,
okay, I have the money for my first business.
I have the experience. I know I can do all in
my life. I can do all in my life. It's just that.
For all the people, like, oh, you work hard.
People like you can do that. Yep. Let's talk
about pull -ups. Ha ha, pull -ups. Yeah. I watched
your video with Jonathan Sin. You guys were doing
climbing for sure, but then you were also doing
a lot of pull -ups. Is that seriously what your
training looks like? That many pull -ups? Yeah,
it's the base of the climb. In climbing and lots
of work, you don't need to forget where you're
from. And oh, you will you. And that's the base
and you don't need to forget that. And for me
and for my brother and me, we need to pull up
a lot of time. It's like if you have the good
sensation, if we have the sensation of, okay,
the body are very light, it's like, okay. we
can train. And it's a part of motivation too.
It's before they come, I don't. Before when I
start climbing, I pull up a lot because I have
only ducks. It's an easy part for training. And
when you don't know what is training in climbing,
you just check climbing is that, it's like so,
you do like that, you pull, okay, you do pull
-ups. Okay? And it's just that. And now, for
sure, with the high level, you need to try and
hold the part of gliding. Just we don't forget
what we like. And oh, we have this level. And
we have this level because our physical parts
are very high. My physical parts are very high
before my technical part in my body. And before
I come in French team, my level, my physical
level are very high, like high level. Just my
technical is like very bad, like regional level.
You know, it's bad. And just I need, just I have
a little bit of that and directly I have a good
level. Yes, pull -ups, it's like my base. It's
the base, and we don't forget that. So what does
your training schedule look like? How many pull
-ups? How much other stuff? Pull -ups, I have
a routine when I warm up, and I do around 60
to 100 pull -ups all the warm -up. Wow. You know,
it's like running. 50 or 80 kilometers per week.
Run four kilometers in a day, it's nothing. Me,
100 pull -ups. One time in my life, I do 500
per day. 100 is like, okay, it's just, it's nothing.
Now I can warm up directly with one pen. I can
do like now 20 pull -ups. It's okay. I don't
have injury. I don't have pain. Just like, okay,
it's normal movement for me. Like you wake up,
you can jump. Now you can jump. You don't need
to warm up for jump because you jump a lot of
time in your life. And me, the same with the
pull -ups. I pull -ups a lot of time and now
it's like normal. And in warm -up, I have a good
routine and I do it like that. 60 to 100, it
depends. And in my training, in my week training,
All the time, I have three times in a week, I
train my physique, pull -ups, push -ups, dips.
It's like all the time. All the time. When I
train for competitions, it will be different
because you need, for example, two months before
the camp, you need to have a break, and there's
that. Just in my normal life, it's like all the
week, three times in a week. Okay. Yep. And how
about technique? Since you said that was kind
of behind, how did you level up the technique?
How about the level of techniques? Just climbing,
climbing, climbing, climbing, move a lot, move,
change gym. Some people have a chance to train
in place where you found a lot of center, different
type of city. The gym change a lot of times,
the boulder, it can stay in the same place. We
can't follow a gym like that. We can't follow
a gym like that. And if you don't have that,
you need to move. Another technique, it's like
a big book. It's a big book, and when you go
and compete, you go climbing outdoors, you go
in the gym, you go climb on the tension board,
the kilter board, or whatever, you move, you
do some movement. With your feet, with your arm,
with both. And that's, if you climb with that
one, the book fails. You have nothing on the
books. If you climb with the brain, that's going
to book. That's going to book. It's like, it's
like, yes, it's just, you put that whole and,
and, and after the part of, okay, you need to
learn some movement, just. The important part
for competition is to have fast adaptation. And
for the fast adaptation, form the solution very
fast, quickly. The book needs to be full. Like,
okay, oh, there's a problem. Solution. Because
one time, two, five, ten times, I repeat that,
and now I can... put on my circuit or my boulder
in my four or five minutes. And that is the important
part. It's for that, in my training, I can only
do what I need for the camp. And I'll give a
good example. You can see a lot of videos of
climbers pull -ups or hang with six millimeter
holes. It's for watts. some competitor climber
is for what you train that he say to be strong
and figure do you so hold like six millimeters
in the comp never no maybe 12 it's a minimum
if you have 10 it's on the volume it's like yeah
18 the succession say no 12 is a minimum 14 okay
just turn on that and Put weight, if you want
to be strong, just don't go and use a small hold.
