Do I suck at climbing cracks because I pull on plastic too much?
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But seriously though, |
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are you wearing a thong PAS? |
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David Sahalie wrote:are you wearing a thong PAS?^^^^^^ haha!! |
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I'd start with less internet moaning and more real life crack climbing. |
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First, let go of the idea that you know how to jam. Assume you know nothing. |
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Short answer? Yes, but perhaps not for the reason you think. One of the best things you can do to work on your crack technique is to get out of Wisco for your climbing. Places like The Lake just do not have many great pure crack climbs. Crimping and edging are generally far more important. |
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While I am by no means the most elegant crack climber out there, I do enjoy them quite a bit. To me cracks have always required a certain amount of flailing and struggling. Like others have said there is not unfortunately one silver bullet to fix your technique. All cracks climb completely different for different people. Perfect hands for me is no where near perfect hands for my girlfriend so she ends up climbing that crack completely different then I do. |
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Jeff G. wrote: ^^^^^^ haha!!And doctors do say your level of strength can go down a bit if you waste all your inner energy by pulling on your plastic every night. Try to only pull it maybe once a week, and not before a climbing outing. |
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You don't suck at crack climbing because you climb plastic too much. You suck at crack climbing because you DON'T climb cracks enough. Its a technique. Strength from plastic will eventually help, but you have to have the technique to begin with. |
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I suck at pulling on plastic because I climb cracks too much. |
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Matt N wrote:I suck at pulling on plastic because I climb cracks too much.Same here - I have a lot of trouble motivating to fix the problem. |
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I have thought long and hard on this topic, and after hundreds of hours of equations and problem solving I have arrived at this solution... |
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Andy P. wrote:...every damn crack feels like an endless V2 to me with crappy feet...Make sure you're not trying to foot jam cracks with the same shoes you're using in the gym. Shoes that are more comfortable to jam in make a big difference in your enjoyment, and thus proficiency, with crack climbing. Get on a crack route that forces you to jam both hands and feet and TR it as much as possible. Let expectations and pride go and focus solely on the technique and what works/doesn't work. Relax your mind and body too. |
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Matt N wrote:I suck at pulling on plastic because I climb cracks too much.Ok good I am not the only one. Saw this post a while back and thought it was good supertopo.com/climbers-foru… Now go and send some offwidths! |
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How good indoor cracks are is very gym dependent. Vertical Endeavors in St. Paul, MN has a great variety of cracks with 5.8 hand, 10a wide hands, 10b wide hands roof, 11a/b fingers lieback, 11b/c thin hands , 12a wide fingers. |
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Sam Lightner, Jr. wrote:You don't suck at crack climbing because you climb plastic too much. You suck at crack climbing because you DON'T climb cracks enough.This. Living in Wisconsin probably contributes to the issue. |
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To get good at crack climbing, you gotta embrace the pain first. Everything hurts if you don't do it enough: backs of your hands hurt, your ankles hurt, your pinky and ring toes hurt, your fingers hurt... And these are just the body parts for more user-friendly and less painful hand and finger cracks! |
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Yes. |
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Thanks for the great suggestions in this thread so far, it's the feet that really get me. I know I am supposed to somehow tweak my leg upright when my foot is sideways in the crack, it always feels like my knee is about to explode so I take pressure off of it and then use my arms... surely I am doing it wrong, but I haven't learned the right way to use my legs in cracks. |
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Watch those videos I posted. They're a good intro to feet. |
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Well. |