Indoor and Outdoor climbing are two branches of the same tree, but now more than ever they can differ in how we must approach training and performance. We are joined by Aiden Dunne, a top level competition climber and Lattice coach, to cover his top 5 tactics and training methods to better your indoor climbing.
First up is a ’play session’. No rules here but we give you some pointers in how to make the most out of your wall and ways to get really creative.
Next is learning the tactics for those pesky slopers. Love them or hate them, slopers are very unforgiving to poor body positioning.
We then cover a great method for breaking into the next grade boundary. If your gym sets in circuits like our favourite centre (Depot Sheffield) you may know the frustration of trying to progress to the next level in circuits. Don’t worry, Aiden has got you covered.
Aiden then covers an important part of indoor technique, moving dynamically into the ’end position’. With modern setting it is common that you will need to land perfectly in a body position before you can even start applying tension to the holds.
Lastly we hit the weights room to build strength in the upperbody, needed for wrestling the big blobs and macro holds that are now super popular with modern setting. Aiden gives us his 3 favourite exercises with sets and reps.
When i started rock climbing indoor Climbing was literally just training for Outdoor climbing however these days Indoor climbing is literally a sport of Its own and especially if you’re a comp Climber indoor climbing is what you’re Training for So today we’ve brought in aidan who is An international competition climber Who’s going to talk through his five Biggest tactics or training exercises to Get better for indoor climbing So the first exercise is a play session And there’s really no rules when it Comes to play um just basically go on Some fun boulders and make up some cool Moves A lot of the time it is going to be Dynamic but you can do more static Sort of like powerful sessions as well So looking at this boulder um it looks Like it’s intended to be a palm down and Catch like this uh but we’re gonna play About with it trying it that way and Also doing it as a running jump um just So we’re learning a different move i’m Saying boulder trying to see something Funny You even came down to one Yeah yeah [Laughter] That’s a little hard yeah You made it look pretty easy to be fair I find it really hard to
Stay into the wall when you do a foot Stab yeah my immediate Intention is to push out from the wall To get better Better purchase i might just try the run Jump yeah you do it yeah yeah So what what angle am i going at Checking 45 yeah i think yeah sort of Like this angle Nice Just a bit more isn’t it a bit more up [Music] Alley josh Easy [Music] So yeah we’ve done this boulder three Different ways now um the intention is Just to learn as much as you can off the Boulder rather than just getting to the Top of it the more the more ways you can Do it the better really so the second Part of this like play exercise Is to Not be restricted by a single boulder But make up your own moves and they Should be different weird like putting You into body positions you probably Normally wouldn’t find and say what We’re doing here Is connecting three different boulder Problems We’ve got things like rollovers Gastons jumps putting it all in so Anything goes
What about into elevated doors Oh oh yeah yeah yeah that would be good [Music] You can get an e-bar between there oh Yeah that would be good and then maybe Like Touch the The bottom of the jewel texture or Something like yeah yeah and non I don’t know if i can yeah that’d be Cool Oh tricky what do you think about um a Little too much another heel to hand and Then go Yeah that’d be cool [Music] Come on [Music] Looks a bit painful that Your shins might fit though Is it a bit short Yeah i just couldn’t quite get enough on It Ally josh That’ll be quite a cool move made up Then yeah yeah but i just can’t get into It you did a hill didn’t you yeah hill Was okay Although the cutlass was tricky yeah you Have to like swing your leg up yeah And then this way To the shoulder yeah so what would what We’re doing here is uh adding and Removing foot holds so
The move into the gaston was really hard And so what we tried to do is create a Paddle move which comes up to the higher Red but if we kept the footholds in that We had before it probably would have Been a bit too easy so we’ve swapped Footholds and added a handhold to make That move out to the black a bit easier Still hard though [Music] You need some magazines And a knee pad Every day so not everyone’s got a big Shiny comp ball like we do here at the Depot uh so we’ve come over to what’s Bit more of a basic wall this is flat 30 Degree overhanging And we’re just going to use a mixture of Hold sets um Aidan said it’s really good for setting Things like big rollovers and rose moves Anything which is pretty unique climbing Moves i’m going to try and create those Things so what we’ve got here is a Pretty deep drop knee into a big roll Over move into a pocket [Music] So [Music] A lot of indoor climbing nowadays i’d Use a lot of slopers Maybe more so than crimps so the next Thing we’re going to be talking about is How to hold slopers and the three best
Ways of doing that the first tip would Be keeping your shoulders back and Engaged and just making sure all your Back muscles like your lower trap and Your lats are engaged when you’re Holding it Um get your thumbs involved so sort of Pinch them As well as dragging it And then the other thing would keep your Hips low and directly underneath the Hold um just so there’s not as much Swinging So aidan’s demoing here he’s going to Keep low on the sloper so that he’s Getting underneath it it’s going to give The hole the best position Go on Here’s a good example of a sloper move Which is going to require aden to stay Low so when he says get into his Shoulders he’s going to straighten the Arms And he’s going to keep his hips into the Wall and that’s because slopers Are really particular at body position He says hip sink across he’s keeping his Arms straight And he’s going to keep low on all of These slopers to get the best purchase On it So with a slope like this where it’s Facing away from you and you have to Come into it you can see aidan singer’s
