6. Technique Training

Technique is what allows you to do a route as efficiently as possible, to use the least amount of strength/energy to get to the top. Different people have different body types, different strengths and different needs for technique. Technique is used all the time while climbing. There are different ways of generating momentum, taking the weight off of your hands, or even holding onto holds with less energy. The drills presented here are designed to teach you how to become a more efficient climber. One of the most important techniques to learn is how to use your strengths to your advantage.

There are several areas of technique that this chapter will focus on:

• Footwork - learning to place your feet properly and how to weight them.
• Kneedrops and flagging - When to use them and how to position your body to take full advantage of them.
• Generating Momentum - How to efficiently generate momentum.
• Stabilizing for Clips and Resting - How to stabilize for the times when you only have one hand on.
• Roof Climbing - Different techniques that can be used when climbing on a roof and on very steep angles.
• Pulling Lips and Bulges - Different techniques that can help when pulling lips of bulges.

Each section will introduce some drills and it is recommended that you attempt these drills while warming up. You don't want to be trying a new technique while onsighting, or even while redpointing hard routes. While warming up just concentrate on a few drills each time while on larger holds. Then you will have more time to be able to figure out how the technique best works for you.

6.1 Footwork

There are many different types of footholds and all of them require knowing how to properly stand on them. This section deals with drills for learning how to place your feet and how to weight them.

Some good footwork drills are:

• Accurately Placing Feet
  If you watch a good climber or someone who climbs a lot you will notice that they do not adjust their feet that much. They know where to place their feet and they know when their feet are right. A great drill for this is to concentrate on your feet while you are warming up. This means looking at your foot until it is on the foothold. Indoors you do not need to edge that much, most feet are fairly large and the best way to place your feet is to actually touch the wall about 1cm above the hold and smear down onto it. This will set you up for rotating on the hold later. Before your foot is placed try to determine the sweet spot of the hold, the place where you thing you can stand and put the most weight on it. Experiment with different positions on different holds. Only when you are satisfied that you have the best foot placement do you make the next move.
  

  This drill is great because it will teach you where your feet are. By doing it slowly in warmup you will reduce the amount of readjusting done on harder routes. Most people look up from their feet too soon, before their feet are properly on the hold. This means that they may miss the sweet spot of the hold.
  

• Weighting Your Feet
  Determining how much weight you can put on your feet will depend on the angle of the wall, the size of the foothold, and the angle that you are stepping from. This drill should be done on several different angles and can be done as part of a warm up or when you are already tired.
  

  Start with both feet on what you consider bad footholds. Hold on with one hand. Now slowly try and relax your hand and concentrate on your feet, feel how much weight they can take. You should relax until your hand lets go. Make sure you do this very slowly and on different types of footholds. This will show you how much you have to hold on with your hands and how much weight you can transfer to your feet, a very useful thing to know.
  

  This drill should show you if you are overgripping too much when you climb. Overgripping is when you are squeezing too hard with your hands. Concentrate on relaxing your forearms and your arms. You may need to tighten up your core (abs, hamstrings, quads) in order to take as much weight as possible.
  

• Pulling With You Feet
  Your legs are stronger than your arms, and can support your weight better. Learning how to pull with your legs rather than your arms will allow you to save that precious upper body pulling power for times when you really need it. You can move your body with your legs by reaching out with your legs and pulling with your feet. This means that you will have to cup your toes slightly in order to pull from the other side of a hold.
  

  Try this. On a vertical or slightly overhanging wall grab two holds and hang straight down. Keeping your arms straight put both feet on the wall, extend one leg out and place it on a hold. With your arms still straight pull your body towards the foot until your hips are almost directly above the foot. Try this in the other direction as well and on steeper wall. It helps to have softer shoes that allow you to toe in on foot holds for this drill.
  