Like hold. And like me, I don't need to pull
ups a lot. That's what I need for me because
it's my energy, it's my gas for do hold, for
accept hold what I don't like. And I don't need
to pull ups 100 times, 200 times, 500 times all
the day. Just that's given the motivation for
all the rest of the training. Okay. Yeah. So
you wouldn't recommend pull -ups for everyone.
That's just you need to do the pull -ups for
your mental health. No, yeah, yeah. I would recommend.
We pull, huh? We kill in climbing. We pull. Okay,
we push. We use technique. Just we pull. Just
if you take the same, take all the athletes,
maybe you can do pull -ups with 40 kilos. Just
he can't do pull -ups. He can't do 100 pull -ups
in 10 minutes. He can't do 30 pull -ups without
weight. The easy part is to put weight, to repeat
only one repeat or two, take three, four minutes
rest, and go back, and that's it. No. No. Normally,
when you train, after a day, you finish like,
okay, I need to go sleep. And tired. And if you
check all the athletes in the world, you have
the best, best athlete with a lot of... He has
material, he has money, he has all. Okay, he
has an easy life. He can train one hour and a
half in the morning, take a break, two hours
in the afternoon, take a break, night, two hours,
because it's very easy. He can go to the physio.
That's the path some athletes have. More money,
more results, more people around us. And you
have all the athletes. All the day, you break
all the body of the day. You train maximum hour
of the day. It's just that. And after, you have
the rest. And that's... It's an important part
to try to push all the time limits. Of course.
And before they come, two months, Now it's just
the time you go more slowly. You try to work
your body, your muscle, your brain, just before
pushing it all the time. Okay. Work on technique.
I think everyone knows the French team is really
well known for their slab. Is there like a secret
to French slab or any tricks, tips you have there?
About that, for me, it's not about French are
good in slab. It's more like French don't put
the focus on the physique part in all sports.
You know, look NBA. The NBA, basketball, look
the USA team and the French team. I've never
seen the French team, so I don't know. It's a
good player. Yes, all is like that. Really? Okay.
Big, just like that. In a lot of sports, it's
just that. He puts in first technical, and for
me, slab is not really technique. It's just on
head. To repeat and to take risk, I think we
have the culture. to repeat a lot, to take time
to repeat a lot, some movement like that, and
in slab. And it's for that now, a lot of Japan
are good in slab. Because the culture in Japan
is like, okay, if you don't do a style, you repeat,
you repeat, you repeat, four, five, six, seven,
one day. And now, these populations are good
in slab. And a lot of climbers in this world
are good in slabs because they understand you
need nothing, just time and repeat. And I think
it's just about that. We repeat a lot. Maybe
we have an advance in France because a lot of
setters come from France a long time ago in the
IPC camp. Jackie Goddard, she stayed in the IFSC
for a long time. It's the French. It's not the
French side, it's the side of Jackie Goddard.
And just Jackie Goddard is a French setter. It's
for that the French teams are good on volume,
on slab, because Jackie set a lot of calm. And
I think... It's a part of that too. We have a
lot of good setters come from France. Not now.
Now we have a good setter around the world. Just
20 years ago, if you take the list of setters,
a lot of setters come from France. Okay. That
makes sense. Do you train a lot with the rest
of the French team or is it very solo? It's yourself.
Are you and your brother? I watch the French
team. I share my experience. I listen to all
the athletes. Yes, I train a lot. I train a lot
because for me, before Meiji came in the French
team, before Meiji came in the French team, and
Meiji is a young guy, he watched me follow and
all that. Just no one athlete trains a lot. Give
all for climbing. I only focus for that. And
like me. And me, I want me, I want just some
people give the same energy, the same motivation.
Why bother? And sometimes, some athletes, sometimes,
sometimes, just I don't train with a manicorm.
He's a good friend of me. We train a long year,
a long year we are. like in concurrence together
we train with us we have the same trainer for
three years i don't know i don't train with this
guy because he don't have the same organization
of me he come in a little bit late he warm up
30 minutes me i warm up in the base i need to
take one hour and a half um a lot of time we
have the phone Oh, Pete, the phone, no, no, no,
no, no. It's okay. It's worse for him. No problem.
Just for me, I'm not really happy. It's not good
for my environment. Okay, I go alone. And all
the time I train alone for that, for only have
the focus on what I want. And when I come with
other people, I use that like emulation. Like,
okay, it's the best for me. It's a competition.
