Basic Techniques For Rock Climbing

When you have good climbing technique, you can cruise up a wall with the least effort. Depending on the angle of the climb, the shape of the holds and the distance between them, your climbing technique will vary. As you improve, you’ll encounter more overhangs and moves requiring significant finger strength. Nevertheless, this will occur naturally as you progress towards harder climbs and to start, let’s look at some basics. Although it may not be the most exciting part of climbing, it lays the foundation for high performance. If you want to know how not to fall while rock climbing, check this article!

Without wasting time, let’s look at rock climbing‘s basic techniques:

Loose grip

Climbers who are new to climbing grab handholds as tightly as possible to avoid falling. It might make sense in a life-or-death situation. When bouldering or sport climbing, it’s important to understand how little effort is needed to stay on the wall. That extra energy can be used to continue climbing.

Balance (body position)

The key to balance is to figure out where you are. Your body knows to place your weight over your feet rather than leaning forward a foot or two when you’re standing. As a child, you learn this skill by falling and waddling around until you find your center of gravity. Climbing rocks is similar to that process. The technique of positioning yourself on the rock becomes instinctive after some time with the help of internal cues.

You can improve your balance while rock climbing by doing the following:

1. You should position yourself with your feet above your hips.
2. Only use the flag when absolutely necessary and when two feet are possible.
3. When climbing, try to stay in contact with three people.
4. Put opposing forces to work. You should use your right foot to push against the wall while your right hand is pulling on a side-pull so that your body does not get off-balance.

Left-right rule

In order to climb a ladder, your left foot pushes and your right hand reaches. While rock climbing, the same strategy applies. Push with your opposite foot when pulling with your hand.

Be efficient when moving

Precise feet

A climber’s foot placement on the wall is one of the most important aspects, since your feet need to carry as much of your body weight as possible. Maintain a close relationship with the wall by placing your hips against it. This can be accomplished by twisting your left or right hip toward the wall, or by pulling your pelvis toward the wall with square hips. Avoid readjusting your feet while climbing as well. Readjusting is a waste of time and energy.

Maintain momentum

You will waste energy if you climb too slowly. Your performance will be dampened if you spend too much time overanalyzing every hand and foot placement or let anxiety control your decisions.

Effortlessness

Your body will begin to understand what efficient motion feels like as soon as your internal cues kick in. When you reach the top of the wall, you can move with as little energy as possible and ideally enter the autonomous stage. Tense muscles are caused by anxiety, fear, and the desire to perform during crux sequences. Keep a relaxed state of mind throughout the climb and you’re more likely to succeed.

Breath

Many climbers forget about breathing while performing, but it is one of the most important parts of climbing. In order to produce energy and recover, your muscles require oxygen. When climbing is tense, many climbers hold their breath. Poor subconscious reactions lead to failure along the route. Take deep, consistent, and full breaths while climbing.

Rest positions

As you climb, it’s important to rest during the middle of the climb in order to restore energy and reduce the pump in your forearms. Using a rest wisely can often mean the difference between you sending your project or not. Use rest positions in the gym in the middle of climbs to recover when you’re suffering from exhaustion.

Flagging

You can use a method called flagging to easily manipulate your center of gravity if you don’t have two footholds. To flag, you extend one of your feet straight out into mid-air to alter your center of gravity. Your weight will distribute in a certain direction the more you extend your foot. Your center of gravity will shift away from the hold if you move too far in either direction. Flags can be placed inside, outside, and on the same side.

Drop knee

Drop knees are particularly effective on overhung routes because they keep your hips into the wall and your weight on your feet. When climbing, turn your left knee downward and into the wall when reaching for a hold with your left hand. As you rotate your knee, your left foot will follow. Your legs receive more weight, your left arm extends more, and your right hand has a better grip position on the handhold. Heel and toe hooks Toe and heel hooks are a clever way to relieve your hands of the burden of carrying the shoe. Place your heel on top of or behind a hold, and then use your hamstrings to pull your weight onto or towards it. A simple move like this can quickly free up a hand. If you want a toe hook, you can do the same thing with the top of your shoe.Dynamic moves Certain situations involving dynos and dead points will benefit from dynamic moves. In order to reach the next hand hold, a climber uses her hands and feet to lunge upward and grasp the next hold. Typically, the wall is penetrated by three points during a dyno run. When you make this move, you run the risk of falling off the wall if you fail to catch the next handhold. It is possible to regain your balance with the three appendages still on the wall if you complete the same move statically.