• Back Stepping
  Back stepping is when you place you little toe, or outside edge against the wall when standing on a hold. It allows you to push your body in one direction or the other while keeping your arms straight. For instance if you are reaching with your left hand you can backstep with your left foot and keep your right arm straight. Thus using your leg muscles rather than your upper body to push you in the direction you wish to go. Backstepping is very useful when holding onto sidepulls and underclings.
  

  When warming up try back stepping every move with only one foot on. If you are reaching with your right hand keep your right foot on, and if you are reaching with your left hand keep your left foot on. This will not always make the move easier but at least you will learn when it works and when it does not.
  

• Rotating
  Rotating is very important for conserving energy and momentum while climbing. Allowing the weight of your body to carry you through one move and into the next. When rotating it is important to keep contact with the foothold so you need to place your feet in such a way that rotating your foot will not cause it to come off (stand near the front of your shoes and be prepared to drop the heel).
  

  Start with your hands crossed on two side pulls at chest height, and about one foot apart. Place both feet on decent footholds about 3-4 feet directly below the hand holds. Now if you are reaching out with your right hand you want to rotate on your right foot, moving the weight from your big toe to a back step. Concentrate on dropping your heel and not losing contact with the foot hold. You will learn where the sweet spot is for your shoes, and for most shoes it is different. Try and reach as far as possible with your right hand and then come back to the starting position. Repeat for your left hand.
  

  Rotations are very important for cross overs and maintaining momentum so practice while warming up. Try and rotate every move, obvously this is not always desired but you will learn when it works and when it does not. Try and climb easier routes with just straight arms to see how rotating will help you.
  

6.2 Kneedrops and Flagging

6.2.1 Kneedrops

This technique is very useful for holding your hips against the wall on steeper angles, it is not that useful for slab climbing. If your hips are against the wall then you are able to pull across your body with your other hand.

Try this. On a slightly overhanging wall start with your hands at chest height on two straight down pulling holds that are about shoulder width apart. Place your left foot on a foot hold directly below the handholds at a comfortable distance. Take your right foot and place it just below hip height about two feet to the right. Turn your right knee in and down and try and pull your right hip against the wall. This should make it easier for you to reach with your right hand out and up. Do the same thing out to the left. You can also try and climb into these positions and then out of them. It helps to rotate in and out of kneedrops.

6.2.2 Flagging

• Normal flag - the leg that you are flagging is out to the same side. If you have your right foot on a foothold and place your left foot out to the left. The left foot can be smeared or in the air.
• Reverse Outside Flag - the leg that you are flagging is crossed behind the leg on the foothold. If you have your left foot on a foothold and cross your right lag behind your left leg.
• Reverse Inside Flag - the leg that you are flagging is crossed in front of the leg on the foothold. If you have your left foot on a foothold and cross your right left in front of your left leg. This flag is particularly useful for avoiding a foot match.

The degree to which to flag will depend on what you are trying to do. On a move that requires a flag you may need to play around with how much you want to flag. It will depend on how far you have to move, what your other foot is on and where, and the size of handholds you are using. Try and climb one footed to see where flagging is useful and where it is not. Remember to try all three types of flagging in order to build these moves into your climbing repertoire.

6.3 Generating Momentum

Most people would agree that it is easier to do a dyno with your legs on the wall than it is to campus the same move. Momentum should be started by your lower body, hips and legs, and then carried through with your upper body. The timing of the transition is important. Rarely do you start momentum only with your upper body.

Here are a few good drills for generating momentum:

• Dynos
  Practicing your dynoing is great for learning timing and generation of momentum. Start with your arms straight and your legs as high as possible. Get you hips swinging and be prepared to jump. You may have to pull your body up until your hips are above you feet, and then start pushing with your legs. Try and get the timing right so that you don't pause at all on the way up. Practice dynoing to the left, to the right and on numerous different angles.
  

• Straight Arm Climbing
  Try to climb overhanging walls with your arms straight. Concentrate on how you push or pull towards the next hold. The goal is to learn which moves you can do with straight arms and which you can't. You want to try and conserve your pulling power as long as possible, especially when climbing through easier moves at the start of a competition route.
  

