>Chockstone: Still on training, can you think of any tips for young players?

HB: I think there’s so much information on training these days I’m not sure I could particularly add to it.

>Chockstone: Well, what’s worked for you?

HB: Oh, I think that training is good for helping to make you more robust against injury. Apart from my shoulder I haven’t had any injuries at all. I never focused much on my legs, because my legs were pretty strong anyway, and I didn’t want to build too much muscle weight or mass in my legs. But I think if you’ve got skinny legs, doing some leg work is important, especially if you’re going to be using your feet really well. But I think generally in the upper body, I think just beefing everything up a bit more so you’re more resilient against injury is really quite beneficial in terms of holding your joints together.

>Chockstone: So, the idea of working opposing muscles you don’t work when climbing?

HB: Yeah, exactly. I know a lot of people have problems with shoulders and stuff, and I think that can be helped a lot by increasing general shoulder strength and building a bit of mass around there to just keep everything in place. I mean, this is a theory of mine, but I think that the weight training has helped me in that respect and just given me a really good power base. But by the same token you don’t want to be building too much muscle mass otherwise you’re just going to get too heavy.