What is up ladies and gentlemen, Mani here. In this video I react to PewDiePie’s “1st year bouldering” progression, because YouTube randomly served me the thumbnail with a climbing wall and I had to see what’s going on. I talk through his clips from the super-beginner phase all the way to him chasing that V5/V6 “pin” challenge in a Japanese gym, and I point out the classic “beginner look”: stiff hips, straight legs, static movement, and that shaky-leg fear moment when you’re 34 and you know falling is suddenly a real tax. I also go into what regular gym training does (and doesn’t) do for climbing: you can power through some stuff, but almost nothing hits forearms/fingers the way climbing does. That’s why I’m pretty blunt about home training—pull-ups on jugs mostly make you beefier, but if you want carryover for bouldering you eventually need finger strength (carefully), meaning hangboard work, max strength focus, and not just endless reps. And then I get into the spicy part: climbing is intrinsically unfair because morphology matters—height, wingspan, shoulder position, torso/leg proportions, finger length—all of it changes what feels “easy” or “impossible.” My main coaching takeaway for Pewds (and honestly most beginners): stretch your hips and ankles, get flexible, and your climbing instantly becomes more precise, faster, and way more efficient.