And when I climb with other athletes, it's like,
okay, we share. I don't climb with you out of
time. So I want to be the best. If I want to
be the best, I need to beat you. And for that,
I need to be nervous. I need to absorb stress.
I need to have a good emulation. And for that,
if I climb all the day with you, this can be
a problem when I want a simulation, a good simulation
by the competition. And for that, I find Alan
too. And if I find Alan too, no one can tell
me, like, oh, no, you can do that, that, that's
not good. No, no, no. I'm alone. I go in my way.
And I know the road. Maybe sometimes not the
good one. Just the goal is here. The start is
here. I go here. Maybe sometimes it's like that.
Just I go here. And if some people come help
me, okay, I accept. I take help. I watch. I learn.
I watch all the athletes, all the time. And I
accept that just that I'm allowed to go here.
That's only funny. And the wave is the same.
Do you feel like there's any other climber who
has a similar style to you? Yeah, some athletes
are like that. I think with the high level, it's
a little bit different because some athletes
have that, just with more money and more people
around. For example, this. She is a queen. Queen
in climbing, Yania. She will not have camp. Just
Yania train alone. Other times, she like train
a lot. She are more strong just when she go in
the camp, when she train with some people. Wow.
She had just only the focus for weed, only for
that. And some architects are just... But suddenly,
we decided to go alone because all people around
us don't give the same energy, the same motivation.
And if you don't give the same motivation and
same energy to me, you can't stay with me. I
have some trainer, for example, when I come in
a French team, not the first time, the second
time, when I move to Voiron for Olympics, I move
in a place, you have, in this place, you have
speed, lead, and bullering. Not really good for
bullering. It's not really good for speed and
lead because it's outside. It's so -called a
big part of the year. Just all is in place. Yes,
the condition is like, if you come here, you
need to have... The trainer of the French pole
needs to train you. No problem. For me, no problem.
I take all I can take. No problem. It starts
after six months, I say. The guy, when I come,
because I come first at the gym, and I open the
gym, I close the gym. I'm not the trainer, I'm
not the coach, I'm not the owner of the pole.
I'm just an athlete. It's me, I'm the first,
I am the last all the day. That's okay, it's
my choice. I come at seven and a half or eight
hours to the gym. At seven or eight, I go with
my home. So for a trainer, I come at nine. And
five o 'clock, four, five o 'clock, four, five
o 'clock afternoon, go home. Okay, the coach
has come at nine. Just me, it's okay, I'm here.
It's one hour, one hour and a half. Just go to
the office. You work one hour. You come back
for the exercise. One hour. You go back to the
office. Blah, blah, blah. No, no, no, no, no,
no. It's just that. After six months, I just
start talking to the guy like, OK, I know you
have a lot of work. Just you train me. I give
all my time, all my motivation, all my life for
this project. It's not just for me. Just... You
win if I win. The Federation win if I win. Can
you give the same energy to me? Come. Not come
at the same time. I know you have a family or
whatever. I don't talk about that. Just when
you are with, can you stay with me? If you want,
you take your laptop and you walk on the gym.
No problem. This is good. Can you stay with me?
Can you follow me? And you give him the same
energy? You say no. Say, okay, I go alone. I
can understand because you have a lot of work.
You need to work for the administrative part,
for the athletes, for the coaching, the plan,
the training plan. It's a lot of work. I know.
And just say, okay, I go alone. Because for me,
I want me, I want only some people. It's the
same energy and motivation. It's usually not
that tough. No, I go out and I go out when I
prefer. I feel like, especially with, we're going
to get into the evolution of bouldering in a
bit, but with how much bouldering has changed
over the years, I feel like doing it alone also
makes it a lot harder. For you, since you're
one of the older athletes now, was it hard for
you to, or do you feel like you had to put a
lot of work into learning the new moves that
came with bouldering? Yeah, yeah. The new movement
and the young, follow the young. It's very hard.
It's very hard. Just, I don't try to follow the
young. And that's, I understand very quickly.
I understand that. Don't try to be the same.
Mejdi, Paul, Samer Guzou is a French guy because
I saw lots of French guys from Japan. No, because...
You don't start with the same material. You don't
have the same body. You don't have the same attitude.
Just go with what you have and try to have a
better level for what you don't have. You know,
my training, I have a vision of training. It's
like in first train, you have attitude. first.
