How to learn climbing technique

[@MrJonasPK]

The real question here is: How does improving your climbing technique and especially free soloing effect your hangboard performance?

[@benmoyer3606]

It may negatively impact it IMO. I remember a year ago I could climb v5 and could hang on the smallest edge on my hang board with ten lbs bonus weight. For A year I didn't hang board and just focused on getting out and bouldering, sent multiple v6s, and am now projecting a v7. Now although I am 6 lbs lighter, send harder, I can't hang with any bonus weight at all on the smallest edge, just bodyweight.

[@tristanlasley8030]

Are you trying to set Max pulls on hangboard? Or become a better climber?

[@benmoyer3606]

@@tristanlasley8030 climb harder of course. I just thought the story might be a good anecdote for the question.

[@tristanlasley8030]

@@benmoyer3606 herd, I just think that in order to be good at one over the other, will require different physical adaptations...For example, when do we freshly get onto a boulder, hang for 10sec then wait 2m before attempting again. Probably never, but that doesnt mean that training in that way wont translate power onto the wall.. I was also more so commenting for the OP tho, I try to look at training from a bodybuilders standing. Everything has a pro and a con, isolation movements vs. Compound movements create different adaptations, but in the end you'll still gain strength doing either or...

[@benmoyer3606]

@@tristanlasley8030 truly you could potentially say that at some point in my climbing doing some hang board training may be just what I need to advance a grade, or potentially that if I added some supplemental hangboarding to my bouldering for the past year I would have made more progress. However, I also think at least from my experience as well as stuff I've heard from other folks that you shouldn't hang board until you're at a level where you truly need it. that way you can learn to climb technically sound, and then when you reach a point where you might need a strength boost, or are going through a platue, or don't have much time to climb, supplemental hangboarding may be useful. Also it may be more potent because your body is not as used to the stimulus

[@jamesstrain6059]

It strikes me that much of this information generalises really well to other parts of life. Some real wisdom here Dave. Thanks for sharing!

[@TAS_CNX]

I love that about climbing in general! So many lessons and tools that are applicable to the rest of your life.

[@brendanacord]

There are lots of climbing tips and tricks videos out there, I find them mostly interchangeable, but with Dave you know you're always getting the best! So well thought out and insightful, and as is usually the case lessons not just for climbing but for life in general, thanks so much for sharing with us!

[@aesellers8525]

Thank you to The Boss for another insightful, articulate and thought-provoking talk. I will be implementing many of these ideas. Since you didn't do it yourself Dave I will give a shameless plug for the book "9 out of 10 climbers" which is full of advice everyone can benefit from.

[@lasombreo2]

Amazing Dave, such in depth analysis. These days there is a lot of "information" around us but very little wisdom, and I feel like you are the last person out there that gives an evidence based analysis without an underlying intended of selling Nord VPN, finger board, pinch block, a rod to hold weights or a piece of rubber to heal your fingers

[@ibex1753]

Always a treat when a new Dave video drops!

[@charmetroldendk]

Minor detail: Chapter 6,7 and 11 need numbering, in the description and on the timeline. Good information!

[@claus85]

Dave is s very nice and humble person. It's a pleasure having this kind of tips from such a master

[@Biceps_Mou]

Thanks so much Dave - that is really DEEP content (but what else would we expect from you;) and not the usual KZbin stuff of "do this 2 mins a day and get great without any further effort" . Can relate to most of the tips from own (multi-decade:) experience and will happily explore the ones which are newer to me. Never to old to learn and improve - it's a never ending journey. Cheers!

[@TheTdZt]

So much wisdom and research condensed in a few minutes, this is great 🙌

[@Tobsen660]

Always very interesting listening to your thoughts... I'm climbing about 20years and have been much stronger 10years ago. I'm currently climbing 2 grades under my best grade but still noticing that there are aspect of climbing I'm currently much better then I used to be. That's the beauty about climbing. I can progress on many different levels. And one day, when my children are older and I have more time, I might bring everything together and will be better than ever before.

[@satanaz]

For me, getting stronger or better technique on climbing just means I have more boulders to choose to climb on, when I get to a crag, I never care about grades, I just look at them in the guide book to check if it is something that I might be able to climb or not. Some highball V0 might feel as rewarding as a nice V6. The downside of getting better is that some amazing lines/boulders might start feeling too easy and not as rewarding when you complete them haha . Great video! Dave should be knighted for this video alone, even if you let aside all of his other work towards the climbing community The amount of effort and thinking put into this video, to arrive in such ideas and conclusions, and to be able to express them in a concise line of thought, is beyond me. The "Try to understand climbing" part was my favorite!

