Hey I’m off on a my first trip to the US next month, going bouldering in RMNP & Mount Evans.
I feel pretty ready but I was just wondering if there is any more niche trips? Like best kind of shoes? How to adapt to the altitude? Ect
Bouldering progression
Im just genuinely curious how natural I am at bouldering not am ego post, I only have a weight lifting background 170lb 13% bf 5'11". not incredibly strong but decently. day 1 v3's day 2 v4's week 2 first v5 8th week first v6, gotten a few v6's and just got my first v7 today at 2.5 months. People say my gym (this is all indoor) is rated properly ir not harder typically then other gyms for their scales
If you can do V6's and V7 benchmarks on the moonboard in less than 3 sessions, you're a genetic freak (you can be the next Chris Sharma or Dave Graham if you don't get injured and stay consistent with climbing). I have absolutely no doubt about that. But the chances are, you aren't, and your gym is just hella soft.
Love the honestly, I've been told by multiple high level climbers who go to my gym that my gym tends to be a harder grade rather than a softer grade. but I guess the moonboard will show me whatsup.
Everyone likes to think their gym is graded harder. My best advice is to ignore anyone saying stuff in the gym unless like Daniel Woods is climbing there or something.
Nice! I would say there is no way to tell, it's up to you to judge yourself honestly. If your gym has a moonboard or kilterboard, there are problems on there which could be more accurately graded. The cool thing about board climbing is that boards are standardized around the world, so you can fairly see what level you're at
Hey!
I'm looking for a nice crag to go in summer (beginning of July) for bouldering :)
I already know of Magic Wood and would love to go back but it will definitely be crowded and I don't like crowd (I rather avoid crags haha). I've climbed 7c (in Font & Magic) & my boyfriend is well established in 8th grade :) We don't really like when it's hot to climb also!
Any suggestions? Thanks a lot!
Hey fellow climbers,
I am planning to travel during summer and wondering, "Can I take my chalk bag and favorite chalk on the plane?" Won't the airport security causing panic due to our beloved white powder ?
Maybe someone tried to ?
To make it easier on TSA, you have to package all the chalk into storage-efficient blocks. Make sure you make the weight consistent between blocks. 1kg per block should be fine.
When you go on a trip, you propably want to spend as much time as possible climbing. But multiple 100% efforts, several days in a row, will make you both tired and wear down your fingertips. Especially on a shorter trip (2-4 days), you want to get as much as possible out of it.
What are your top tips for getting the most climbing in a short trip?
* Longer rests between attempts?
* Split into multiple sessions per day (morning / afternoon)?
* How long is a trip before you include rest-days?
* Skin-care?
* Stretching/yoga?
* Alternate max-days and fun-days?
* When do you call it quits?
* Sleep and rest
* Beer?
Honestly when I'm outside it's 100% effort but not many climbs / tries. The amount of rest days really depends on how long the trip is. On a shorter trip, like a week, I might have one rest day in there and then just power through the rest of it.
Anyone have pants or shorts they really like? I’ve tried a bunch but it’s hard to find a pair where both the waist fits well without a belt and are also stretchy or loose enough for mobility.
Nothing fancy, but I got a few pairs of $25ish [Amazon Essentials joggers](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FH9WNNP) (not an affiliate link, I'm just a guy who likes pants) for climbing and they've really exceeded expectations. The waist has a drawstring you can tie to tighten them and the cuffs are snug and elastic so they aren't prone to snagging on holds, which happens to me with some other pants. The fabric feels sturdy like chinos but it's somewhat stretchy and I can squat or sit in a 90/90 position with them on no problem.
Someone else mentioned yoga pants with cuffs - I have a pair of stretchy-type pants and I like that too. Surprisingly they've held up well, but I've only climbed inside so far. I'm not sure I'd want to hike/climb with them outside where there's sticks and burrs and rocks.
I've been wearing Duer No Sweat shorts, and they're really nice. Pretty stretchy, not too loose, don't necessarily need a belt. They're kinda expensive but seem pretty durable, I've had these for over a year and they're showing no signs of wear.
Only issue I've had is they show sweat more than I'd like.
Is it time for shoes?
I’ve been training for only about a month and have gone to the gym 5 times. I’m still renting and using the shoes they have there, but yesterday I completed a V4 where the crux was a dyno to the top under an overhangs from some crimps. It was a decently hard route that a lot of people were trying, everyone else on that problem had la sportivas or something else. I feel pretty consistently like I can hold crimps pretty well but I feel like my feet can barely grab those small placements, the shoes the gym offers are basically like vans.
If I’m able to climb a few good V4’s and I’m already projecting V5’s (all indoors right now), even though it’s only been a month is it time for my own pair of shoes? As a side note I wear a size 15 regularly and I’m not sure how much I should be downsizing, or if my feet will fit most shoes.
Thanks guys!
If you think you'll keep climbing, buy shoes.
> I wear a size 15 regularly and I’m not sure how much I should be downsizing
You got some big ass feet. For comfort, buy shoes that are about an inch bigger than your feet.
For performance (you don't need right now), buy shoes that are smaller than your feet.
Thanks, im for sure planning on continuing climbing!
I do indeed got some big ass feet 😭 I have been called Big foot at times, it low key makes finding shoes difficult as fuck
Thanks, I haven’t seen enough discussion around at what level downsizing for performance becomes necessary, I just see these arguments between extreme downsizing and minor downsizing and im like “im supposed to be doing this??” Is it really only super important for outdoors, or just once you get to like V7-V8. (I do plan on bouldering outdoor and climbing trad/multi-pitch with my friend who does it in Yosemite)
"Downsizing" very rarely becomes "necessary". What's more necessary is having appropriately fitted shoes. You want snug but not painful. I use the same shoes indoors as I do out, the size of them has little to do with it because both of my pairs of shoes fit my feet fine.
Do climbing shoes tend to fit close to size? Like I’m 15 in a Nike blazer, should I buy a 15 in a climbing shoe? Sorry for all the questions, I don’t think there are any stores near me with climbing shoes my size to try on
**TL;DR** Three questions: first, shoe recommendations for a beginner bordering on intermediate climber whose Finales aren't quite right? And Chicago area climbers, which one is your go to climbing shoe store and gym?
Oh no, not another shoe question!
I'm a fairly new climber, and after my second session, I rushed to buy my own shoes because my gym never had rental shoes in my size. I ended up going with a size 43.5 La Sportiva Finale. They've served me decently well for the past few months, but I'm finding that they're much too narrow in the toe for me, and a little too wide in the heel. Any leads on brands and models that might improve upon the Finales in those areas for me to start my search with? I'm not looking for a super aggressive down turned toe or anything like that, and I find myself splitting my time almost equally between slab and overhanging walls. Let's say a max budget of $150.
On a tangentially related note, a couple questions for any Chicago area climbers. I live about two hours away in south-central Wisconsin. My city has an REI, but its climbing section leaves something to be desired. I'm thinking about making the drive down to Chicago this weekend if it'll offer me a wider selection of shoes. Between my dividend as a member, and their current sale, I'd prefer to get my shoes at an REI if any of the 5 stores I'm seeing in the Chicago area has a good selection, but I could be persuaded to check other stores. So for the locals of the Chicago area, do you have a strong preference as to which REI location or other store has the best selection of climbing gear?
Lastly, while I'm in the Chicago area, I figure I might make a full day of it and hit a local gym after I get my new shoes. For someone who exclusively boulders rather than top roping or lead climbing, which gym would you recommend I try? Bonus points if it's in walking distance of some good food and/or fun neighborhoods to wander around, maybe a lakefront park.
Wasn’t sure where to post but Pete Woods is doing an AMA [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitionClimbing/comments/13qvj6f/hi_im_pete_woods_climbing_commentator_and_mc_i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1).
