So I've been going bouldering on and off for a few months and I've noticed that I really struggle with the final moves of anything above a V1. I keep freaking myself out because I'm scared that I'll fall so just give up and climb down.

Any tips for getting over this?

I have chalk that doesn't seem to do much that came with my second hand bag. So i want to replace it. And the sock that came with it has a hole in it so its done for. So Ive watched loads of reviews and most say that Rungne does the best chalk + sock by a long way and its a noticeable difference. And as much as id love to get it and the price seems fair , I live in the UK and shipping is more than the product itself $25! Im a broke uni student so I can afford that I understand Rungne isn't amazon and its a realistic price but Im wondering if there's any British distributers of Rungne or something from your experience that tees up to the same level of quality

Hello! I am very new to climbing (started about 2 months ago) but I am loving it immensely so far. I 100% prefer bouldering, in part because I have a pretty intense fear of heights and appreciate that boulder routes don’t go as high. I also just favor the type of movement that is required for bouldering in comparison to what I have experienced on the belay wall. That being said, I’ve noticed at climbing gyms that offer both types of climbing, the belay walls offer good experience with different types of holds that seemingly would benefit my skill progression in bouldering. I also assume that since rope routes are higher, getting accustomed to finishing routes on belay walls would increase my endurance and help desensitize me to that hear of heights. But It seems that regularly bouldering in itself is helping with the fear aspect of it as I get more confident with my climbing and take accidental falls somewhat frequently. So my question is, are my hypotheses true regarding the benefits of doing rope climbing or is that not necessary and if I want to get better at bouldering I should just boulder more often?

Decided I could benefit from some at home hangboard time since my actual time in the gym isn’t as consistent as I’d like. I’m trying to find a good board that i can slip over my doorframe similar to those at home pull up bars (so no screws into the wall) but i’m very nervous over hurting the molding or the wall above the frame. Anyone have a good recommendation?

I’ve been climbing for around a year, and the other day my grandma brought up how wrinkly my hands look for a 23 year old lol. And now that I look at them, they do indeed look really wrinkly. I put on high quality handcream at night and I use res q ointment at night right before I sleep. Any other tips?

The climbing community is incredible. I signed up for a membership at my local gym and the singular employee in the entire building spent an hour giving me equipment advice and education on how to begin climbing within different disciplines and skill levels. This wasn’t a function of the climbing gym either, but just a climber excited to share their experience. Hell, he even admitted that there was better places to buy shoes and sent me off on my own journey instead of taking my cash and commission.

Once I decided on a comfy but tight pair of shoes, I tried out the bouldering walls that were available to me. The only other people in the gym were a small group that almost instantly invited me to their climbing session, and started encouraging me through my beginner routes. We quickly became friendly and I couldn’t help but to join them and cheer for the group as they attempted different grades. By the end of my day my skin was peeling, my mouth was smiling, and my wardrobe had become blessed by white handprints. Until this point in my fitness journey, I had been all for “functional” strength and powerlifting in the gym. Climbing has shown me a new kind of fitness goal, where you can be incredibly strong, mindful, delicate, but also exhilarated, intense, and committed. There’s a beautiful balance between giving the send everything you have, and then sitting on a crashpad for 20 minutes discussing routing, you favorite food, and poor relationship decisions. I am absolutely hooked, and cannot wait to wiggle my fingers around in a stranger’s chalk bag again.

Me and a couple buddies were discussing if you can "climb" to your starting hold, or do you HAVE to do the dyno to get to the starting hold if you cant reach it from the ground?

I've tried to draw it. The hold the man is holding is a biiig sloper, but the problem is by getting there you have to get some momentum from the drawn volume below. The volume however is well worn out, so its quite slippery and doesnt have the same "grip" it used to.

Are you allowed to use the green holds for example to climb up to the starting hold, having both hands on sloper and both feet on volume and start from there?

https://gyazo.com/726e8cc000f7e015d4f20ed609b0c358 (Very clean drawing of the problem)

Hi fellow climbers!

So I broke my right ankle/ fibula and tibia 2 months ago climbing an indoor v5. I just got of the cast, and I’m currently in a boot but I still can’t climb for another 2 months since my doctor doesn’t want me to do any high impact activities since he fears that the metal screw that’s in my fibula/tibia might snap before he can surgically remove it. However, the metal plate and two screws on the medial side of my ankle will be permanent.