[@garywheaton7112]

If I could climb with any single climber for the rest of my life and Sierra Blair Coyle was busy it would be Dave Mac! You’re my hero!

[@jorgeacevedodeleon3763]

Dave, thanks for sharing your content, always enlightening. Grattitude from all the community is what you deserve, keep it up! :)

[@conradclipper]

Absolutely right. Cheers Dave!

[@alienfish8396]

Why some climbers are 'passive'? Learning anything requires more work than not learning. That's why the first rule of learning is you have to want to.Good video Dave, insightful and thoughtful. Thanks.

[@AndrewWCarson]

I really enjoyed your final remarks on the acquired taste of discomfort in technical learning. I’m going to try keeping that in mind when I climb.

[@gregfinlayson8135]

David, Thanks for putting in the extraordinary effort it must take to put out something that seems so simple..... One point that you make in 9/10 that you don't make here that has been super important to me is this.. being able to access 'good' technique when under pressure, and not reverting to poor technique. I found a very simple method to improve this.. focus on indoor boulder problems with insecure finishes up high... getting used to that made a world of difference to outdoor trad climbing.... hope that helps someone else.

[@TAS_CNX]

Thanks, will try!

[@cachecaver]

Something else that might be helpful. Is when projecting, don't let it end after one red point, but do it multiple times trying to refine the technique.

[@richardruns4cake]

Brilliant film Dave , a great coaching film beyond just climbing . Thanks for making this

[@tristanlasley8030]

I found the best way to learn techniques for me is to try new but above my grade problems generally bouldering, once I find that new movement or something I've never done before I try to replicate the movement and feel onto a kilter/tension board. And add that to my practice/test playlist. (List of climbs I've done before, but with relatively unique movements or oddly difficult.)

[@evocardopearclimbing]

I think the value of rock climbing especially important for developing technique. If you look at bouldering indoors vs Outdoors for instance you will realize that the "features" and "depths" of the rock can force climbers to increase their technical depth. A great example would be climbing an overhanging boulder prow on rock that has holds in different depths, angles. You might need to learn new heel or toe hook variations to climb the line. Even then the complexity of the movements might baffle you and you realize that nature didn't necessarily design this rock to be climbed. Its really up to you to be creative enough and have enough vision to perhaps do something you haven't done before (New technique). In doing this you expand your technical depth and sometimes even your technical breath! The rock itself is often the best technical coach ;)

[@brothersoulshine]

Wow, there's a lot of distilled wisdom in this video.

[@LNR157]

I just bought both of your books recently. I'm on chapter 2 of '9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes' right now and been reading exactly some of these points. One thing I personally definitely need to explore is being more conscious of every individual movement, not just doing it (or not being able it) but then remembering what it was, what it felt like and how it felt while performing it as well. It definitely is a hard thing to do when you're in the early days of a new physical activity/sport (only been bouldering again about 4 months now and had a couple outdoor roped/boulder sessions with a few friends). But exploring the movement, learning new movement and being conscious of all of that is definitely a key thing I'm finding personally. So I want to say thank you so far Dave. I need to finish the book, make notes and then refer back to it as I think it seems like a great resource so far. Cant wait to get into the injuries book as well (as I even minorly pulled two fingers recently and strained my back a few weeks before that!), just to be more mindful in these early days and not to make unnecessary mistakes or unwise decisions. Keep the videos coming, great content and educational resources for improvement!

[@MrMatrixMinds]

Excellent, thank you. Just getting back into climbing this year after many years off. This inspires me to keep going and be excited about the potential to improve my climbing level

[@johnreed2242]

Ridiculously brilliant vlog. Thank you so much!

[@muumarlin1731]

So much wisdom and years of experience here. Thank you!

[@bullydungeon9631]

That's kind of funny, analyzing and improving at climbing is what got me addicted to it lol

[@smurf9857]

Incredible insight delivered with passion and humour. Thank you! You’ve inspired me to swap one thing I pay for now to paying for a coach once a month.

[@ESSperling]

Thank you for this very interesting and insightful breakdown on improving technique. I think a really valuable adjunct video (or even series) would be a hands-on breakdown of technique in other climbing videos. I recognize the importance of observation and learning from others, but like you said in this video, it can be sometimes be inobvious whether someone is climbing with good or bad technique, relying on strength, etc. Watching how you personally analyze and observe climbing technique could be very beneficial for others trying to develop this skill.