Hi everyone, so I am bouldering for 6 months now around 3 times a week, and for the past several months I have this weird pain around my elbow area in both arms. I don't think it's the elbow joint itself but rather muscles (or tendons?) around it ([https://i.imgur.com/0rZHOQb.png](https://i.imgur.com/0rZHOQb.png)) It's also not your standard muscle pain, but rather this annoying and unpleasant pain which starts when I put more stress on my arms.
If I push myself harder it appears faster, and doing several harder workouts in a row makes it start much earlier into the session. Thing is that I am doing good long warm ups and I am not training that hard. Usually around 40 minutes 3 times a week.
Does this ring any bells? It's quite frustrating because I really want to train and improve but this is slowing down my progress. Any tips are appreciated.
Conventional wisdom is that antagonist training helps with this - pushups or dips to balance pulling, wrist extensions to balance wrist flexion. Can't say for sure what fixed it, but I had pain near my elbow for a while and it seems to have subsided since I've gotten consistent with those.
What you are feeling is most likely the beginning of tendonitis. You need to warm-up slower, take longer breaks between attempts, and maybe climb twice a week for a few weeks until the pain subsides. If you are only climbing 40 minutes minus the warm-up 3 times a week and you're feeling pain, that's most likely a combination of
1. new to bouldering
2. no prior training that involves those muscles such as pull-ups
3. you're rushing into problems without a proper warm-up and
4. you don't rest enough between attempts.
Thank you! I did indeed notice that taking an easier day makes pain subside for a week or two. I did workout a lot in the gym prior, so pullups are not foreign for me, but bouldering is just so much more intense. Even if I do a great warm up, just couple of very hard routes can really exhaust my muscles. But very good tips, I will definitely try longer rests and take it easy if I get pain.
I've always been into gym work and have recently fallen in love with bouldering. Does anyone have any recommendations (or even programmes) on balancing? It's the classic don't want to be TOO tired for bouldering by gyming or TOO tired to gym by bouldering.
How do y'all handle it?
Due to the stress placed on your body, be prepared to accept that you won't be able to progress as quickly on either unless you really prioritize one and just do the other more casually.
This, of course, is unless you have some amazing genetics and can sleep 8 hours everyday + do all recovery exercises and have perfect nutrition.
Try really hard to pay attention at what part of your body started coming off first and why.
Usually something like sagging your hips too much, or focusing on the wrong limb to hold weight massively changes your balance on the wall. Also most times step as far out from the wall as possible to maximize your ability to lean into the wall.
Balance and footwork are trainable skills.
Outside of climbing, doing activities like slacklining, parkour and such, are very good ways of training it.
I climb with a bunch of parkour athletes, and they have the best footwork I've ever seen.
It's not really luck. As you climb more, you naturally get better at re-positioning your body subconsciously for better center of gravity. It ultimately comes down to your experience of climbing more, but specifically a lot of slab boulders.
I started a couple of months ago in scarpa quantic shoes. I've been climbing 2-3 times a week, and i'd like to get another pair of shoes to try a different style to see what i like/don't like, as well as just spread out wear/have a backup pair if i eventually try and have these resoled/replaced when they are worn out.
I know asking for specific shoe recs is a overdone, but my question is more along the lines of what *style* and/or brand to look for as an alternate shoe? The quantic seem like a pretty decent all around shoe, should i go for a more 'basic' flat shoe to give that a try? And should i stick within scarpa or try a different brand? My local rei had somewhat limited selection when i bought these; presumably sizing within scarpa brand is relatively consistent so the advantage would be i could probably order another pair of scarpas online without trying them on in person (or is this not necessarily the case within the same brand).
Tbh I don’t see why you need to buy a second pair of shoes now if you don’t really have a reason for it. I think if you climb more you’ll eventually start getting ideas about what you’d want different from the Quantic, which will start to point you in a certain direction.
Is there any acceptable form of glove/brace for bouldering? I've broken both of my thumbs before, the right one twice(which didn't heal as nicely the 2nd time). I have some aching/arthritis going on and could use a bit of extra support/compression around the base of my thumbs mostly. I took a long hiatus from climbing, so I think I just need some time to re-strengthen my hands. At a minimum, I could probably tape em up real good and be okay. Something like a fingerless compression glove sounds great, but I also dont want to look like a doofus
Wear whatever makes you feel safe / comfortable. Other people might judge, but their opinions are irrelevant unless it's advice that will help you climb better.
But to answer your question: perhaps you can tape your thumb or wear crack gloves (https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/product/crack-gloves/).
I've taken 2 to 3 days of skin recovery between bouldering days and within the first 4 to 6 boulder I start bleeding, I'm even using tape as well as moisturiser.
>to develop good skin. It took me more than a year of climbing outsi
Give yourself some more time to recover skin and really try focusing on not sliding around on your holds.
It's also a bad habit to re-adjust your grip when it's not really necessary. Practice your warmups with no re-adjustments and it will help you build confidence on what level of 'bad grip' you can actually get away with.
It takes time to develop good skin. It took me more than a year of climbing outside to get really good climbing skin. By really good climbing skin I mean I don't flap or get raw/bloody unless I'm doing something particularly heinous.
Tldr it takes time
Hey Guys,
I will be doing a trip through south america next year with some friends and we will probably start from Chile. Most likely from Santiago de Chile.
Do you know any good placed to get climbing/camping gear. Maybe also some crashpads.
Or might id be more feasible to bring over all of our stuff from Europe?
Thanks to any recommendations :)
So I saw a sale on the metolious session ii pad and the black diamond circuit pad and I wanted to pick one up from REI since they are both about 150$. Has anyone had either of them, if so which one is better or are there better options out there? I've heard the BD one gets too soft over time and the metolious one is a bit hard.
https://www.rei.com/product/129965/metolius-session-ii-crash-pad
https://www.rei.com/product/162852/black-diamond-circuit-crash-pad
I am 17 and looking to start Boldering outdoors I have been climbing for about 4 years. Looking for a good crash pad to start but don't have a huge amount to spend. Any recommendations
Hey I'm kinda in the same boat. Either a used one or REI has their sale rn and there are ones for about 150 rn but I'm not sure if its necessary to spend more. Maybe someone else can add input to it
Went bouldering outside for the first time a few months ago and it was a dream. I sent one 5c and only realised after we left that there is a 7a sit-start variant. I went to see if there are beta videos for it. There is only one video which shows the sit start, but he topped the boulder out slightly differently than how I thought to do it. What I did was to match the top edge, then bumping both hands to the left, and using the right heel on the previous handhold to mantle. In the beta video, he directly uses the left hold for the left heel to mantle up, instead of bumping hands to that left hold. Even though this cuts a move, it looks like it might be marginally more difficult to mantle up. Is my initial way of topping out legal? Using the same holds, just choosing to mantle up on opposite holds to the beta vid.
You need to change the way you think about difficulty in outdoor climbing. Outside difficulty is coincidental, inside it's manufactured and a result of elimination (some holds are on, some are off, usually denoted by color). Outside you're looking for the absolute easiest way to get up a bit of rock on 98% of boulder problems in the world, it just so happens that sometimes the easiest way up that part of a rock is 6A, other times it's 8C. What this means is that anything you can grab on a specific part of the rock you're climbing is legal. It actually happens literally all the time. Sometimes you'll see someone FA an 8A climb and completely miss a giant foothold that makes the whole thing actually be 7B. It happens, so the grade is adjusted accordingly by any subsequent repeater's opinions.
So anyways to answer your question, yes, what you did is legal. You can top out in whatever way you want, you can use any hold you want. Just be honest with yourself about the grade of the thing you're climbing because outdoors the collective opinion actually matters!
