Painful crack technique

I am a Gunks climber so I don't get much crack practice, but I have climbed a fair amount out west and in the Alps so I'm not exactly a crack novice. But I'm planning on getting out to Utah or somewhere else with straight up splitters, which I've never really experienced, so I've been trying to practice at my local gym, where there is a hand crack that probably goes at 5.8 or so, which I should theoretically be able to hike. My problem is that, even with crack gloves, both my hands and feet are in so much pain when I try to climb this thing that I simply cannot get to the top, there are literally tears coming out of my eyes by the time I get halfway. My jams feel secure but unbearable. The backs of my hands are red and bruised days later. I feel like I know how to jam, but evidently I do not. Any advice on what I am doing wrong? Is the key to crack climbing simply to sack up and embrace the pain? Or is there some secret mantra that I need to recite, like those dreadlocked yogis who sleep on beds of nails? Any advice appreciated. 

Should not hurt that much. Consider reading Pete Whitaker's Crack Technique Manual.

It's possible that your gym crack is poorly designed and simply painful as hell, little or nothing to do with your technique. That possibility aside, I find that taking some time to adjust and re-adjust my hand position in a jam makes a huge difference. Those adjustments are almost infinite; finding the best ones may take some time, both in the moment (seconds) and with experience (hours-months+). Whitaker's book is good but you may get more from an experienced crack climber willing to work with you, observing your technique and demonstrating. I'd try standing at your gym crack and playing with the first couple jams, putting very little weight on them (10-15% of body weight) but including a variety of angles that your pulling from (ie nearly straight down to straight out). One major factor in jamming comfort I've found is relaxing into the jam. When you're newer at it or gripped or tired, there's a tendency to apply more force than necessary to a jam; obviously this can make it much more uncomfortable. For jamming feet or toes, I find that good ankle flexibility helps me find an effective but non-painful jam. Hope this helps...

Focus on the feet. Find the least painful way to get most of your weight on the feet. If the foot jam hurts, keep adjusting your foot till it doesn't hurt. Be very careful and precise when twisting the feet, don't over-torque. Be gentle.

Your not wearing aggressive shoes, right?

Not my favorite climbing channel but this is a good video on the basic process of a beginner learning how to crack climb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ocSfP62RLA

Crack gloves definitely help, another thing to look at is shoes. If you have a downsized downturned bouldering shoe your foot jams will be a lot less comfortable. For a hand crack, a flatter, stiffer shoe(e.g. tc pro) will help alleviate some of the pressure on the feet. I recently learned crack climbing in the gym and I would just do short sessions of climbing up and down climbing the crack while I was resting from bouldering. Eventually it just stopped being painful. Probably a little bit of getting used to the pain and a lot of just getting better at the technique. 

Gym cracks are way more painful than real crack. That being said you do occasionally get a painful jam. Crack climbing hurts when you first start, but it shouldn’t hurt like you describe. Read Whittaker’s book, go to the desert, and then move into your car for the next 18 months. Simple as that.

Shouldn’t be that painful. Make sure to insert your feet completely sideway, and sick them in as far as possible before twisting. Most beginner crack climbers don’t do this and are crushing their toes. I can jam my feet in super tight downturned shoes without it hurting too bad.

If you can keep the weight on your feet, and use them to push yourself up you won’t need to squeeze so hard with your hands. That being said you need to adjust your hands as well. Make sure to get your hands as thin as possible, insert then activate your thumb. It hurts a little but not that bad in the type of crack you’re describing 

Remember that you only have to jam hard enough to not fall out of the crack. Everyones heard of over gripping but over jamming is definitely a thing too

Houghton Gremlin wrote:

Remember that you only have to jam hard enough to not fall out of the crack. Everyones heard of over gripping but over jamming is definitely a thing too

Totally agree. If it’s super painful, you’re jamming too hard.

