EP 86: Dylan Barks — Spray Wall Sessions, RMNP Rampaging, and Recovering From an Eating Disorder

Dylan Barks is an elite-level boulder and sport climber, and a dark horse in the climbing scene. He sent ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’, his first V16, just two weeks after this interview. We talked about how Dylan uses a spray wall for 95% of his training, how he prepares for both bouldering and sport climbing trips, and about recovering from an eating disorder to climb his hardest ever.Support the Podcast:thenuggetclimbing.com/supportBecome a Patron:patreon.com/thenuggetclimbingShow Notes:  thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/dylan-barksNuggets:4:00 – Vanlife pipedreams, Dylan’s work and school, and finding his groove climbing outside 7:05 – Being in both the competition and outdoor worlds8:30 – Bad haircut timing, and the alpine as a harsh and special place11:32 – How Dylan prepared for his trip to RMNP, and spray wall training for both bouldering and sport climbing14:11 – Dylan’s training philosophy, and why he uses the spray wall16:24 – The value of benchmarks, and mixing limit bouldering with perfect repeats17:58 – ‘A Day in Boone’, how Dylan has trained his capacity, and session format21:40 – The line between capacity training vs. junk mileage23:45 – Deep dive: spray wall session format26:32 – 60 move circuits, running, and pushing through vs. resting31:23 – Watching Dylan on ‘Wild Cat’, and his story about competing against Daniel Woods37:00 – Internalizing the feeling of a move, and bringing intention to all of your climbing39:17 – Sending ‘White Noise’, and finding another gear on this trip40:20 – Taking the lower grade, and being his own harshest critic41:32 – Where Dylan sees a lot of climbers going wrong in their training and improvement43:44 – Coaching Jon, and coaching the team in MI45:43 – Starting climbing at summer camp46:33 – ‘Southern Smoke Direct’, taking a hiatus due to an eating disorder, and the light at the end of a dark tunnel48:52 – Sharing about an eating disorder, and how Dylan’s struggle started 51:51 – Dysmorphia, and “Your body’s got it.”56:00 – A couple of paragraphs from ‘Weighing In’ 1:01:13 – Trusting the process, seeing things working, and the tricks our mind can play on us1:04:57 – Looking at old pictures1:06:04 – What 18-year-old Dylan needed to hear1:08:28 – Going to the hospital, rebuilding relationships, and turning things around1:10:48 – Mike, and “feed the beast”1:12:14 – Untapped potential for strength, and thoughts vs. actions1:15:08 – Navigating negative thoughts1:17:00 – Using your climbing and training as the main driver for body composition1:20:19 – Climbing ‘Arrested Development’ second try1:24:15 – Mindful climbing, and being in the present moment1:25:52 – Practicing mindfulness1:26:52 – If you could only do one more hard rock climb…1:28:35 – That “click”1:30:14 – Southern sandstone1:31:21 – Go-to climbing shoes1:33:02 – Warming up your technique1:34:35 – Trying ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’1:36:04 – School, and getting out his “ya yas”1:37:25 – Aspirations to be a pro-climber?1:39:01 – Vulnerability and the gift of sharing 1:40:10 – Gratitude, and meaningful connections