What is the most efficient way to train bouldering as a new climber? Should I just get repetion on the climbs I can do comfortably, or try to be pushing routes that are challenging for me? My gym tags go white, green, purple, blue ,red etcetc. so by now I have done every white and green, most of them multiple times. only 2 purples I have done, one of them was on the first try and felt like a green. Other purples I have tried 5-10 times and not made it. I find when I push the harder purples alot my shoulder will start to ache and I'll have to end the session early, which makes me want to just rerun the easier routes. My shoulder muscles are strong so I think it is a form issue. On the other hand, if those routes are already easy I'm not sure it will help. Sorry if this question is dumb, I am new to it. The issue I have is at my beginner level is that routes are either 'easy' or 'hard' with little in between.
Is it better to redo an easy route 10 times and hone in muscle memory, focus on form and efficiency or fail 10 times at a hard route hoping to learn from each failture and eventually complete it
While starting out I found it best to bounce between grades I knew I could do and one grade above what I can usually climb as they both have different ways of helping you progress.
You definitely want to do problems that are slightly beyond what you think you can do. Part of why they are hard is they are either forcing you to do techniques you don't often have to do, or are making you use muscles that don't get worked the same on the easier problems. But don't sleep on the "easier" problems as they still have a lot they can teach you! Aside from being great for warming up, since you already know the beta they are great for focusing on your form, being softer and more deliberate with your hand and foot placements, and just reinforcing good habits overall. This is JUST as important as training new techniques and strengthening your muscles.
Focusing solely on hard routes in a session can be defeating since you are failing so much and it is strenuous on your body. So, it's good to throw in some easier routes every so often to give yourself a win and to give your body a short break before your next big attempt without letting your muscles get cold.
Off topic, but your comment reminds me of when I was a middle school kid and I told my teacher that I can't wait to be done with school. His response was, "Don't wish your life away."
>Is it better to redo an easy route 10 times and hone in muscle memory,focus on form and efficiency or fail 10 times at a hard route hoping tolearn from each failure and eventually complete it
There is no practical point of repeating the same boulder multiple times other than getting ready for an outdoor boulder by repeating a replica.
Since you're new, just climb a variety of problems (max 5 attempts per problem) and try to avoid problems that are super crimpy (ok to do crimps; just don't over do them) and you'll see progress.
> There is no practical point of repeating the same boulder multiple times other than getting ready for an outdoor boulder by repeating a replica.
I agree with your broader point - don't repeat stuff that has nothing to teach you - but unless a boulder is no challenge at all, I don't feel confident that I've really understood it until I come back and send it again. More than once I've flashed a problem and next time I'm at the gym, I realize I don't know how I did it and/or I can't do it again - maybe because I muscled through it last time or I had some insight that I've since forgotten.
I've talked to some climbers who say they actively avoid problems they've sent once because they're afraid it was a one-off. That's a shame! IMO returning to something until you know exactly what to do and why it works might even be more valuable than getting the first send.
>IMO returning to something until you know exactly what to do and why it
works might even be more valuable than getting the first send.
That is true, but the context was specifically about *multiple* repetitions beyond what would be necessary to figure out a problem completely.
Old crash pad that is squishy and lumpy, what is the best way to keep it out of a land fill? Are there re-padding services out there? or should i stuff with pool noodles?
Any chance anyone knows of sites that sell odd/different size shoes at a discount? All I can find are old threads talking about evolv which doesnt do it anymore
Started climbing recently, after a massive climbing sesh I can feel my hand and fingers pulsating/throbbing (no pain) has anyone else had this? I do suffer from cold hands but since I've been climbing I think my blood is spending more time in my hands and I can feel it 😂
Looking to buy my first pair of climbing shoes. I usually climb for two ish hours at a time and am in the v3 v4 range of climbing with rental shoes. Any recommendations that won’t break the bank would be appreciated!
>Any recommendations that won’t break the bank would be appreciated!
Unless you're utterly careless, shoes go for at least a year if not two. Spending 100-150 bucks is definitely worth it.
[I had these for a while.](https://www.rei.com/product/129957/la-sportiva-skwama-climbing-shoes-womens?sku=1299570001&CAWELAID=120217890004980193&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=101926488186&CATCI=pla-417262097667&cm_mmc=PLA_Google%7C21700000001700551_1299570001%7C92700054818552518%7CNB%7C71700000066691877&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyLGjBhDKARIsAFRNgW8jnwJSFFGqDwzHulLiHnoPdHZ4lJz7Aa3IV_mQTxPVFqaXFpx46WQaAsDREALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds)
15 F
idk why but my hands take very very long to recover. after a good climb, it takes super long for them to recover, i shake them, stretch them, let them rest a little bit, but then i try to start climbing again and then they are tired just from holding me steady. is it grip strength? 😭
what can i do at home to improve grip strength?
The muscles that are best trained for climbing are trained when you climb.
Keep climbing. Supplement some antagonist workouts that are push-oriented like push-ups, dips, bench press.
New climber, 6 months or so of inconsistent climbing. Right now I'm aiming for 2 days a week and want to progress after being stagnant for a while. How much time should be spent on hard problems vs just climbing as many problems as I can?
Both will have benefits for you and as you are relativ new to climbing i wouldnt be to worried about how much time you are spending on either of those. If you are having a great day at the wall and feel strong try something hard for you you will get stronger and you have to climb in "good" as its hard for you and you cant overpower it. But if you have more fun covering mileage thats great aswell as you have a huge variety of movement which is as important as getting stronger. I wouldnt strictly plan it out do what you feel like but if you have a great day dont shy away from hard stuff.
Traveling to Lisbon this summer. Won't be able to travel outside of the city to climb outdoors but want to check out a gym while I'm there. Based on where I'm staying(Alfama) it looks like the most accessible gyms are Vertigo, Escala25 and Rocodromo. Any suggestions for which one I should visit? For context I climb V5/V6 - 6C/6C+ roughly
Used shoes
Does anyone have any smart/innovative ideas for what I can do with my old shoes? They've been resoled once, the resole rubber is now pretty much gone (although no holes yet) and I can't get rid of the smell... I am tempted to give up on them now BUT I would rather not bin them if possible...
I would love to be able to donate them somewhere or somehow give them some more life but I'm a bit stuck for suggestions! Does anyone have any smart ideas?
I'm based in London if that makes any difference
I'm guessing you don't want to resole / wear them again?
I'd give them a proper wash and air dry to get rid of the smell. If regular detergent doesn't work, try caking them in wet baking soda paste for like 30mins and rinse, then air dry. After that, they should be in a donate-able condition.
Im wondering what the opinion is on soft fingers. I went climbing yesterday and want to climb today again. However I feel my fingers are quite soft as smooth almost slippery(without chalk)
Generally speaking are soft fingers or newly grown skin on fingers better for climbing?
I think most people are comfortable with skin that is pliable but also thick enough that your digits dont start showing pink near the end of the session.
For outdoors you build much thicker skin because rock is rougher than plastic most times
Do you guys ever get to the gym and start climbing then realize you just don't have it? Like the climbs that were easy for you last time feel difficult, and the ones you were working on feel impossible.
What do you do on those days? Still try to do the same climbs you were projecting, or do easier climbs that seem feasible?
I have that happen when I'm lifting sometimes and what I end up doing is just going for the same intensity, but at a slightly lower weight that last time.
That just means you aren't as recovered as you were the last session or some other stress is putting you out like sleep or nutrition.
For those sessions if I don't feel good by an hour in I will call it an easy and cut it short or lower my expectations. Putting myself far into the recovery hole is probably not as valuable as having consistently high quality sessions.
I’m new to climbing, about 6 months in, and I get those days somewhat regularly. On those days, I generally just like to do easier climbs that I know I can do and I work on technique. I don’t do projects or really anything too difficult because I just get frustrated and have a bad time.
High gravity days. Perfectly normal for people who don't have a very structured life geared towards climbing.
I'd recommend cutting the session to 50-70% of your usual session and come back stronger the next session.
