Climbing body positioning
Climbing body positioning
Climbing or specifically bouldering, has so much more to do with positioning than Iād really realised before the last few months. The last time I climbed this regularly I was probably about 30-40 pounds lighter so I was able to just muscle through a climb much easier than I can now. Now I have to use proper technique to give myself the best shot to finish a climb due to the extra weight I am carrying these days. I found a couple of useful videos that laid out some specific mistakes that beginner and intermediate climbers make. Some I already knew but others I hadn’t realised were things it did. In this way the videos were very useful.
The first video mostly focused your body positioning to the wall. They started twisting into the wall, something I had started doing recently but after watching the video I realised I wasnāt doing enough. When I did it I merely twisted my knee into the wall, instead of twisting my knee and hip into the wall. Once I tried this the difference was substantial. I felt a lot more stable in the position I was in. The two other things that resonated with me specifically were not reading the route before climbing and overextending myself. I am really bad for just jumping on the wall having not looked at a route at all and then get super confused because I can’t see the rock that is just behind another rock, but if I looked on the ground I would have known where it was. As for over extending myself it is purely a situation of not raising my feet along with my hands so I’m super stretched out on the wall making it pretty much impossible to move. These are both really easy to fix, look at the climb beforehand and make sure to raise my feet. All easier said than done but these small fixes are relatively simple.
The other video I found to help me work on positioning was dedicated to how and when to use a heel hook. A skill I had learned before but never really knew how to do properly and also began using it too often which limited my next moves. Once I couldn’t figure out how to go up, then saw someone else not heel hook and go up quite easily. I did the same and went up easily. So ya I gotta work on that. The video talked about the difference between bracing with your heel vs. climbing up onto your heel. As well as going into how to execute the moves well. For Bracing with a heel hook, it should be done when you are ābarn dooringā off the wall and instead of pushing on the wall to prevent it, you heel hook to pull on the wall to prevent swinging out. This is a method I havenāt really used before but makes a lot of sense. In the few times I’ve climbed since watching the video it has definitely gone better. The next one of standing onto your foot with the heel hook is something ive done for a while but the video talked a bit about knowing when it’s appropriate vs just making it difficult. I know for myself if I think it’s a heel hook then that’s what I will try and do till I’m shown otherwise. Which can be frustrating, followed by feeling kinda dumb for not doing the simpler thing.
To wrap up this bit, these are some great intro videos and are very relevant to the level of climber I currently am. I am definitely going to be using the techniques from the videos in future climbing sessions.