UKC

I appreciate the answer is probably going to be problem independent and be a large case of "practice more", but...

Any tips on sit-starts to problems? In some cases I'll find the start by far the hardest part of a specific problem. Doing the rest of it then having to come back to it, or just ignore it generally.

In reply to geebus:

Your right it is very much down to the problem but in general i would say starting in such a way that you pull in more to the side. not so much starting side on but as you pull in get in a position which will allow you to twist or rotate into the wall. this will use your core strength and hopefully get you off the floor and in a position to move on.

Of course practice is key and the more you do it the easier it will become, watch other people doing it will also help.

matt

In reply to geebus:

>"Any tips on sit-starts to problems?"

Yes, walk away. Life is too short.

(Can you tell I hate sit starts?)

In reply to JLS:

Being 6" 4" with a long upper leg, and 18 stone, I don't like them either. (Think of the leverage effect).

One upside of having a slight back injury at the moment is that I have an excuse not to do them, as the injury is such that that exact movement hurts and causes no more climbing that day, whereas almost no other movement I would want to do on a climbing wall has any effect whatsoever.

Neil

In reply to JLS: That is EXACTLY what I was going to say!

In reply to geebus:

Not sure what level you're climbing at, but for sit starts (possibly even more than the rest of climbing) try to use your legs as much as possible. I find it helps to focus on keeping my arms straight and imagine I'm just using my legs to pivot up around my arms. But I guess for harder problems you're going to need to use your arms too!

In reply to geebus: I always found one of the things about sit starts, was changing from a sitting position to keeping uncomfortable body tension.

In reply to geebus: I keep my heels on the floor and hope no-one notices

In reply to geebus: like you said practice is key, I try to keep my arms as straight as possible and try and "suck" my hips in towards the problem and just keep repeating the starts. Good luck

In reply to geebus: Starting on one foot and flagging deeply under that foot with the other has helped me on many problems. It allows you to pull right into the wall and move up where otherwise having both feet on would push you out at the same time.

In reply to geebus:

Start right over your foot, curled up sitting on it if need be. Don't be afraid to start on the 'wrong' foot, use whichever works, swap later when you're stood up. Try smearing if the holds are in the wrong place. Pull harder.

jk

Cheers for the thoughts all and glad to see I'm not the only one!

Bar just doing them, is there any specific training that might help, or does the variety of different set ups mean there's nothing really specific that can be done?

In reply to geebus: I recently discovered crossing your legs on a sit start can help.If Theres one foot hold cross your free foot over the one your using. Might help on some problems.

In reply to geebus:

>"is there any specific training that might help"

Yoga exercises that promote hip flexibility.

Feet wide, outside edge one foot, try to come straight into a drop knee position as you bring your hips in. Often helps, assuming there are usable footholds both sides of the starting holds.

Or don't bother. It's all an arbitrary game anyway. I used to assume the "rule" at bouldering walls was something like "sit start if you can reach the floor with your arse from the starting handholds". (*) Then I did a course with a competition boulderer who told us that in competition there is no such thing as a mandatory sit start. Now I don't bother with them any more unless I feel like it.

(*) which actually might be a promising approach. Assume the off the floor position, then *carefully* lower your arse to the floor without weighting it, then come back up. Voila, "sit start" done. Just an idea, I haven't tried it.

In reply to AlanLittle:
(*) Then I did a course with a competition boulderer who told us that in competition there is no such thing as a mandatory sit start. Now I don't bother with them any more unless I feel like it.

Yeah but that's because they are set that way. Sit start problems are graded for the sit start, so you don't have to do them but if you don't then you'll have to reduce the grade accordingly.
To the OP: Think of the sit start as a move like any other. Keep trying every different position you can think of until you find the one that works best.

In reply to _MJC_:

so for any given problem, the first move is *always* the hardest and thats what I hate about sit starts!

In reply to 999thAndy: I guess it depends where you climb but where i climb the sit start is never (as far as i can remember) the hardest move. Either way i accept it as part of the problem so it wouldn't matter to me if it was, it's just closer to the ground. Also regarding what i said that you quoted; when i said they are graded for the sit start i meant graded with the sit start included, in case there was any confusion.

Did do a bit of yoga a while ago and would like to do some more - but spending my money climbing at the moment and not much to go around .

I will often 'cheat' the starts if they're particularly hard; then come back to them if I decide I can do the rest of the problem. Or just leave it until another day when I'm better .

Cheers for the thoughts all, was a bit busy yesterday before climbing, but shall have to note down the ideas on a bit of paper so I can properly try everything out next time .

In reply to geebus:

I'm still pretty new at this whole climbing thing, but someone showed me a good technique that really helped me on sit starts.

Sounds similar to things others have said, but here it is (and forgive me if I'm not using the correct terms etc):

Keep your arms straight, just hanging from the first holds.

Get your toes on the first two foot holds.

Rotate one knee inwards towards the other leg - this starts pulling you into towards the wall, and also raises you up a bit. You'll start bending this leg as you come inwards.

Once your hip is quite close in, you can push up on the leg which is now bent, or if not feasible you can often then pull forward to rock over onto the bent leg, and then push up.

Hope that makes sense.

But like others have said, if you don't like the sit-starts, don't do them

I don't always, but I try to if possible as its all good practise

In reply to geebus:

sometimes it helps to sit down into the problem from the first holds, dont know if this is cheating

In reply to geebus: I recently purchased a small milking stool which I now. Ring to the climbing wall/boulders that I am working on. It's perfectly acceptable technique on the continent. You'll find every second climber in Font has one and a lot ofthe major climbing ones are doing overpriced "stylish" versions. Prana have a lovely one with castors and a sort of flash design for fifty quid.