Lock-offs

Hi folks, so my lock off strength is pretty sucky. I can’t hold a lock off for more than a second or two at 90°, 150°, or fully locked off. I have plenty of pull strength, can do about 18-20 pull-ups at 170 pounds, and can ORM with an additional 90lbs. I’ve heard people say that lock off’s don’t matter for climbing, but all of those people seem to be able to lock off at those degrees for at least 5 or more seconds. I’ve noticed that locking off on routes isn’t my go to, and I usually prefer to lunge for holds, so I think it is playing a part in my climbing. Should I be training my lock-offs given my glaring inability or is it really not important? If so, what do you recommend?

A climbing exercise that I like for locking off is stalling over every hand hold for 3 seconds before grasping it. It makes you climb more statically, teaches you better body positioning/footwork, and helps you lock off. As a bonus, you’re locking off on a variety of holds at a variety of angles, so it is pretty all-around. That said, I’m sure there are more structured workouts to train this (I sort of remember an exercise described in Training for the New Alpinismos where you stall at various angles on a pull-up bar)

I personally prefer using an elastic band girth hitched around a pull-up bar, and locking off with one hand on the bar, and the other lower holding on to the elastic band at a variable height. You can also do this with a towel. Also using a pulley (a carabiner as a pulley is fine) system to take off weight is nice, and pretty easy to set up. For both of these options you can also lock off while you are on a hangboard. I like these because it isolates a lockoff pretty well, is quantitative and you can change and progress the workout to suit your needs.

I find lock offs important for when you're searching for that perfect hold/grip. It's also nice to have that strength to be able to lock off and then downclimb to a rest. 

You can do a pull-up with 90+ pounds but can't lock off? I can't even fathom having that kind of power without the endurance. Definitely try some frenchies, or pulling to a hold, locking off for 1-3 seconds, grabbing, downclimb, alternate arms, repeat 3-5 times. Works best on a steeper wall.

it depends on whether or not you want to climb better or if you want to focus on p90x. if you want to get better at climbing, you should do more climbing focused pullups. generally, being able to do a few pullups is required for consistent v6. a one arm pullup is required for v10s. where you are in your climbing affects what you need to do. lock offs should occur at 70..80% of one arm. which means that at 90 lbs, you are missing another 30 lbs to be able to one arm lock off.

for climbing, pullups are much different:
put your hands together on the bar. when you pullup, touch your chin to your left pinky knuckle, then repeat for the right. move your hands apart about a hand length and repeat. you'll want to repeat as wide as you can. up to and including starting at an iron cross.

lockoffs are important even when you aren't moving upwards. if you are at a hold and the next hold is to your left (or right), when you move to that hold, you are necessarily locking off. if not, you begin to sag immediately. this weight isn't necessarily all on your arms - for most climbers the large majority is on your feet or knees. as climbs get harder, you'll need more lock off because the feet will be worse, the angle will be steeper and feet contributions may push you off than take weight off.

Zach Baer wrote:

Definitely try some frenchies...

I second this! Frenchies are the best way to work into 1 arm lock offs. I like to do holds at full lock off, 45, 90, 135, and full extension with a pullup in-between each. Aim for 5-7 second holds and when it gets too easy start adding weight.