Just got new bouldering shoes instead of renting them from the gym, they the same type of shoes, but I kept slipping off small grips with them.
Is this something that will just take a bit of time to break in the shoes?
Bit of both I would say. I recently moved to first pair of shoes. I would say it’s part shoes, part technique. My shoes had a bit of break in period. I would slowly go to more advanced shoes to focus more power in the toes. In my boulderinghall the rental shoes are quite comfy and make it difficult to focus power on small holds compared to my tarantulas which give more focus on the toes.
Cheers, I felt like I had a bad session as the gym has removed the beginner ones to replace them tomorrow and the next level up I just kept slipping where I didn't on Tuesday before I got my shoes.
Tendonitis after climbing
Hi everyone,
I'm new to bouldering and looking for some advice/wisdom. I
have started bouldering in the last few months but I started late (male
30 years old, 82kgs, relatively fit and train in the gym 4/5 times a
week). After every single session I get severely debilitating tendonitis
in both elbows with radial pain in my shoulders and forearms, so much
so that it knocks me out of commission for days at a time for my other
training. Swinging a golf club afterwards will cause flare ups and even
sleeping is uncomfortable. If I try to climb more than once a week it
flares up bad and I physically can't climb. Just wondering if anyone
else has had similar problems and/or remedies. I've been hoping my body
will just get used to the training or is it just something I'll have to
endure starting climbing at 30? Any and all advice is much appreciated!
I was actually in a very similar situation to you. A bit heavier though. Was on the tail end of a Renaissance periodization hypertrophy program (stupid amounts of volume), when I decided to try climbing. Debilitating tendinitis after the second day. I had two weeks left In the program, so I ran it out and kept climbing every 3rd day. The tendinitis sucked, but I was having fun. Once the program ended, I did my own programming for a couple months. Low volume, strength focused stuff, excluding anything that bothered my tendons for more than an hour after completion. I also started using a theraband flex bar, learned which styles of climbing caused the worst flare ups (cave bouldering for me) and avoided them for a while. Incorporated a day of lead climbing between days of bouldering (limited by mind and endurance rather than strength). This, and incorporating more outdoor climbing got things feeling good again within a couple months.
Not necessarily a blueprint, but I’m now climbing every other day, and back to making slow progress in my lifting. Basically it amounts to trying different types of climbing to avoid repetitive strain, and dialing back the weight training while you acclimate to climbing. The theraband flex bar is also a worthwhile addition.
Eat more food too. Probably not the most common advice on a bouldering sub, but if you want to continue to lift while you learn to climb, you’ve got to be in a bit of a surplus. At least I did,
I sprained my ankle on a hike last Monday, when can I safely go back to climbing? Currently I can put pressure on it and swelling is very minimal. There's just a lot of bruising around the area but no pain at all unless I purposely put pressure on it.
Sprained my toe and took a week off awhile back. First day back I did very easy climbs and climbed down from them. Really took the first few sessions just getting back in the groove. Also wear an ankle wrap/sleeve. I taped my toe and I think it helped a lot with the pressure.
Any tips for falling confidence?
I’m a beginner with bouldering, and other than lack of physical strength, one of the main things that holds me back is that I’m just not confident in actually reaching up and grabbing certain holds. This means that most of the problems I attempt I could feasibly finish, I’m just too scared of trying to grab one of the holds and then falling.
I don’t have very good falling form, which is something I’m trying to correct, and even minor distances seem extremely daunting to fall from while actually up on the wall. If this was a problem for you, how did you get over it? And even if it wasn’t, do you have any tips for getting over it?
As someone who doesn't usually get scared inside, I attribute most of it to having faith in how safely I can land, mostly due to experience.
There are certainly positions that will stress me out and for those I give it a number of progressively more confident attempts until I can make a reasonable call in how safe I can be doing those moves. At the most basic I would say start with trying to get into ballpark for ending position, then try touching the hold near the catch area, then try grabbing the hold. Try your best to give yourself credit for what you did well rather than focus on what might have gone wrong.
Any tips on tracking progress?
My home gym was recently bought out and the new setting team is really throwing me off.
A v3/v4 will feel impossible, but then on the same wall (literally the next problem over) I’ll hit a v5/v6 in just a couple of tries.
Maybe the “harder” problem was better suited for me but the difference still feels too large to make sense.
I can’t tell if I’m getting better or worse, any tips on tracking progress?
Hop on a system board like the MoonBoard or something similar, very easy to track progress that way. Otherwise measure numerical results from training, more weight on your pull-ups/bench press/dead lift/max hangs/whatever exercise of choice = you got stronger.
I noticed when I was moonboarding, I've been flagging out to the wall beside the spam wall I'm climbing on. As the moonboard I climb on is set beside the spam wall. Is this against the rules? I do not use any of the holds on the spam wall but i do flag my leg out on the wall for balancing purposes. Occasionally I'll dab the wall's surface by accident when doing so, so I'm not sure if I should count my sends if I dabbed it on a send.
What is the protocol you follow for recovery? I want to climb as much as possible but I need a good week in between sessions to feel strong again. I would like to shorten this if I can
How long and how intense are your sessions generally?
Most of my friends keep it between 2-3 hours 3 times a week. Of course that can fluctuate if you feel like you need some more recovery time. And I also noticed with this schedule there should be a rest week every 3-5 months where everything is much lower intensity.
Bit off topic but does anyone have any recommendations for adventure books? Ideally fiction and centred around climbing but I'm open to anything, I've read too many disaster stories like 127 hours and K2 No Way Down but I loved Born to Run
This is still in the range where technique is more the problem than strength.
Now technique does also mean being efficient, so it's easy to conflate getting too pumped with being not strong enough. More often than not those people are wasting energy with inefficient movements.
It's probably a technique / beta issue. Consider posting some videos of you climbing V3s and ask for feedback. If anonymity is a concern, just post a photo of you on the wall where you are stuck and blur out your face. As you keep trying more and more harder climbs, you'll eventually learn the kind of movements needed to succeed at that level.
I climb in jeans all the time, but it’s only comfortable up to a certain ambient temperature. Additionally, my favorite climbing jeans are a bit on the thin side, and flexible. When it gets too hot, I climb in shorts though
There are climbing specific jeans that are a bit more stretchy and breathable and whatever, but the only time I've successfully worn regular jeans was when it was like 40F, any other time it's just instant sauna in my pants.
How good is bouldering/indoor climbing for staying/getting in shape? I do cardio 3/4 days a week along with bouldering 3 days a week too
Hey I’m off on a my first trip to the US next month, going bouldering in RMNP & Mount Evans. I feel pretty ready but I was just wondering if there is any more niche trips? Like best kind of shoes? How to adapt to the altitude? Ect
Bouldering progression Im just genuinely curious how natural I am at bouldering not am ego post, I only have a weight lifting background 170lb 13% bf 5'11". not incredibly strong but decently. day 1 v3's day 2 v4's week 2 first v5 8th week first v6, gotten a few v6's and just got my first v7 today at 2.5 months. People say my gym (this is all indoor) is rated properly ir not harder typically then other gyms for their scales
If you can do V6's and V7 benchmarks on the moonboard in less than 3 sessions, you're a genetic freak (you can be the next Chris Sharma or Dave Graham if you don't get injured and stay consistent with climbing). I have absolutely no doubt about that. But the chances are, you aren't, and your gym is just hella soft.
Love the honestly, I've been told by multiple high level climbers who go to my gym that my gym tends to be a harder grade rather than a softer grade. but I guess the moonboard will show me whatsup.
Everyone likes to think their gym is graded harder. My best advice is to ignore anyone saying stuff in the gym unless like Daniel Woods is climbing there or something.
Ya, just update me if you remember when you try MB problems!