And second, you train what you don't like or
what's not your aptitude. You train a little
bit. And don't forget your base, like I talked
about just before. My aptitude is that. With
that, I can make the difference. I need to develop
that, continue to develop that. And if the parts
don't like, or it's not my aptitude, or whatever,
it's here. If I can go just like that, maybe
one time I can do the same to hold, just with
my aptitude, I can have a better level. And it's
for that, in comp, all the year, I have a...
I can make the difference a little bit, because
I have a big physical boulder, big job. It's
not just that, because I'm very good in slab,
too. After some years, I developed my slab skill.
Because it's only here. It's not about technique.
It's about waist. It's about waist. Being willing
to skin your shins and your knees. I have pain
now, actually, because I have a lot. Oh, no.
I sleep a lot of time. Yes, I repeat. And yes,
and it's because I have this attitude, I can
stay on a high level. And maybe if one time you
make the difference, maybe it's the time when
you win. And that's all my career is like that.
I go in a camp. Maybe my pace is certain. Just
I do one boulder and just. If you have 100 people
clients, just five people do this boulder, then
I'm on these five people. Okay, I can make the
difference. I can create the difference. I need
to continue like that because if one time the
other boulder, I can add the same music to all
and make the difference, it's okay. Okay. And
so what is the future for you? I see you're still
doing some competitions, just not World Cups,
but still competing. Yeah, I continue the competition,
like Master and Sound Compete and Sound Compete.
Just about my future in climbing, competition,
I don't know. Now I don't know. I have energy.
Yeah. I have energy. I have... Motivation for
training. I train lots. Sometimes I don't have
the same focus, just I train. My level is good.
It's better, my level. Just, I don't know, I
don't reflect about what's going to happen. Maybe
next year I'll come back in camp. I don't know.
Some people talk to me about, next year I'll
come in French Championship. Or maybe it's Olympics
in 20 years, you want to go? Now, no. I have
what I want. No. I don't know what's going to
happen in my head in six months, in one year.
I know, I don't know. Okay, yeah. And it's for
that I continue to try. It's for that I continue
to compete. Because I'm not really sure it's
my time to stop completely. Climbing. Because
climbing, it's with competition. Climbing is
with performance. If I don't need that, I can
put my energy, all my energy, all my time, for
other, maybe for my family, for my work, and
just that. For now, it's like 50 -50 climbing
and work. Just 50 -50 on one day, it's 18 hours
per day for me. 50 -50, it's nine hours. It's
not nine. It's like more five -hour climbing
and 10 -hour, 12 -hour, 12 -hour walk all day.
Just for future, for climbing. I don't know.
Just like when I go compete some master, I take
pleasure because I take pleasure in master, competition,
international master, because it's a moment when
I can be a little bit more free and take. time
with people talk with people talk with athletes
without with no athlete because i like the community
in climbing i don't like the community community
of high level climbing but it's just a part just
for me i like the community in climbing and i
like to go in the spoil camp time with a lot
of people yeah uh go climb in a gym at night
you have a lot of people A lot of people, when
I go climbing in the gym, they say, well, you
can climb at 7 o 'clock. A lot of people, you
can climb. A lot of people want a picture with
you, autograph, whatever. This was the best moment.
We are a climber because we like to share a moment
like that. We climb bouldering because it's very
easy. You can talk easily, help. You can climb
with a beginner, with a world champion, with
people who climb three times in a week. It's
very easy. For now, I use climbing like that.
And the second part about my future, it's work.
To be rich. I continue to work for that. With
my brother, I have a gym. Yeah. Yeah, I have
the gym. We try to create other gyms. We build
MBS Industries. It's a brand. We build the auto
belay with electric assistance. Oh, really? Yes,
it's coming in France. We deliver some gym now,
slowly going international. It's for giving accessibility
of climbing. It's a big part of our life because
we know what climbing gives us. Climbing gives
a good life, a good environment, good community,
good friends. And we want to give that for more
people. And we create. Some auto -ballet assistance
for give accessibility for disabilities people,
fat people, old people, to reform a social place.
Yeah. We build that. I have a shop. I have a
shop. I build some tools for training. I have
a different one. I train young. I train some
young. In climbing, I train. I give my experience.
A lot of young. Yeah. Not from young. The young
I want, me. Okay. The young around me have a
lot of motivation. And we try to build with Madrock.
