Is smearing a proper technique to climb indoors?

I smear quite a lot when climbing in the local gym here since there's not many footholds on the wall..

Funny question. Is there a specific reason or situation that made you ask it? Yes, smearing, like any other climbing technique, is not reserved for outdoor climbing only.

The possible exception (rather forced) in some gyms is the following: when climbing a route that is set for tracking feet on molded walls, flagging is supposed to be O.K. (touching the inside or the outside of your toe/foot to the wall in an unmarked location), but smearing (e.i. putting weight on the foot while pressing it into the wall) is not.

I don't like that rule, and i wouldn't set routes like this myself, but it seems to be the common way to make the climbs harder in the gyms that use Entreprize or Nicros wall systems.

Did someone tell you that it was not O.K. to smear? maybe they were referring to a specific route that was set that way, for some reason...

smearing is fine.
However, if you find that you must smear excessively you may need to improve your footwork.
Footholds could be there, you just might not have the technique to use them so you resort to smearing.

How many instances is smearing going to be a better option than a nearby foothold, if not to put your body in a better position to make a move?

I wouldn't necessarily agree with this. IMO smearing excessively is not a sign of bad footwork.

Have you ever seen a noob paddl'n the wall' with their feet because they were too focused on the holds above and weren't looking at and consciously placing their feet (climbing with 'quiet feet')?

Is swearing a proper technique to climb indoors?

I swear quite a lot when climbing in the local gym here since there's not many footholds on the wall..

ftfy!

I thought we were talking about smearing.

I would go so far as to say that frequent quality smearing is a sign of climbing experience and excellent footwork.

I was responding to the 'excessively' which I indicated in bold above. I guess it depends upon how you define excessively. To me, it means more than needed...

[ik-ses-iv]
–adjective
"exceeding a normal, usual, reasonable, or proper limit. Excessively describes a quantity, amount, or degree that is more than what is justifiable, tolerable, or desirable"

It conjured up many situations I've observed (and probably participated in when first learning to climb) when the focus was on hands and the feet were being smeared everywhere ineffectively because of that.

It seems to me that smearing is mostly used when the climber has no answer to a move, even though their is. The more experienced climbers appear to use it allot less, when it is the only or most efficient option.

The times i personally use this move is on the extreme high steps where leaning off to bring the foot up is either too demanding or not possible. Sometimes its better to just crimp > crunch up and power your way through the move with a smear instead.

I would say its better to smear as little as possible as a new climber. Its quite easy to learn and it is equally easy to use on lower end grades. Its just to easy to assume any move that you can not think a way around ''must'' be a smear.. when mostly it will not be.

It could be that where you climb forces the use of lots of smears. I personaly think thats lame.. because its to easy to learn and you could be spending time learning more advanced things.

You have no idea what you're talking about, and you obviously have terrible footwork from what you just described

If you can't do a sequence using the holds provided, then either a) the setter sucks, or b) you need to get better. It's that simple.

Well I would disagree. How many times have you seen a group of people on a route outdoors climb a route the exact same way?

Well I would disagree. How many times have you seen a group of people on a route outdoors climb a route the exact same way?

Well I would disagree. How many times have you seen a group of people on a route outdoors climb a route the exact same way?

I never said anything about having to climb the route "exactly the same way." A good setter sets routes that might have a variety of different sequences to get through it. It's just that it's up to the setter, not some prefab, high texture surface that turns every route into a smear fest.

Just to be clear you are merely talking about actual smearing and not edging on some faux-rock features right?

Even the newer "smooth" wall style in contemporary gyms are smearable since they use some amount of texture paint. I've yet to see any gym (except old old gyms where the textures been worn away) that has walls that are too slick to smear.