Exercises to become a better climber

Here are a few small exercises you can use to become a better climber. These exercises are very low commitment and can be done during the warm up for your session.

1. Precision exercise

It is important to be precise with your hands and feet when climbing. You often waste valuable time on the wall by constantly making small adjustments. During the warm-up, try climbing a lot of easy problems without any adjustments. That is, every time you move a hand or foot to a new hold, don't adjust. You will be forced to focus on placing your hands and feet correctly throughout. If you grab a grip incorrectly, you continue climbing in that position as "punishment". When you top the problem you do it again until you can climb the problem completely without adjustments.

2. Efficiency exercise

In climbing, it is important to distinguish between haste and efficiency. If you rush, you make mistakes and climb clumsily and inaccurately. If you are efficient, you execute the moves in the plan you have laid out in advance. Learn to distinguish between these two things. It is generally a no-go to rush. 

A good exercise for efficiency is to climb easy problems you have climbed before. Look at the problem and memorize your beta. When you're ready, walk on the wall with the goal of climbing the problem efficiently, keeping moving at all times. No thinking time and as few adjustments as possible. Did you not feel effective and did you feel there was no flow. Then try again until it's just right. You can benefit from filming yourself to see yourself, to get an idea of how you move on the wall, as it can be hard to know exactly what you are doing right and wrong, then you can make small tweaks and adjustments and remember your beta more easily.

3. Quiet hands and feet

It is a virtue to climb gracefully and precisely. A good practice for this is to climb without any sound, both from hands and feet. That is, put all your focus on no sound occurring when either hands or feet make contact with the handhold or wall. Place everything with full control and intention. Try this during your warm-up and you will quickly become more graceful on the wall.

4. Breathe

Although it only takes 10-60 seconds to climb a problem, it is important to have enough air in your system to use your strength. During your warm-up, try to think a lot about breathing well before you start a problem, and class steady, deep breathing throughout the problem. It's harder than you think :)