Climbing Coaching - Rock and Sun

Climbing Skill Sets

Written by Rock & Sun on 04/04/2020. Posted in Climbing Coaching.

Performance in climbing is a combination of three main skill sets. It is necessary to have these three aspects functioning optimally for your performance on the rock to be close to or at your maximum capability. Having these skill sets closely aligned will ultimately bring greater enjoyment and satisfaction to your climbing experience.

There is technique, understanding how to move efficiently on vertical ground. There is the mind, the ability to calm the mind down when it feels under pressure, the ability to deal with the natural fear of being off the ground. And then a climber’s physique, strength, power-to-weight ratio, and stamina (see Figure 1).

All three are coming together while climbing. You can’t just rely on your physique, power and stamina, nor just on having amazing technique, or on having a very strong mind. What we notice when we are coaching is that the climber’s performance can not exceed the level of the least developed skill. Let’s illustrate this.

Climber A has quite good technique, has got footwork and knows how to climb using as little upper body power as possible. When on lead, Climber A however finds they are often too scared to move above a bolt, to then fly up the same route when on a toprope; obviously not held back by the technical ability to climb the route. Climber A’s strength and fitness levels are high enough to climb harder. What is holding this climber back is a lack of skills to deal with mental challenges related to climbing. Getting fitter and stronger may make this climber feel more confident in being able to hold on to the holds, and it would buy time to figure out a technical solution for the crux, but ultimately this climber would benefit from exercises to train her mind.

Climber B on the other hand is a strong and physically gifted climber who is not so much distracted by fears. But with poor technique this climber is wasting a lot of energy, and therefore not climbing to their full potential. Mainly pulling on the holds and regularly dragging a leg behind on the easier part of the climb, means the climber is pumped when arriving at the crux of the route. Not held back by fear, Climber B slaps for the hold, makes it, but has no strength left to hold it and falls.

Climber C is a very experienced climber with close-to-being-perfect technique. With over 30 years of climbing experience, mainly trad, this climber has developed very good route-finding skills and is prepared to fall off on both trad and sport routes. Going out climbing regularly means Climber C has a good base level of fitness. But because they never trained specifically for climbing, physical abilities hold back their performance before anything else.

Importance of the basics

Before we continue, there is obviously one more aspect to climbing: the basics. Getting the basics right is most important, and superseding all else. We regard the ability to assess risks, the skills to keep oneself (and your belayer) safe, and route-finding as the basics of climbing. You can be as strong, technically proficient or brave as you like, but if you can’t do a correct risk assessment, and/or don’t know how to keep yourself safe, and/or lack route-finding skills, you may get yourself into trouble.

People who lack the ability to keep themselves safe are the last people you would want to make more confident. They might get so casual with exposing themselves to unnecessary or serious risks that they could hurt themselves – or others. What they need first is to become safe climbers. At Rock & Sun we therefore pay a great deal of attention to safety. Initially we focus on clipping technique and positions, belaying, rope awareness, threading anchors, and risk assessments. There are many ways of doing these things and the important thing – especially for experienced climbers – is to keep your ears and eyes open for new developments and improved ways of doing the things you may have done a certain (possibly suboptimal) way for years or even decades. On the Rock & Sun YouTube channel we published several instructional/safety videos[i]. We also spend a great deal of attention to route finding skills – asking the question: “where is it less steep and more featured, from the feet up?” – practicing this for instance with a laser pen exercise[ii].

Once these basic principles are established, climbers can choose to train to get fitter and stronger, or to train the climbing brain, or to improve their climbing technique, or attempt to do it all.

Why we focus primarily on technique and efficient movement

We work closely with hundreds of climbers each year, we analyse their climbing, and dare to say that 90% of them are held back by their climbing technique. Some may think they are being held back by strength and fitness. Others may think that a fear of falling is holding them back. When we’re analysing climbers’ movement patterns, the reality is though that it is mostly people’s lack of understanding the biomechanics and how that affects efficient movement that is holding them back. This is compounded by a lack of route-finding skills. This is no surprise, as most climbers learn to climb in an indoor environment; they have limited time and opportunity to go outside and climb on rock. Climbing indoors, where routes are designed to get harder by putting the holds further apart and forcing the climber to use less than efficient movement patterns, means that when climbers come to climb outdoors they apply their ingrained (indoor) movement patterns on the rock, not recognising that easier options than the moves they choose are available. We will not go into too much detail here, but refer to our previously written articles on Outdoor Climbing Coaching, our video Inefficient vs Efficient Climbing, and to an example of our Video Analysis.

