Anyone got any recommendations on books for bouldering technique? Preferably something smallish I could have on me at the wall to flick through when Iām resting.
Iāve read a couple and found them pretty unhelpful / overly general but that might partly reflect that I was already climbing up to v6/7 when I first read one.
If youāre climbing v4ish then youāve probably got the fundamentals in place like twisting your body on overhangs, when to step through, flag, rockover, etc.
Without having seen you climb I would guess the number 1 thing you will need to do is really use your feet and engage your core. Iām still guilty of this - my basic finger strength is about v11 level but Iāve climbed all of 2 v9s outsideā¦ Chances are youāre often placing your feet on holds rather than weighting them properly.
Get on the moon board (youāre still at the arch, right?) and select a bunch of problems a bit below your max grade (moonboard grades are outrageousā¦) and really work to not cut loose on moves by driving your feet into the holds. In particular, find climbs which require you to use those garbage screw-on footholds.
Also think about little ways you might be wasting power on climbs. Cutting loose unnecessarily is obvious but consider also:
- do you find you make lots of little adjustment to your hand position on holds? Could you eliminate these?
- when youāre throwing for a hold are you hitting it at the deadpoint (i.e. when your body is neither travelling up or coming back down) or overshooting and hitting it on the way down (more force needed to reverse the momentum)?
- are you holding holds correctly? Amount of times I see good climbers crimping with 3 fingers on a hold that could fit 4 is baffling.
Repeat climbs. You did your project after 4 sessions and 40 attempts? Do it again! Internalise successful climbing.
Visualise making hard/scary moves. When I take a step back I often realise Iāve just spent 30 mins imagining falling off. What would it look like if I stuck the move? How would it feel? It helps, honest.
Video yourself. Watch the videos of failure and analyse them, not just the instaworthy ones.
Long post, huh?
Oh, finally, deconstruct moves. First iām gonna push with my right leg for power, then my left hand is directing that power upwards, then iām throwing my right when my leg is straight, etc
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Nope, sorry. Only book Iāve read on climbing is ā9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakesā and I didnāt find that all that useful.
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Hey climbers, magnus midtbĆø is a cool guy innit
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This is me.
I find I really have to focus on weighting feet. They stick SO much better but itās counter intuitive. āOoh, this foothold is really shit, better load it with all my weight!ā 
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Never met him tbh
Just googled him and 
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Yeah heās top 10 globally male lead climbing
As always thanks for such a thorough response.
Iām quite lackadaisical with my climbing and really need to think about what Iām doing rather than sauntering up finish-able routes until Iām tired. Itād maybe be useful to have a book covering the basics to flick through and think about while resting between fingerboard sessions. TBH itād probably help to print out what you typed and repeat it to myself.
Finished a couple of v5 routes but v4ish in general. Switched to The Castle when I moved to North London but Stronghold and Yonder are close. No moonboard but I can focus on some overhang routes with smaller holds. Iāve found roof work good for analysing how I utilise my core and feet.
Your bullet points are top tips, got an overhang v4 and 2 v5s Iām gonna focus on tonight and ask myself those questions until Iāve got the routes down.
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Pleasure!
Yeah donāt mean to be too down on climbing books - ultimately anything which makes you think about the mechanics of climbing, how youāre using all of your body, and helps you identify things to improve is going to be a good thing for your climbing.
Fun though, innit?
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If only it wasnāt as fun as the prospect of sauntering up what currently looks impregnable.
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New Dawn documentary on 'flix is excellent. Iād read about the Kyrgyzstan thing before but seeing all the interviews is a very hard-hitting watch. Would recommend to non-climbers as well.
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Fucking hell I canāt comprehend how that must have felt. Like the adrenaline I feel when Iām about to pull on something Iāve worked on for a few sessions outdoors that Iām close on can be pretty intense - that many years and that long on the wallā¦ Felt very emotional at the end
Got down to the peak for the first time in a year yesterday to meet a couple of pals from London. Fun day at Burbage West and Burbage Bridge and collected a couple more 7a ticks including The Nose, which is a great climb with an absolutely desperate landing. If you look closely in this vid you can see one of the mats folded over a massive shard of rock 
Thankfully I was able to ignore the sketchy heel-hook youāre meant to use and just campus through the crux 
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvZrlyvgPYh/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1l1r3rb2rttaq
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Alright big crimpers, how are we all getting on?
I discovered there is a crag 10 mins from my newish place of work which is basically a big olā overhang with lots of problems between 7a+ and 7c. Quite psyched to get projecting as the evenings get longer. Had a little reccy yesterday and ended up doing this 7a+ which was right up my street.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvkOLgbAy87/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1kducvv6d6glm
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You practically campus that!
Still all indoors, but going to The Climbing Unit in Derby more. Itās a bigger centre than the Depot and the route setting is soooooo much better. The routes are much harder, but the difficulty is in technique, not just that the holds are smaller and/or further away.
Theyāve got much more roof stuff so Iām focussing on building that skill up. Itās going slowly and I have to drop a few grades to send stuff, but Iām hoping my heels, toes and bicycle game will be all the better for it.
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Haha for once thatās actually the beta! Cool little crag - all the climbs start off vertical before hitting the overhanging section then finishing on hero jugs. Perfect!
Roof climbing is a very different skill innit? Satisfying, though, and plays to my strengths! Love a good bicycle, preferably coupled with a powerful gaston followed by a showboating campus 
I imagine the core and upper back strength will convert well into general overhangs.
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No doubt just triggered planikās news alerts
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Nice! 
Yeah, Iām consistently hitting just below my best-effort grade on the steepest overhangs now, but on actually roofs Iām like a spasming jellyfish.
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Going good, completing about 75% of the v3/v4 problems at the Castle. Theyāve just set a good bunch of v5 problems and I reckon a couple of them should be doable if I project them. Finally, downloaded the Crimpd app, need to dedicate an evening a week to those exercises.
Visiting family this weekend, bringing my shoes to check out Wetherby Crag for a bit of traversing.
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