[@hemasgeir470]

It took me one hour to watch a 26 minutes video because i'm french and scottish is really hard to understand for me... But i'm glad i did it ! As always, truely insightful and inspiring... I'm curious, as you are my number one technical climber i like to watch, i would really like to know who you consider great technical climber?

[@marcelorofer]

Thanks again, Dave! You're a legend and an inspiration

[@Rock_Appreciator]

The beginning is nuts lol, what a legend

[@KombiLife]

Thanks so much for sharing this Dave 🙌

[@hotbeefo]

I'm moving nearer to the indoor wall, have reduced my other commitments to allow for 1-2 more climbing days a week and plan to get a coach soon. Hopefully these will all pay off over the next year or two. Edit, this video is so comprehensive. It's brilliant, I'm sure I will only be able to implement a couple of the things in it so I will have to come back to it.

[@krakenattackin7617]

21:56

[@marks3440]

Couple thoughts on this really great video: 1-I’ve been filming myself at the gym for the last year and found it really helpful in making progress w my technique. 2-The more I train for climbing off the wall, the more I feel like the adaptation that I’m after is power increase and not strength, but it seems to me the majority of the training advice out there focuses on strength. Love to get some thoughts on this! Cheers

[@domkolarova]

This was such a good video. I think most people avoid working on technique (including myself) because they simply don’t know where to start. Some people are better than others at having awareness of their body like you said and some people (including me) need a bit of help with a technique coach just to just get them started. I now have regular movement coaching and it is the best thing I have done for my climbing. I used to get really frustrated when I struggled to work out moves and then I realised that you need literally a lifetime of learning and climbing to achieve movement mastery. It’s so much easier to do more pull ups /hang on the finger board than to dedicate yourself to something that might take so long to achieve. Since I still love training I’m doing both haha thanks for really useful content!

[@stephanvg]

Incredible as always, you are a gift to the world

[@UFOpricey]

I'm a simple man, I see Dave, I like the video

[@peterpiek8252]

Your explanations are both easy to understand & eloquent. I wish you'd bring back the rope soloing tutorial.

[@climbermacleod]

It's coming. I almost shot it today but didn't quite have time at the crag.

[@peterpiek8252]

@@climbermacleod Awesome, thank you!

[@LoveAndClimbing]

Oh man, this is the video I've wanted so badly for such a long time. One thing you mentioned is looking at technical experts. You did mention that watching climbing videos is the weakest form of that, and I agree which is why I have a few people in mind in my climbing gym and community that I would look to for technique. But, if we're watching videos, who would you watch? I think you and Louis Parkinson come to mind as people who maybe are particularly good at technique--anyone else?

[@climbermacleod]

Lynn Hill.

[@Nick-B78]

Such a superb video and honestly, you could substitute the word ‘climbing’ for ‘life in general’ and this would be just as fantastic

[@HippieDreamsWV]

You're the real deal, Dave. Great advice here.

[@carlstonejunior]

free soloing using approach shoes. definitely a good sign that he's confident in his ability

[@climbermacleod]

Tommy Caldwell might not be that impressed by calling them approach shoes LOL.

[@noiseforthealgorithm4668]

Tc pro, not approach shoes lol

[@derekxiaoEvanescentBliss]

There are some interesting parallels to martial arts (Judo). There’s two ways we hone technique in judo. There’s uchikomis and randori In uchikomis, we have our partner move in a particular pattern that we might see in randori aka sparring (a Boulder problem project), and repeatedly do this until it feels second nature, and tweak finer details of the technique (projecting). In randori, you’re just freely sparring at 50% intensity (easy onsighting). The goal is to execute the techniques you honed in uchikomi (projecting) in a novel environment (the climb you’re onsighting.

[@jimcooper1053]

sage as usual dave thank you

[@oldi6btm6t9d4]

In-depth, insightful and inspiring!

[@codyheiner3636]

Wonderful video!

[@robeldam]

Thanks Dave, great video!

[@alexbarcovsky4319]

I am currently focused on learning from weaker climbers that climb better than me. We take videos from various angles and its insane how many diffrences there are that cant truly be described categorically. Its like - in this move, he has his knee closer to the wall, or he is chickenwinging his elbow way more to get closer to the wall, or he straightens his leg sooner or stuff like that. Its the same move, same fooholds, same everything, but the micro things, damn do they make a difference.