Fear starts in the forearms: Mind – Technique axis

Technique and the Mind are two linked skill-sets (see figure 1). Let’s illustrate this: When climbers lack technique, and lack understanding of where to look for footholds and how to execute moves, they will inevitably overuse their upper body. They will rely more on their arms for their upward movement than is strictly necessary. As a consequence, they are getting pumped quicker, and thát is the moment that the fear sets in: fear usually starts in the forearms. Plus, balancing on the rock face with only one foot is much more scary than moving up on both feet. Climbers rarely show fear when climbing above a bolt when they are on a route that is well within their grade – even though the consequence of falling might be more severe. So it is not necessarily their mind that is holding them back when climbing away from the protection. The mind usually becomes fearful when the climber is facing the prospect of falling, knowing they can’t hold on for much longer.

These climbers could choose to improve their climbing potential by working on their mental skills, but the root of the problem is their lack of understanding of how to move on vertical ground. Once they understand that – and are disciplined enough to reprogram their movement, they are saving upper body strength and it will take much longer before they get pumped – and scared. We reckon that most people we work with have at least two grades of climbing improvement in them, based only on improving their basic movement pattern.

Technique is an easy fix

A nice bonus of acknowledging that it is a lack of technique that is holding you back, is that it is relatively easy to fix. It is not rocket science; it is simple body mechanics. Once you understand the physics, and once you have received personal coaching to understand which bad habits you need to rewire, and have a set of drills that work for you to reduce your weaknesses, all it needs is discipline. As opposed to trying to improve your climbing by getting fitter to postpone the pump. How many people got into climbing because they love doing pull ups, push ups, and deadhangs?! Based on the climbers we work with on our courses and holidays (and on people we watch climbing while at the crag) we are convinced that most climbers do not need to do any additional physical training until they want to climb higher 7s.

Another good reason to focus on developing your movement skills instead of getting fitter and stronger, is that strength and fitness are easily lost during a period of not training or not climbing. After being ill or injured, pregnant, or a too busy period in your life where you did not have time to go climbing, your level of fitness and strength can be greatly reduced. Your technique however stays!

Fear is related to basic skill of doing risk assessments

Having described the link between technique and the mind, we now move on to explaining how someone’s ability to deal with a fear of falling is also strongly related to the basic required skill set of being able to do an accurate risk assessment. If physics isn’t your strong point, when doing your route finding (i.e. trying to find the less steep and most featured way to the next bolt, providing it is safe to go that way) all your options may come back as unsafe. “It is less steep and more featured on the left but if I go that way and fall off, I will swing into that feature there. The route definitely doesn’t go right here, because that’s looking too hard for the grade. I could go straight up here, where it is steeper and the holds are smaller than on the left. It keeps me closer to the bolt, but if I fall, I will land on the ledge I am leaving.”

It is completely normal (and sometimes even necessary) to be scared, because falling is not a natural thing for human beings to do. If you think you will hit something and hurt yourself, being scared prevents you from taking that risk. We should see fear as our friend. However, not being able to assess the angle, direction and length of the fall correctly, and assessing the risk as higher than it is, means you may be unduly scared.

Figure 2 helps to illustrate this. In a hypothetical situation, Climber D and Climber E are climbing the same 100 routes. Climber E always makes correct risk assessments: 20% of falls resulting in sustaining a serious injury, 10% of falls can be managed by f.i. deliberately pushing off while falling, and by an attentive and skilful belayer, and 70% of the falls are safe. Please note that the numbers are hypothetical – it should not be interpreted that if you do a correct risk assessment, 20% of the falls are in a “no fall zone”. Climber D however, on those same 100 routes, thinks that 80% of the time falling off would result in injury, and only 10% of the falls are safe. No surprise that Climber D feels scared.

For Climber D it would be really helpful to make more accurate risk assessments. There are at least three easy ways to do this:

1) while on the ground, get into the habit of watching other climbers climb and imagine their fall if they were to fall off at any point, given the distance from the bolt and the amount of slack in the system. If at some point you assess the fall as not safe, ask a more experienced climber what their assessment of the fall would be.

