Spray Wall Theory

Resetting my 8x10 spray wall tomorrow. I have a good idea of how i want to structure my setting, but am still new to it and would be curious if any more experienced people have guidelines they set spray walls by. And before you start link spraying, I have googled and youtubed all the spray wall tips and drool over the Beast and Ondras home wall.

What rules do you give yourself when setting a spray wall to optimize usability and reduce dead zones?

Tom O'Halloran had a good video on this topic recently, and is oriented toward small home spray walls.

https://youtu.be/q80a4wLKGXc?si=tMEoFQvBb5XV8M4m

JCM wrote:

Tom O'Halloran had a good video on this topic recently, and is oriented toward small home spray walls.

https://youtu.be/q80a4wLKGXc?si=tMEoFQvBb5XV8M4m

Saw that one. Was more helpful than most of the “pro-tube covid how to homewall” videos. As I said in the OP though, seen all the youtube videos and looking for tips from spraywall setters and not youtube links.

Here’s my plan so far:

John Clark wrote:

Saw that one. Was more helpful than most of the “pro-tube covid how to homewall” videos. As I said in the OP though, seen all the youtube videos and looking for tips from spraywall setters and not youtube links.

Here’s my plan so far:

I apologize for providing a potentially useful link, in case you hadn't seen it. Geez.

JCM wrote:

I apologize for providing a potentially useful link, in case you hadn't seen it. Geez.

Totally fine, sorta expected people to be stoked on links and not have much personal input. MP doesn’t seem to be much of a hardcore home spraywall crowd. Does 8a have a forum?

John Clark wrote:

Totally fine, sorta expected people to be stoked on links and not have much personal input. MP doesn’t seem to be much of a hardcore home spraywall crowd. Does 8a have a forum?

r/climbharder is probably the best spot to find the hardcore spraywall nerds. I'd suggest posting up there. You could probably get some good replies.

I love spraywalls, but as a city apartment dweller have never had or set one of my own. Fortunately have access to a great gym spraywall. Can't offer much in terms of suggestions for setting a home wall.

Progress

One thing that improved my spray wall sets was to make sure all the holds weren’t oriented for a straight downward pull. Adding holds that are rotated for gastons and side pulls really opens things up. Looks like you’ve done that well with your new set.

Seems like you had no issues getting a good spread! For what it's worth, I'm a big advocate of putting up the footholds and getting a good jug spread first. Then setting climbs that excite you until the board is half full and fill in the rest by focusing on getting a variety hold types and orientations in each zone of the wall. If you have macros and volumes this process won't work as well, but I think it's nice to have a solid base of intentioned climbs that you know your psyched on. It's also a really good way to get good replicas on your wall without having to compromise.

I've been spray-walling with a variety of configurations for about 8 or 9 years. And because we don't have a gym in town, I've enjoyed using partners spray-walls too, setting problems on each other's walls. I'm still no crusher or pro setter, but here's what I've learned.

• Texture isn't your friend, it just ends sessions prematurely. Wood or worn down holds will ensure your muscles tire before your skin.
• Aim for high density by using every t-nut and adding screw-ons in between.
• No need to obsess over hold distribution, but if you loosely divide the real estate into a handful of zones, try to avoid multiple holds within the zone that match in type, angle, and difficultly - type (crimp, pinch, edge, sloper), angle (⬇️↘️↙️⬅️➡️↖️↗️⬆️), and difficulty (easy, moderate, hard, heinous). If you have two nearby holds that are both moderate ↘️ edges, change one up.
• Take note of which holds become unpopular or unused. Force yourself to build problems around them, and if they still suck spin it or swap it out.
• Set problems where foot moves and/or core tension are the crux.
• Alternatively, set problems that un-weight your hands with easy feet to enable heinous crimps or hand moves (like taking weight off on the hangboard).
• Try Boulder Bot to practice solving beta. If you set all your own problems, you already know the beta before you start.

Hope that helps some!

Amazing! Thanks for the tips. I think I actually hit most of them, but Zach, your tips on active upkeep on utilization I will have to keep in mind. My last set had some dead zones that were annoying. Hoping I can get more friends stoked on the board this winter to keep it alive too :)

One thing I was focused on this set was a really good power box, which I think is a moon/ravioli concept, which emphasizes the center of the board that has the most utilization. I tried to have a good mix of hold types, difficulty, and orientation in the central 5x5 square.

