From: Mark Bockmann Newsgroups: rec.climbing Subject: Re: gain strength v. gain form? can't get up those .12b Date: Fri, 08 Sep 2000 19:56:10 GMT Strength, technique, tactics -- you need them all. I'll address tactics, since that's more my specialty and it tends to get overlooked, in my opinion. --- ONSIGHTING VS. REDPOINTING. First of all, make sure you don't focus too much on redpointing. For every hard redpoint attempt, you should try to make two onsight attempts at your limit. By focusing more on onsighting, you will be exposing yourself to a wider variety of difficult moves than if you picked one hard route and worked it to death over several weeks (or months). This will be the fastest way to gain those engrams you need to crank moves in the mid-12 range and harder. Also, if you fail on a hard onsight attempt, you can try to redpoint it 2nd try. I feel that I often learn more about both onsighting & redpointing on my 2nd try attempts than I do anytime else. --- RESTING. This is one of my "secret weapons." Since I have only average power and average endurance, I try to get the most out of each by finding rests at critical points on a route (either before or right after a crux section). This is obvious, but finding the rests themselves often isn't. STEMS are some of the most useful resting positions, but you don't have to be in an actual corner to use them. Look for opposing footholds anywhere, especially if there is a slight scoop in the rock face, allowing you to "hug the rock" and get more weight on your feet. RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: this is one I'm convinced most people don't put into practice. If you know the crux section of a route is moving off a heinous crimp with your right hand, then you want to make sure the crimp strength in your right hand is as fresh as it can be before launching into the crux. This may mean shaking it out an extra 10 seconds before doing the move (even if you have to totally pump out your left hand to do it). Or you may want to use an open hand grip on the holds below the crux (even if it's easier to crimp them) just to give those crimp muscles a breather. Or you may want to totally fatigue your calf muscles on a marginal stem to get a better shakeout. Basically, think about the limited resources you've got, and how best to use them to get to the top of a route. If it means sacrificing a particular body part by over-fatiguing it, by all means do it if it gets you to your goal. KNEEBARS, ETC. These can be crucial on some routes, but they take practice to find and use. Get beta if you have trouble. Also look for heel-toe cams, butt-smears (basically a chimney move, but you're just using a vertical foothold and a block for opposition instead of the walls of a chimney), hand jams, fingerlocks, arm wraps (where you wrap your arm over a horn), and one of my favorites, the high-step-rock-on (where you high-step to a horn and you're able to rock onto it, remaining in the high-step position, and get a no-hands rest). --- THE GAS GAUGE. Don't forget to check your gas gauge frequently during a difficult climb. This means consciously monitoring your breathing, heart rate, power levels, and pump factor. This is particularly important when you're at a marginal rest. How do you tell if it's a "sucker rest" or whether you're really recovering? The answer is to know your body and pay attention to it. Is your heart rate slowing down? Good, that means you're probably recovering. Is the pump subsiding from your forearms? Is your breathing slowing down? Remember to shake out. I also stretch my forearms at a resting spot by bending my fingers back against the rock, which seems to help. Part of monitoring your gas gauge is deciding when to *leave* a rest. If it's a marginal rest, you'll want to stay there only as long as it's helping you. I'm sure we've all experienced the disappointment of "resting" so long at a particular spot that we pump ourselves out! Avoiding this trap requires experience, above all. Likewise, once you leave a rest, you've got to MOTOR through the crux. If you can't climb quickly through a crux section and still maintain good technique, maybe you need to work on speed climbing. It's a simple concept -- the longer you hang from miserable holds, the less chance you have of sending the route. --- CLIPPING. Clipping should be a non-issue. If you ever find yourself fumbling your clips, you need more practice. There are four ways to clip a draw (two different ways with each hand). Make sure you have all four methods totally wired. Hang a quickdraw above your bed and practice if you need to. Ask a good sport climber if you want details on how to clip, or search Deja. There are times it can make a big difference. In a similar vein, think about where you'll be making your clips. All things being equal, and assuming a safe fall, I always try to make my clips at waist level whenever possible, hanging from a straight arm. This is the quickest and least strenuous position to clip from. In real life, you want to clip from the best holds. Sometimes this means doing a humongous reach off a jug undercling, if, say, the next section is totally heinous and hard to clip from. This ignores the "clip at your waist" rule, but I use it frequently. Also, consider *skipping* clips if you know the fall is safe and you might sap too much strength making a clip. Just make sure you don't get the rope behind your leg! And obviously your head has to be in the game -- if skipping a clip makes you stiffen up and overgrip because you're afraid of the fall, then there's really no point. --- VISUALIZATION. This can give you a huge advantage. Memorize every move on the route (drawing yourself a beta map helps), then run a mental movie of yourself climbing it from the ground to the anchors. Visualize every move, every weight shift, every clip. Picture yourself climbing fluidly, breathing slowly and deeply, and having the power to pull through the crux moves smoothly. The body cannot go where the mind hasn't already been before... --- LITTLE THINGS. Check your knot, harness, and belay before you leave the ground. You don't want to have to think about those things when you're climbing at your limit. Try to figure out which hand you'll be using to clip the bolts, and make sure you have the proper number of draws on each side of your harness ahead of time. I know it sounds silly, but it just may help. Figure out the most efficient way to clip each bolt (with the biner gate on the left or with it on the right) and clip the draws in accordingly. This sounds silly too, but there are many times I've seen it make a difference. Get a MagBag. (http://www.magbag.com) --- NOT-SO-LITTLE THINGS. Climb on as many different types of rock as you can. Climb with people who are better than you are. Climb with women who are better than you are. --- Okay, there's a lot more I could say, but I'm sure you've had enough by now. I hope these tips help. They've worked for me. Best of luck reaching your goals and beyond. -- _________________________________________ Mark Bockmann http://www.geocities.com/mdbockmann "Go ye therefore, and SEND."