Here’s week 2 of our lead climbing mini course. This week we’ll be showing the right and wrong way to clip a quick-draw.
From the category archives:
Climbing Techniques
Let’s face it, we all want to climb well. The feeling of nailing a hard route is second to none. To achieve consistent results, it’s essential to learn those climbing techniques, do that training, eat and sleep right. Here’s where we share the knowledge to help you get there. If you have climbing techniques, diet tips or training advice that you would like to share, drop us an email at: gareth(at)rockclimbinguk.co.uk.
For those of you who are new to lead climbing, we’re going to be providing a mini video course. Each week we’ll show you a new technique. The first week is ‘how to flake out your rope’.
Climbing demands a lot of your body and your mind. The mental exertion can be felt as stress in your shoulders and up into your neck.
This article deals with techniques to prevent rock climbing injuries, and how to deal with them if they occur.
I recently heard it stated ‘If I had the spare time to slackline I would be out climbing’ which I guess is a fair point but don’t let this deter you from trying it. Not only does slacklining improve balance, coordination and core strength (all transferable skills for rock climbing), its really great fun too!
Already done the damage? Here is my top tips on repairing your fingers from climbing session induced carnage…
Aside from the obvious aches and pains, I’m sure that if you ask any regular rock climber, the pain they’re all keen to avoid is damage to the skin on their hands and fingers. Climbing places a great deal of stress on your skin, which can easily lead to painful sores or tears. This week I would like to give you some tips on how to toughen up your skin to prevent such injuries. Next week I’ll tell you how best to heal them quickly if you do happen suffer with them.
The other day I gave a talk to a group of business people about how climbing could help their business. Not surprisingly they were a little skeptical at first, especially after I showed them the intro to the Progression DVD – What could this have to do with them?
So what strategies do climbers employ?
Climbing techniques – Is it OK to use a top rope on poorly protected trad routes to push your grade?
As regular readers of my blog will know, I have been writing a series on climbing techniques, focusing particularly on climbing improvement. This has involved a good deal of research and learning from climbers far more experienced than I.
There are several routes to becoming a climbing instructor. The route you take largely depends upon the type of mountaineering or climbing instruction you aspire to be involved with:
* Supervising at an indoor climbing wall
* Supervising at a single pitch outdoor venues
* Leading walking groups
* Supervising multi-pitch mountain climbs
* Mountain guiding
My favourite climbing is outdoor climbing on single and multi-pitch crags. I would love to able to supervise groups in that environment, so I opted to start my training with the Single Pitch Award (SPA). If I qualify, I’ll be able to supervise groups in a single pitch outdoor climbing environment.
A couple of weeks ago I told you about my halt in progress in my climbing improvement plan. I explained that I have gained weight, and although much of it is muscle weight it is putting extra stress on my fingers (which is impairing my performance, especially on overhanging routes).
I’m into my third week of a body composition workout, designed to cut weight while maintaining lean muscle mass. I said I would share the workout with you, so as promised here it is…