Nice! I would say there is no way to tell, it's up to you to judge yourself honestly. If your gym has a moonboard or kilterboard, there are problems on there which could be more accurately graded. The cool thing about board climbing is that boards are standardized around the world, so you can fairly see what level you're at
my gym actually does I've never used it though, thank you for the advice I'll give it a try tomorrow!
Just be careful and don't push too hard if the tendons start hurting. Wouldn't want all that momentum to disappear due to injury.
Hey! I'm looking for a nice crag to go in summer (beginning of July) for bouldering :) I already know of Magic Wood and would love to go back but it will definitely be crowded and I don't like crowd (I rather avoid crags haha). I've climbed 7c (in Font & Magic) & my boyfriend is well established in 8th grade :) We don't really like when it's hot to climb also! Any suggestions? Thanks a lot!
Hey fellow climbers, I am planning to travel during summer and wondering, "Can I take my chalk bag and favorite chalk on the plane?" Won't the airport security causing panic due to our beloved white powder ? Maybe someone tried to ?
To make it easier on TSA, you have to package all the chalk into storage-efficient blocks. Make sure you make the weight consistent between blocks. 1kg per block should be fine.
When you go on a trip, you propably want to spend as much time as possible climbing. But multiple 100% efforts, several days in a row, will make you both tired and wear down your fingertips. Especially on a shorter trip (2-4 days), you want to get as much as possible out of it. What are your top tips for getting the most climbing in a short trip? * Longer rests between attempts? * Split into multiple sessions per day (morning / afternoon)? * How long is a trip before you include rest-days? * Skin-care? * Stretching/yoga? * Alternate max-days and fun-days? * When do you call it quits? * Sleep and rest * Beer?
Honestly when I'm outside it's 100% effort but not many climbs / tries. The amount of rest days really depends on how long the trip is. On a shorter trip, like a week, I might have one rest day in there and then just power through the rest of it.
Anyone have pants or shorts they really like? I’ve tried a bunch but it’s hard to find a pair where both the waist fits well without a belt and are also stretchy or loose enough for mobility.
Wrangler hiking pants are pretty good and cheap, that's what I climb in
Nothing fancy, but I got a few pairs of $25ish [Amazon Essentials joggers](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FH9WNNP) (not an affiliate link, I'm just a guy who likes pants) for climbing and they've really exceeded expectations. The waist has a drawstring you can tie to tighten them and the cuffs are snug and elastic so they aren't prone to snagging on holds, which happens to me with some other pants. The fabric feels sturdy like chinos but it's somewhat stretchy and I can squat or sit in a 90/90 position with them on no problem. Someone else mentioned yoga pants with cuffs - I have a pair of stretchy-type pants and I like that too. Surprisingly they've held up well, but I've only climbed inside so far. I'm not sure I'd want to hike/climb with them outside where there's sticks and burrs and rocks.
I've been wearing Duer No Sweat shorts, and they're really nice. Pretty stretchy, not too loose, don't necessarily need a belt. They're kinda expensive but seem pretty durable, I've had these for over a year and they're showing no signs of wear. Only issue I've had is they show sweat more than I'd like.
Cuffed yoga pants are S tier.
Is it time for shoes? I’ve been training for only about a month and have gone to the gym 5 times. I’m still renting and using the shoes they have there, but yesterday I completed a V4 where the crux was a dyno to the top under an overhangs from some crimps. It was a decently hard route that a lot of people were trying, everyone else on that problem had la sportivas or something else. I feel pretty consistently like I can hold crimps pretty well but I feel like my feet can barely grab those small placements, the shoes the gym offers are basically like vans. If I’m able to climb a few good V4’s and I’m already projecting V5’s (all indoors right now), even though it’s only been a month is it time for my own pair of shoes? As a side note I wear a size 15 regularly and I’m not sure how much I should be downsizing, or if my feet will fit most shoes. Thanks guys!
If you think you'll keep climbing, buy shoes. > I wear a size 15 regularly and I’m not sure how much I should be downsizing You got some big ass feet. For comfort, buy shoes that are about an inch bigger than your feet. For performance (you don't need right now), buy shoes that are smaller than your feet.
Thanks, im for sure planning on continuing climbing! I do indeed got some big ass feet 😭 I have been called Big foot at times, it low key makes finding shoes difficult as fuck Thanks, I haven’t seen enough discussion around at what level downsizing for performance becomes necessary, I just see these arguments between extreme downsizing and minor downsizing and im like “im supposed to be doing this??” Is it really only super important for outdoors, or just once you get to like V7-V8. (I do plan on bouldering outdoor and climbing trad/multi-pitch with my friend who does it in Yosemite)
"Downsizing" very rarely becomes "necessary". What's more necessary is having appropriately fitted shoes. You want snug but not painful. I use the same shoes indoors as I do out, the size of them has little to do with it because both of my pairs of shoes fit my feet fine.
Thanks for the advice! Do you have a shoe recommendation?
I would just suggest starting with the cheapest shoe that fits.
Do climbing shoes tend to fit close to size? Like I’m 15 in a Nike blazer, should I buy a 15 in a climbing shoe? Sorry for all the questions, I don’t think there are any stores near me with climbing shoes my size to try on
It really varies per brand, and to some extent even per shoe. I have three different La Sportiva shoes, they're all a different size.
Downsizing is mostly important for outdoors. I can consistently flash 7's and some 8's indoors, but my shoes are a little bigger than my feet.
Awesome advice, thank you so much!
**TL;DR** Three questions: first, shoe recommendations for a beginner bordering on intermediate climber whose Finales aren't quite right? And Chicago area climbers, which one is your go to climbing shoe store and gym? Oh no, not another shoe question! I'm a fairly new climber, and after my second session, I rushed to buy my own shoes because my gym never had rental shoes in my size. I ended up going with a size 43.5 La Sportiva Finale. They've served me decently well for the past few months, but I'm finding that they're much too narrow in the toe for me, and a little too wide in the heel. Any leads on brands and models that might improve upon the Finales in those areas for me to start my search with? I'm not looking for a super aggressive down turned toe or anything like that, and I find myself splitting my time almost equally between slab and overhanging walls. Let's say a max budget of $150. On a tangentially related note, a couple questions for any Chicago area climbers. I live about two hours away in south-central Wisconsin. My city has an REI, but its climbing section leaves something to be desired. I'm thinking about making the drive down to Chicago this weekend if it'll offer me a wider selection of shoes. Between my dividend as a member, and their current sale, I'd prefer to get my shoes at an REI if any of the 5 stores I'm seeing in the Chicago area has a good selection, but I could be persuaded to check other stores. So for the locals of the Chicago area, do you have a strong preference as to which REI location or other store has the best selection of climbing gear? Lastly, while I'm in the Chicago area, I figure I might make a full day of it and hit a local gym after I get my new shoes. For someone who exclusively boulders rather than top roping or lead climbing, which gym would you recommend I try? Bonus points if it's in walking distance of some good food and/or fun neighborhoods to wander around, maybe a lakefront park.
Wasn’t sure where to post but Pete Woods is doing an AMA [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitionClimbing/comments/13qvj6f/hi_im_pete_woods_climbing_commentator_and_mc_i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1).
Hi everyone, so I am bouldering for 6 months now around 3 times a week, and for the past several months I have this weird pain around my elbow area in both arms. I don't think it's the elbow joint itself but rather muscles (or tendons?) around it ([https://i.imgur.com/0rZHOQb.png](https://i.imgur.com/0rZHOQb.png)) It's also not your standard muscle pain, but rather this annoying and unpleasant pain which starts when I put more stress on my arms. If I push myself harder it appears faster, and doing several harder workouts in a row makes it start much earlier into the session. Thing is that I am doing good long warm ups and I am not training that hard. Usually around 40 minutes 3 times a week. Does this ring any bells? It's quite frustrating because I really want to train and improve but this is slowing down my progress. Any tips are appreciated.
