Most of the footwork techniques we see on YouTube and read on blogs are about slow and precise movements, like ’silent feet’, foot traversing, weight transfer etc. These are really helpful of course and we’ve released a bunch of videos like this (links below). But what about when you get good at these drills? Surely they start being less effective and the complexity of climbing just is not replicated well enough? It’s true, and when this happens, which is common with advanced climbers, we need to make these exercises more challenging and complex. In this episode we talk about a couple added variables to include into your footwork drills; Force and Velocity. By force we mean really drilling your toes into holds on steep terrain. By velocity we mean hitting foot holds at speed and with accuracy. If your footwork training is getting a bit boring it might be time to add some more exercises to your schedule.
There are tons of climbing footwork Videos you can find on YouTube including A bunch of our own this video is going To be different because we want to show You some of the Lesser talked about Footwork techniques and some of them are Pretty subtle but they’re going to make A massive difference to your climbing The first one we want to discuss is Accurate foot placement and of course This is probably done to death in YouTube videos with the silent footwork Drill which basically means moving Slowly and right actually to a foothold And in essence not making a sound when You touch it however this can also lead To overly using body tension and really Slowing down the movements that can be Really quite inefficient there’s many Situations where you need to be fast hit A foothold apply tension and move Without wasting much energy so we’re Talking about fast and accurate foot Placements where this can most obviously Be seen is on steep terrain for example In board climbing when you hit hold You’re in a Cutlass position and unless You’re really strong and can just stop And cause tension between your upper Body you often need to be able to swing A foot back onto wall and hopefully land It directly on the foothold that you’re Aiming for this is actually a great Place for training that type of skill
It’s on board climbing or on steep Climbing and here your aim would be to Jump or Dino to a hold and carry that Momentum and that swing all the way to Landing and placing that foot right on The foothold accurately if you’re going To try and change this skill on a board Or on steep terrain I’d recommend you Stick to the bigger hand holds if you Don’t want it to be really challenging For your upper body and fingers if You’re trying to concentrate a lot on What your lower body and your feet are Doing work this skill first then build It into your performance on the harder Climbs another place you might see this Skill used a lot was that really fast But accurate foot placement is on very Modern or composition style climbing Where you have to do drop down moves Where you’re dropping your feet onto Footholds and this is also another place Where I like to train this skill is by Actually on normal climbs maybe not on Such deep terrain you’re on holds but You can’t reach the footholds you need To release and then plant the foot all In one movement the next one is placing Your foot accurately but actually now we Might be doing it slowly but we’re Making predictions about where the foot Is going to end up at the end of the Move where your foot starts and ends up Can often change mistake here would be
Placing your foot where you want it to End up at the start of the movement but When you’ve made the movement it Actually ends up in a different place so In this case you might end up needing to Think about where your foot is going to Be placed even if it doesn’t feel great To start with but as you pull into the Move it ends up in the best position Possible this next one is really related To your awareness of your body and what Your hips are doing in relation to your Feet there’s a lot of situations in Climbing where you have one good Foothold and nothing else for the other Foot so what we end up doing is taking That foot pacing it against Wallace Smear and using it to push applying Tension to the wall for generating Towards the next hold what you’ll see is Good climbers are very good at making The prediction of where that smear needs To be to generate fully in that dead Point position to the next hold not Cutting short with it or placing it too High learning to do this well takes time Because you need to be really aware of How big your body is and how to use Every inch you have in your reach this Is like getting a new car until you Really understand the size of it and get Good at moving it it can be really hard To park but over time you start to learn The size of it and it becomes easy
Although these foot techniques are Really important to your climbing make Sure you cover the fundamentals first so You need to watch this video over here If you enjoyed this video don’t forget To like And subscribe and we’ll see you Next time