There is more control over deadpoints. During this maneuver, the hands must be held in three points of contact while the next handhold is reached. It’s possible to stay on the wall if you don’t get the next hold when using a deadpoint rather than a dyno.

It would be best to use dynamic movements only when static movements are less efficient. It may be better to use a dynamic movement if you’re taller and can jump a few small crimps with one large deadpoint.

Mantling

Mantling enables you to finish boulder problems and extend your reach when the next handhold is out of reach and by putting your foot on the same hold as your hand may require shifting your weight to put your center of gravity over a high foot.

Read the route

When you come across a new route, you tend to jump on it the moment you get the chance. When you reach a complex sequence, this lack of patience can lead to confusion. A climbing route reading skill is key to onsighting or completing routes quickly. You will gain a better understanding of how each hold should feel and how to move efficiently along a route the more you read about it before you try it.

While walking through the entire route, imitate the movements with your hands and feet while standing near the bottom. You’ll feel like a mime and it might feel strange if others are watching, but try to focus on the route in front of you. Imagine what it will feel like to hold each hand or foothold. Your feet, hands, and hips should be positioned correctly throughout the climb. Attempt the climb once you have a good understanding of the route.

The following questions should be asked after you have finished your first attempt: “How do I feel differently from what I expected when I read the route from the ground?”You can improve your ability to read routes by understanding this difference.

Exercises

Rock climbing technique can be improved with a series of exercises recommended in a number of books and Eric Horst’s Training for Climbing and John Kettle’s Rock Climbing Technique are two of the better one’s out there and here, we will outline a series of exercises you can use to improve your climbing. We recommend incorporating a few of these exercises during your warmup routine. By doing so, you will develop your technique every time you climb. With practice, those small amounts will compound over time and provide big benefits.

Quiet feet or hands

You will have to be precise with your footwork in this exercise. When climbing a moderately intense route, climb normally, but once you place your foot onto a hold, do not move it until you are ready for the next foothold. You won’t have to adjust your foot once it’s in place. You can pivot your foot to move, but you cannot reposition. Readjusting constantly wastes time and energy. Quiet feet ensures that you know where to place your foot before you make a foot movement or when reading the route. The same exercise can be done with your hands.

Hips into the wall

Climbing requires that your hips face the wall each time you grasp a handhold. If you reach up with your right hand, then you must turn your right hip into the wall before reaching for the hold. When you twist, you get more extension upward with your right hand and bring your hips into the wall, which puts more weight on your feet.

Open hands

With open handholds, you can only climb using your four fingers. It means that you should not grab the jug with your thumb, crimp it half-way, or wrap your fingers around it. Too many climbers rely on crimping. It wastes energy and increases the risk of injury. Climbers must learn how to grasp open handholds in order to become great.

Flagging

During each hand movement, only one foot can be on a foothold. Therefore, you will flag your other foot to manipulate your center of gravity. Flags can be placed inside, outside, and on the same side. You may want to ask yourself, “what is the best flagging position for each hand movement?”? Why does this way of flagging feel best to you?Work with a partner on the same route to determine the optimal flagging position.

Breathing

You can climb a route as you would normally. Take a deep breath every fourth hand movement. Expansion of the stomach and rib cage. Breathe out as deeply as you can. Feel the tension leaving your body. By practicing deep breathing, you keep your body relaxed and improve your oxygen intake.

Add-on

A partner is best for playing this game indoors. Play on a spray wall if you can. Start by choosing two handholds as the route starting point. Players start on these holds, then add one hand move and drop off. This move will be repeated by the next player, followed by another. Keep adding moves to each route until neither you nor your partner is able to complete it. It challenges you to master different holds and moves with random sequences of moves. You can also incorporate different wall angles into spray walls with several wall angles. Your body is continuously challenged to adapt to a new environment throughout the game.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):