Post by tetrault on Apr 7, 2017 16:48:02 GMT -7
Thanks for the video post aikibujin.
But can we do better than a "brute force" mimic or copying of our climbing heros?
I understand there will always be exceptions and infinite subtle differences in real life climbing situations, but there must be some principles, themes, or methods that we can come up with to begin experimenting/practicing/focusing on in order to improve our technique (now that we've defined technique as something like "minimizing load on fingers through use of other body parts").
One thing that I have thought about recently (I know the Andersons have talked about it, and it was discussed recently in some campus threads) is the idea of pushing with the low hand. Or, similarly; maximize the time BOTH hands are sharing the load during move intiation and execution. Sorry, this will be long-winded...but hopefully make some sense and be somewhat accurate...
See 1:25 into the video you posted earlier as Adam begins climbing. He performs what may be considered a "stylish" move, swinging his right arm way out and away from the wall and THEN he moves his CG up with his left hand and both feet on the wall.
Though, I'm sure the move was easy for him, and it appears he initiated efficiently with his lower body, but would it have been in better technique to keep his right on the hold during the move initiation, pulling with both arms as he moved his CG up, even to the point where his right hand was momentary pushing (if the body position dictated so), and THEN quickly remove his right hand and return it to the wall at the next hold, maximizing the duration both arms are in contact with with wall? I understand this does not transfer more weight to his feet, but it would allow any required load on his fingers to at least be shared by both hands.
Though trivial for Adam's send in this example, is this really ideal technique? And, if the move was "harder", as in, required more load on his left hand fingers, could his left forearm have been pushed near its limit, requiring significant use of valuable ATP, that could have been spared if the load was shared more equally, keeping each forearm below that threshold?
But can we do better than a "brute force" mimic or copying of our climbing heros?
I understand there will always be exceptions and infinite subtle differences in real life climbing situations, but there must be some principles, themes, or methods that we can come up with to begin experimenting/practicing/focusing on in order to improve our technique (now that we've defined technique as something like "minimizing load on fingers through use of other body parts").
One thing that I have thought about recently (I know the Andersons have talked about it, and it was discussed recently in some campus threads) is the idea of pushing with the low hand. Or, similarly; maximize the time BOTH hands are sharing the load during move intiation and execution. Sorry, this will be long-winded...but hopefully make some sense and be somewhat accurate...
See 1:25 into the video you posted earlier as Adam begins climbing. He performs what may be considered a "stylish" move, swinging his right arm way out and away from the wall and THEN he moves his CG up with his left hand and both feet on the wall.
Though, I'm sure the move was easy for him, and it appears he initiated efficiently with his lower body, but would it have been in better technique to keep his right on the hold during the move initiation, pulling with both arms as he moved his CG up, even to the point where his right hand was momentary pushing (if the body position dictated so), and THEN quickly remove his right hand and return it to the wall at the next hold, maximizing the duration both arms are in contact with with wall? I understand this does not transfer more weight to his feet, but it would allow any required load on his fingers to at least be shared by both hands.
Though trivial for Adam's send in this example, is this really ideal technique? And, if the move was "harder", as in, required more load on his left hand fingers, could his left forearm have been pushed near its limit, requiring significant use of valuable ATP, that could have been spared if the load was shared more equally, keeping each forearm below that threshold?