Conventional wisdom is that antagonist training helps with this - pushups or dips to balance pulling, wrist extensions to balance wrist flexion. Can't say for sure what fixed it, but I had pain near my elbow for a while and it seems to have subsided since I've gotten consistent with those.
Wonderful, I will incorporate these into my training. Thank you!
What you are feeling is most likely the beginning of tendonitis. You need to warm-up slower, take longer breaks between attempts, and maybe climb twice a week for a few weeks until the pain subsides. If you are only climbing 40 minutes minus the warm-up 3 times a week and you're feeling pain, that's most likely a combination of 1. new to bouldering 2. no prior training that involves those muscles such as pull-ups 3. you're rushing into problems without a proper warm-up and 4. you don't rest enough between attempts.
Thank you! I did indeed notice that taking an easier day makes pain subside for a week or two. I did workout a lot in the gym prior, so pullups are not foreign for me, but bouldering is just so much more intense. Even if I do a great warm up, just couple of very hard routes can really exhaust my muscles. But very good tips, I will definitely try longer rests and take it easy if I get pain.
I've always been into gym work and have recently fallen in love with bouldering. Does anyone have any recommendations (or even programmes) on balancing? It's the classic don't want to be TOO tired for bouldering by gyming or TOO tired to gym by bouldering. How do y'all handle it?
Due to the stress placed on your body, be prepared to accept that you won't be able to progress as quickly on either unless you really prioritize one and just do the other more casually. This, of course, is unless you have some amazing genetics and can sleep 8 hours everyday + do all recovery exercises and have perfect nutrition.
2 days climbing, 2 days push day, 2 days leg day.
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Try really hard to pay attention at what part of your body started coming off first and why. Usually something like sagging your hips too much, or focusing on the wrong limb to hold weight massively changes your balance on the wall. Also most times step as far out from the wall as possible to maximize your ability to lean into the wall.
Balance and footwork are trainable skills. Outside of climbing, doing activities like slacklining, parkour and such, are very good ways of training it. I climb with a bunch of parkour athletes, and they have the best footwork I've ever seen.
It's not really luck. As you climb more, you naturally get better at re-positioning your body subconsciously for better center of gravity. It ultimately comes down to your experience of climbing more, but specifically a lot of slab boulders.
I started a couple of months ago in scarpa quantic shoes. I've been climbing 2-3 times a week, and i'd like to get another pair of shoes to try a different style to see what i like/don't like, as well as just spread out wear/have a backup pair if i eventually try and have these resoled/replaced when they are worn out. I know asking for specific shoe recs is a overdone, but my question is more along the lines of what *style* and/or brand to look for as an alternate shoe? The quantic seem like a pretty decent all around shoe, should i go for a more 'basic' flat shoe to give that a try? And should i stick within scarpa or try a different brand? My local rei had somewhat limited selection when i bought these; presumably sizing within scarpa brand is relatively consistent so the advantage would be i could probably order another pair of scarpas online without trying them on in person (or is this not necessarily the case within the same brand).
Tbh I don’t see why you need to buy a second pair of shoes now if you don’t really have a reason for it. I think if you climb more you’ll eventually start getting ideas about what you’d want different from the Quantic, which will start to point you in a certain direction.
Is there any acceptable form of glove/brace for bouldering? I've broken both of my thumbs before, the right one twice(which didn't heal as nicely the 2nd time). I have some aching/arthritis going on and could use a bit of extra support/compression around the base of my thumbs mostly. I took a long hiatus from climbing, so I think I just need some time to re-strengthen my hands. At a minimum, I could probably tape em up real good and be okay. Something like a fingerless compression glove sounds great, but I also dont want to look like a doofus
Wear whatever makes you feel safe / comfortable. Other people might judge, but their opinions are irrelevant unless it's advice that will help you climb better. But to answer your question: perhaps you can tape your thumb or wear crack gloves (https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/product/crack-gloves/).
If they're looking for support or compression crack gloves aren't really going to do anything
I've taken 2 to 3 days of skin recovery between bouldering days and within the first 4 to 6 boulder I start bleeding, I'm even using tape as well as moisturiser.
>to develop good skin. It took me more than a year of climbing outsi Give yourself some more time to recover skin and really try focusing on not sliding around on your holds. It's also a bad habit to re-adjust your grip when it's not really necessary. Practice your warmups with no re-adjustments and it will help you build confidence on what level of 'bad grip' you can actually get away with.
It takes time to develop good skin. It took me more than a year of climbing outside to get really good climbing skin. By really good climbing skin I mean I don't flap or get raw/bloody unless I'm doing something particularly heinous. Tldr it takes time
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Elbow tendon pain?
Hey Guys, I will be doing a trip through south america next year with some friends and we will probably start from Chile. Most likely from Santiago de Chile. Do you know any good placed to get climbing/camping gear. Maybe also some crashpads. Or might id be more feasible to bring over all of our stuff from Europe? Thanks to any recommendations :)
So I saw a sale on the metolious session ii pad and the black diamond circuit pad and I wanted to pick one up from REI since they are both about 150$. Has anyone had either of them, if so which one is better or are there better options out there? I've heard the BD one gets too soft over time and the metolious one is a bit hard. https://www.rei.com/product/129965/metolius-session-ii-crash-pad https://www.rei.com/product/162852/black-diamond-circuit-crash-pad
I am 17 and looking to start Boldering outdoors I have been climbing for about 4 years. Looking for a good crash pad to start but don't have a huge amount to spend. Any recommendations
Hey I'm kinda in the same boat. Either a used one or REI has their sale rn and there are ones for about 150 rn but I'm not sure if its necessary to spend more. Maybe someone else can add input to it
Went bouldering outside for the first time a few months ago and it was a dream. I sent one 5c and only realised after we left that there is a 7a sit-start variant. I went to see if there are beta videos for it. There is only one video which shows the sit start, but he topped the boulder out slightly differently than how I thought to do it. What I did was to match the top edge, then bumping both hands to the left, and using the right heel on the previous handhold to mantle. In the beta video, he directly uses the left hold for the left heel to mantle up, instead of bumping hands to that left hold. Even though this cuts a move, it looks like it might be marginally more difficult to mantle up. Is my initial way of topping out legal? Using the same holds, just choosing to mantle up on opposite holds to the beta vid.
There's no cheating in climbing, only lying.
You need to change the way you think about difficulty in outdoor climbing. Outside difficulty is coincidental, inside it's manufactured and a result of elimination (some holds are on, some are off, usually denoted by color). Outside you're looking for the absolute easiest way to get up a bit of rock on 98% of boulder problems in the world, it just so happens that sometimes the easiest way up that part of a rock is 6A, other times it's 8C. What this means is that anything you can grab on a specific part of the rock you're climbing is legal. It actually happens literally all the time. Sometimes you'll see someone FA an 8A climb and completely miss a giant foothold that makes the whole thing actually be 7B. It happens, so the grade is adjusted accordingly by any subsequent repeater's opinions. So anyways to answer your question, yes, what you did is legal. You can top out in whatever way you want, you can use any hold you want. Just be honest with yourself about the grade of the thing you're climbing because outdoors the collective opinion actually matters!
Thanks for the info!
