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Beginning climber looking for help!

Original Post
Emilee Krupa · · Orem, Utah · Joined Nov 2013 · Points: 0

So I'm a beginning climber just getting into the sport. I find that my struggles are with any over hang I simply don't have the strength to pull my body up or keep on the route when it has an outward slant. Any tips on how to get better at this would be greatly appreciated! Tips at the climbing gym or things to add into my regular workout routine would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! Oh I'm female by the way, so already my upper body strength just is terrible.

Cole Morgan · · Portland,Oregon · Joined Jan 2013 · Points: 5

At risk of sounding like a jerk(Not my intention in the least), the best way to get stronger as a beginner climber is to simply climb more. If you have trouble with overhanging climbs, find one you that you enjoy, and climb it until you get it. There's not much you can do for strength as a beginner that won't be achieved by simply climbing more and really pushing yourself on the wall. Just my two cents =)

  • Edit* If your looking for techniques on how to climb over hangs, a good place to start would be learning the drop knee and hip twist techniques. Both are helpful with climbing overhanging routes.
Matt N · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 415

Climb outside. Not everything is overhung with huge holds. Footwork rules on real rock and usually females have better technique as beginners.

Jan Tarculas · · Riverside, Ca · Joined Mar 2010 · Points: 917

What Cole said. There's really no quick fix to this but climbing more. Watch other climbers in the gym and ask stronger guys to do routes you are doing to learn how they position their body so you can attempt the same way. Best to learn in person so you can visually see and have that person give you key beta on what to do. Hard to learn technique from reading forums.

Robbie Mackley · · Tucson, AZ · Joined May 2010 · Points: 85

Footwork, footwork, footwork. I pushed overhangs as a beginner, while my footwork sucked, and fucked up both elbows. That was a few years ago, and I still suffer from it. Learn footwork everywhere you can, including (gasp) the dreaded slabs.

JJNS · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2008 · Points: 531

This highlights some techniques for body positioning on steeper terrain: youtube.com/watch?v=Usee0F_…

I would also suggest that when you are moving on steeper walls or climbing over a bulge you look to use your arms and upper body last. What I mean by this is that when you are looking to make a larger move that requires a lot of upper body strength you should begin the movement from your lower body and your legs. You want to do everything in your power to get your torso moving in the direction of the next hold before you pull with your arms. There are all sorts of techniques for generating this movement, Twist Lock, Drop Knee, Pogo, Swinging an arm behind your back, a head bob, etc. By getting your body going in the right direction first you conserve significant amounts of strength that would of been lost by not using your momentum to your advantage.

Robbie Mackley · · Tucson, AZ · Joined May 2010 · Points: 85

^^^can we get a new thread discussing these specific movements?

JJNS · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2008 · Points: 531

The video above goes over the Twist lock and Drop Knee.

At 2:59 Adam does the arm behind the back technique. It's more of an arm swing that not only gets his body going in the direction of the next hold on the way up but on the down swing flushes lactic acid/restores blood flow:http: vimeo.com/73040942

Pogo: vimeo.com/13761179

The Head Bob usually come into play on vertical terrain where you are on the highest feet possible and your hands are on small hold. Your next hold is approximately 6" above your right hand. Rather than jacking your feet up higher to smears and making the move that way you can employ the head bob. You would start by letting your body slightly sag away from the wall. When you have created enough space between you and the wall begin to pull up and to the right towards the next hold. You can create extra momentum by incorporation a head bob or simply let your head sag slightly back and at the top of the movement thrust your head forward.

Mike Lane · · AnCapistan · Joined Jan 2006 · Points: 880

Think about shooting an arrow. Would you hold the bow straight in front of you while you face the target face-on? Or, would you stand sideways to the target and pull the bow laterally with your shoulder line?
Sideways pulling is much stronger than face-on pulling.
So with this in mind, find yourself a overhanging bouldering wall and keep repeating sideways stepping and pulling moves. You have to do moves enough that you engram them into your mind, so you have permanent memory movement. By trying constant sideways pulling moves you will naturally develop the various steps with your feet that assist with the balance and move such as backstepping, flagging and knee-dropping.

Jon Zucco · · Denver, CO · Joined Aug 2008 · Points: 245

I think the main theme of all of those videos is to try and eliminate the need for arm strength when at all possible. You can do so by remembering to keep the arms straight as much as possible, and instead of bending the elbows and placing a ton of weight square on the arms, use your legs and core to twist and propel yourself. This may involve swinging a bit as well to build momentum.

Steep climbing is all about leverage. Finger strength is key at more advanced levels, but arm strength isn't really as important as employing leverage and positioning your center of gravity in your favor. Pay close attention to foot positions and remember to twist and turn, cam and lock, feel when to spread out and when to stay in line. Use toe hooks, heel hooks, lock offs -- get creative! Rock climbing is a gymnastic puzzle. It's all about trial and error.

Emilee Krupa · · Orem, Utah · Joined Nov 2013 · Points: 0

Thanks for the help!

Dave · · Tahoe City · Joined Mar 2007 · Points: 200

On a slightly different tangent...

At some point in my climbing career, even with utilizing precise technique and footwork, I realized that I wasn't very productive on steep routes. I discovered that vertical to slightly overhanging pockets and edges were my forte (which seem to be out of style at the moment). I climb really well at places like smith and ten sleep and wild iris, so I tend to focus my more difficult climbing on those types of routes.

That's not to say that you shouldn't become a well-rounded climber but rather to play to your strengths. Self discovery as to what your strengths and weaknesses AND GOALS are is a huge and enjoyable part of the learning process.

