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Post by iclimb2improve on Nov 26, 2016 14:16:27 GMT -7
Hey guys! So I just got back from the Red this last week, and I had a blast and it's got me even more excited to train over this winter. When I was there, I made a video of me climbing outdoors to show my family and some friends since they were interested in seeing me climb (as they never have), but I just realized this would be an excellent tool to receive criticism for my technique especially from a community of (much) stronger climbers. Video: youtu.be/xzEsxowVYZ0Just a little bit of background information for this video, this was my first attempt on the route, and every fall was included (but the hanging was removed). This route was called 'Massive Attack' a 5.12a in the Curbside area of PMRP which is pretty crimpy and slightly overhung. I did have a second go at the route after this falling at the last bolt before the anchors, but that was not recorded. When I watched the video, it seemed that I was climbing a little too straight on (square to the wall) with bent arms (rather than trying to maintain straight arms), but I wasn't quite sure. I also think there may be some other little mistakes in my climbing that could improve my climbing, so if you see anything, please let me know!
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Post by brendann on Nov 27, 2016 8:43:29 GMT -7
1.) Grabbing the rope when you fall (fear). 2.) Clipping in a lock-off position (fear). 3.) Chalking mid-way through a crux sequence. 4.) Hang-resting below a sit-down rest.
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Post by iclimb2improve on Nov 27, 2016 11:59:10 GMT -7
Thanks for your feedback brendann! After watching the video again, I can see all of those errors and I'll have to work on fixing them, especially clipping locked off. The only one that I didn't really see was grabbing the rope when I fell and I'm not sure what you quite meant (if you meant taking at the last bolt or something else) since I want to correct all of these bad habits in the next season.
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Post by scojo on Nov 27, 2016 20:07:56 GMT -7
I think he means grabbing the rope above your knot while you're falling (correct me if I'm wrong). I'm not really sure whether or not this is a bad habit. I don't think I do this (maybe sometimes?). But I've noticed a lot of people almost exclusively fall this way. There are maybe a couple of freak accidents that could occur (finger inside a loop of rope, grab the belayer's strand accidentally). But I like having the hands free to absorb whatever impact my feet can't deal with. I find that I don't need to have my hand on the rope to maintain an upright position.
Anyway, this is a great idea! Hope I can get around to filming one of my attempts.
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Post by brendann on Nov 28, 2016 9:12:23 GMT -7
I think he means grabbing the rope above your knot while you're falling (correct me if I'm wrong). I'm not really sure whether or not this is a bad habit. I don't think I do this (maybe sometimes?). But I've noticed a lot of people almost exclusively fall this way. There are maybe a couple of freak accidents that could occur (finger inside a loop of rope, grab the belayer's strand accidentally). But I like having the hands free to absorb whatever impact my feet can't deal with. I find that I don't need to have my hand on the rope to maintain an upright position. Correct. There is no obvious danger in it, but it signals that you are focused on the rope and not the movement.
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Post by tedwelser on Dec 8, 2016 10:37:50 GMT -7
Hey Climb2- Here are my observations: (1) you spend too much of your climbing time with both hands on holds, and often, you are maintaining a grip on a single hold for too long. (2) you select positions where your center of balance is too central, and you are not shifting your hips and body enough to get the most out of each handhold (your triangles are off). (3) your climbing positions do not look like rest positions and are not optimizing your body mechanics, most of your body positions look like you found something that was "good enough" rather than "best possible". #1 above means that you will always get more tired the longer you are on the wall. This is not a sustainable red river strategy! The key to 'endurance' at the red is often in avoiding becoming tired in the first place by keeping a high turnover by switching grips with your hands. You should have an alarm bell that goes off in your head if you are gripping a hold for more than 5 seconds. For instance, on the upper headwall you hang a draw and clip while holding constantly to the same hold. This is a needless waste of strength capacity, and then you "rested" on the next move up. Instead you should have used resting as a vaccine rather than as an antidote. #2 above is typical for people who are applying engrams helpful in vert face climbing on non positive holds to overhanging climbing with positive holds. A triangle is defined by the location of the gripping handhold (say left hand) and your two footholds (same side, and opposite side). Too often your same side foot is the closest to being directly underneath your handhold. When handholds are positive the most efficient position for resting and moving is with the opposite side foot (in a backstep) to be directly underneath your handhold. #3 is related to 2, but refers more to your strategic understanding of climbing routes like these. You should be aiming to rest your way up these types of routes by having every normal (non crux) move resulting in a balanced rest position suitable for chalking one hand. If every move were this way you would not get tired. One standard way to accomplish this with positive hand holds is to start and finish your movements by crouching down in a backstep rest, pressing up with your feet, latching a handhold, step through and up into a high backstep facing the opposite way, chalk, repeat. My friends and I refer to this as "The Move". Whenever possible I try to use "The Move" to erase the difficulty from RRG routes but constantly making moderate to large backstep moves that include a rest position for one hand at the start, and the other hand at the end. Good luck and hope that helps.
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Post by climber511 on Dec 8, 2016 11:41:46 GMT -7
I have the book "Self Coached Climber" and plan to start implementing the methods shown there - what do you all think of it?
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Post by MarkAnderson on Dec 8, 2016 16:16:48 GMT -7
I have the book "Self Coached Climber" and plan to start implementing the methods shown there - what do you all think of it? I'm a fan. It has some great drills, especially if you climb on overhanging terrain a lot. It's less helpful for vert or sub-vert climbing, but still useful.
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