• Fish Flop
  I don't have a better name for this so bear with me. The point of this drill is to learn how to use the momentum of your hips to carry your upper body forward.
  

  Start on an overhanging wall 30-45 degrees with your hands matched on a hold. Place your feet in a froggy position below the hand hold. The next steps have to be done quickly to generate enough momentum. Keep your arms straight and bring your hips up against the wall. As you hips get near the top of their motion start pulling with your arms and throw your hips out. The momentum of your hips should carry your shoulders and upper body forward and allow you to reach up with either hand. In this fashion you can move quickly through big moves on steep walls without using too much energy.

6.4 Stabilizing for Clips and Resting

Here are a couple of things to consider when clipping:

• Dead Hang - Try to keep your arms straight and just hang from the holds. Don't squeeze too hard or try to pull yourself towards the clip until you are ready.
  

• Concentrate on Your Feet - Adjust your feet so they can pull or push you towards the clip. Are your feet on the biggest footholds? Are they too high? Make sure they won't slip, there's nothing like having to catch yourself on one arm while the other is still holding a loop of rope.
  

• Centre Your Weight - Try and distribute your weight as much as possible to your feet and the stabilize with your arms. You don't want your feet to be off to one side or the other causing you to have to pull extra hard with your arms.
  

• Push into the holds - If the hold is an undercling, sidepull or gaston make sure that your feet are pushing you into the hold. This will allow you to straighten your arm and increase the length that you can reach. It will make clipping alot more balanced as well. If possible try and avoid clipping off underclings, they require alot of core strength to hold onto.

Not all of those techniques will work on every clip but play around and learn how to hold yourself in different clipping stances. Most of all don't rush it. Make your clip smoothly and efficiently. Practice clipping draws from all angles. From the left, right, top and bottom. You should be familiar with how to stabilize the draw when clipping, especially on steeper climbing like on roofs. Try out finger clips and reverse finger clips, ask if you don't know what these are.

6.5 Roof Climbing

It is very easy to be inefficient when climbing on a roof, and this means losing lots of energy/power. Generally when climbing on a roof most of your weight is on your arms so the trick is to minimize the amount of work that they have to do. Climbers in general tend to focus more on their arms on a roof but your feet are just as important to take the weight off your arms.

Here are some things to try with your feet when climbing on a roof:

• Toehooks - Toehooks are when you use the top of your toes to pull down on a hold. This is very effective on a roof for holding your body in a fixed position and for taking the weight off your arms. As well it does not take a lot of core strength to use a toehook.
  

• Toe in on Holds - This is the opposite of a toehook where you are using the bottom of your toes (the side with the rubber) to hook the hold. You are pushing your toes onto the hold and then using your calves and halmstrings to pull your body up. This requires much more core strength (body tension) than a toehook but is much more common. Try to to this on incut holds to start and slowly work towards smaller and smaller holds on a roof. You will have to push harder and be more accurate with your feet in order to maintain contact with the holds.
  

• Bicycles - Bicycling a hold means having one foot on the front of the hold pushing and one foot behind the hold toehooking and pulling. One foot pushing, the other pulling, like riding a bike. This is very useful for pulling your body up towards the roof since you have locked your lower body in place with your feet. This can be done on one hold (the typical definition) or different holds where one foot is toeing in and the other is toehooking.
  

• Heel-Toes - A heel-toe is when you have your heel on a hold and you are pressing your toes against the roof, or another hold. This will lock your foot in place by camming it using your heel and toe, thus the name. Once again this is very effective for locking your lower body in place and allowing you to pull with your legs.
  

• Push toward the holds - Use your feet to push your hands into the holds. Generally on a roof an undercling is the easiest thing to hold onto and move off of. You can turn sidepulls into underclings by moving your feet around to either side of you. In this way you can extend your reach by keeping your arms straight and pushing your hips in the direction of the next hold.
  