2) while on the ground, watch other climbers taking falls. Was the fall what you had imagined it to be? This is especially helpful when a climber falls off the crux of a route that you are struggling to commit to. Once you’ve seen someone else fall in the same spot, your risk assessment can be adjusted.

3) while climbing and not willing to commit to a move because you assess it as possibly dangerous, ask your belayer how they assess the fall. Is it safe to commit?

Improving this basic skill set helps to be less scared, helps to calm the mind, and re-focus on the climbing.

Conclusion

To maximise your climbing potential, you need to assess (or ask a professional climbing coach to assess) what your weaknesses are and how these interrelate, in order to get the right exercises for you to improve. Work the weakest link! Work its true source, which may not be the same as how the weakest link manifests itself (remember that ‘fear from the forearm’ is most likely coming from a technical deficiency, not a lack of strength).

Based on several decades of experience with performance coaching for climbing, we conclude that most climbers need, first of all, to be able to make correct risk assessments, to know how to keep themselves safe, and to improve their route-finding, i.e. they need to get the basics right. Then, most room for improvement lies in learning how to move efficiently on vertical ground by understanding biomechanics and applying what we refer to as ‘a basic movement pattern’. As explained before, both of these have a positive effect on the mind. With correct risk assessments of fall zones, there is less reason to be scared. Knowing how to move efficiently saves upper body strength, which means you’re less likely to get pumped – and scared. Development of technique and the mind go hand in hand; by doing lots of mileage climbing easy routes the mind is calm and able to focus on efficient body movement.

When climbers have invested in improving their technique and in their basic risk assessment and route-finding skills, we consider training the brain as the best next choice of action. There are many exercises that help to stay calm and focused on the rock. We have worked together with Hazel Findlay on several occasions; she is a professional climber who specialises in coaching the mental aspects of climbing.

We do of course acknowledge that there is an advantage to being strong and fit. Looking at the Physique – Technique axis, stamina buys you time to figure out the most technical solution to a crux, and strength and power mean you have a greater selection of holds available to you. Furthermore, on the Physique – Mind axis, feeling strong enough to hold the holds, can give an advantage. It can calm the mind and help you to commit to a move. What we notice though is that most of our clients don’t lack strength or fitness.

(written by Desiree Verbeek)

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Interested in a Performance Coaching Course?

Keep an eye on our blog for our next article on Route-finding.

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[i] These videos are not intended to replace face to face instruction by a qualified climbing instructor, they are intended as refreshers for those having been on a Rock & Sun course or holiday.

[ii] Our next article will be about route finding, so keep an eye on our blog. We will accompany it with a video, which will be published on our YouTube Channel.

Outdoor Climbing Coaching

Written by Rock & Sun on 20/06/2018. Posted in Climbing Coaching.

Recently the demand for outdoor sport climbing coaching has increased hugely. Due to the amount of Performance Coaching Courses I have run I notice some patterns in the way climbers tend to move. Much of this might be down to the way we as humans naturally move on rock. It’s also possible that the nature of artificial climbing is playing a large part in forcing people into a pattern of movement that is at odds with the way you would ideally want to move on rock.

Having been a climbing instructor for over 30 years it seems that much has changed. Both physically and in the way people move. Clients are generally fitter and stronger, the grade they climb is generally higher than it used to be, but the gap between the grade people climb indoors compared to outdoors seems to be widening. What I find most interesting is seeing a well-established pattern of movement which is very similar from one climber to the next. Before climbing walls became popular, as a guide, you would most likely be introducing someone to climbing for the first time and they would therefore try to execute the moves and techniques that you explained as best as they could. These days however, the average client has already been climbing indoors for about two years and has a well-established pattern of movement.

When modern climbing gyms appeared on the scene in the early 1990’s they were very much seen as a place for climbers to train, build and maintain fitness during times of poor weather and the long dark winter months. But how well do they work nowadays for the new climber looking to progress outdoors?

The pattern of movement that climbing on artificial walls is likely to produce

Climbing indoors likely develops a pattern of movement that is best described as: a high, often wide step (anything above the opposite knee is a good indication of what might be considered high), very little sideways movement of the hips if any, then pull on the arms before rocking over the high foot. This move is usually executed with a trailing back leg (a heavy limb weighing you down as you try to move up). This is about as inefficient a move as you can make.

