Thursday 7 February 2013

Stabilizing for Clips (and Resting)


Most energy is wasted when you only have one hand on the wall therfore it is very important to be in a solid stance when clipping. Some of the same principles apply to resting as well, you want to distribute as much weight as possible to your feet and be able to relax your upper body.

Here are a couple of things to consider when clipping:

• Dead Hang - Try to keep your arms straight and just hang from the holds. Don't squeeze too hard or try to pull yourself towards the clip until you are ready.

• Concentrate on Your Feet - Adjust your feet so they can pull or push you towards the clip. Are your feet on the biggest footholds? Are they too high? Make sure they won't slip, there's nothing like having to catch yourself on one arm while the other is still holding a loop of rope.

• Centre Your Weight - Try and distribute your weight as much as possible to your feet and the stabilize with your arms. You don't want your feet to be off to one side or the other causing you to have to pull extra hard with your arms.

• Push into the holds - If the hold is an undercling, sidepull or gaston make sure that your feet are pushing you into the hold. This will allow you to straighten your arm and increase the length that you can reach. It will make clipping alot more balanced as well. If possible try and avoid clipping off underclings, they require alot of core strength to hold onto.

Not all of those techniques will work on every clip but play around and learn how to hold yourself in Different clipping stances. Most of all don't rush it. Make your clip smoothly and efficiently. Practice clipping draws from all angles. From the left, right, top and bottom. You should be familiar with how to stabilize the draw when clipping, especially on steeper climbing like on roofs. Try out finger clips and reverse finger clips, ask someone at the wall if you don't know what these are.


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