Climbing tips for beginners : how to climb harder ?
Many of you have asked for some climbing tips for novice and intermediate climbers. If you’re new to climbing and feel like you’re hitting a plateau, then this article is for you. Also if you just want to know what mistakes to avoid. Here’s our Beginner’s guide to climbing harder.
Warm up
First of all, in our climbing tips, you will find warming up ! Warm up for an hour on very easy climbs. Do them perfectly and smoothly. DO NOT adjust feet after looking away from them, blindly searching for a better part of the foothold. EVER.
True, you have a point… Chris Sharma barely uses his feet sometimes. That’s because he can. When he does use his feet, you’ll never see him blindly readjusting them.
Climbing tips : try more than once
Give 3 or 4 attempts at a route, or spend 45-60 minutes on boulders that are a few letter grades above your onsight level. These routes or problems should take 5 or 6 attempts max to send.
Once you’ve sent, be sure to repeat them regularly. Getting better isn’t a fluke…So don’t be scared to ruin the “feeling” of sending something hard for you. Eventually it will be a warm up.
Build a solid foundation
All other time….Volume. Mileage. If route climbing, link several easy climbs. Climb at every angle in the gym. Crimps. Slopers. Pockets. If bouldering, do ALL of the problems that are easier than your top grade.
Again, do them all perfectly. None of that muscling through. Mileage, mileage, MILEAGE! All these moves have to become automatic for you to access them at a moments notice. Your bag of tricks can never be big enough. This is one of the most important of our climbing tips 😉
Climbing tips : Get shut down every now and then
Two to three times a month, allow yourself a night to try something really hard. Get bouted. Get a glimpse of movement you can barely understand.
When trying something hard, come up with your own solutions. But always pay close attention to how the better climbers do it, particularly those who appear to float through moves you can barely muster.
Try to emulate their movements. Yes, I know that your way works for you. Try it their way too. Why not get better at both ways?
Originally posted on Power Company Climbing