Hips across and this is what we might Call the direction of pull he’s trying To pull on the sloper in the best Orientation for it so weight over here Is going to make that slope feel better It’s also another one where you can get That thumb involved and you can start Just talking it in so the more fun Strength you have is going to make that Slope and feel better so on this one We’ve got a really big sloper but it’s Actually really hard to hold it’s a Really poor sloper and it’s on an Overhang as well so what you can see When aidan’s climbing this from the side He’s actually pulling harder with that Heel to pull his hips further in and Underneath the sloper this is going to Make the profile of the sloper better And he’s also got straight arms so Here’s an example of where slopers is More about pulling with the hips than it Is with the arms so here you’ve got an Example of two very different slopers And of course you can hold them very Differently uh so with this one you’ll Probably find a ridge at the back And a little uh bonus for indoor Climbing is you can use the bolt holes Quite a lot just to rest your finger in It and get a bit more friction Um so you’re gonna hold this sort of Crimp in it or like Not quite half floor but um a little bit
Of a crimp and with your your form on Pinching it And that’s probably the best way to hold It whereas this one you’re going to want To get your Drag as far back and hold as possible Just so you’re getting as much contact With the holes as possible Alternatively you could crimp it and if You do that you’re going to want to Slide it to the ridge of a hold And pinch as hard as you can with your Thumb If your gym setup is like we have here In the depot where they’re set in Circuits or grade boundaries you might Find it’s really hard to transition from One circuit to the next breaking into a New grade boundary i know this is Something lots of people do get stuck on But aiden’s got some good tips to make Sure you can still make the most out of The circuit you’re currently on and also Help you break into the next grade Boundary so if you’ve completed most of Climbs in a circuit and you want to push Yourself to the next level a good way of Doing this is skipping holds on climbs That you’ve already done This just means you’re still in the nice Friendly holds and you know them well But you’re making harder moves and Learning new skills while you do it get Down and shake it when the beat drop
Obviously with these climbs you can Progressively remove more and more holds Making it more harder more challenging And eventually you’ll be climbing those Same problems with that same circuit but At a much harder level [Music] So when we have the option to make our Circuit harder by eliminating holds we Can do the same thing for the harder Circuit and we can simply add holes so Here we’ve got a yellow Which represents a move which is really Hard it’s like a campus turn free move But if we add a foothold or a hand-hold Or both in this case we can make that Crux move a bit easier but still do all The other moves of the climb [Music] Get up Get up get up do the up rock get down And shake it when the beat drop so a lot Of indoor climbing is about getting your Body into the right position um it’s not Just about reaching the holds you want To put your body in the best place Possible a lot of the time is your hips Up And pretty high and close to the wall And so this is a good example of if you Just jump trying to reach this next hold You’re probably not going to stick it You really need to get your hips up and High above your hand
So i’m going to be able to give a good Example of The opposite of what aiden is trying to Achieve with this skill which is getting Into the end position finding the end Position Already with the momentum or that apex Of trajectory you already want to be in The end position when you start to Engage everything if you’re not you can Bind or off or you just don’t reach the Position and you fall out of it this is Way more common with the modern indoor Route setting style which is more compy More dynamic and less just about pulling Hard on small holes so i need to pull And finish Already with a straight arm pretty much So i think i’m start thinking of a Straight arm here but i need to be bent Here and straight there yeah so that my Hips are like already up here right yeah So you need to push a bit harder Right power Yeah way better Yeah that’s it It’s the coordination now is it Getting the position And the foot at the same time Nice that’s well closed Yeah Hitting it here’s more boundary but out Here is [Music]
As you might have noticed so far in this Video some of the stuff we’ve been Climbing on particularly on the comp Wall is categorized by generally quite Big holds but hard physical moves Particularly for the upper body there’s Loads of shoulder moves in indoor Climbing and that comp climbing seam so Aiden’s last tip is about just generally Building a lot of upper body strength For indoor climbing so my top three Exercises would be weight pull-ups so We’re training pulling in vertical plane Horizontal row pulling in a horizontal Plane and overhead press so we’re Working with shoulders and stability Above the head sets and reps for the Weighted pull up is going to vary Depending on the intention and the Amount of weight you’re using aiden’s Go-to rep range is about six reps for Three sets this is going to sit nicely In a maximum strength sort of building Range while also building hypertrophy And that upper body muscle mass which is Important for protecting the shoulder With the lowro the septum wraps are Going to be very equal to what aiden was Doing with the weighted pull-ups what You might notice from aidan’s form in His exercise is that he is pausing at The top of that rep which means he’s Going to be building that strength at That end range if you think of those
Shouldering moves particularly gastons Or moving into high undercuts it’s going To really help with that strength in Those deep block off moves aiden’s go-to Rep range for the overhead press is Actually slightly higher we’re looking At 10 to 12 reps per set aiden’s Rationale here is that he’s working a Little bit more in that hypertrophy Range a little bit easier on the elbows As well to build the muscle mass around The shoulder extension and overhead Press aiden takes his grip quite wide on The bar placing more stress on the Shoulders a little bit less on the Triceps you can also do a push press Where you’re generating a little bit of Momentum from the lower body getting That coordination and a little bit more Power into the exercise aiden here is Doing a strict press which is going to Be generating no momentum and just Isolating the movement from the Shoulders there you have it that’s Aiden’s top five exercises to get better At specifically indoor climbing if you Like this video please like and Subscribe and we’ll see you next time [Music]
