Bouldering indoors or outdoors: the right technique

Strength is helpful in bouldering, but it’s not everything. The right bouldering technique helps you to climb efficiently and conserve energy. The following tips will help you improve your positioning and your skills when bouldering.

General bouldering tips

Warming up: be sure to warm up your whole body before you start bouldering. There are special tools available for fingers and arm muscles in particular, which can be stored in a small space. A good warm-up reduces the risk of injury and prepares the muscles for the challenges ahead.

Take breaks: you don’t have to solve one bouldering problem after another. Take a break, shake your arms out, calm your breathing. Then you’ll be ready again.

Brush: take a brush with you to clean holds and footholds. Outdoors there may be moss and lichens, in the bouldering gym mainly chalk from previous boulderers. A clean hold ensures better grip.

Chalk: binds sweat on the hands for a better grip. Chalk is available in dry powder form or as a liquid from a tube. Liquid chalk is not dusty and provides a good base, but is usually a bit more expensive. Powder chalk is cheaper and easy to reapply, but doesn’t last as long and can be dusty. Try different options to find out what suits you best.

Taping your fingers: the tape must not restrict the mobility of your fingers. It stabilises and supports the joints in your fingers and can also protect your fingers against sharp rock structures, helping to prevent injuries and scrapes.

Arm position

A brief thought experiment (you can also give it a try, of course): would you be able to hang on a bar longer with your arms outstretched or bent? ‘That’s obvious,’ you probably think – with your arms outstretched. When bouldering, however, many beginners pull themselves up the wall with their arms bent. That takes a lot of strength and you get tired quickly. So, the most important tip is: keep your arms outstretched whenever possible and use the power of your legs to move forward. There are moves in which your arms are bent briefly or they sometimes remain bent over several moves. But always focus on keeping your arms outstretched as much as possible and relaxing your shoulders. This gives you a better overview of the route and allows you to see the next holds and footholds better.

Foot technique

Make sure that you place your feet on the footholds in a precise and controlled manner. You usually stand on your tiptoes when bouldering. This gives you the best control and is the easiest way to shift your weight for the next move.

For a good foot technique, it can be helpful to consciously observe how your foot is positioned on the foothold and only then direct your gaze upwards for your next move. It also helps to try to move as quietly as possible. Careless bouldering with your feet is often noisy: your feet scrape along the wall, you accidentally kick the wall, or you slip off the foothold. You should try to avoid this.

Advanced boulderers can also use the hook technique. This involves attaching yourself to a hold or ledge with your heel or toe. However, it’s only worth practising this once you’re familiar with the basics.

Turning in while climbing: hip position

Keep your hip as close to the wall as possible. This keeps your body’s centre of gravity above your feet and conserves your energy. Depending on the route, this also involves turning your hip in. This means that you turn sideways towards the wall so that, for example, the left side of your body touches the wall and the right side faces away from it. This helps you stay close to the wall, work better with your legs and maintain the tension in your body.

When turning in, it’s important to climb over your body’s diagonal line. When the left half of your body is turned in and close to the wall, your left foot is standing on a foothold, and your right hand is gripping a hold. For the next move, your left hand grips the hold. This makes it easier to maintain the tension in your body and keeps you from turning away from the wall as you continue climbing.

Grip and hold correctly

Not every hold can be gripped equally well. Large pocket-shaped holds are usually easiest to grip with the whole hand. Narrow holds and short ledges, on the other hand, can only be gripped with a few fingers or your fingertips. In bouldering gyms, ‘volumes’ are sometimes screwed to the wall. These large elements are supposed to mimic rock ledges. Volumes or actual rock ledges outdoors can be gripped with the whole hand or using friction. This means that by placing the flat hand, the whole arm or even the foot against the surface, enough friction is created to hold on to the rock.

Spotting while bouldering – advantages and disadvantages

Spotting in bouldering means looking out for the person climbing and helping to control their fall if necessary, so they land safely on a mat.

Advantages:

• Can increase the feeling of safety, especially for beginners.

• When carried out correctly, it prevents or mitigates injuries.

• Provides greater safety, especially on difficult or overhanging routes.

Disadvantages:

• In bouldering gyms with well-padded floors, spotting is usually not necessary. But that depends on the boulderer. If a fall on the back or head is possible, spotting in the gym is a good idea.

• Incorrect spotting can do more harm than good – the spotting and falling person can hurt each other.

Ultimately, it depends on the situation and your preference. It’s important that all participants master the technique and communication for spotting. The best way to learn is to take a course.