UKC

Neil Gresham gets to grips with handholds: Page-one of climbing technique is making the best use of the holds, and this became apparent when we looked at footwork earlier in this series. Climbers have a habit of analysing footwork but we often take it for granted that we are gripping the handholds the best way.

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Seems a bit harsh; Neil Gresham's always struck me as being pretty technically sound...

Fixing this now, typically, it worked fine before it went live.

Sorted now.

"Hannah Toward (9 years old at the time) relies on the 3-finger drag whilst climbing Free and Even Easier 7a+ at Malham. After practicing the half-crimp in her training, she made light work of her first 8a in Margalef in 2019 at the age of 11"

I'm sure Hannah's a lovely child, but god I hate her guts after reading that! *goes green with envy*

Interested to know how others view this - gripology must evidently be taken more seriously for those who climb harder, but at my level, I believe I grip the available holds as best they can be exploited - for the best part - i.e.. do I really / often have a choice ??

Otherwise the perspective on injury avoidance is of great interest; I had a pulley injury which was directly traceable to wicked finger jams which twisted under load - where did yours come from ?

I have a particular strain issue at present - 3x out with new partner working 7a projects (my max !) by chance the crux passages have required undercut loading which has left me with wrist strain on each occasion. Here again I believe I have simply been exploiting what was available in the most efficient fashion - could I have done differently to avoid injury ? Otherwise difficult to act rationally when you're under max stress in fact.

I think it makes a difference at all levels, it's as much about not pulling harder than you need on the easier moves to save energy as it is pulling maximally on the hard moves to not fall off.  

Dropping into a chisel on the hangboard caused me overuse injuries of the dip joints of my index fingers. Probably has to do with my index finger being much shorter, thereby putting severe strain on the dip joints when I drop into the chisel position. Only proper half crimps and open hands from now on.

Interesting, I'm wondering if the same thing caused me similar issues but PIP.

Interesting that recommendation is to avoid chisel grip, and yet Beastmaker app includes that grip in all exercises up to 6c on the app (for BM1000). It’s taken me a while to adjust to using half crimp on 6c-7a sessions. Chisel feels a lot easier to me.