Rock climbing

By: Brent Smith  Print/Save as PDF Improve Your Climbing Technique to Climb Harder BEGINNER CLIMBING | CLIMBING TIPS | START CLIMBING   For many climbers starting out, it makes sense to assume that you should focus on getting stronger if you want to climb harder. Certainly, strength is important if you want to progress to harder climbs (check out these posts here and here for tips on gaining strength), however learning to move more efficiently can really give you a leg up on your climbing goals.  Maybe you find yourself stalled and pumped out at a certain grade or maybe you’re wondering how others are able to easily glide up a climb that feels impossible to you. Whatever the case, we’ve got some tips straight out of our Intro to Movement classes that can help!   FOOTWORK AND CLIMBING GO TOGETHER LIKE PEAS AND CARROTS  One of the first things our instructors will urge you to focus on is footwork, footwork, footwork. The more you focus how to move your feet, the less likely you’ll be to burn out your arms hoisting yourself up.    Sounds great, right?   Sure does, but chances are you’ve already formed some strong, arm-intensive bad climbing habits. Let’s break those habits by playing a few games that are guaranteed to teach you how to use your feet to propel you upwards (make sure to try these games on routes/problems that are 4 grades lower than you normally climb).    Robot Arms. Pssst! Climbing with straight arms is an amazingly efficient way to climb, but it’s easy to forget that when the next hold is right there and easy to strong arm. That’s where “Robot Arms” come in. Pretend your arms are incapable of bending and climb. You'll find that without the use of your elbows, you’ll have to use your feet

By: Taylor Slay We've talked in previous blogs about the importance of maintaining a strong core when climbing.  As a reminder, a strong core allows you to keep body tension on the wall, helps you keep your feet on the wall, and it generally just helps you move more powerfully and efficiently. But what does that mean when you're on the wall? A few of our setters in our Hampden gym in Baltimore, MD demonstrate what happens when you don't engage your core while climbing overhung routes (spoiler alert: you're more likely to fall). We reached out to Taylor Slay, a fitness instructor at our Dallas the Hill location, for core strengthening exercises  that are a little more fun than doing a jillion crunches. Taylor prefers teaching a Tabata-style core class, which is basically a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) class for your abs. That means you'll do an exercise for 30 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, repeat the same exercise 8 times, and rest for a full minute. Repeat with the next exercises. These exercises require equipment you'll find in your gym's fitness area and should take about 30 minutes to complete. 6 core strengthening exercises for climbers halo Start standing with feet hip-width apart holding the handle of a kettlebell with both hands in front of face, elbows bent and wide at sides. Keeping both elbows bent, and the rest of body still, slowly circle the kettlebell around head once, keeping the weight at eye level. dumbbell march Stand up straight, with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in your left hand and extend your right arm out to your side at a 45-degree angle from your body. Slowly lift your left leg up until you knee is at hip

It's not about reaching the top, it's about continuing the climb no matter how tired you are.   You’re in nature, you’re pushing your limits, you’re bettering your physical state, you’re getting in a workout, and you're seeking adventure while puzzling your way trying to learn to solve curiosities through some controlled danger. What's not to love about climbing? The setting, the exposure, a steep wall, and a degree of the unknown. Perhaps, it is the ability to keep it together and stay focused where others would freak out. Maybe it is just because the mountain is there and it’s fun. Life is an adventure and I always challenge our daughter to climb a little higher and faster than I have done in life. And along the way, I love the minimalist mindset of most hardcore dirt bags—-the affectionate name that grunge die-hard climbers call themselves. Eat, sleep, climb, repeat. They just need a t-shirt, pair of shorts, a light jacket, and then throw all that in an old 55L TNF Cinder backpack, together with a pair of La Sportiva Pro climbing shoes, while sporting some Cruzer approach shoes on the way to the gym, or if headed to the crag, maybe with a rope in your rope bag ,together with your rack, and an apple, some foraged greens, maybe a melted Cliffbar or the trendy new Send Bar, a little left over protein powder in a ziplock that is difficult to determine if it is climbing chalk, and a handful of free butter packets and saltines from the gas station, and they can sleep in their car working on a project for weeks. Seriously, who doesn't love such simple, free spirited and free living tactics