[@SDwuwei]

Thanks again for a informative and well put together video. You're a great teacher. Thank you also for the time and effort you take to put these together.

[@MartinBenson1]

Thanks Dave! So much great wisdom here. Would love to send a few steady routes on the grit with you when you're next down in the peaks!

[@PaulSagar1986]

Another really helpful and informative video, thanks Dave. It would be great to also hear your thoughts on the importance of flexibility in climbing. I have appallingly bad flexibility (by far my biggest weakness, even more so than my weak fingers) and have decided to finally do something about it, and so I'm now on a 3-month flexibility training plan. It's too early for me to say if is making any difference but I know that e.g. the guys at Lattice think lower body flexibility is a huge factor in performance. As far as I can recall though, I don't remember you discussing this much (though I may have missed it!)

[@ComputerManDanMiller]

Watch the women in literally any IFSC lead event and you can see how they abuse the crap out of their flexibility. It makes a huge difference.

[@PaulSagar1986]

@@ComputerManDanMiller no doubt especially at the high end, and especially in indoor comp climbing. But my main focus is outdoor sport and trad. In his recent Lattice interview Dave suggested flexibility might be less crucial for outdoor climbers (as he says in 9/10 Climbers) but also that his views have changed on that a bit in recent times. Would be keen to hear his current views.

[@ComputerManDanMiller]

@@PaulSagar1986 Flexibility is always going to be good. It's literally just extra free options on every climb you ever do. Also the training has basically 0 impact on any other climbing training except for the time investment to stretch a few times per week. Obviously you do you but anybody who wants to be a good climber should be making sure flexibility is a strength.

[@PaulSagar1986]

@@ComputerManDanMiller oh for sure - I think I’m literally doing 4-5 hours of flexibility training a week under my new regime. It’s a big investment but given my terrible starting point it’s necessary. But hopefully a low base = lots of room for reasonably rapid improvement

[@bouldersuechtig]

Love this video, so much to learn!!

[@eddymofardin9294]

Thanks!

[@aspzx]

I love your observation that many climbers do a lot of climbing but without paying much attention. I definitely know a few people like that. But I have a friend who is less analytical and more intuitive and as a result is a great onsight climber. I love to climb routes with her because I always learn a lot. But she hates bouldering with me because she never learns anything from me! Do you think that stopping to think about your climbing takes some of the magic away for some people? Every time I try to explain my thinking her eyes just glaze over and she goes to find something else she can climb.

[@Govanification]

That's a great observation about different types of climbers, and your friend specifically. Some people more readily engage with tasks that feel out of reach, but work towards it nonetheless (hard projecting, for example) and your friend might not feel as comfortable doing that as you do. That's ok, and if your friend enjoys easier onsight climbing and movement well within her abilities that's great, it just means she's probably not going to progress in difficulty very fast without trying and failing on harder climbs.

[@stuartpeskett1514]

Brilliant. But as a south coast climber I would say the first thing to do to improve climbing technique is to climb on gritstone!

[@Ninjaetlam]

what a great intro!

[@jzaz10]

You are fantastic.

[@victorblondel1902]

must be raining a lot in scotland, the number of videos is going up ^^ just teasing, always great content !

[@kinderobi]

What’s the location at 2:40? Is stunning! Great video as always Dave, thank you!

[@climbermacleod]

That is Creag Mo in Glen Scaladale on the Isle of Harris.

[@kinderobi]

@@climbermacleod great to know, thanks Dave!

[@tomcardno1]

thanks for the insight on this video Dave! Who is a technical master that inspires you to continue to improve on your own technique?

[@matthewlarson7207]

I think a large percentage of people view critically thinking about climbing(or any activity) as something that is done once at the beginning. I couldn't climb > I learned to climb > I'm a climber. Once they reach a level of reasonable proficiency they can just enjoy the act of climbing. By contrast, a smaller group that derives their pleasure from pushing their limits to see what is possible. I would be curious as a very analytical climbing channel how your subscribers would categorize themselves.

[@stevenstevens990]

Dave could you please make a video explaining your top rope solo setup for projecting?

[@climbermacleod]

Just shot this last night. Will edit soon.

[@stevenstevens990]

@@climbermacleod ahh great stuff! Il keep my eyes peeled 👍

[@samps6510]

brilliant intro

[@BJvd26]

Thank you, great tips! I don't project enough (2), and by that I don't attempt to understand what went wrong (12). After (repeated) failure I often just think it is outside of my limits and move to another climb. How would I know a climb is projectable or just outside of my limits after failure? Or is every climb projectable?

