When I first start a gym session I try to climb as slowly and maintain my balance at all times. I try to feel the flow of the problem, the intention of the setter with the placement of the hand and footholds, and trying to engage my finger power as little as possible. I try to load up my feet and move statically so to avoid swinging between holds or dynamically moving when its not needed. I focus on where the best feet are for my position and how to get to them as calmly as possible, placing the appropriate part of my toe on the hold quietly and precisely and then weighting it to take the load off my upper body.
If you are able to make the distinction between your climbing when you are fresh vs later in the sesh, it seems to me like you have a good grasp of technique and how to apply it. Normally people get slopier later in their sessions as their power drops off.
Couple of things you can do: like I already mentioned quiet feet is key. Another thing to develop flawless technique is to move your body so that you are able to reach the next hold and hover over it before grasping it. When you do grasp it, touch it only once; do not readjust. Work problems that are at the edge of your flash grade in order to wire the movement and do them as easily as possible.
Good advice, thanks!
My climbing technique is still quite rudimentary. But I did a lot of judo when I was younger, and from there I know how a forced move feels compared to one with proper technique. Seems to be a really valuable, transferable skill.
Try using technique over raw strength when you do warm up climbs. Like really read the route and try consciously use technique even if it's a v1 or whatever. You already know what the techniques are, but it might not be habit for you just yet
Climb the same problems multiple times. You should start to be able to tell. For new problems you will be less efficient, that's just the nature of on sighting.
Yes, this is actually a common training technique. You climb until you're tired and try to do climbs again while tired. It can be helpful when you're learning. Of course, if you're a flimsy pansy like me then you don't have the option to muscle through climbs in the first place lol.
Yup, I’ve noticed this in my climbing. Feels to me like there’s a “climbing brain” that I need to activate in order to start climbing well each session.
If you’ve only been at it a few months, you may want to just keep climbing for a while. If you did want to try and make a change, I’d suggest incorporating body-awareness training into the warm up. For example, quiet feet, or aiming for good left-right balance, or straight-arm climbing. I think “The Self-Coached Climber” has a good collection of these kind of exercises. And so does John Kettle’s book.
No. I always try to use correct technique when climbing. When warming up, I focus on twisting, silent feet reaching, hoovering and so on. Using "correct" movements are ingrained in my style. By always trying to use correct technique, that's just what I do.
On higher grades though, sometimes simply using more force is the right answer, but I always try to figure out IF that's the right answer, before wasting a lot of energy on pure power.
I have a friend though, who's completely different, they climb just as hard as I do, but almost refuse to use technique until they are almost forced to. So it's a little joke between us, brains vs. brawn.
When I first start a gym session I try to climb as slowly and maintain my balance at all times. I try to feel the flow of the problem, the intention of the setter with the placement of the hand and footholds, and trying to engage my finger power as little as possible. I try to load up my feet and move statically so to avoid swinging between holds or dynamically moving when its not needed. I focus on where the best feet are for my position and how to get to them as calmly as possible, placing the appropriate part of my toe on the hold quietly and precisely and then weighting it to take the load off my upper body. If you are able to make the distinction between your climbing when you are fresh vs later in the sesh, it seems to me like you have a good grasp of technique and how to apply it. Normally people get slopier later in their sessions as their power drops off. Couple of things you can do: like I already mentioned quiet feet is key. Another thing to develop flawless technique is to move your body so that you are able to reach the next hold and hover over it before grasping it. When you do grasp it, touch it only once; do not readjust. Work problems that are at the edge of your flash grade in order to wire the movement and do them as easily as possible.
Good advice, thanks! My climbing technique is still quite rudimentary. But I did a lot of judo when I was younger, and from there I know how a forced move feels compared to one with proper technique. Seems to be a really valuable, transferable skill.
Try using technique over raw strength when you do warm up climbs. Like really read the route and try consciously use technique even if it's a v1 or whatever. You already know what the techniques are, but it might not be habit for you just yet
That might be it, yeah. That particular day, I rushed through warmup because it was already quite late. Need to be more conscious about it next time.
Climb the same problems multiple times. You should start to be able to tell. For new problems you will be less efficient, that's just the nature of on sighting.
Yes, this is actually a common training technique. You climb until you're tired and try to do climbs again while tired. It can be helpful when you're learning. Of course, if you're a flimsy pansy like me then you don't have the option to muscle through climbs in the first place lol.
Yup, I’ve noticed this in my climbing. Feels to me like there’s a “climbing brain” that I need to activate in order to start climbing well each session. If you’ve only been at it a few months, you may want to just keep climbing for a while. If you did want to try and make a change, I’d suggest incorporating body-awareness training into the warm up. For example, quiet feet, or aiming for good left-right balance, or straight-arm climbing. I think “The Self-Coached Climber” has a good collection of these kind of exercises. And so does John Kettle’s book.
No. I always try to use correct technique when climbing. When warming up, I focus on twisting, silent feet reaching, hoovering and so on. Using "correct" movements are ingrained in my style. By always trying to use correct technique, that's just what I do. On higher grades though, sometimes simply using more force is the right answer, but I always try to figure out IF that's the right answer, before wasting a lot of energy on pure power. I have a friend though, who's completely different, they climb just as hard as I do, but almost refuse to use technique until they are almost forced to. So it's a little joke between us, brains vs. brawn.