Unfortunatey, my gf just discovered she really enjoys slab climbing.

Just a consideration.

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion · · Colorado · Joined Oct 2012 · Points: 35

Zirkel, I too discovered that vert routes were my forte. Sharp and crimpy and something I can edge on is my natural state (for face climbing, cracks are different and aren't part of this example).

I began working overhangs because they were fun, nearly impossible to get injured on (big holds), and I was terrible at them. I then moved somewhere that was almost all steep caves. I then road-tripped to more steep caves. After the end of all that, I was a far better steep climber than I ever had been on vert.

It did take a few years though. I also lost a lot of it because I moved back the land of vert. Imagine if you climbed caves as much as you climbed vert.

I think it's less a natural inclination and it's all about what style you practice more.

SM Ryan · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2008 · Points: 1,090

I assume you are climbing at the quarry. Are you getting out to Maple, rock canyon or AF? IMO outside climbing is way more fun and if you are shorter there are more intermediate options.
I would suggest you watch someone your height do the move or climb with other women to understand how they do a move And position their body. The videos are great but applying that to the actual move can still be tricky. Watching someone else accelerates the learning curve. I have been climbing for 18 years and still spend a lot of my time watching how other woman who are the same height do sequences on my projects.

And work on pull-ups if you want to climb overhangs. My climbing ability jumped a lot when I went from 3 pull-ups to 10.

Emilee Krupa · · Orem, Utah · Joined Nov 2013 · Points: 0

SMR- yes I'm climbing at the quarry now that it is to cold to be out at rock canyon. I will definitely start watching girls more at the quarry, I never really thought about that (oddly). Yeah my husband says we need to start working on the dreaded pull-ups, I guess I need to start taking his advice to! Thanks for the tips.

wendy weiss · · boulder, co · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 10

Pull-ups, turning a hip in, and footwork (esp. high steps) are the big three for me. The less I have to actually pull my body up, the better.

rgold · · Poughkeepsie, NY · Joined Feb 2008 · Points: 526

I'm going to go a bit against the grain here.

First of all, recognize your weakness as the learning advantage it is. People with lots of upper-body strength often learn to substitute if for technique, and in spite of sometimes rapid initial progress invariably plateau, either forever, or until they get serious about body position and footwork. Being relatively weak forces you to learn technique, and as you do get stronger you'll be much further along.

But there is also the issue of muscle and joint health, and so you should do a bit of upper-body training.

Even though technique is critical for climbing, getting stronger by just climbing when you are starting out fairly weak opens you up to the possibility of nasty injuries. It's one thing if, like many young women now, you transition from gymnastics to climbing and have a substantial base of upper-body training. But if you are coming to climbing from a background that didn't involve hanging your body weight from your arms, then just climbing is a dangerous way to acquire the necessary strength.

It might work out fine, and no doubt various people will post up about how the started out as weak as a kitten, never did anything but climb, and now climb mega-grades. But for each one of those is someone you may not hear from who needed an operation to put their shoulder back together and isn't climbing much if at all now.

But don't take my word for it. On the internet, no one knows you're a dog. I could be just woofling in the wind.

World-class climber Stephanie Davis says, (see highinfatuation.com/blog/gy…)

I think you’re on the right track with wanting to increase your upper body strength for climbing. As a woman, I notice that if I improve my upper body strength at all, I instantly see dramatic results in my climbing. Since women do not naturally build upper body muscle like men do, I think we are forced to climb with more technique in general. If we give any attention to strength building, it allows us to make use of that technique to an extremely gratifying degree.

I’ve also seen many posts written for climbers that play down the benefits of pullups and pullup workouts. I couldn’t disagree more, especially for women. If you start to do pullup workouts, and possibly fingerboard workouts, you will see a dramatic improvement in your climbing very quickly.


In addition to pullups, I'd consider what Ms. Davis has to say about weight training:

highinfatuation.com/blog/we…

For something more climbing-specific, consider

dpmclimbing.com/articles/vi…

and for shoulders in particular, which are especially endangered if you aren't strong yet,

ukclimbing.com/articles/pag…

dreaminvertical.com/2011/02…

Have fun and good luck!

Rob Cotter · · Silverthorne, CO · Joined Mar 2009 · Points: 240

Get a hang-board, put it up and use it. Cut as much weight as possible...

Joe "Big Boi" Osterman · · Portland, OR · Joined Jun 2012 · Points: 155

Definitely work on technique and footwork. Some exercises that will helpful are pullups (obviously) if you have trouble with them have a spotter help you. The spotter can help lift you up so you're doing a assisted pull up. Also hanging on a pull up bar and lifting your feet so they touch the pull up bar will help build core strength thats pretty specific to overhanging climbing. Besides that I would recommend keeping up on your push ups and rotater cuff exercises. All that shouldery climbing and pull ups should be complimented with pectoral and rotater cuff work.

J. Kincaid · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2013 · Points: 5

I would say just climb and try not to get hurt. If you climb enough and are conscious about your ability and style you will notice when you need to focus on a particular aspect of your climbing. For example if you notice you are struggling with a certain move because you can't hold a lock off to reach, get on the hang board more. If you find yourself always cutting feet (accidentally or not) or muscling through routes you might want to focus on better technique. But most importantly stay psyched! Climbing is awesome so have fun!

I'm no training expert but this was my approach. I started a year ago and feel like I've made quick progress. You'll be suprised by how quickly you improve when things start to just click.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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