Could Cueing Revolutionize Your Climbing Progression?

Want to climb more like the pros we all look up to? Intention and cueing is key, as evidenced by @AdamOndra and @EmilAbrahamsson on their fantastic KZbin channels.
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🔬 RESEARCH CITATIONS
For links to ALL of the citations please see this Google doc (or check the show notes on our website):
docs.google.com/document/d/1b...
⌛ TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
00:48 Cueing Defined
01:46 Why It Matters
03:28 Types of Cue
04:54 Cinematic Intermission
06:26 How It Works
08:49 Advanced Cueing
09:49 What We Learned
📝 SHOW NOTES
Episode 133
www.hoopersbeta.com/library/c...
⚠️ DISCLAIMER
As always, exercises and rehab programs are to be performed assuming your own risk and should not be done if you feel you are at risk for injury. See a medical professional if you have concerns before starting a new training or recovery program.
🖼️ IMAGE ATTRIBUTIONS
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#trainclimbsendrepeat #climbingtraining #doctorofphysicaltherapy

[@EmilAbrahamsson]

While I do really appreciate all scientific cueing stuff, the AG1 segment took the gold for me

[@EmilAbrahamsson]

1. Thanks for the 100k congrats

[@HoopersBeta]

Haha thank you good sir! That was a fun one to make. And congrats again on the 100k. Awesome accomplishment.

[@alexchaviramusic]

Emil in every climbing video comment section.

[@Caliscris]

That stinks, im allergic ag1

[@disiferedisifere8110]

Grade chasing had me cackling

[@partykrew666]

😂 yo fr

[@AllegraClimbingPsychologist]

Finally some good integration of sport science with psychology! Cueing is so underrated by so many athletes despite being so effective and easy to implement! Also, as a psychologist I'm very suprised by how well you explained it!

[@AllegraClimbingPsychologist]

To be added, cues can also be used to change your mindset and manage intrusive thoughts!

[@HoopersBeta]

Thank you! Glad it came across well! We appreciate the kind words.

[@denlolify]

@@AllegraClimbingPsychologist how would that work for mindset an intrusive thoughts? could you give a small example?

[@AllegraClimbingPsychologist]

@@denlolify you can find cues that you create or use specifically when you notice that you have intrusive thoughts that impact your mindset. For example with my athlete we use re-tightening the climbing shoe when she has specific thoughts about the competition. This is a cue that redirects the attention to her, the situation and to her body.

[@denlolify]

@@AllegraClimbingPsychologist aha thanks for the explanation

[@HoopersBeta]

What are some of your favorite cues? One of the most useful ones I ever learned (from Dan Beall, of course!) is to focus on getting your head to the right spot on the wall during a dynamic move (external cue), rather than hyperfocusing on your hands. It's amazing how much more accurate my hand placement gets, even though I'm focusing on my hands *less* 🤯

[@sam-yau]

When training I’ll actually stare at my weaker side/muscle group through the entire rep motion, seems to help activate it more deeply!

[@simonrobbins815]

My fave: "focus on maximum accuracy with the hands while engaging maximally through the toes". It doesn't come intuitively without practice in my experience.

[@GourmetBurrito]

To make sure I stopped cutting feet on a climb, I did a bunch of squats as explosively as I could so I would essentially be doing squat jumps without the jump. Gave me an understanding of what I thought I should be feeling.

[@WyandWombat]

"try harder, you gumby" "okay, now try even harder"

[@SpartaSpartan117]

Hitting holds/making moves with your hips in. I think to myself "do it with my chest high and up rather than shallow and down

[@scottwangkl8882]

I thoroughly enjoyed the AG1 segment

[@2fast4me9]

Ive been using cues for years without realizing it. Good to know i am doing something right. Also that AG1 bit was comedy gold!

[@jhy8191]

Great video to remind us to intentionally make cueing part of our technique. I've definetly used cueing in the past but kind of wasn't aware I was doing it or how it worked. I was trying a problem in Squamish and my foot kept slipping off a hold. I just told myself that my foot was going to stay on and magically I sent it the next go!

[@AntonisK27]

The last couple of weeks I have been diving into this topic myself a bit. Cueing is something that I have been well aware of having a weightlifting background but it becomes especially powerful in climbing if one applies it with the principle of varied practice. The fact that no two climbs are the same requires us to learn and refine movement patterns from a variety of positions and using perhaps different cueing depending on the situation. From here on the idea of projecting with a certain goal in mind becomes interesting and how one can harness these two concepts in conjunction with specificity leading from generally similar movement pattern as on the project further away from one's peak for the project up to replica training really close to going on the trip. I love seeing this sport grow especially from the evidence based side and your videos are a big contribution for the community. Much love from Germany.

[@daniellegoodspeed5800]

That ad was awesome. The cueing content was extremwmly helpful. Love your videos.

