"Trust your feet!": Helpful?

Today I was walking past a group of first-timers and their guide was saying, as guides will, "Trust your feet!"

And I was thinking, have people seen their own behavior or other climber's behavior actually changed as a result of being given this advice in a moment of difficulty?

Have you heard of a more effective way of helping a beginner (or any climber) to trust their feet?

I don't think "Trust your feet" is helpful. I've heard "Pay attention to your footwork," and "be precise with your feet," which make more sense to me. You will learn to trust your feet over time, when you find out what will "stick" and what won't. Just my two.5 cents.

Edit: "Trust your feet" could be helpful to experienced climbers, but I don't think it does much for first-timers.

yes, I've seen people actually "change their behavior" when told to "trust their feet." The didn't lean inwards as much, didn't overgrip as much, and just did the move that was necessary to progress beyond where they were stuck.
It is scary trusting your feet in general. It gets a lot more scary on slabs, where you know that, if you feet slip, your present handhold can't possibly save you. Really scary when your hands are laying flat out on their palms, and you don't even go for the fingernail thing. I'm thinking back to climbs like Dorsal Fin at LCC, or some of the stuff at Stone Mountain, NC.

Yes... As someone who takes people climbing for the first time... Absolutely

Shit, at what stage of climbing is the advice to trust one's feet not good advice? Feet trusting is kind of the idea for efficient climbing. More specificity is confusing and takes too long.

Being a new climber, I would say that having someone tell me to "trust your feet" at a difficult moment or as I'm losing my grip would be far from helpful. "Concentrate on your footwork" or "center your balance" would be slightly more appreciated. But if I'm in a tricky spot, something specific to my immediate situation would be far more useful. I've been told to "turn my right hip into the wall". That means moving my feet, but I understand where I must move them to do that. I had points on a climb last weekend where I absolutely did NOT trust my feet because they slipped a couple times. One time, both at once. In the exact same position, an experienced climber would not have slipped because they would know better which part of the foot to use and how best to put weight on it. Telling someone to trust something they don't know how to use correctly seems like bad advice to me.

The Blueprint Part Dank wrote:Shit, at what stage of climbing is the advice to trust one's feet not good advice? Feet trusting is kind of the idea for efficient climbing. More specificity is confusing and takes too long.

Have you ever told someone who was really upset to "calm down"? How did that work out?

I don't mean at all that it's bad advice, it's some of the best advice there is. I just think that most people who can act on the advice already trust their feet.

I read an article on footwork by Matt Samet once where he put it this way: "if you can see it, you can stand on it." Much more concrete and actionable, at least to me.

Many new climbers stop on a climb (the "OK, let me down" point) not because they CAN'T do a move, but rather because they WON'T do a move. If the issue is that they can't commit to a small foothold, then the common advice is indeed to trust that the foot will stay there, and therefore that they can (probably) do the move. And it works; I get folks to move well past the point where they would have, if left on their own, ground to a halt. Of course a few are simply paralyzed by fear and no amount of coaxing will get them to move any higher. These clients rarely come back for a second day on the rock.

Trust your feet is the general idea. But a lot of people need very specific directions on how to do that: put more weight on your (left?) foot, rock over onto it, stand up straight, etc. For more experienced climbers, it's a helpful reminder and can be complete as is.

"Knees are for praying not for climbing!!!" (Straighten out your legs as u climb)

;)

bearbreeder wrote:"Knees are for praying not for climbing!!!" (Straighten out your legs as u climb) ;)

"You'll get on your knees when I tell you to get on your knees."

"Spread yr legs and trust da rubbah !!!" (Dihedrals)

;)

flynn wrote:Trust your feet is the general idea. But a lot of people need very specific directions on how to do that: put more weight on your (left?) foot, rock over onto it, stand up straight, etc.

This. Have you ever had to try teach a total beginner how to lower? Try saying "Trust the rope" or "Trust me (belayer)" - it's pretty much given they will end up in panic. Instead, you give them specific directions what to do with their body.

