Training for Climbing, 2nd: The Definitive Guide to Improving Your Performance (How To Climb Series)

performing these drills on a regular basis.

     

Toproping and Hangdogging
     
    Toproping and hangdogging are the ideal formats for practicing difficult moves near your limit or when diving into unfamiliar terrain like pocket or crack climbing. As discussed earlier, a relaxed, low-stress environment is critical to rapid learning of new skills. Obviously, climbing on toprope or on lead, bolt-to-bolt, represents a low-stress setting where you can experiment with tricky, awkward moves without the risk of a serious fall and injury.
    When attempting a route that is continuously hard or with multiple cruxes, it’s best to break it down into smaller sections or chunks. This reduces the mental burden by allowing you to view and solve the route in parts. Much like working a boulder problem, you can employ blocked practice to work a sequence repeatedly. Once a problem is solved and programmed to a high likelihood of success, you can move on and begin work on the next chunk. Upon solving all the chunks (and after a good rest), your next goal should be to combine chunks. For example, on a route that you had broken down into four hard sections, you would try to link the top two chunks, and then move down and link the top three chunks. Such incremental learning will wire you for a successful redpoint or toprope ascent after another rest or on your next outing or day at that area. ( Note: See chapter 5 of How to Climb 5.12 to learn many more strategies for working and sending project routes.)

     

The Stick Game (aka Send Me)
     
    This popular game is great for learning to quickly assess and execute a novel, unknown move onsight—a vital skill when you’re on-sight climbing at the crag or in competition. Best played on an indoor wall, the drill requires at least two players who take turns pointing out (with a broomstick) impromptu boulder problems for the other to ascend. Begin by identifying the starting hand- and footholds for the climber; then, as she pulls up on them, the course setter points to the next hold to be used. Continue in this fashion until the climber falls or the problem is done. Commonly, the game is played with open feet—that is, the climber can use any foothold she likes.

     

First Touch
     
    First Touch is a great practice drill for would-be competition and on-sight climbers—though anyone can benefit from its use. An indoor facility with a wide range of toprope routes is the ideal setting for this drill. As the name implies, you must climb a route by using each handhold in the exact way that you first grab it—no readjusting or changing your grip after you first touch it. By climbing many routes in this fashion (and, of course, obeying the guidelines completely), you will learn to examine holds more closely—both from the ground and while climbing—and thus increase the likelihood you’ll use them optimally from the first touch. On lead, this skill saves you time and energy, both of which increase your odds of on-sighting a route.

     

Tracking and Elimination
     
    This drill can be used indoors when you’re bouldering or on toprope. The goal is simply to climb a route by tracking your feet on the exact same holds used by your hands. It’s kind of like climbing a ladder, where you press down on a rung with your right hand and make room to step on that same rung with your right foot. As a type of elimination drill, this will make a climb much harder than it would be if climbed with all the holds on route. Therefore, if you normally practice skill by climbing 5.10 or 5.11 routes, you’ll want to do this drill on routes in the range of 5.7 to 5.9.
    If you climb indoors a lot, exercise your creativity and develop other elimination drills that might improve your skill, strategy, and strength. For instance, begin eliminating certain hand- and footholds from the routes you have ruthlessly wired. There’s little to be gained from blocked practice of the same tired routes over and over again. So challenge yourself by eliminating the five biggest holds from the route, or by limiting yourself to grabbing the holds only as side pulls or underclings, or with only two fingers, or what have you. Not only can this make for some good fun for you and your friends, but it’s also an excellent way to enhance your skill practice and overall ability.

     

Downclimbing Routes
     
    When I’m leading or toproping indoors, it’s rare that I climb a route to the top and lower off without trying to downclimb as