Of course there comes a time when a high step rock over is necessary. However, if we are just doing so out of habit and missing the easier options when available we are unnecessarily wasting valuable upper body strength.

What makes us more likely to establish this pattern of movement when climbing indoors?

The limited options of foot placements on an indoor wall compared to rock as well as the difficulty in smearing on indoor routes can greatly reduce the opportunity to practice and develop basic non-technical movement skills. That is, if we choose to climbing the routes as they are set. In order to establish an efficient way of moving we need to understand what an ‘efficient basic movement pattern’ is.

When climbing outside, especially on the easier routes, an almost limitless number of foot placements options are available. Indoors however, in order to make routes harder, the holds will become fewer, smaller and placed further apart. Once a climber progresses through the grades they are often left with little option but to be climbing out of position (i.e. off balance) – with their feet much wider than the body’s centre of gravity and too high to be able to shift the hips sideways over the high foot in order to be balanced over the foot prior to the body moving upward. If this sideways movement does not happen it causes an over reliance on the upper body. When making the transition to the outdoors climbers are unnecessarily repeating these moves. They move in a way that their body has become accustomed to; high-step, pull with arms, rock over. The feet are moving past perfectly good foot holds to recreate a body position that feels ‘natural’. In reality it’s a bit more complicated than this but this is essentially how almost everybody is moving on the first day of a coaching course.

What might constitute a non-technical efficient climbing pattern?

Place your foot on to a hold. Then transfer the body weight onto the foot by moving the hips over the foot. It is possible to do this without the body moving up. In fact, if the body moves down as it moves sideways the arms can usually straighten. When fully balanced over the high foot, bend the knee of the opposite leg and use the hip joint to raise the leg and foot until it reaches the next foothold. All of this can be done without the hips moving in an upward direction. Now the body can be pushed up by straightening both legs; generating the upward momentum from the legs rather than pulling on the arms.

Climbing a ladder

I find the ladder analogy a good place to start when coaching outdoors. If the aim is to use the legs as much as possible protecting our weaker upper body then it might be useful to think about common terms we use to describe easy climbing such as: easy as climbing a ladder. What makes a ladder easy to climb? How would you design a ladder if you were going to make one?

The rungs would be close together below knee height and the width no wider than the hips. This way the feet are always directly underneath the body and never outside the width of our body. Making moves where our high foot is relatively low are easy to execute with minimal upper body strength. However as soon as we take our foot above the opposite knee pressing up from one leg starts to get hard so we tend to pull with the arms. The same is true when the foot is beyond the width of our body. If we don’t move our hips sideways over the high foot before lifting our back foot then our arms are holding a good percentage of our weight and we are therefore out of balance. Of course it is not always possible even when climbing on rock to keep your feet within the confines of a ladder but the more confident and skilful the climber is in their footwork, the more able they are to avoid being drawn out of position by bigger footholds that might not be best placed for transferring weight onto.

Having a non-technical movement programme allows us to focus on maintaining our form, and to easily recognise when we are choosing to go out of position and are no longer able to move our hips over the lead foot. If we can recognise this we can more easily select the correct body position in order to execute the next move efficiently.

Analysing Movement Patterns

In the following sections I will be looking at how to analyse climbing movement and how to use the climbing gym effectively to develop efficient movement.

The motivation for writing these articles came about from coaching hundreds of clients who mainly climb or at least learnt to climb indoors. I was struck by how few of them understood any of the differences and how even those that had been coached assumed that what they had learnt indoors would help them climb on real rock.

Analysing a climbers movement pattern on an artificial wall can be difficult unless the climber is on a section of wall with an abundance of hand- and footholds (enough holds and easy enough grade that they are able to choose where they would like to place their hands and feet). The climber ultimately needs to be able to move freely and not be dictated to by spaced holds.