[@thestereokid6073]

I find this even more relevant for progressing in surfing because you can't repeat the movements as easily as something like climbing where you can try the exact same thing over and over with friends pointing out the mistakes each round so you can gradually progress. With surfing, I would spend time thinking about what I'm struggling to do, find a good cue for how to move towards better body position for that particular thing and then focus on that single cue for a week or two. the body's natural ability to pick up that behavior is amazing, soon it's muscle memory and you can begin to visualize the next step in progression.

[@HoopersBeta]

Very cool!

[@Daniel-ng8fi]

That was the best ad I've seen on youtube, and I watch a TON of youtube

[@HoopersBeta]

Hah :) Thank you! We definitely had fun with it.

[@JustGeorge770]

Best! Ag1! advert! ever!

[@muumarlin1731]

The AG1 cinematic interlude was / is genius. Now I'd like an entire series please.

[@bentucker5009]

"Crush that hold!" really helped me out today on a pinchy move.

[@HoopersBeta]

Nice! Glad it worked.

[@Worthley11]

I've explained tranferring this from the world of weightlifting to climbing many times, nice to have a video to direct people to. Might not seem like it but people lifting heavy are always trying to move the weight fast, and with very specific cues! Climbers can definitely learn from lifters in this regard

[@denlolify]

I think ive always been doing this, great to hear i was harnessing this already. I''ve been using my shoulder wrong everywhere in life (pointing them forward instead of backwards) and now during climbing and picking up heavy stuff i'm always telling myself to set my shoulders. I've noticed when i do my shoulder training before climbing my shoulders automatically go in the right position during climbing. So i guess an intentional warming-up/training just before climbing could be very useful for internal cueing.

[@adamhaas141]

Well done, sir! You did a really good job of making the somewhat abstract principles come alive with real-world examples. I knew some of this stuff already, but the way you emphasized a clear distinction between internal and external cues gave me some knowledge that I will absolutely put to use. Thanks.

[@HoopersBeta]

Awesome! That's great to hear. Thanks for sharing - we always love to know how the information is received.

[@asherfiala1383]

Love these training improvements, I will definitely use these in the future. I am trying to recover from wrist tendinitis however. Do you have any recommendations on how and when I should return to climbing?

[@davidarmstrong2078]

This was interesting. I've recently been focusing on using my mid back more in the hopes of recruiting more of the muscles there and spreadign the load from the shoulders and neck a bit, and so far it's been working and my neck's been less stiff and I think my posture's improving. All I've really done is think about it a bit more and apparently this is cueing. Had similar improvements with focusing on glutes like you mentioned in the vid, although I think the techical term is "bum cheeks". ps. I think you blinked maybe 10 times in the whole vid, and about half of them were in the AG1 promo. Is this some kind of hypnotic technique to make your videos more mesmerizing an improve viewer stats?

[@Productionbrikfilm]

Just want to say thar your chanel is a goldmine of information for all climbers and i thank you for doing this!

[@HoopersBeta]

Thanks so much :)

[@bradythompson4664]

Love the ads they are so great😂😂

[@HoopersBeta]

That will be our new spinoff channel ;) hah

[@ramdop]

i think this was the missing link in my training it should go from warm up up to projecting . thank you for great videos !

[@HoopersBeta]

You're welcome! Hope this helps :)

[@maldeventre]

Great content thx

[@algorerhythm2751]

"Treat light weights like they're heavy and heavy weights like they're light." - Dave Tate. Moving the weight as fast as possible even when it's light/easy. Using Type II fibers even when the weight is light allows them to be recruited better for when it's heavy i.e. "Explosiveness". More true for powerlifting and 1 rep maxes, but good for pulling strength too!

[@nikeboy995]

I mean it makes sense that doing reps faster would result in higher strenght gains, since "F = m a" from a mechanical stand point. You need a lot more strenght to accelerate faster where as doing reps slowly uses more energy.

[@denlolify]

amazing videos as always btw

[@HoopersBeta]

Thank you!

[@2rustysporks]

Love this

[@HoopersBeta]

Thank you!

[@Atiff_Abdullah]

Best AG1 promo I’ve seen 😂

[@areichental]

I use music to help Amp up for hard projects and give myself permission to go all out. Ive very much conditioned myself through a hand full of songs. Definitely helps me try harder

[@HoopersBeta]

Very different than this video hah but regardless a useful task nonetheless! I love having good music to pump me up to try hard as well, whereas some people like calm to enter their flow state.

[@joshuagoulden7467]

Can you do a video on medial knee pain, particularly whilst drop kneeing?

[@shanephillips4417]

Came for the content, stayed for the #ad

[@silot15]

Great Video as always! Couleur you Mayen do a scientific Research on AG1? Didnt find anything that approves it Boeing that Price ans having a positive Effect..