OP: Based on your location in NYC, is this the crack at The Cliffs? IMO neither of the two easier cracks there should be at all painful. 

cubist A wrote:

I am a Gunks climber so I don't get much crack practice, but I have climbed a fair amount out west and in the Alps so I'm not exactly a crack novice. But I'm planning on getting out to Utah or somewhere else with straight up splitters, which I've never really experienced, so I've been trying to practice at my local gym, where there is a hand crack that probably goes at 5.8 or so, which I should theoretically be able to hike. My problem is that, even with crack gloves, both my hands and feet are in so much pain when I try to climb this thing that I simply cannot get to the top, there are literally tears coming out of my eyes by the time I get halfway. My jams feel secure but unbearable. The backs of my hands are red and bruised days later. I feel like I know how to jam, but evidently I do not. Any advice on what I am doing wrong? Is the key to crack climbing simply to sack up and embrace the pain? Or is there some secret mantra that I need to recite, like those dreadlocked yogis who sleep on beds of nails? Any advice appreciated. 

Where are you practicing crack climbing?  If a gym, the cracks often hurt really bad for the hands and feet.

cubist A wrote:

I am a Gunks climber so I don't get much crack practice, but I have climbed a fair amount out west and in the Alps so I'm not exactly a crack novice. But I'm planning on getting out to Utah or somewhere else with straight up splitters, which I've never really experienced, so I've been trying to practice at my local gym, where there is a hand crack that probably goes at 5.8 or so, which I should theoretically be able to hike. My problem is that, even with crack gloves, both my hands and feet are in so much pain when I try to climb this thing that I simply cannot get to the top, there are literally tears coming out of my eyes by the time I get halfway. My jams feel secure but unbearable. The backs of my hands are red and bruised days later. I feel like I know how to jam, but evidently I do not. Any advice on what I am doing wrong? Is the key to crack climbing simply to sack up and embrace the pain? Or is there some secret mantra that I need to recite, like those dreadlocked yogis who sleep on beds of nails? Any advice appreciated. 

Gym cracks are usually too agro with texture. Regardless, keep going, you and your hands will toughen up.

+1 to Pete Whittaker's book, very helpful resource for learning technique across the different sizes. One thing I've noticed with perfect hands in the gym in particular is that it's easy to get a really solid hand jam without engaging the fingers against the palm side of the crack, which tends to push all of the back hand side pressure into a single point along the pointer finger metacarpal for me. In a gym crack where the size doesn't change much that means one spot on my hand is getting all the pressure on every single move, which quickly turns into a hot spot. Getting the fingers engaged against the palm side of the crack helps flatten the back of the hand and distribute the load more evenly. 

With respect to painful feet, the right shoes make a huge difference. A shoe with a higher rand/toecap that covers the pinky toe is considerably more comfortable for me than one with a low rand. 

Gym cracks can indeed be excruciatingly painful. ( and before anyone chimes in again, “it’s your technique”, I was once with a group in Indian Creek with a renowned climber/ mountaineer known for his crack climbing skills, who remarked to our group as I was climbing a hand crack “that woman knows how to climb a crack”. )

The only place I use the jammy things is in the gym. Outside I rarely tape except for specific types of rock. But the jammy things will help with the painful gym cracks. As others have said, your shoes are important. I used to use a pair of old comfy Mythos, but they wore out. now I wear a pair of old comfy velco shoes that my cobbler (Rubber Room) customized with what IIRC they call the Moab patch, whick is a bit of extra rubber above the top rand on the shoe. The  shoe lasts longer and it helps with the sensitivity.
don’t give up!

crack shoes are flat and lace up sized at street sized or bigger and worn with socks

any brand of crack gloves that are not tight helps so much and some are leather like g5 or ocun is thicker 

The cracks at our gym have a bit of a lip or ridge that cuts inward at the outer edge so it really cuts into you when jamming, especially your feet. Sometimes you can get in past it with hands, depending on the angle and crack width, but your feet can't avoid it. It's pretty painful regardless of technique. I just grit and bear it, but it generally keeps me from doing more than one lap.

