Top 10 Climbing Tips

Tip 1: Use Your Toes

The most common mistake we see at the climbing wall is people not using their toes but instead they use their midsole. This will restrict your movement and give you less traction on the whole. If you tend to the toe, you can pivot and reach further. Climbing shoes are designed specifically so that you can stand on small holes.

Tip 2: Use Your Legs

It’s not all about pulling when climbing. Sometimes you’ve got to push with those legs. We want to try to be as efficient as we can. On a slab walk, we’re trying to use our legs because they can pretty push us up this board. It’s also really important on the overhang that we use our legs to push us towards these holds. We use a combination of push from the legs and a bit of momentum to swing ourselves.

Tip 3: Climb with Straight Arms

Climbing with bent arms will cause you to fatigue quicker. If you climb with straight arms it allows you to relax and you can sort of hang on your skeleton. A good example of this is if you go to the supermarket and you carry in your shopping bags home how do you carry the shopping bag two straight arms or bent arms? That’s right straight arms because if you carry with bent arms you’re going to be so tired by the time you get home.

Tip 4: Watch Your Rhythms

There’s no point finding the start holds jumping on and just trying to work out on the way. You’re gonna waste energy and probably gonna get your hands wrong. Take some time before you start climbing. Have a look where your route goes, try and work out what hand is gonna go to the hold before you jump off. It’s gonna make it a lot easier when you go.

Tip 5: Don’t Use Too Much Chalk

This goes for loose and liquid chalk. If you use too much it can actually have a detrimental effect on the traction you have allowed. This is especially important for liquid chalk. If you use too much it’s going to take too long to dry and you might end up climbing with wet hands. Go for loose chalk, if you use too much it’s effectively like climbing on just imagine sliding off slopers with tiny little marbles below your palms, less traction.

Tip 6: Don’t Be Afraid To Fail

Part of climbing is falling. If you’re falling it means you’re trying hard. If you’re not very good at something you should work on it, work your weaknesses. If you can’t hold on to a slow fer, work on a slow bit. If you fall off, that’s fine. It means you’re learning how to get better as a climber. Persistence is key.

Tip 7: Climb With As Many Different People As You Can

Variety is the spice of life. Learn a lot more and you’ll learn a lot faster if you climb with people that are really good at dynamic moves, really good at slab static moves, really short people, really tall people. You’ll learn everything and what’s really really important is try and climb with people that are slightly better than you. Sometimes you learn so much.

Tip Number 8: Learn from different types of climbers

Variety is the spice of life and this applies to climbing as well. Climbing with people who are good at dynamic moves, static moves, short people, and tall people will help you learn everything faster. It’s important to try and climb with people who are slightly better than you, as this will help you learn from them and improve your own skills.

Tip Number 9: Don’t train too soon

One of the most common questions we get asked is about flight training for climbing. Our best answer is don’t do it if you’re just starting out. The best way for you to get strong is to just climb. If you start training too soon, you’re at risk of hurting yourself or pulling a muscle. For now, the best thing you can do is to climb.

Tip Number 10: Invest in a well-fitting pair of shoes

It’s very important to invest in a well-fitting pair of shoes if you want to progress in climbing. If your shoes are too big, you won’t be able to stand on anything properly and won’t be able to use your toes or heels effectively. On the other hand, if the shoes are too small, you will be in too much pain to progress and won’t even want to climb. Make sure you get a professional to fit them for you, so they are just right.

Finally, the most important tip of all is to have fun and enjoy the climb. The best climber is the one with the biggest smile. So, always remember to keep smiling, no matter how hard the climb gets.