mclay
Junior Member
Posts: 96
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Post by mclay on Mar 14, 2017 0:19:48 GMT -7
One of the recurring themes of the rock climbing training literature is that downclimbing is one of the best ways to improve, especially for beginners. After trying to train for almost two years, I believe I have downclimbed more than most. This is primarily down to a limited home climbing wall - lots of up and down on 4x12 space! I've done this on real rock on a much more limited scale - mostly on boulders, less so on actual routes. I'm wondering where the payoff of this discipline comes in - I think my footwork/technique has improved quite a bit, but on routes I'm still stymied by the same sort of moves I was two years ago.
For better trained and advanced level climbers - Do you still actively practice downclimbing as a skill development drill? How has this made a tangible difference in your climbing?
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Post by Chris W on Mar 14, 2017 4:04:21 GMT -7
I downclimb to save my knees and back from jumping. I feel like it can be a bit hard on the shoulders and elbows though. I don't usually practice it specifically as a drill.
BTW, I don't think I would call myself an advanced climber.
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Post by aikibujin on Mar 14, 2017 9:49:02 GMT -7
I’m nowhere close to an advanced level climber, but I try to sound like one. My opinion on downclimbing is that it’s a great drill to teach people to look down. Beginners (especially on plastic) tend to look down just long enough to spot their foothold, then focus their gaze upward again while kicking around for the foothold by feel. Downclimbing is a great exercise that forces them to look down and focus on their feet when they place them. But once you learned to pay attention to your foothold, I think you don’t really gain much from downclimbing a lot. It creates a good pump, so I did downclimb a lot when I was ARCing with an autobelay. Even then I’ve been moving away from downclimbing because I feel like it's making me reply overly on my arms to lower myself. I still downclimb as much as I can when bouldering in the gym. Some of the bouldering wall in gyms are getting ridiculously high. I’ve heard of people hurting themselves badly simply jumping off (not falling off) from the top of the bouldering walls.
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mclay
Junior Member
Posts: 96
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Post by mclay on Mar 14, 2017 22:22:07 GMT -7
But once you learned to pay attention to your foothold, I think you don’t really gain much from downclimbing a lot. It creates a good pump, so I did downclimb a lot when I was ARCing with an autobelay. Even then I’ve been moving away from downclimbing because I feel like it's making me reply overly on my arms to lower myself. I still downclimb as much as I can when bouldering in the gym. Some of the bouldering wall in gyms are getting ridiculously high. I’ve heard of people hurting themselves badly simply jumping off (not falling off) from the top of the bouldering walls. I've climbed in a commercial gym twice in the past year and both times I've had pain from jumping off the high walls. Most recently my macrocycle was destroyed by a lower back injury. I've also had the same experience when downclimbing on Autobelay - gym routes tend to make the practice more about 20 consecutive negative pull-ups. Now that I have a partner that is getting into RCTM I hope to be able to do laps outdoor, so maybe there is still something to learn from the drill on the rock.
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