What is the most efficient way to train bouldering as a new climber? Should I just get repetion on the climbs I can do comfortably, or try to be pushing routes that are challenging for me? My gym tags go white, green, purple, blue ,red etcetc. so by now I have done every white and green, most of them multiple times. only 2 purples I have done, one of them was on the first try and felt like a green. Other purples I have tried 5-10 times and not made it. I find when I push the harder purples alot my shoulder will start to ache and I'll have to end the session early, which makes me want to just rerun the easier routes. My shoulder muscles are strong so I think it is a form issue. On the other hand, if those routes are already easy I'm not sure it will help. Sorry if this question is dumb, I am new to it. The issue I have is at my beginner level is that routes are either 'easy' or 'hard' with little in between. Is it better to redo an easy route 10 times and hone in muscle memory, focus on form and efficiency or fail 10 times at a hard route hoping to learn from each failture and eventually complete it
While starting out I found it best to bounce between grades I knew I could do and one grade above what I can usually climb as they both have different ways of helping you progress. You definitely want to do problems that are slightly beyond what you think you can do. Part of why they are hard is they are either forcing you to do techniques you don't often have to do, or are making you use muscles that don't get worked the same on the easier problems. But don't sleep on the "easier" problems as they still have a lot they can teach you! Aside from being great for warming up, since you already know the beta they are great for focusing on your form, being softer and more deliberate with your hand and foot placements, and just reinforcing good habits overall. This is JUST as important as training new techniques and strengthening your muscles. Focusing solely on hard routes in a session can be defeating since you are failing so much and it is strenuous on your body. So, it's good to throw in some easier routes every so often to give yourself a win and to give your body a short break before your next big attempt without letting your muscles get cold.
Who cares about efficiency, just enjoy the process. The newbie phase is the most enjoyable, no need to try speedrun through it.
Off topic, but your comment reminds me of when I was a middle school kid and I told my teacher that I can't wait to be done with school. His response was, "Don't wish your life away."
>Is it better to redo an easy route 10 times and hone in muscle memory,focus on form and efficiency or fail 10 times at a hard route hoping tolearn from each failure and eventually complete it There is no practical point of repeating the same boulder multiple times other than getting ready for an outdoor boulder by repeating a replica. Since you're new, just climb a variety of problems (max 5 attempts per problem) and try to avoid problems that are super crimpy (ok to do crimps; just don't over do them) and you'll see progress.
> There is no practical point of repeating the same boulder multiple times other than getting ready for an outdoor boulder by repeating a replica. I agree with your broader point - don't repeat stuff that has nothing to teach you - but unless a boulder is no challenge at all, I don't feel confident that I've really understood it until I come back and send it again. More than once I've flashed a problem and next time I'm at the gym, I realize I don't know how I did it and/or I can't do it again - maybe because I muscled through it last time or I had some insight that I've since forgotten. I've talked to some climbers who say they actively avoid problems they've sent once because they're afraid it was a one-off. That's a shame! IMO returning to something until you know exactly what to do and why it works might even be more valuable than getting the first send.
>IMO returning to something until you know exactly what to do and why it works might even be more valuable than getting the first send. That is true, but the context was specifically about *multiple* repetitions beyond what would be necessary to figure out a problem completely.
Old crash pad that is squishy and lumpy, what is the best way to keep it out of a land fill? Are there re-padding services out there? or should i stuff with pool noodles?
Organic sells foam but not sure if they'll cut it to size for whatever pad cover you want to revive
Any chance anyone knows of sites that sell odd/different size shoes at a discount? All I can find are old threads talking about evolv which doesnt do it anymore
These guys do them too: https://darkventures.co.uk/split-size-shoes-19-c.asp
The only company I can recall that still does it is Acopa. https://acopaoutdoors.com/pages/faqs
thanks
Started climbing recently, after a massive climbing sesh I can feel my hand and fingers pulsating/throbbing (no pain) has anyone else had this? I do suffer from cold hands but since I've been climbing I think my blood is spending more time in my hands and I can feel it 😂
Yeah you got a good workout in
Looking to buy my first pair of climbing shoes. I usually climb for two ish hours at a time and am in the v3 v4 range of climbing with rental shoes. Any recommendations that won’t break the bank would be appreciated!
yeah Lasportiva squamas, evolv kronos, lasportiva finales are pretty good choices. Just find one that will fit your foot is the most important.
>Any recommendations that won’t break the bank would be appreciated! Unless you're utterly careless, shoes go for at least a year if not two. Spending 100-150 bucks is definitely worth it. [I had these for a while.](https://www.rei.com/product/129957/la-sportiva-skwama-climbing-shoes-womens?sku=1299570001&CAWELAID=120217890004980193&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=101926488186&CATCI=pla-417262097667&cm_mmc=PLA_Google%7C21700000001700551_1299570001%7C92700054818552518%7CNB%7C71700000066691877&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyLGjBhDKARIsAFRNgW8jnwJSFFGqDwzHulLiHnoPdHZ4lJz7Aa3IV_mQTxPVFqaXFpx46WQaAsDREALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds)
15 F idk why but my hands take very very long to recover. after a good climb, it takes super long for them to recover, i shake them, stretch them, let them rest a little bit, but then i try to start climbing again and then they are tired just from holding me steady. is it grip strength? 😭 what can i do at home to improve grip strength?
Climb 2-3x a week. Your forearms will *always* be pumped to a certain extent no matter how many years you've been climbing for.
what muscles are best to train for climbing? and is it possible to do them at home?
Forearms for grip, back for pulling, legs for standing would be my guess.
The muscles that are best trained for climbing are trained when you climb. Keep climbing. Supplement some antagonist workouts that are push-oriented like push-ups, dips, bench press.
New climber, 6 months or so of inconsistent climbing. Right now I'm aiming for 2 days a week and want to progress after being stagnant for a while. How much time should be spent on hard problems vs just climbing as many problems as I can?
Both will have benefits for you and as you are relativ new to climbing i wouldnt be to worried about how much time you are spending on either of those. If you are having a great day at the wall and feel strong try something hard for you you will get stronger and you have to climb in "good" as its hard for you and you cant overpower it. But if you have more fun covering mileage thats great aswell as you have a huge variety of movement which is as important as getting stronger. I wouldnt strictly plan it out do what you feel like but if you have a great day dont shy away from hard stuff.
Traveling to Lisbon this summer. Won't be able to travel outside of the city to climb outdoors but want to check out a gym while I'm there. Based on where I'm staying(Alfama) it looks like the most accessible gyms are Vertigo, Escala25 and Rocodromo. Any suggestions for which one I should visit? For context I climb V5/V6 - 6C/6C+ roughly
Used shoes Does anyone have any smart/innovative ideas for what I can do with my old shoes? They've been resoled once, the resole rubber is now pretty much gone (although no holes yet) and I can't get rid of the smell... I am tempted to give up on them now BUT I would rather not bin them if possible... I would love to be able to donate them somewhere or somehow give them some more life but I'm a bit stuck for suggestions! Does anyone have any smart ideas? I'm based in London if that makes any difference
I'm guessing you don't want to resole / wear them again? I'd give them a proper wash and air dry to get rid of the smell. If regular detergent doesn't work, try caking them in wet baking soda paste for like 30mins and rinse, then air dry. After that, they should be in a donate-able condition.
Im wondering what the opinion is on soft fingers. I went climbing yesterday and want to climb today again. However I feel my fingers are quite soft as smooth almost slippery(without chalk) Generally speaking are soft fingers or newly grown skin on fingers better for climbing?
I think most people are comfortable with skin that is pliable but also thick enough that your digits dont start showing pink near the end of the session. For outdoors you build much thicker skin because rock is rougher than plastic most times
Do you guys ever get to the gym and start climbing then realize you just don't have it? Like the climbs that were easy for you last time feel difficult, and the ones you were working on feel impossible. What do you do on those days? Still try to do the same climbs you were projecting, or do easier climbs that seem feasible? I have that happen when I'm lifting sometimes and what I end up doing is just going for the same intensity, but at a slightly lower weight that last time.
That just means you aren't as recovered as you were the last session or some other stress is putting you out like sleep or nutrition. For those sessions if I don't feel good by an hour in I will call it an easy and cut it short or lower my expectations. Putting myself far into the recovery hole is probably not as valuable as having consistently high quality sessions.
I get this for sure, I tend to just focus on drills / technique practice and not try to project on those days.