[@driesvanoosten4417]

When I project a boulder that is at or beyond my limit, I always film myself. It's an easy way to learn what goes wrong. Also, it can help you assess whether you are making progress over several sessions.

[@Perry0823]

I think through trial and error + experience you learn. I remember I was projecting a problem that was very crimpy and some of the moves felt physically too hard, so naturally I defaulted to doing months of strength training at the gym only to return to the problem and see no progress. I returned again with a friend who I had been climbing with the past year and who had been climbing around the same level as me. I watched him do all the moves so naturally I thought if he could do all the moves why can't I? That session, I started making little micro adjustments to my beta and long story short I realized I needed to place my right heel better and press my left toe differently to push myself away from the rock. The big issue was I was so used to keeping my hips as close to the wall as possible because that's what we are often told is good technique. However, this put my body in a position that made it impossible for me to reach the next hold. With a little bit of practice I was able to stick that move consistently that same session and I sent the project 2 sessions later. See, I think when we encounter a route we are unable to do it is only natural to default to thinking you are physically unable to do it because we often evaluate the difficulty of a climb based on how physically challenging it feels. However, if we are not using the most efficient technique then of course it is going to feel physically harder then it really is. Therefore, the only way to know whether or not getting stronger is really the only option we need to first try and exhaust all other technical options that are possible. Also having friends to climb with definitely helps as well because they may think of things that you won't and give you feedback that can help you when they see you climb. Hope this makes sense and that you found it helpful

[@BJvd26]

@@Perry0823 Thank you, good explanation! I'll definately going to try. I guess getting it done was really rewarding after initially thinking it wasnt possible.

[@BJvd26]

@@driesvanoosten4417 Thanks, Ill try to make videos next time.

[@Perry0823]

@@BJvd26 just sticking the move felt amazing

[@mattbrown3603]

As always, thanks for putting this out there. I find I need a mixture of doing stuff I find challenging - often with days of absolutely no progress - with some mileage and/or success. Too much failure just makes me feel bad. Is this the same for you?

[@mw3515]

Around the Oban area, although this might not be in keeping with the West Coast way of reserving praise. Can you give examples of skilled, generous technical climbers that might share expertise or consider coaching? I know a few young keen climbers around here crying out for this type of knowledge.

[@marcusvaldes]

My fear in free solo is some sort of undiagnosed medical condition where one would briefly lose conciousness and then lose it permanently.

[@MartinOfTheDaly]

Dave you're stone mad for free soloing these days 😆

[@climbermacleod]

Not really. I do far far less than I used to.

[@bouldersuechtig]

Which Video you meant here? 9:20 Nice Video, thank you for sharing!

[@climbermacleod]

This one kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3jEkmqHaLSeaNk

[@dynamic9873]

do you think repeating climbs plays a role in developing technique? if so do you think this is more akin to redpointing or onsighting(assuming you repeat in one go)

[@davidmarshall8664]

Around 9 minutes in you say you've made a whole video on technical repertoire, I can't find it on your channel, any chance you could send a link?

[@climbermacleod]

Can you quantify climbing technique? kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3jEkmqHaLSeaNk

[@davidmarshall8664]

@@climbermacleod cheers!

[@Betasprayer]

Anyone knows what, Dave’s video about climbing repertoire (9:20) is named?

[@climbermacleod]

Can you quantify climbing technique? kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3jEkmqHaLSeaNk

[@arkadaurum298]

🔥🔥🔥

[@guillaumebarthelemy2184]

what an eloquant man

[@Vicentecarmonagonza]

👏👏👏👍👍

[@RockClimberAlex]

How would one project a route without onsighting? Presumably, you will at least try the route the first time and try to onsight it, no? What am I supposed to do to onsight more? Leave the route and go on another one, just once? I would very quickly run out of routes to climb and have to travel all over the world to onsight routes in my grade range. Onsighting fails you start projecting, not sure what's wrong with that. You can slowly increase what you can climb, making grades below your project grade easier, would be what works for me this far.

[@nbka8rs]

Algogogo

[@TGregers]

HalleluYAH! 😥

[@JoBianco]

I listen to this while playing chess.

[@Zeropadd]

🙀

[@TG-pd3ft]

Most solo deaths are caused by rockfall / loose holds - not lack of technique. I didn't like the tone of this video Dave.

[@mathiassimmons1766]

Great video!