This is my first serious injury and don’t know how to get back into climbing. I’m going to stay in the boot when I get back into climbing, and slowly strengthen my ankle until I feel super comfortable again. But I think my biggest fear is agitating the metal plate/screws and falling.

I’m short at 5’5 and the betas at my primary gym are usually on the dynamic side and are set for taller climbers with longer wingspans, so my climbing style usually has to beta break and is a little more dangerous.

Any advice is greatly appreciated! I’ve been craving the problems again and I’m close yet so far from climbing.

Hey climbers!

I have a question about your use of something like a climbing logbook or a journal. What are you currently using? If you are using anything..

I'm asking because i'm developing a climbing logbook myself and I'd love your input!

See, some climbers keep track of their climbs and adventures. I think most people are using apps like TopLogger for indoor climbing and similar apps for outdoor climbing but I noticed there are not a lot of fun products out there for it.

So, I decided to design a functional climbing logbook that's also a cool addition to your gear.

I started with creating a first version in Dutch, but after talking to friends and local climbers we decided to translate the logbook to English. I also just launched a Kickstarter campaign to try to realize our idea.

Because I'm still in the process of translation, I also still have to opportunity to add more sections. The logbook already has pages where you can mark the details of your climb, it has a grade conversion table, a page where you can write down your own climbing bucketlist, keep track of the equipment you own and for how long you had it, a climbing glossy, pages for notes and doodles, tips for climbing trips in Europe, and a special section where you can let your friends write down their best adventure and climbing tips for you to cherish as memories. What are other features that would make you want to buy a climbing logbook? Or if you already are using one; any must-have sections I shouldn't miss?

Thanks for any suggestions you can share!

Hi all, I started climbing about two months ago. Sometimes during climbing and definitely after, when I go for routes that are heavy on swinging or big movements with an individual arm (especially if it has to rotate), that shoulder will start to hurt and the pain radiates down to my elbow, especially if I continue to attempt that climb. It's a static pain that will have my arm shaking if I don't stop attempting the climb causing it. I'm not sure if its my tendons/ligaments catching up to my muscles' strengths(Ive been lifting for a while) but sometimes it doesn't feel like normal soreness. I've been doing a lot of dead hangs and rotator cuff exercises but it still hasn't really healed it. Mostly on my left shoulder but my right a bit too. Been looking into hangboard training but I'm not sure. Very keen on finding a solution to this because I dont wanna quit as frankly I fell in love with bouldering. If anyone has any experience/advice on this please let me know and ty! Dont know if it matters but im at v4-5 level

Edit: thx for advice guys I will def see if my insurance covers some kind of pt or similar Definitely will also try to climb more statically as I would definitely consider myself to be way more explosive than static

I was climbing at my local gym the other day, where it gets pretty busy on the weeknights. there was a group of like 6-7x guys crowded around and spamming a problem, and also all laying around underneath an overhanging section of the wall. they were blocking others from going in this space they were taking up so I asked them to scoot back since they were blocking the wall and too close. they responded by saying I was a douchebag for not "telling them nicely" - I told them it's just basic etiquette but bit my tongue after this exchange to not escalate things

posting to hear thoughts on how others would handle this and/or thoughts on etiquette in general

also, kinda hoping they somehow see this post and realize they're all the actual idiots/dbags lmao

I've noticed newer climbers tend to have trouble figuring out how to train besides "just climbing more", so I've created this guide of sorts to hopefully help a few people. This is meant for newcomers/relative beginners to bouldering and will outline what you should focus on, the frequency, and intensity depending on your personal needs. This was done for an academic project, and all of the sources I've pulled info from is linked at the end of the post.

Regarding Technique - This guide is meant for training the physical aspects of your body only, as training technique is a whole other topic of its own. If you want to work on your technique, I'd recommend looking at pro climbers on Youtube or getting advice from more experienced climbers. As a general rule, if your physical abilities are on par with climbers at a certain V-grade, but you have trouble bouldering at that level, you probably need to start working on your technique.

Disclaimer: Not everything in this guide is certain to apply to you. Exceptions do exist, and you know your body best. Use this post as a general guide rather than a rulebook. With that said, let's get started.