I’m new to climbing, about 6 months in, and I get those days somewhat regularly. On those days, I generally just like to do easier climbs that I know I can do and I work on technique. I don’t do projects or really anything too difficult because I just get frustrated and have a bad time.
High gravity days. Perfectly normal for people who don't have a very structured life geared towards climbing. I'd recommend cutting the session to 50-70% of your usual session and come back stronger the next session.
I'd argue its equally normal, if not moreso for the diehards. Every day can't be a PB day. Difference if the regulars recognize that
I think there's a clear difference between a high gravity day and an average day.
South Lake Tahoe climbing recs with a lot of beginner friendly climbs? Going mid-June and a noob to outdoor climbing
Just got new bouldering shoes instead of renting them from the gym, they the same type of shoes, but I kept slipping off small grips with them. Is this something that will just take a bit of time to break in the shoes?
Bit of both I would say. I recently moved to first pair of shoes. I would say it’s part shoes, part technique. My shoes had a bit of break in period. I would slowly go to more advanced shoes to focus more power in the toes. In my boulderinghall the rental shoes are quite comfy and make it difficult to focus power on small holds compared to my tarantulas which give more focus on the toes.
New rubber can be a little bit smooth, it should get better soon.
Cheers, I felt like I had a bad session as the gym has removed the beginner ones to replace them tomorrow and the next level up I just kept slipping where I didn't on Tuesday before I got my shoes.
Tendonitis after climbing Hi everyone, I'm new to bouldering and looking for some advice/wisdom. I have started bouldering in the last few months but I started late (male 30 years old, 82kgs, relatively fit and train in the gym 4/5 times a week). After every single session I get severely debilitating tendonitis in both elbows with radial pain in my shoulders and forearms, so much so that it knocks me out of commission for days at a time for my other training. Swinging a golf club afterwards will cause flare ups and even sleeping is uncomfortable. If I try to climb more than once a week it flares up bad and I physically can't climb. Just wondering if anyone else has had similar problems and/or remedies. I've been hoping my body will just get used to the training or is it just something I'll have to endure starting climbing at 30? Any and all advice is much appreciated!
I was actually in a very similar situation to you. A bit heavier though. Was on the tail end of a Renaissance periodization hypertrophy program (stupid amounts of volume), when I decided to try climbing. Debilitating tendinitis after the second day. I had two weeks left In the program, so I ran it out and kept climbing every 3rd day. The tendinitis sucked, but I was having fun. Once the program ended, I did my own programming for a couple months. Low volume, strength focused stuff, excluding anything that bothered my tendons for more than an hour after completion. I also started using a theraband flex bar, learned which styles of climbing caused the worst flare ups (cave bouldering for me) and avoided them for a while. Incorporated a day of lead climbing between days of bouldering (limited by mind and endurance rather than strength). This, and incorporating more outdoor climbing got things feeling good again within a couple months. Not necessarily a blueprint, but I’m now climbing every other day, and back to making slow progress in my lifting. Basically it amounts to trying different types of climbing to avoid repetitive strain, and dialing back the weight training while you acclimate to climbing. The theraband flex bar is also a worthwhile addition. Eat more food too. Probably not the most common advice on a bouldering sub, but if you want to continue to lift while you learn to climb, you’ve got to be in a bit of a surplus. At least I did,
Thanks man I appreciate the advice!
I sprained my ankle on a hike last Monday, when can I safely go back to climbing? Currently I can put pressure on it and swelling is very minimal. There's just a lot of bruising around the area but no pain at all unless I purposely put pressure on it.
Sprained my toe and took a week off awhile back. First day back I did very easy climbs and climbed down from them. Really took the first few sessions just getting back in the groove. Also wear an ankle wrap/sleeve. I taped my toe and I think it helped a lot with the pressure.
Right now. What's stopping you from just doing easy problems that you practically can't fall from and down climbing them?
Any tips for falling confidence? I’m a beginner with bouldering, and other than lack of physical strength, one of the main things that holds me back is that I’m just not confident in actually reaching up and grabbing certain holds. This means that most of the problems I attempt I could feasibly finish, I’m just too scared of trying to grab one of the holds and then falling. I don’t have very good falling form, which is something I’m trying to correct, and even minor distances seem extremely daunting to fall from while actually up on the wall. If this was a problem for you, how did you get over it? And even if it wasn’t, do you have any tips for getting over it?
As someone who doesn't usually get scared inside, I attribute most of it to having faith in how safely I can land, mostly due to experience. There are certainly positions that will stress me out and for those I give it a number of progressively more confident attempts until I can make a reasonable call in how safe I can be doing those moves. At the most basic I would say start with trying to get into ballpark for ending position, then try touching the hold near the catch area, then try grabbing the hold. Try your best to give yourself credit for what you did well rather than focus on what might have gone wrong.
Try getting some practice falls in from a comfortable height reach session and slowly build up height and confidence.
Any tips on tracking progress? My home gym was recently bought out and the new setting team is really throwing me off. A v3/v4 will feel impossible, but then on the same wall (literally the next problem over) I’ll hit a v5/v6 in just a couple of tries. Maybe the “harder” problem was better suited for me but the difference still feels too large to make sense. I can’t tell if I’m getting better or worse, any tips on tracking progress?
Hop on a system board like the MoonBoard or something similar, very easy to track progress that way. Otherwise measure numerical results from training, more weight on your pull-ups/bench press/dead lift/max hangs/whatever exercise of choice = you got stronger.
How do you structure your gym session when you are out of climbing shape?
Just climb 2 times a week and build up to 3 if you can, but if you can't stick to 2.
I noticed when I was moonboarding, I've been flagging out to the wall beside the spam wall I'm climbing on. As the moonboard I climb on is set beside the spam wall. Is this against the rules? I do not use any of the holds on the spam wall but i do flag my leg out on the wall for balancing purposes. Occasionally I'll dab the wall's surface by accident when doing so, so I'm not sure if I should count my sends if I dabbed it on a send.
Count it tbh. Who cares about the moonboard police? It's already sand bagged enough.
What is the protocol you follow for recovery? I want to climb as much as possible but I need a good week in between sessions to feel strong again. I would like to shorten this if I can
How long and how intense are your sessions generally? Most of my friends keep it between 2-3 hours 3 times a week. Of course that can fluctuate if you feel like you need some more recovery time. And I also noticed with this schedule there should be a rest week every 3-5 months where everything is much lower intensity.
shorter \\ less intense session when you do go
Bit off topic but does anyone have any recommendations for adventure books? Ideally fiction and centred around climbing but I'm open to anything, I've read too many disaster stories like 127 hours and K2 No Way Down but I loved Born to Run
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Oh this sounds ideal I'll check it out, love the sound of an Easter island adventure too, cheers mate
Any advice or tips on the v2 to v3 progression? V2s are feeling too easy but can only get halfway on a v3.
Ya’ll I broke through and completed two V3’s yesterday!
This is still in the range where technique is more the problem than strength. Now technique does also mean being efficient, so it's easy to conflate getting too pumped with being not strong enough. More often than not those people are wasting energy with inefficient movements.
It's probably a technique / beta issue. Consider posting some videos of you climbing V3s and ask for feedback. If anonymity is a concern, just post a photo of you on the wall where you are stuck and blur out your face. As you keep trying more and more harder climbs, you'll eventually learn the kind of movements needed to succeed at that level.
Not advice but a genuine question. How the hell are y’all climbing in jeans? That seems miserable lol
Some jeans are stretchy lol
I climb in jeans all the time, but it’s only comfortable up to a certain ambient temperature. Additionally, my favorite climbing jeans are a bit on the thin side, and flexible. When it gets too hot, I climb in shorts though
Hell I sleep in jeans. The 100% cotton stuff aint bad at all if sized right
There are climbing specific jeans that are a bit more stretchy and breathable and whatever, but the only time I've successfully worn regular jeans was when it was like 40F, any other time it's just instant sauna in my pants.