So far in this mini series we have looked at two aspects of the 3 B’s of good climbing technique – The Boot and Balance, here we look at the final piece Body Position. If the Boot was the foundation of good technique, balance adds the context in which we need to climb, then Body Position is the final tweak to help us save as much energy as possible by position our body in a balanced position above out boots.
One piece of research in climbing looked at tracking the centre of gravity of competition climbers, during climbing route under competition conditions. The findings were interesting, as they found a correlation between the average distance of the climbers centre of gravity (they used a point near the climbers belly button) and the wall. The more successfully the climber the closer to the wall the centre of gravity was.
To the average climber this means that we have to get out CoG (Centre of Gravity) as close to the rock as possible. If you are at home or work try this exercise, get up and stand with your toes against the wall, now look at the distance between your belly button. Now turn side ways and get your oustide and inside edge of your shoes against the wall. You CoG will have move closed to the wall.
On rock this does two things, one reduce the leverage on your calf muscles meaning your less likely to get disco leg. It also reduces the force on your hands as more of your weight is over you feet. Most people when they start out make the mistake of being very face onto the rock, this is the behaviour we want to interupt and replace with nice side on climbing, the only way to do this is to concentrate on climbing sideways on very easy routes so it becomes second nature.
Exercise 1 – Climbing Sideways
The idea is to start to force your body to be side on. The easiest way to achieve this is to look across the face. So if you were climbing on Dinas Mot then sideways would be facing Pen Y Pass or Llanberis. This gives you an inside hand and an outside hand. Try climbing a route facing first right, then left.
The next step is to then zig-zag up the rock, using lines of holds that lead up like little ganagways. At the end of each zig or zag you need to quickly pivot round to face in the oppoesite direction.
Exercise two – Side on with the inside hand
Here you can combine being side on and zig-zagging up the rock but only use the inside hand. If you like you can inagine you are busy n the phone taking a call, and as you pivot round you can change the hand in which you are holding your imaginary phone in.
Exercise Two – Flagging
On steeper rock you need to understand that being side onto the rock is still a key to success. So try developing inner and out flags.
More Information and exercises for improving your technique can be found in the amazing new book “How to Climb Harder”, a climbers self coaching manual that re-defined the How to genre by making it as interactive for the reader as possible. The book is available from Pesda Press, alternatively ask for it in your local climbing store as it is available through Cordee the major distributor of outdoor books in the UK.