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The Categories   These are the main areas that climbers would target. Before you decide which ones you're going to focus on, first consider how committed you are to progressing. If you're a climber who's determined to climb at a top level, you may want to set aside more time so you can focus on everything at once. However, if you're more of a casual climber, it might do you more harm than good to try to do everything. I'd recommend choosing one thing for every one to two days out of the week you go to the bouldering gym.

• Relative Strength

Decent relative-strength is pretty much non-negotiable if you're looking to be a good climber. It doesn't matter how good your other traits are if you can't pull yourself up. Thankfully, relative strength, especially for the upper body, is rather easy to train. Besides that, for the beginner levels, the strength requirements actually aren't that high. Both data on climbers and experienced professionals have expressed that for the first 3-4 grades (up to V3), a climber can get away with not even being able to do a single pull-up. If you're looking to go beyond that level, however, you're going to need to start prioritizing strength. A common rule of thumb climbers say is to add one pull-up for every V-grade you go up - which may not be entirely accurate, but still good to keep in mind.

To give you a basic idea how you might decided

Obviously there’s way more to it than that, but hopefully this gives you a basic idea of how to decide what needs to be prioritized. Keep in mind that when we’re talking about relative strength in climbing, there’s way more to it than just pull-ups. Push strength, while less important than pull, is still essential, as well as core muscles and legs. Climbing is a full-body exercise, so be mindful of what parts of your body you’re exerting the most when you climb, and if anything is falling behind, make sure to work on catching them up.

• Raw Strength and Endurance

I’m putting these two in the same section because they’re both fairly straightforward. First of all, raw strength isn’t as big a concern for most climbers since bouldering is more about relative strength, but training for raw strength - usually weightlifting- still has its place. One of the reasons you might want to look into this is that targeting a specific muscle through weight training can yield faster results than calisthenics(more commonly used to train relative strength). You might also want to focus on weight training if you’re looking to achieve a bulkier build, which is beneficial for dynos and moves that require more power.

As for endurance, bouldering actually requires less of it than top roping. However, it’s still good to build up more stamina as it allows you more time on the wall, giving you more chances to problem solve or even just to rest. If you do feel that endurance is a big issue that’s stopping you from sending climbs, then you probably want to focus more time on fixing it(such as repeating lower difficulty routes without resting). Otherwise, endurance is something that will build up as you climb more, so it’s not something that most climbers need to focus on.

• Grip/Finger Strength

There’s no argument that grip strength is like the factor that marks a good climber. Still, it’s not easy to decide how much you want to focus on it, especially when excessive training is especially dangerous when it comes to fingers. You really want to keep in mind that tendons are delicate, and pushing them too far when they’re not ready can take you out of commission for months at a time. So no matter the training intensity, make sure you’re being careful and listening to your body.

Now, the efficiency of grip training depends heavily on how frequently you’re able to do it. If you’re someone who isn’t able to go to the climbing gym more than once a week, you’re probably not going to see much improvement in your finger strength. So if that’s the case and you still want to progress, you might want to consider getting some equipment to train it at home. This is where you decided how serious you are about bouldering. A hang board would be ideal, but they can be pricey and difficult to install. The alternative would be using tools like grip trainers, improvised exercises, or committing more resources to go climbing more often.

How you might want to think about grip strength

You would also want to consider how different body types give you different advantages. In most cases, taller climbers do have a slight edge over shorter climbers when it comes to gripping holds, simply because height correlates to hand sizes, giving them more surface area to work with. If you’re significantly shorter and have smaller hands, it might be beneficial for you to focus more on grip training than your taller fellows. Though to be more specific, the types of holds that are advantageous for bigger hands tend to be slopers, crimps with larger surfaces, and in general ones with larger areas of contact. When it comes to crimps or pockets, it’s actually advantageous to have smaller hands. So if you have the resources for it, it wouldn't be a bad idea to train on the types of hold that you’re more disadvantaged in.

• Flexibility

Flexibility is genuinely pretty overlooked among beginner climbers, and I’ve noticed that many climbers don’t consider flexibility to be an issue when they fail to perform a move. Having good shoulder flexibility can help you reach holds in awkward positions, and you need to rotate your hips well for moves like mantling, just to give you a general idea. Besides, stretching before a climbing session does help prevent injuries, so it’s a good idea to stretch as part of your warm up regardless.