[@ozamram]

Great stuff as always! Gonna focus on this for my next few sessions

[@HoopersBeta]

Nice! Hope it helps out.

[@joji_okami]

Does the "doing exercises faster" research contradicts the "do the exercise slow and controlled" way (like 6 seconds hold/rep duration)? Or do both provide benefits? Should we alternate our exercises between the faster and the slower way (e.g. one set I do it fast, one set slow or maybe one day fast, one day slow)? 🤔

[@HoopersBeta]

Both provide benefits and can be used at different stages of training. Time under tension (slower repetitions) can be safer for newer movements, and can have other impacts. It can improve the endurance of slower / lower threshold muscle fibers, but can also lead to hypertrophy as you can work through higher levels of fatigue with lower weight than you may be able to with heavier weights. Moving fast on the way up may improve strength and speed (as that paper showed) but you ought to be familiar with the movement / have a decent baseline of strength to perform safely.

[@richardkaing6822]

Thank you for this video. It puts into words my psychological processing for climbing improvement. In my first year of climbing I've been very fortunate to consistently climb V6's due to always using cues and developing a stronger sense of body awareness. Over time and many repetitions lots of these cues have solidified into reflex or intuition. I think Coach Be's masterclasses on Hannah Morris' channel are great examples of using cues to improve form and muscle engagement (eg. try hard turtle vs jolly giraffe). On the flipside, it has been fascinating asking the most incredible climbers at my gym micro-beta ('Are you pulling down on the hold, or away?') and seeing the Microsoft loading bar pop up. The typical answer I eventually get is 'Uh, I don't know, I just kind of let my body do it's thing.'

[@pavelbelik6174]

Ohhh shiiiit grade chasing huuuurt 😄😄😄

[@HoopersBeta]

😂😂

[@fabiopalma4429]

Random swedish youtuber 😄🇸🇪

[@craigbritton1089]

I have found it beneficial when coaching to have the climber spending x amount of time on the wall work on one technique/ movement they need to improve; and if they do it wrong; remind them of the proper way; then praise it; and any other movement they do well; this improves other movements; without there being any emotional criticism; or being overwhelmed with too many " cues". And it creates multiple praise for every correction. ( I intentionally used the word criticism earlier/! because for most people/ and almost all kids; correction is often felt as criticism: and with a high praise rate; the session is felt as a good experience

[@littlevahn]

You are giving away my coaching secret! hehe

[@HoopersBeta]

haha sorry :P

[@andrewhooper7603]

i feel attacked, "hooper's beta"

[@HoopersBeta]

Sorry Fam!

[@VetinariClone]

Huh, never knew the terminology, but I’ve been naturally cueing all my life, both internally and externally. Though it’s nice to find out about better cues to do. It’s always a lot of trial and error for me before. Will this cue help? No idea, just gotta try and find out.

[@HoopersBeta]

Yeah that's fair! This can be very natural / instinctual for some, and not for others. But also good point, sometimes you have to try various cues to see what works for you!

[@mattnunes3893]

This is really all that 'technique' is. I think we have a tendency to overcomplicate things, when really, a little mindfulness and intentionality go a long way. I think the biggest thing beginner climbers can do for their progression is to start paying attention to what they're actually doing when they get on the wall.

[@Alex-to8es]

I think you have missed a point here. Moving weights faster, or doing actions faster increases the forces involved, Force = Mass x Acceleration, doing stuff faster uses and requires more Force, and therefore is "harder". This is fundimentally the same concept as doing fewer heavier repititions over large number of light repeititions. In terms of "Cueing", while of course is important and amateurs won't do this, focusing on what you are actually doing, is of course going to make you better at doing what you are trying to do. The isssue is knowing what you are supposed to be doing to focus on it. As you note with inverted row, not understand the actual function of what you are doing, means you can't focus on what you are supposed to be doing, this is in a linear action here. It applies even more so in a 4D dynanmic action on the wall. People will often say "keep your hips closer to the wall" they might also say "rotate your foot to keep your hips closer to the wall", what they don't say is "activate your glutes, calves, core to retain pressure through your foot to stablise your hips in a single plane to your shoulders and feet" therefore leading them to be in line with the wall, because most people don't know the physiology of why they are doing things. Good video though, because Grip Harder! Is something most people can try to think about, and then apply, to their climbing.