For the people who can’t read my handwriting above, my rules for the set I did are as follows and I’ll let you know how it ends up climbing as I get into the board:

-central finish row jug with jugs on the outside corners as well (sorta for safety on those two)

-no holds that can only be used as gastons in the outer 2 columns

-at least 25-40% of holds should be level

-simple jug loop outside the central 5x5 power box for endurance and warming up

-main start row at about face level if sitting on the pads

-color coordinated feet spread somewhat evenly in the bottom third of the board. Colors align with a certain difficulty or sparsity of feet. I loved this in my last set to do a problem with increasingly worse feet and different positions. Free setting essentially.

-50/50ish of wood and plastic.

-Set the bolt holes first, then fill with screw ons

I also have a home rule of no feet on wood, so that adds a sorta fucked up flavor to my board

Will O wrote:

I'm a big advocate of putting up the footholds and getting a good jug spread first. Then setting climbs that excite you until the board is half full and fill in the rest by focusing on getting a variety hold types and orientations in each zone of the wall.

I like this suggestion and this is generally my plan when I reset my wall. For the current setup, I set pretty much everything by colored problems until it was completely filled in. By doing this I neglected to distribute holds evenly in some areas. Now I mostly just set spraywall style and rarely repeat the original problems that I set anyways.

Zachary, thanks for the suggestion on Boulder Bot! I've set hundreds of problems myself but this app is great for providing new inspiration!!

Ask for some truly awful feet for your birthday.

 Some examples - https://www.powercompanyclimbing.com/holds

I also have added a lot of density in the chest-to-overhead region to allow for foot-on-the-ground arc workouts. They're quite boring so having extra holds in there makes them more tolerable.

Nkane 1 wrote:

Ask for some truly awful feet for your birthday.

 Some examples - https://www.powercompanyclimbing.com/holds

I also have added a lot of density in the chest-to-overhead region to allow for foot-on-the-ground arc workouts. They're quite boring so having extra holds in there makes them more tolerable.

Way ahead of you there. Ordered some Resistors (no tex) to see if they are even remotely usable at 30°. Guessing not, especially given my spray wall surface is slick plastic to start, but we shall see, for science. If they suck, how are the 10° inductors at 30°?

Right now I am working with some big juggy green feet, slightly less juggy blue feet, incut but small and polished orange feet, the small pusher  jibs 01 in black, and pusher woodie set 13 in purple

Zachary Winters wrote:

I've been spray-walling with a variety of configurations for about 8 or 9 years. And because we don't have a gym in town, I've enjoyed using partners spray-walls too, setting problems on each other's walls. I'm still no crusher or pro setter, but here's what I've learned.

• Texture isn't your friend, it just ends sessions prematurely. Wood or worn down holds will ensure your muscles tire before your skin.
• Aim for high density by using every t-nut and adding screw-ons in between.
• No need to obsess over hold distribution, but if you loosely divide the real estate into a handful of zones, try to avoid multiple holds within the zone that match in type, angle, and difficultly - type (crimp, pinch, edge, sloper), angle (⬇️↘️↙️⬅️➡️↖️↗️⬆️), and difficulty (easy, moderate, hard, heinous). If you have two nearby holds that are both moderate ↘️ edges, change one up.
• Take note of which holds become unpopular or unused. Force yourself to build problems around them, and if they still suck spin it or swap it out.
• Set problems where foot moves and/or core tension are the crux.
• Alternatively, set problems that un-weight your hands with easy feet to enable heinous crimps or hand moves (like taking weight off on the hangboard).
• Try Boulder Bot to practice solving beta. If you set all your own problems, you already know the beta before you start.

Hope that helps some!

I’m not sure I would listen to this advice. One time I tried a problem this guy set called ‘Q’ and my finger was kind of sore afterwards.

Connor Smith wrote:

I’m not sure I would listen to this advice. One time I tried a problem this guy set called ‘Q’ and my finger was kind of sore afterwards.

We need details and more trash talk.

You could do Q in Crocs now Connor. I think I have one set now that you'd probably have to bust out your most aggressive flip flops for though. 

There’s a home wall group on Facebook, «Home Climbing Wall Forum», with almost 40k members. Have a look and post for advice.