Filming climbers on easy routes, slabby or no more than vertical grade 3 to 5 even if they normally climb upwards of 7b, allows you to see how they naturally move when given a choice. If training mostly indoors and climbing the routes or problems as they are set, there is a risk of training our bodies to seek out the hard moves and overlook the easy ones. If we accept that climbing efficiently is important as a climber then we need to naturally seek out the easiest option. Of course, being able to execute hard moves is important but if our body naturally falls into familiar but unnecessary positions when on easy ground then we are wasting valuable energy. Climbing is a technical, balance based activity and executing moves when out of balance using the arms instead of the legs should be a last resort not the norm. I’ve coached many climbers in recent years who almost only do difficult moves, not seeing or considering an easier option as this would feel unfamiliar to them.

Once we understand what efficient movement is, we can choose to do a much greater percentage of climbing where we are not being dictated by the configuration of the holds. For example, if 80% of our climbing allowed us to move in a way of our choosing and we saw this as practice, we would have some quality control over how we move. If mostly practicing indoors this might involve climbing on sections of wall with many holds and using any colour for feet.

Based on efficient movement, what are we trying to observe?

I find it useful to start with transference of weight.

Is the climber fully moving the hips/centre of gravity over the leading foot? If not, why not?

Is the climber trailing the back foot as they move upward (climbers often arrive with a hole or wear mark on top of their shoes, this can be a giveaway), pushing from one leg rather than two?

Are they pulling on their arms or pushing from their legs?

Bent or straight arms?
Climbing dynamically or statically?
Making more hand movements/changes to foot changes?

There are many things that we can choose to look at when assessing how efficiently someone may be climbing. It’s best to keep it simple. It’s important to have the basics wired before moving on to anything more complicated.

Most if not all inefficient movement will be due to poor choice of foot- and hand holds. As good footwork is harder to develop it makes sense to concentrate more attention here.

The higher and or wider the leading foot is in relation to the back foot the harder it becomes to transfer weight onto it. Once the foot is above the opposite knee the leg is not strong enough to push the body up alone, so the arms need to help by pulling or pushing. For this reason, I begin with foot choices. If they are high, wide or both, I try to identify what techniques (if any) are being used to make upward movement as efficient as possible.

People are often surprised when they look nothing like they imagined on the screen. For most people it will be the first time they see themselves climbing. The fact that they are not flowing up the route with the grace of one of climbing’s greats can come as a bit of a shock!

It’s useful to have some positives to throw in with the analysis which if we are not careful can feel like a negative process (looking for things that the climber might be doing incorrectly or inefficiently). I must admit I’m pretty rubbish at this bit! I’ve learned that referring to how I know I used to climb before I took more of an interest in movement can help. But also looking at techniques the climber is using to compensate for being out of balance can help, as they are useful skills to have when climbing harder routes or features that require certain techniques. Watching how most climbers around them at the wall or crag will be moving with the same pattern is also useful.

From watching the video, it should be clear that if it is possible to take small steps, keep our feet close together then the climbing is naturally easier. Once the feet are outside the width of the body, sideways movement is necessary to move efficiently. The link below shows two climbers on the same route. The second climber is making good choices with the feet and displaying excellent technique.

How to make high or wide steps efficient

It is important to consider if poor footwork is the cause of us making poor choices with our feet in the first place. Often the inability to smear or stand on small edges is at play. When we must take our feet out of position, there are surprisingly few techniques that we might choose from:

Bringing our feet closer by stepping down with the high foot, bringing the back foot up a little before going back to the same highest foothold. Not really a technique; more away of avoiding the high step and remembering that this option often gets overlooked.
Cross over or through with the foot when going sideways.
Palming off or pushing down with the same hand as the foot we are going to move.
Dynamic rock over by bouncing off the back foot, generating movement from the legs to limit pulling on the arms.
Bringing the back foot up incrementally rather than in one big movement.

These options (apart from the dynamic rock over) should be made without upward movement of the body / hips.

Climbing is a discipline

Climbing is a discipline and like any discipline practice is necessary. Most climbers are self-taught and judge their expertise by the grade they climb, not necessarily by the quality of their movement. Most climbers just climb hoping or assuming they will get better. However, once we understand what efficient movement is, it becomes possible to self-coach. If we are present in the moment with each move we make and are prepared to fail seeking out the technical solution, rather than just pulling even if we know that we could, then we are practicing, and will make progress. Practice can only be done on routes easy enough to have both mental and physical space to consider each move.

By Trevor Massiah
This article was published in two parts in Professional Mountaineer Spring and Summer 2018

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