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qacwac
Mar 20, 2002, 2:18 AM
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Hello all. I do not claim that these are original, just what I have learned which by definition implies I was taught. Hope it is useful.
1. Make safety a priority for you. You may go to the gym and the people are sloppy, don't make the calls and stuff like that. For myself there is therefore the tendency to be sloppy myself because I feel somewhat out of place being safety conscience. Don't succumb to this. Rather be a model of good safety measures.
2. Climb with your legs. If you don’t know what this means you will soon find out. The basic premise is that your legs are much strong than your arms so push your body up with them rather than pull yourself up with you arms. This is of course a general principle but probably one of the most important ones.
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qacwac
Mar 20, 2002, 2:18 AM
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3. Gains in technique will provide the greatest overall gains for newbies. As cool as it would be to be able to do 1 pinky, 1 armed pullups, that's not what we need to be focusing on. Some practical tips for better technique. Watch and learn. When you see a good climber doing a route or traversal, watch what he does with his arms, legs, how he bends, etc. If he's good then there's a reason he's doing it, whether it's to avoid barndooring, conserve strength, etc. If you are able, get on right after him and try to do it exactly as he did it. If it doesn't seem to help, ask him why he did it. If it seems to help or makes sense then practice it and make it a part of your repertoire. Traversals are ideal for this because you can do it low to the ground, no rope to tie into that would delay it and it’s easy to just jump on right after he gets done. There are also some great downloadable videos at climbingmotion.com (56 I think) that have pros doing moves. They're small brief clips of a single isolated move. Not only does it greatly increase your knowledge about climbing moves, they're specific enough that you can then go to the gym and practice that move.
4. Allow adequate rest. If you are like me, when you first get started you want to climb everyday (and I still want to) However, as a newbie, we are the least able to do this. Advanced climbers have the muscle strength and endurance built up to be able to perhaps climb just about everyday but in our case, our tendons are simply to weak. I have failed repeatedly on a route that I know I can do because I hadn't recovered from a previous session.
5. Set a goal. Be realistic but have something that you’re striving for. Since I've never been on real rock, one of my goals is to climb at least a 5.9 my first trip out. If you don't like grades then have it something like to climb twice a week or spend one weekend a month with your family climbing. Whatever it is for you, but have something.
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qacwac
Mar 20, 2002, 2:19 AM
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6. Climb with climbing shoes. Preferably buy your own. Climbing without shoes greatly decreases your ability to gain holding friction with the rock, thus putting more stress on your arms and therefore teaching you bad technique, bringing about discouragement from lack of success and if you’re interested in grades, keeps you from climbing the highest grade possible for you. All other things, chalk bag, harness, biners, rope, etc can come later or are easily borrowed and don’t affect ability nearly as much. Shoes need to fit YOU, not your buddy. With just shoes you can boulder, climb at a gym, go out with a more experienced climbing partner who should have all the other gear you’ll need. Plus if you decide to quit you won’t be like all the people on ebay who are getting about half what they paid.
7. Find a partner with about the same amount of skill, same climbing ambition as you and make it a competition. Make everything a competition. Who can do the route, who can do it the fastest, who can do the most laps, most pull-ups, hang on the hold the longest, farthest dyno. Whatever you’re doing, make it competitive. Now obviously if you are not competitive then don’t do this because you’d be miserable but if you want tremendous gains, then do this. I somewhat speak from ignorance here because I do not have such a person but in other sports and activities of my life I have seen how the competitive atmosphere has taken me to heights I’d not thought I could go to. This is not to the total exclusion of #8
8. Climb with people who are better than you. If you and one other person who is experienced are climbing, while you are climbing they are focused totally on you (assuming he’s belaying or spotting you). Use this to your advantage. Have him critique you when you’re done, (What could I have done better there? Was I climbing too slow? Using my arms too much? Etc) If you are absolutely stuck get him to yell out a hint (though too much of this can be damaging to your problem solving skills). When you are belaying or spotting pay attention (not to the neglect of his safety) of how he moves as mentioned in #3
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qacwac
Mar 20, 2002, 2:19 AM
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9. Avoid injury like the plague. Again I have not experienced the pain of this from climbing but old football injuries still haunt me today and even affect my climbing. The reason injuries are so bad is twofold. First, you must stop the activity that caused the injury, in this case climbing. Since you can’t climb, you can’t really improve. The second aspect and much more serious is that you not only stop progressing, but you also digress, that is go backwards. Sometimes you are left never able to reach your previous state. A practical matter involving this would best illustrate it. If faced with possibly over training and incurring injury or missing a trip of climbing, miss the climbing. The gains and joys are miniscule compared to the long-term gains and joys of years of injury free climbing. An important way to keep oneself from being injury prone is by training the opposing muscle groups. At this time, this is not the post for what excercises to do but reverse curls is a very important one to avoid the dreaded tennis elbow.
10. Don't be ashamed of being new at climbing. Rather use that to your advantage. Most climbers I have found are especially willing to go out of there way to help new climbers. So ask questions. Try whatever move you want to try. Go for the huge dyno, skip holds, whatever you want to try, just do it. First of all there's no reason to care if they think your no good, but more than likely they'll respect you for going for it and trying to get better. Also if you're feeling a little nervous about falling, go to a gym or something and take some falls intentionally. This is also a good idea when you've advanced more and are starting to lead climb. Take some big falls at the beginning and you won't go through your early climbs inhibited by fear.
That’s all for now. I plan on this being a continuing post as I progress and learn, it will be updated and hopefully the title will soon be “An intermediate’s advice on beginning to climb”
Thanks for the comments everybody, I have updated the list
[ This Message was edited by: qacwac on 2002-03-19 21:06 ]
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pushfurther
Mar 20, 2002, 2:37 AM
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nice advice..i'd only add one thing, to train the opposing muscle groups..an unbalanced joint leads to injury.
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miagi
Mar 20, 2002, 3:36 AM
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A crucial thing you left out. Mental fitness. If you ask me, mental fitness is just as important as physical during a climb. For all you newbies, believe in yourself. Dont be afraid to do moves your not sure you can do Dynamic/dyno moves are just one. Some people are afraid to reach higher or stretch out more. Some just give up. Dont be afraid, have your buddies route you on, and believe in yourself. Also, dont be afraid to fall. Have faith in your gear and the people climbing with you. It will help you adjust if you have faith in them (Considering you set up safetly and have qualified people at your disposal.
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drysdan
Mar 20, 2002, 4:20 AM
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Great advice, all of you. The hardest thing I found was training time as a newbie. Sometimes it's hard to find the time, but if you want to improve, you gotta climb. The gym is good for training. You can spend a lot of time on the wall, and give yourself a pretty good workout pretty fast. Also, don't be ashamed of being a newbie. Just 'cause everyone else at the gym seems better than you, you dont' have to get all embarrassed. They were there once, too, and odds are, they're more than happy to lend you a hand.
-T
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