I'm in Los Angeles with Madrock for Coty to build
some material and give accessibility, build the
shoes, and maybe build the shoes, good shoes
for climbers. You can pay at 60 or 70 maximum.
And now it's like... I build all the future with
the work. Okay. And so no more, like, necessarily
climbing goals, like climb a harder grade or,
like, have an outdoor project or anything like
that? For now, no. For now, I want to, I want,
I have some small goal. Yeah, yeah, I have, because
I want to do all in climbing. I do all the comp
in climbing. Olympics too, it's like, okay, I
do all. Yeah. Perfect. And the part, I work in
all the places, climbing, teaching, sitting,
all. And in climbing, I'm just, I have a part,
outdoor part. And this outdoor part, maybe to,
I want to do one 9A in my life. One 9A. It's
like if I have one 9A in my life, for me, I do
all. All the world, camp, and outdoor. And for
me, the story is the story of my brother, too.
It's the first story to my brother. Maybe my
brother doesn't have the motivation to go now
because after speed climbing or start climbing,
it's very hard. And to go to try to do the action
direct. Oh, okay. Action direct is the first
nine hay in the world. Did by the stronger guy,
the British in the world. The guy is so strong.
He's a trainer guy. And maybe I want to do that.
That's a small goal in the outdoor. And so the
goal is just climbing, climbing, climbing. And
I want to go, maybe in July, I go to South Africa
for one month. And just, I don't want to do the
harbor boulder. There's maybe a lot of boulder.
And I want to take some moment with some friends
and share a moment with a lot of people and climb.
Okay. But mostly work goals. Yeah. Mostly work
goals. Okay. That makes sense. Great. So let's
move into some of the audience submitted questions
now. I think we have around three. First one
was just from, I guess I'm here now on Instagram,
just said, no questions, just love. Thank you.
Thanks a lot. Just love and just stays true.
And that's most important. Yes, exactly. So now
the questions. First one, who were your role
models growing up, climbing or non -climbing
related? Only my boss. Okay. Only Mike Bozer,
you know. Mike Bozer, it's, wow. He has a mental,
crazy mental, crazy brain. He can be very focused
on his goal and very consistency. And, yeah,
it's the best example I can have in my life.
Yeah. Not climb my life, in my life. And I follow
Mike Bozer. I'm not I build a part of my life
alone maybe it's 70 % I build it's for me and
30 % I follow my brother because it's a good
example of guy good with all people don't forget
where you're from give all for what he wants
take a lot of risk yeah my brother yeah okay
Next one from Jenilofa Chandelina. Okay. Just
wants to know more about your family. Has your
mother ever climbed? Have you ever taken them
climbing? No. In my family, no one climbed. My
sister started climbing at the same time. Okay.
One of my sisters. I have two sisters. And one
of my sisters started climbing at the same time.
She stopped after three years. The problem is
cold. About... You are a woman, break nails,
your body, your legs, your muscles. If you have
muscles, you are not a woman. That's a shit world
for the artist. So that just, we don't have...
Beside me, we are only... We are the children
who do sports. My family and my mother are just
tired. Just take... Too much working. Exactly,
too much working for the children. She has six
for a lot of years ago, like 20 years. She fights
for the life. For that, I live in a small region
in France. I build my gym in a small region because
I want to take my family, my father, my mother,
just close to me. And my story is like... Because
we developed the automobile with electric assistance,
for accessibility for all people. Yeah. And my,
not my royal father, my father actually, started
climbing in October, last, in October. Wow. Some
months ago. Took a long time to get into it.
Exactly, at 81 years. Wow. 81 years, and you
go climbing two, three times in a week. Wow.
With the system, because without it, it's too
hard. Yeah. With the system. And that's, for
me, the best. Because my father helped us a lot
to have a house, to have food, and to go to school.
And because we have a better situation. My mother
works because my mother, she's not with this
guy just because at the beginning. Because it's
a good guy. Because you need good life for the
children. Okay. A lot of people are like that.
You don't stay like, oh, you are with this girl
because you love. No. At the beginning, you don't
love these people. These people give you something.
Interesting. And sometimes, some people are...
That's like, okay, bring stuff. Like, okay, I
don't know what's happened. Just we need to be
together. Just for 99 % it's like, you give me
slide all the day. Okay, I want to be with you.
You give me security. Okay, I want to be with
you. You give me money, I can do with you. Okay.