• Kneedrops and flagging - On a roof kneedrops and flagging are used to pull your hips up towards the roof. Twisting your knee in and flagging the other foot will pull your hip up against the roof. The foot placement is similar to that on lower angles. If you are reaching with your right arm you want your right foot on and turn your right knee in. By flagging your left foot out you will centre your weight under your left arm and allow you to use your left arm as a lever. Simply push in the direction you wish to go. This will only working when you are pushing on a foothold.
  

Using your upper body efficiently on a roof is critical to saving energy through those steep sections. This skills listed above for your lower body will help to reduce the amount of energy you are using but if you lock off every move then no amount of foot technique can help you.

When climbing on a roof try the following with your upper body:

• Keep Your Arms Straight - On a roof if you bend your arms you are reducing the amount of reach you have. Try and keep your arms straight and use your feet to push you as much as possible.
  

• Centre your weight - As you move along a roof you should try and hang straight down from your arms. Use your legs to move your hips so that your chest is centred below your arms, try not to use your arms for this. This is especially important when clipping or trying to rest on a roof but may not work when moving (unless each move is only one foot in length).

6.6 Pulling Lips and Bulges

Here are some things to consider when pulling lips or bulges:

• Read the Route - A good sequence is incredibly important when approaching a lip or a bulge. It is generally the case that you will want to move quickly through these sections but look for rests as well. If the routesetter is using large holds to pull the lip then you can move slower and when you are above it you will have big foot holds. If the routesetter is using small holds to pull the lip the you will want to move quickly and surely through the small holds. Changes in angles will usually produce a crux or a rest so decide what it is and prepare yourself for it.
  

• Heel hooks - If you can get your feet around the lip to one side or the other you may be able to pull most of your weight with your legs. When placing a heel hook try to turn your foot slightly out, place your heel on the hold and twist your toes towards the wall to get a better hook. Pull with your legs first then with your arms and try to rock onto the heel hook. Heel hooks are very effective means of resting at a lip even it you cannot use them to move with.
  

• Remember handholds - As you start to move over a lip it will be harder and harder to see under it. If you do not remember where your handholds were you will either spend time searching for feet, missing feet altogether, or have to lean out to look under the lip. Leaning out may not be possible if the holds are very bad slopers.
  

• Figure Four - Most people have tried figure fours and dismissed them as a circus trick. In truth there is a very limited number of moves that a figure four will help but pulling lips is one of them. If you have to do a big move over a lip and you have a good hold then this is the perfect opportunity to try out a figure four. To do a figure four put your opposite leg through your arms and hook the bend of your knee on either your wrist or your elbow. Hooking on your elbow is easier but hooking on your wrist will allow you much greater reach. Once you have hooked your knee you can rock up on it and reach up with the free hand.
  

  For example if you are holding onto a jug with your left hand at a lip take your right leg and pass it over your left arm. Try hooking your knee on either your elbow or your wrist and use your right arm to help rock your body up and over the lip. You should be able to reach up with your right hand once you have moved your body up.
  

• Campusing - Campusing as a technique?? Sometimes it may be more efficient to simply let your feet come off and campus over a lip. To be able to do this you must be confident in your campusing ability and know that keeping your feet on will require too much energy. For instance if your foot holds are a long ways away and it requires a lot of body tension to stay in place it may be easier to cut your feet and do the move. Another thing to consider is if your feet will stay on once you have completed the move. If your feet are going to cut loose then they may pull you off the holds, so it may be benefficial to cut them off before making the move.

The best way to determine what the best way to pull a lip or a bulge is to have experience. Climb different lips and different bulges and try out the techniques introduced here.

6.7 Summary

Remember the easiest way to learn technique is to climb lots of varying styles of climbing. You will be able to identify your weaknesses and learn many different techniques.

Watch other climbers. Try to identify why they make moves look easy or why they are struggling with certain moves. If someone makes a move look easy and you struggle with it then you should try to recreate their foot, hip and hand placements. Who knows maybe they are smarter climbers than your are.