Another graphic to help you consider flexibility

Now onto determining whether you need to worry about flexibility or not, that’s something that mainly depends on your previous experiences. If you’re someone who stretches semi-regularly, can touch your toes and all, chances are flexibility isn’t going to be much of an issue for you except for in very specific cases. If you don’t do much stretching, another differentiator is whether you’re a male or female. The female body does tend to be more flexible naturally due to how their joints and tendons are formed, so female climbers will generally be more flexible than a male climber even if they have both never stretched before. Female climbers will likely find that they make progress faster than male climbers in this aspect. The last thing to consider depends on your height. Taller climbers tend to need more flexibility compared to shorter climbers, just because they have longer limbs to maneuver around. It’s one of the advantages shorter climbers got on the taller folks. So if you’re a tall guy who’s never stretched before, definitely start working on this.

• Diet/Physique

Since I know people like arguing about it, let’s briefly talk about the merits of being tall vs short in bouldering (even if it’s something you can’t actually train for). It’s true that being taller might give you certain advantages like the ones I’ve mentioned above, but it also comes with disadvantages. In fact, statistics from some of the best competitive climbers in the world reveals that the average height among these climbers are a couple inches shorter than the average height in their respective gender. However, keep in mind that that doesn’t imply that there’s some kind of ideal height for bouldering. Even in the competitive field, there’s some really tall and really short folks performing really well(Adam Ondra is 6 '1, and Jain Kim is 5' 0!). The limits your height places on your capability is nowhere near as great as some people make it out to be, so really you shouldn’t be worrying about that. Instead, consider the effects your height might impact how you work on your physique.

In bouldering, it’s no surprise that a leaner build is generally favored - just look at all the top climbers. Being a strong climber doesn’t just mean putting on as much muscle as possible, but rather maximizing your strength while minimizing your body weight. However, there’s still a trade off when it comes to the build you’re going for. Having a bulkier build is generally required if you want more explosive power, needed for dynamic moves. This is especially important in bouldering since less endurance is needed, which comes with leaner builds. Decide whether you want to work more on your explosive strength or more well rounded advantages, and adjust your diets/plans accordingly. Besides that, there’s also the fact that taller people tend to need longer time to bulk up, and the reverse for shorter people. That means you should also adjust your expectations for your progress according to your own body type.

Regardless, remember that the goals you make - if any - for your body is meant to enhance your bouldering experience. It should never negatively affect your enjoyment of the sport or your general quality of life. Too often climbers obsess unhealthily over the standards they set themselves, which can actually adversely affect their relationship with their own body and with bouldering. I generally wouldn’t recommend making dieting and changing your physique a top priority, but rather something to keep in mind alongside your climbing journey.

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And that’s all I got! Once again, keep in mind that this is a non-exhaustive list, and there’s many more things you’ll discover as you keep climbing. I’m not a professional, so if there’s anything you find inaccurate or anything I missed, do let me know. Hopefully these tips can let some of you get started, and help get some beginner climbers into the sport. Stay safe, and happy climbing!

Links:

Article on Flexibility

Post about height in competitive climbing

Article on grip and hand sizes

Article on grip strength

Article on strength and endurance

Journal on gender in climbing

Article on physiques of comp climbers

Article on finger strength

I’ve been bouldering and climbing for about a month and I just did my first V4 and multiple V3’s. I’m not sure how fast you should be progressing, but is this good?

Background: I’ve been bouldering for 5 months and recently started kilter boarding from time to time (usually when I get board of my gym’s current sets). My gym’s board is fixed at 40 degrees, and even though people say the holds are mostly positive, I feel like the holds are mostly worse than the problems I’m capable of completing at my gym.

Questions: Any general tips for kilter boarding?

Is kilter boarding a good way to train grip strength and get used to smaller/worse holds?

I heard an open handed grip is the best grip to train on the kilter. Does this have any benefit other than injury prevention?

My gym currently has this route With a small dyno start, going from the starting hold and dynoing to the next. It looks like a good place to start practicing, but I've got no clue how to practice without looking like an idiot and also wasting other climber's time. Any advice? Also advice on dynoing and general please