Seven Basic Drills
Practice drills are the backbone of training for increased performance in sports. Consider that in practicing soccer, golf, or almost any other traditional sports, execution of certain drills helps develop fundamental skills, techniques, and mental control Strangely, however, most climbers just climb for practice. In doing so they miss out on many powerful methods of developing the critical climbing skills.
Following are seven skill-building drills to make a staple of your climbing gym workouts. Use thes drills as warm-up exercises or integrate them throughout your climbing session as a reminder of proper technique and the good habits of effective climbing. The long-term aggregate effect of performing these drills will be exceptional technique grounded in the fundamentals, as well as a level of performance that's above and beyond the average climber (who just climbs).
Traverse Training Drills
Perform these drills in the designated bouldering area or along the base of a roped climbing wall that is not in use. Traverse drills are ideal for experimenting with techniques and refining your movement skills, but it is vital that you hold yourself to a high standard of quality. As the saying goes : "Practice doesn't make perfect; it's perfect practice that makes perfect." To this end, make it your goal to foster these six subtle yet fundamental skills:
1. Pinpoint focus on each foot placement.
2. A sense of feel as you weight each foothold.
3. Maximally weighting each foothold by shifting your center of gravity over the leading foot placement.
4. A relaxed that uses the minimum amount of force required to stick each handhold.
5. Quick, smooth movement through thin sequences.
6. Anticipation of rest position locations and a commitment to stop and rest only at theser spots.
SHUFFLE DRILL
In this most basic drill, you simply shuffle your hands and feet sideways as you move horizontally across the wall. The key lesson to be learned is the importance of leading with your feet and letting your legs do the bulk of the work. In traversing to the right, for example, you should initiate each horizontal move with the right foot stepping ahead onto a hold. and then shifting your hips over the right foot. In doing this, your hands play a subordinate role in providing only stability and balance. Let your feet run the show - this should always be the goal in striving to climb with perfect economy. Continue traversing for ten to fifty total foot moves.
MATCHING DRILL
This practice drill zeroes in on the important technique of hand-foot matching or sharing. Traverse across the wall with your feet in the lead, as above-but now your hands and feet must match on every new hold. For example, in traversing to the right, your left foot before the right foot advances to the next hold. In the case of a very small foothold, you will need to do a "jump match" in which you switch feet in a single small " jump", The hands will similarly match left onto right before the right hand advances to the next hold. Matching onto a narrow handhold is difficult and may require use of the piano move (see photo above) in which the fingers of the right hand are lifted off one by one, allowing the fingers of the left hand to latch on to the hold one by one. Continue for ten to fify moves.
ISOLATION DRILL
Use this drill to isolate and strengthen a specific grip or arm position. For example, if you find the open-hand grip insecure and unnatural to use (common for beginners), practice doing an entire traverse using only the open-hand position. Similarly, you could do traverses exclusively using the side-pull arm or undercling arm position, or using only two fingers of each hand! Be inventive and have fun contriving all kinds of restrictions in the "rules" for traversing. Such constraints will demand optimal footwork, and ultimately make you a more complete climber.
Toprope Drills
The two modi operandi in roped climbing are climbing for performance, and climbing for practice. Performance climbing is all about attempting routes at your limit, in the hope of breaking new ground and learning new skills. Climbing for practice, however, is the important act of climbing less difficult routes with the intention of fortifying fundamental skills and techniques. Use the following drills when climbing in the practice mode. Select routes that are two or more number grades below your limit.
FROG-FOOT DRILL
This drill teaches the important technique of pushing with both feet simultaneously, much the way a frog would extend its legs in jumping. Beginning with both hands and feet on the wall, step up with one foot and then the other until you are in a sort of squatting position with your knees out to the side and crouching into the wall. Now press down with hand, then the other. The hands should be used primarily for balance, not pulling - let the legs do most of the work. Repeat this process while subvocalizing the mantra "step, step, push, reach, reach." Vontinue up the route, striving for smooth movement and a steady rhythm in advancing the hand and feet.
HIGH-STEP DRILL
On more difficult routes, you will often need to step high onto a hold near your thigh or hip level. Initially this will feel awkward and difficult, especially if you lack flexibility and hip-flexor strength. You can improve in these areas, however, by regularly performing the high-step drill. On a relatively easy route (one that would surely not require the use of a high step), force yourself to ascend using only high step. With hands and feet on the wall, begin by high-stepping with one foot onto a hold near hip level. Now rock over this foot - think about moving your crotch over the hold - and then drive downward with that foot and advance your hands until you reach s straight-legged position. Continue the process, but this time high-step with the opposite foot. The rhythm of movement for this drill is "high-step, rock, push, reach reach" and repeat.
TENNIS BALL DRILL
A common technical flaw that kills climbing performance is overuse of the arms, and overgripping of handholds. You won't be able to do this if you climb with a tennis ball in the pal, of both hands! Consequently, this is a great drill to develop the vital skill of optimizing use of the feet. Rope up on an easy route with lots of large holds, and then begin climbing by using the tennis balls to hook on to the handholds. Ckearky, your hands will only be useful for maintaining balance, so relax and allow your legs to do all the work. Concentrate on shifting your weight from one foot to the other while attempting to keep your upper body relaxed and tension-free. Don't get frustrated if you frequently need to hang on the rope. Persevere and try to make it to the top of the route - this drill will make you a better climber.
STRAIGHT-ARMED DRILL
Use of straight-armed positions is critical for conserving upper-body energy. Thus the goal of this drill is to climb a route while trying to maintain straight arms at least 90 percent of the time. Strive to use straight-armed positions anytime you aren't moving, such as when resting or scanning the wall above you. Practice maintaining straight arms when stepping up or adjusting your feet. In the case of a foot placement out to the side, you may even be able to leverage off a straight arm that's clinging to a side-pull hold. Continue upward using mainly straight-armed position, despite that fact that it will fell contrived at times. In forcing this overuse of the straight arms, you will learn to move and rest with high economy.
Clever Use of Opposing Forces
You have already learned the importance of the Left-Right Rule for enabling stable movement. On easy climbs this left-right combination is usually a pulling right hand along with a pushing left foot (or vice versa). More difficult climbs tend to be more devious, however, so you'll need to consider all the toher possible arm positions - side pull, undercling, and Gaston - and figure out how to match one of these with an opposing foot placement.
Detailed below are a few of the most common left-right combinations called into use on difficult climbs. You should practice each of these on the bouldering wall in order to develop its unique motor skills. Vary your hand and foot placements as much as possible to acquire a broad range of use for each hand-foot combination.
Side-Pull Arm and Outside Edge of Opposite Foot
Side-pulling hands are a staple move on almost every moderate to advanced climb. While this move is a bit less intuitive than down pulling, you will quickly gain comfort in its use. Most important is the foot position you select to oppose the side-pulling hand. In most cases it's best to use the outside edge of the opposing foot, not the inside edge. Doing this may feel awkward at first, but you'll find a natural sense of stability once you learn to appropriately set your hips over the outside-edging foot. The key is to concentrate on rotating your hips so that the hip opposite the pulling hand is turned into the wall - that is, your face and chest will rotate toward the side-pulling hand. This very stable position will allow you to step up your free(nonopposing) leg and quite possibly your free(nonopposing) hand as well.