[@HoopersBeta]

Thanks for chiming in! Though I’m not sure what you mean by us missing the point. We didn’t say anything that contradicts what you wrote. For example, we would never tell someone to replace a simple external cue (like “keep your hips closer to the wall”) with some string of complicated internal anatomical cues, nor did we say that in the video. Internal cues are useful for other things, however, as we describe in the video. -Emile

[@Alex-to8es]

​@@HoopersBetaMy point wasn't really in regard to the main theme of your video to be honest, the cueing bit was very informative! My point was what around what faster in terms of physics actually amounts too, I was refering to F=ma, moving weights faster is similar to doing harder reps, and as you have correctly and helpfully presented in other videos 5-8 reps over 20-30 is better for strength, and time efficient. Here doing things faster requires more force and therefore is harder (i.e. similar to heavier) meaning you can do less reps and achieve good outcomes, you are making two interesting overlapping points, but where you have missed a point is in you not mentioning the relationship between faster, heavier, force, and repitions. I might be able to do 5x50kg reps in 20 seconds, but to do them in 10 seconds would double the forces of both acceleration and deceleration on my muscles. Now if you try 5x10kg reps I might easily be able to do them in 8 seconds, my body can physically move that fast, but my muscles aren't strong enough to redirect heavier weights (50kg) that fast because the force on them becomes higher, as if they had more mass in the case of dynamic movements as Force = Mass x Acceleration. This also applies to climbing if you can reach holds more statically the force required in surface friction (contact strength) to grip them is lower. So between the two videos you come up with interesting different training strategies that could possibly achieve similar results, is low heavey reps as good as slight more, slightly lighter, faster reps for the same time period as the heavey reps take for instance? I don't know. If they both take the same amount of time is it actually better alternate between the two session? I don't know. What I do know however is fast and slow twitch muscles exist and doing things quickly over slowly will lead to different performance outcomes and therefore for climbing there will be an optimal balance of speed vs power, where that balance is, I believe you would be more qualified to say, it might make an interesting video topic though if the research literature exists on the subject.

[@debradaugherty8287]

Why does he say "Great Jason" at the end of the ad??

[@HoopersBeta]

😂 “Grade chasing”

[@craigbritton1089]

I think ending your session with failure and bad form is a way to cue your body for countering a lot of your other training. Your view on this. Another thing I have experienced, is that if my right arm/leg/shoulder is injured ; if I train the opposite body part; I seem to recover with less atrophy on the injured side. Your expert opinion on this please.

[@guest1754]

Magnus was right: "just try harder lol"

[@Jsgranados2]

What is a cue?

[@HoopersBeta]

It's explained many times in the video...?

[@nub0rn]

did you stuff out your chest for that shot at 2:53? 😂

[@HoopersBeta]

Nope, he’s just swoll haha -Emile

[@ClimbOnBetabot]

Was that a C4HP reference or am I tripping 2:58

[@HoopersBeta]

When we show the inverted row? Not sure what you're referring to there / how that would be a C4HP reference?

[@ClimbOnBetabot]

@HoopersBeta haha, your tone of voice just sounds so similar to his voiceovers when he shows movements on instagram

[@iacobbarbu5128]

This random guy😂

[@spencerwhelan385]

I eat barbecue all the time and I still can’t send v4 😡😤

[@sauravdas6436]

manifestation

[@neo778]

Wer kann „cueing“ auf Deutsch übersetzen? I watched probably several hundreds of climbing videos, but this time is the first time I didn’t get the point at all.

[@denlolify]

I can speak a little german, so i used google translate to help, let me know if you can understand and i will see if i can help. „Cueing“ bedeutet, dass Sie sich auf einen Teil der Bewegung konzentrieren, damit Sie diese Bewegung besser ausführen können. Es ist, als würde man sich beim „pull-up“ auf die Schulterposition konzentrieren. Dadurch haben Sie mehr Kontrolle über Ihre Schulter und können mehr Kraft nutzen. Sie können dies unbewusst durch Übungen in Ihren Körper bringen, oder bewusst, indem Sie sich während des Trainings darauf konzentrieren.

[@neo778]

@@denlolify thank‘s a lot!

[@Lorofol]

I'm honestly a little sad about the AG1 sponsorship. It seems like hype is making it popular, but it's extremely overpriced compared to just buying the equivalent supplements you can get at your local chemist/pharmacy. With your qualifications in physiology, I'd love to hear your thoughts?

[@danielbeall7725]

You do understand this is an advertisement right? Like. An explicitly paid advertisement? Like. Not an unbiased statement of support. Right? Like… all over all of KZbin. And television. And radio, podcasts, etc. It’s how the entire economy of free (for users) content works. When possible, it’s also promoting things that are relatively beneficial, and appropriate for the target audience. Hope that clears up any misunderstandings.

[@albertosanchez-carralerofr5871]

Very cool! I like how the concept of cueing provides an overarching framework that explains why specific things like visualization work so well. Something that (in my limited and anecdotal opinion) also explains why cueing works is because it helps you isolate one thing to focus at at a time, which can help you test possible solutions without the burden of "I should simply be able to send this".

[@HoopersBeta]

Absolutely! Having a solid mental system/framework for learning is quite underrated