Very practical way of looking at it. Yeah, after
you breathe the love. You breathe the love, you
breathe life together. At the beginning, you
follow one person or you start a life with one
person because they give you something and maybe
you give you something too. It's like together,
just another thing. And yeah, my father followed
all my life. He buys the first climbing shoes.
He gives us a big support. Just he never can
climb because it's a hole, he has a lot of injury,
a lot of weight too. And at 81 years, I climbed
the first time with him. And like, it's just
like, for me, it's like, okay. I win because...
I mean, because my father -in -law can understand
what he creates. Because it gives me the possibility
to have what I have now, what I do. And he can
have the sensation of that. And after that, he
says, whoa, it's cool. And he could climb three
times in a week. Okay, that's good to hear. It's
like full circle. Exactly. Okay. Last question
then from Kathy Sage. How do you maintain strength
without getting injured? Who? The goal. Your
goal. You know, you can, if you have injury or
whatever, you say you need to go to physiotherapist,
put high, to just that. Okay. That's the part,
the normal part of recovery. Just. What gives
the energy to recovery? It's what you want. For
what? For what you recovery? Because you have
a competition, because you have a goal, because
you have your children, they need to have you
to harm, because you have to walk and you need
to come back, because not you want to walk, because
you need the money for something and you need
to go to the walk. And just put your goal and
say, okay, I need to, To work hard because my
goal is here. And maybe I need to put hold, to
have a good recovery, fast recovery, because
my goal is just here. If it's 10 years, maybe
I can take my time. It's not now. Just maybe
reflect about your goal and that gives you motivation
for a fast recovery or not, or just good recovery.
My brother in the Olympics, but the biceps. Yep.
Why he have a fast recovery after five months.
Wow, it was only five months. Five months, he
break, surgery, five months. He can climb at
100%. He was climbing after three months. Wow.
And after five months, 100 % he can climb. Only
because he need to continue. because I don't
have my goal. Yeah. Not for him, because he may
have hope. It's just for me, I don't have my
goal. I need to continue. Just if, if four continue,
you need to have a good level for state. Okay,
you need to go fast. And he go four times per
week on the physiotherapist. Ah, yeah. If he
go, he go, he make some, he create some exercise
every week. Yeah, big focus because the goal
is here. If you have some problem, if you say,
okay, injury is complicated, check your goal,
and normally you find the motivation. Or not.
And if you don't have motivation, maybe it's
not a good goal. Okay. What was the hardest injury
for you? The hardest injury, it's my finger.
All my finger. I know my finger heart breaks
like a little bit here. Yeah, me too. I start
with this injury when I have 70 years. All my
finger heart breaks. I can't climb. I need to
stop one year. I have 17. Not one year, like
10 months. Because I can't take my class like
that. Pool of holes. It's so complicated. And
after 10 months, I know maybe my figure never
changed. Now it's break. And I tread on my car
with that. And that's the most hard part because
not only my figure, a lot of part of my body,
I have pain all the day. I pick, just I do that,
I have pain. Oh, really? I touch like that, I
have pain. a touch like that I have pain yeah
is that all the time I put I should I want to
take something in my car like that I have pain
yeah that hurts and that's I think it's hard
to start the beginning of your life with a break
body and continue with that and try to find the
solution to to continue and yeah okay No tips
for not getting injured, I guess. Just how to
push through the pain. No, no. Yes, we have the
tips. There's the tips. It's very hard. It's
to be good, to drink a lot of water. If you have
a problem, go to the physio. Try to have a flexible
body. Make a good warm -up all the time. And
listen to your body. When you are tired, go to
sleep. If you go to this weekend to party with
your friends, take a three -day break. But because
you need to train one day, you go one day. No.
No, now you need to take a break. Just that.
And if you do that, you can have a good career
and no injury. Just sit down. It's hard to do
that. It's a hard path. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's
all the questions I had. Thank you for joining
me today. Anything you want to shout out or let
people know where they can find you? If you have
any questions, Instagram, send me a message.
I try to give a response to all people. And I
give a response to all people if you need. Just
send me a message on Instagram and for sure I
can give you a response if I have. Okay. Awesome.
Well, thank you again. It was amazing to talk
to you. A big pleasure. Thank you for my experience.
I like it. And enjoy Vegas. Thank you. Thank
you so much for making it to the end of the podcast.
Don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed.
Otherwise, you are a super fake climber. If you're
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