It is often helpful. When I've taken newcomers climbing we always spend some time at the very base of the climb focusing on posture. I'll often have them stand on increasingly smaller holds just a foot or two off the ground so they realize what is possible. I'll also tell them to lean in to the rock so they can experience how their feet become less secure with poor posture (with a good spot, of course).

"Trust your feet" is most applicable when you keep your weight over your feet. Too many first-timers are too prone to lean in to the rock, over-gripping what ever handhold they can grab, thus causing their feet to skitter out from under them.

With proper preparation a short hand phrase like "trust your feet" is often helpful--especially for the first-timer who doesn't know what to do next.

Query to the OP--was the party you observed at the Gunks?

It is beyond argument that climbers have to learn to trust their feet. But "learning to trust your feet" involves proper placement, weighting, and body position. "Trust your feet" is a blanket admonition to try something that could be all wrong. If the instructor can see that the climber's foot is properly placed and that their body position will result in appropriate weighting, then "trust your foot" could be an appropriate instruction. But as a generic exhortation it is as likely to be wrong as right and might well convince a beginner that such trust is misplaced.

I belay kids for 2 hours every weekend. Usually a little more than half the time I work with a kid who has never climbed before. I definitely use and say "trust your feet", "move your feet", "your legs are stronger than your arms", and things like that a fair bit.

Although as someone above said giving more specific instruction like "step right foot up to the big green then stand up on that leg, stand up all the way until your knee is totally straight" or "Let go of the wall, both hands on your knot, walk down the wall touching only the bottom of your shoe to the wall, now lean back more..." is generally more useful with kids especially if they are younger, or hitting/trying to break through a "fear wall" at a specific height or move.

I think this depends entirely on the feet. Some feet are definitely more trustworthy than others. Mine, for example, I wouldn't trust like 80% of the time. They have certainly gone behind my back plenty of times before.

I heard that many times. But how can you trust something that you have not put to test yet as a new climber? When you say something like "trust your feet" to somebody, do YOU trust their feet? ...thought so.
Now that I have been climbing for a while I can say a few phrases that would work better and make sense are: "quiet feet" or "climb with your feet", "keep most weight on your feet", " look where you place your feet",and "careful with those feet, Eugene".
As for behavior change. Yes, I remember the minute someone would say "trust your feet!" I would lean out of the rock face just enough to move the center of gravity into the position where some weight was taken off my hands and the lean into the rope a little bit. On lead I would have a tendency to assume a wider stance and start darting with my eyes for footholds usually resulting in a slight traverse.
In others who heard "trust you feet": a foot shuffle, leaning out and a wider stance. Total noobs will just weigh the rope sometimes.
Even something like "stand on your feet" may work. We all pretty much know how to do that. It instills confidence in a new climber. They will be thinking " oh , well I can do THAT!"

Gunkiemike wrote:Many new climbers stop on a climb (the "OK, let me down" point) not because they CAN'T do a move, but rather because they WON'T do a move. If the issue is that they can't commit to a small foothold, then the common advice is indeed to trust that the foot will stay there, and therefore that they can (probably) do the move. And it works; I get folks to move well past the point where they would have, if left on their own, ground to a halt. Of course a few are simply paralyzed by fear and no amount of coaxing will get them to move any higher. These clients rarely come back for a second day on the rock.

Now try this with your clients: wait till they are stuck and wanting to lower, then say "trust your feet" and give them just a little bit of slack on top rope as you are belaying them. I wanna hear what happens!;)
A quick question: do you get higher ratings if your clients make it all the way to the top of the route? Is there a survey that you send to them questioning their overall experience and rating you as a guide?

Joan Lee wrote: Now try this with your clients: wait till they are stuck and wanting to lower, then say "trust your feet" and give them just a little bit of slack on top rope as you are belaying them. I wanna hear what happens!;) A quick question: do you get higher ratings if your clients make it all the way to the top of the route? Is there a survey that you send to them questioning their overall experience and rating you as a guide?

Ha. Joan Lee, are you trying to be a douche?

i think she was born that way