Top priority: Get on some cracks that are around 70 degrees (probably won't find this in a gym, where cracks are probably close to vertical) and focus on trying out different adjustments with your hands. As always work on your foot jams and placements as much as possible. 

Also, pay attention to how you are torquing your arms, try to pull straight down and don't let your body lean over to far on the side of the crack that the back of your upper hand is on. By keeping your jam weighted towards the palm side you will put much less stress on the back of your hand. 

At some level you do need to just toughen up your hands and get used to some pain. I get bruising on the back of my hands at the beginning of the season. Once I've been climbing regularly the pain and soreness lessen significantly.

Ocun crack gloves will give you the most padding/protection. Try some latex palmed gardening gloves too (learning how to climb with gloves on can be a lifesaver anyway) see if that helps, they will feel sloppy at first but as you get better you'll be able to get bomber jams with nice protection on your hands. 

How many times have you tried your gym crack? The first few times I tried the hand/fist crack at my gym, I could not even stand up and pull one move - it was that painful. i committed to trying the crack once every session. The first few times I fell out an embarrassed failure after one move. Then I started to be able to stand up. Then I linked 2 or 3 moves. Then suddenly I could get halfway up. After a few more tries, I hit the top with only a few falls and I was so proud. Then quite quickly I was getting to the top reliably - awkwardly and exhausted by the end, but reliably - every time. Then I began to be able to work on smoothing out my technique, finding better hand and foot placements, and sequencing. Weirdly, it became less and less painful. Some of it is better technique but honestly I think in large part the body just adjusts. There's some stretching and strengthening that occurs in your ligaments and tendons and maybe the nerves dull, like the manager I used to know at a Friendly's who could grab a metal soup pot out of the steamer well with bare hands. She did it enough times she no longer felt any pain. Keep going. Get the mileage. You'll figure it out. 

phylp phylp wrote:

Gym cracks can indeed be excruciatingly painful. ( and before anyone chimes in again, “it’s your technique”, I was once with a group in Indian Creek with a renowned climber/ mountaineer known for his crack climbing skills, who remarked to our group as I was climbing a hand crack “that woman knows how to climb a crack”. )

The only place I use the jammy things is in the gym. Outside I rarely tape except for specific types of rock. But the jammy things will help with the painful gym cracks. As others have said, your shoes are important. I used to use a pair of old comfy Mythos, but they wore out. now I wear a pair of old comfy velco shoes that my cobbler (Rubber Room) customized with what IIRC they call the Moab patch, whick is a bit of extra rubber above the top rand on the shoe. The  shoe lasts longer and it helps with the sensitivity.
don’t give up!

I’ve noticed the same thing: artificial cracks all seem to be a lot more painful than real rock. I chock up part of it to the fact that gym cracks are usually smoother texture, so you have to jam much harder to avoid sliding, whereas the grain in real rock helps you stick without as much torque. 

Gym cracks often flex which can make you actively jam harder than you would on rock especially on finger cracks 

It shouldn't hurt.  It's mostly a mileage thing.  Get more mileage.  

When I started using the gym crack years ago, it hurt like hell, but I just kept at it and finished every gym session on it.  As your technique improves, it really will go from being painful and hard to being a lot more comfy.  I don't bother taking off my bouldering shoes when I'm crack climbing anymore, as I've grown to like having that extra rubber on the toe to work with.  

Maybe try to find a better crack to train on or build a trainer.  Our gym has both some textured modern gym cracks as well as an old school wooden training crack with four different widths.  The wooden one is 10x better.  The inside is polished smooth and the edges are rounded, so it doesn't shred your skin or have sharp edges digging into your feet.  Also, there aren't many constrictions to work with, so it forces you to actually jam rather than hanging off your joints.