Top 5 Tips for Beginner Climbers
Everybody who climbs was a beginner at one point, and they certainly didn’t get better overnight. Do your forearms get super tight toward the top of every route? Are you ripping holes in your shoes quicker than you think you should? Can you not stay on the wall no matter how hard you try? Whether you’re new to climbing or aren’t noticing any improvement, try these 5 tips during your next session.
1. Resting
No, not that kind of resting. Resting while you’re climbing. It may sound counterintuitive, but if your forearms are burning forty feet up a sixty-foot climb, try resting on the wall. This drill will help you save that extra muscle needed to reach the top of the climb.
How to do it:
Begin on a fairly juggy climb (jugs are climbing holds you can grip with your entire hand). While on the wall, find a good stance for your feet, typically on either side of your body in relation to where your hand is. If you were to draw it, your points of contact should create a triangle with your feet as the base and your hands as the top point.
Once there, straighten your arm and take your other hand off. You’ll want to keep your arm straight to avoid using any unnecessary energy while you’re trying to rest. We call this “hanging on your bones” because it does not rely on your strength to hold you up, but rather you rely on your positioning and skeleton to support most of your weight.
From this position, try shaking your free hand as if you’re giving a limp wave. You will want to do this above and below your head. The purpose of this is to remove some of the lactic acid that is creating those tight forearms and help deliver oxygenated blood flow to them.
2. Keep your hips in
Overview: A lot of new climbers tend to hang away from the wall while they climb. What they don’t realize though is this is wasting precious energy. Climbing with your hips close to the wall will ensure you spend less energy in your arms because you will be standing more on your feet. It seems scary at first being so close to the wall, but once you practice, you won’t want to climb any other way.
How to do it:
Find a route you’re comfortable on and begin climbing. While moving, consciously move your center of your mass ( your hips) closer to the wall, as if you’re going in for a hug.
Once you start moving your hips in, take note of how much more you’re standing on your feet. This takes the weight off your arms and transfers it to your legs, the biggest muscles in the body.
While practicing this, though, don’t forget to look up, I’ve banged my head on many a hold.
3. Strengthen Your Core
Overview: Climbing isn’t reliant only on upper body strength, in fact, your core is incredibly important when climbing. When you climb on any overhanging terrain, you have to keep your feet on the wall to reduce the burden on your arms. The thing that keeps your feet on? You guessed it: core!
Why?
When you climb with your body hanging outward from the wall, you spend more energy.
As mentioned above, keeping your hips close to the wall when climbing is ideal. A strong core will make staying close to the wall easier and will take some of the load off your other muscles.
“Cutting feet” is when your feet come off the wall, whether on purpose or on accident. To get your feet back on the wall you will often have to do a mid-air crunch or l-sit. It’s pretty dang core intensive!
4. Improve your footwork
Overview: Improving your footwork will extend the life of your climbing shoes but also make you a more confident climber. For these drills, you’ll want to find routes or problems well within your capability.
How to do it:
Introducing Sticky Feet! The premise of this drill is simple: once you place your foot on a foothold, you may not readjust it (as if you had glue on your feet!). This drill forces you to think before you actually place them. Additionally, you will be forced to use worse footholds than you may normally choose. This will increase your confidence on bad feet.
Another great drill is to physically watch your foot when you bring it to a hold. Focus your attention on seeing your shoe make contact with a foothold. This will help with your foot-eye coordination, and in time, you’ll be able to glance where you need to stand and paste your foot there while you look for the next move.
Lastly, Quiet Feet is a great drill to practice. The idea is to make as little noise as possible while bringing your foot to a hold. This drill is to be done very slowly, so it doubles as strength training. Watch any of the skilled climbers in the gym, they move almost silently on the wall! This is because they have full control of every foot placement. Control is the key to Quiet Feet.
5. Don’t Worry About Your finger Strength Yet
Many beginners see climbers at the gym hanging on weird-looking wooden or plastic boards called “hangboards” or “fingerboards”. These training tools are used to increase finger strength. As a beginner, these tools can be useful, but be sure to consult a professional before trying to tackle these on your own because they can also have a high injury risk!
The last thing you want is to injure a finger (or shoulder!) when you’ve just started. Through climbing, your tendons and ligaments will strengthen naturally. Doing the tips listed above and focusing on your technique will create a solid foundation for improvement.
Also, remember, don’t take yourself too seriously. You’re new at something physically and mentally challenging. Have fun with it! After all, 90% of climbing is falling.
