Endurance is important, but climbing technique is what makes great climbers.
Once you start focusing on the right approach, the climbing starts to get easier. Climbing that seems impossible at first glance gradually gives you clues as you start climbing with the right moves and technique.
Climbing techniques include:
- Ways to use your feet and hands.
- Tips for maintaining balance.
- Ways to climb more efficiently.
You need to master footwork, fists, manual labor, balance, and intentional movements to perform these movements and techniques.
After nearly five years of learning and developing skills, you’re learning a lot about how your body moves and feels at different angles. You think more about how your position will change depending on whether you are on a rock, a green, or an overhang; it’s a knowledge base of micro-adjustments, weight-balancing strategies, and footwork, refined and fine-tuned each time you make a move.
This article will talk about a range of basic and moderate rock and rock climbing movements and poses, what they’ll be used for, and how they can be applied and adapted to meet certain needs.
FLAGGING:
The first move you should try and use to help you balance your holdings. As beginner climbers, holding only one hand or one leg may seem rather unusual. Still, it can make climbing much more comfortable and less taxing for new climbers.
Try practicing this move low to the mat on bigger holds, and as your confidence increases, work down to smaller grips. Sometimes a climb can appear to be quite difficult when sticking exclusively to footholds; flagging against the wall and not on hold can help with balance or may even open up more efficient pathways up the wall (also referred to as `beta`), play around with this move and test it out, definitely one to have well-practiced.
FOOT SWAPPING:
There will be a lot of occasions when you’re running through a problem or a route where you need to change feet on hold; it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but swapping feet can be a tough thing to accomplish when you’re working through a hard sequence of moves (also known as; the `crux`) or a particularly powerful climb. In order to climb hard, you must learn the foot swapping movements early, as you will have worse foot swapping conditions as you try to climb harder.
STEPPING THROUGH:
Similar to foot swapping, stepping through is where you will bypass swapping your feet on one foothold and cross your free foot through to another foothold nearby. Instead of changing pins, this would be done if it expended less energy or resulted in less time for tougher holds. It’s a bit of a judgment as to whether to use foot swaps or cross movements, but with practice and testing with different beta variations, knowing when to use this or that movement is convenient. Profit.
SMEARING:
Have you seen someone in your climbing center who can stick their feet to the wall like there’s an outlet there? Smudge is the perfect way to add foothold if no clamps are available to use. In fact, on more difficult levels, lubrication becomes a requirement to complete a climb.
Blurry also has the benefit of helping you prepare for outdoor climbing and the lack of obvious support that real rock can have. The secret to smearing is pressure. If you make your whole foot hit the wall and hope you stick, you won’t quite get there, but if you apply pressure through the toe area of your shoes and direct that pressure down, you will have a much better chance of sticking.
ROCK OVER:
Rocking over is all about keeping that balance and power ratio regulated and even going too hard. You’ll spin-off or become unbalanced, which makes completing the move harder, don’t go hard enough, and the movie won’t go. Getting this move to work for you takes a combination of movement in the arms and shoulders and your legs. Moving everything necessary and in sync with each other is tough to start with but seamless once mastered. Remember, though, confidence and commitment are major factors.
HEEL HOOKS:
One of the coolest-looking moves you can have in your arsenal is the heel hook. Use wherever possible to start with. Then, if you think it needs one, heel hook it! In essence, heel hooking is using your foot and a leg as an extra hand and arm; when performed correctly, a heel hook can provide additional guidance or stability on aggressive movements and aid in the recovery process. Anyone who is looking to improve their technical game should practice this move.
BRIDGING:
Sometimes you will find yourself climbing in a corner and having to grip both sides. Bridging means putting one foot on the socket on either side of your hub. This type of climbing usually relies heavily on legs and technique; your arms and grip will mostly keep you glued to the wall while your leg muscles will push you up the wall.
These moves will be second nature to many, but for the cool side of climbing, learning these moves and absorbing them into your knowledge base will Not only will it help you to improve your climbing technique early on, but it will also develop confidence for more intermediate and advanced movements. Knowing the theory is one thing, learning and practicing these skills is another. The moves can feel intimidating when you try them out on a real wall, but with some determination, you’ll be sailing in no time.
