When Moonboard Training Pays Off Outdoors | Anatomy of the Climb

Hooper’s Beta Ep. 75

Anatomy of the Climb Ep. 3

Intro

Welcome to episode four of the Anatomy of the Climb series! Aiden makes another (shirtless) appearance and we take a look at a super Moon Board esque problem, Buzzsaw V10! We don’t have a side by side, this time, as it would have made for one mega long video. But be sure to check this one out for more movement tips and anatomy lessons! Enjoy!

Climb Info

Climb: Buzzsaw (V10)

Location: Black Mountain, Idyllwild

Climbers: Aiden Gloyd (@aiden_gloyd)

Video Credit: Emile Modesitt (@emile166)

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Movement Info

Move 1: going to the right hand

1. Jason’s Notes

   1. This is an awesome example of a few things right off the bat. The lock off strength you need in both arms and the mobility in the hip you need so that your right foot HELPs you rather than opposes you

      1. Both the right and left arms start immediately flexed to make it to the first move. Aiden wants to keep his body close to the wall when he hits the first move, so he pulls himself in and then gets near to a lock off WITH the arm in about 80 degrees of abduction. Great exercise for this? W’s or Face pulls to work on the scapular retraction and external rotation 

      2. You can see that the right foot wants to basically push himself to the left based upon its positioning, BUT, he wants to pull to the right, so he has to have enough hip mobility to rock over the foot. Recommended stretch? Garlands pose with wide stance 

   2. Now, interestingly enough, The beta that Alan uses is more strength dependent but also recognizes the challenge of the right foot. It is going to push him away, so he uses that to lock off on the left arm more and stabilizes with the right before bumping out. 

2. Emile’s Notes

   1. Very moonboardy problem. Not a lot of foot trickery you can do on this one, you have just have the strength and mobility to pull the moves.

   2. Full crimping both hands, but not wrapping the thumb over on the left

   3. Starts off with bad looking body position (scrunched/hunched), foot pushing him away, putting more force on the tiny right hand hold.

      1. As soon as he starts to pull to the hold, before taking his right hand off, he opens up his hips and comes into the perfect body position

      2. Flags his left leg out left to shift weight to right foot

      3. Changes angle of force on right food, pushing him up

   4. Right elbow inside arms vs outside

      1. If you’re going to rock over your foot and open your hips, you want your elbow on the outside of your knee so it doesn’t get in the way

Move 1 Summary

• Jason’s Lessons

  • W’s and/or face pulls

  • Garlands pose stretch with wide stance 

• Emile’s Lessons

  • Full crimping happens outdoors, so you need to train it to be prepared

  • Flagging can help you open up your hips and stay close to the wall

  • Pay attention to elbow position and keep it out of way of your knees

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Move 2: going to the left hand

1. Jason’s Notes

   1. Both the right and left hands are super important here, you see the massive engagement in the right arm as he moves up left, this requires a lot of strange pulling and stabilizing in order to hit the left hand with a modicum of control. Recommendation? Archer pull ups with a hold at the top or typewriter pull ups

   2. Wait a tick, this looks familiar on the left?! A long overhead reach with a large demand on the lower trapezius?!?! How about some more…. D2 flexion!! Yew! Or, for an advancement, band angels or face pulls with overhead press

   3. Recommendations

      1. Archer pull ups or typewriter pull ups

      2. D2 flexion  → band angels → face pulls with overhead press 

   4. Alan’s beta: now I’m curious about this, because his leg comes much further off of the wall, almost like he is using it to counterbalance so his chest can stay closer. It appears to be perhaps a compensation in the core or shoulder to help keep the chest close enough to the wall but unable to confirm without actually knowing exactly what he felt at that time.

2. Emile’s Notes

   1. Hip mobility again. Impossible to have his left leg in that position without good mobility.

   2. Direction of force with his hands and feet become perfect and he eyes up the next hold

   3. You can see him wrap his right thumb over his fingers as he sets up for the move, engaging the full crimp to get as much friction and pull out of that hold as possible

   4. Hits the left hand hold with a full crimp already engaged. Contact strength! Moonboard/tension board all day!

      1. Keeps elbow and shoulders fully engaged and rigid. Great tension. You have to be mentally prepared to hold moves like this.

      2. If you’ve ever wanted to see what a difference your mental state can make in your climbing, just look at this move. Aiden fell off this move multiple times in earlier attempts because he didn’t hit the left hand right. He started off just chucking his hand up there, hitting the hold with open fingers. Then as he started to get the muscle memory, he started hitting it with his fingers closed a bit, ready to pull down. Once his brain realized he had the strength to hit the hold and pull without getting injured, he was able to snag the left hand with confidence and immediately full crimp it.

Move 2 Summary

• Jason’s Lessons

• Emile’s Lessons

  • The moonboard DOES translate to outdoor climbing; you can’t always use technique to compensate for lack of strength (looking at myself here!)

  • Contact strength is huge, which requires training and mental preparedness

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Move 3: bumping out right

1. Jason’s Notes:

   1. Don’t want to spend a ton of time here because I think Emile would have more to say, I would just make a note of the final position, look how wide the shoulders are? Recommendation? Wiiiiiiide pull ups 

   2. Recommendations

      1. Wide pull ups

2. Emile’s Notes:

   1. Chooses to go for the pogo here, using his leg for momentum, which is actually kind of a genius move here in terms of efficient energy use. The momentum of his legs helps him propel right and remove his hand without having to change his body tension much, lessening the chance of a left hand dry fire (which happened multiple times in failed attempts).

      1. This works well because the next right hand hold is quite good, so he’s not worried about holding the backswing from the pogo because he knows he will feel secure on the right hand

      2. It also means he doesn’t have to fool around as much with his feel, trying to match feet and shuffle around

Move 3 Summary

• Jason’s Lessons

• Emile’s Lessons

  • Pogos can be useful in specific situations if you know how to do it properly. You must be prepared to hold the backswing, so you almost need to be pogoing to a good hold to pull it off

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Move 4: big move to a big hold

1. Jason’s Notes:

   1. This one seems pretty clear to me, this is power! He is using mostly arms for this or so it appears, and he uses his legs to generate some momentum, but it’s a lot of power in the arms. This is where campusing is helpful, OR, a cool new move you can do if you don’t have access to a campus board but you DO have a pull up bar is to do a pull up and then remove one hand and try to reach it up overhead before grabbing back on. 

   2. Recommendation: power training! 

      1. Campus board or 2 hand to 1 hand pull ups

2. Emile’s Notes:

   1. Fooling around with his feet, probably a bit nervous because he’s messed this part up many times and dry-fired off the left hand when hitting the right hand jug. Even minor mental blocks like that can cost you a lot of time and energy

   2. BIG POGO! Same as the last move, just in a bigger way. Going to a big jug so he knows the momentum won't be a problem, and he doesn’t have to worry about his foot blowing off because he’s not relying heavily on it to push him up. It’s almost like cheating!

   3. If you still don’t see the correlation between this climb and a system board, I don’t know what to tell you! It’s like this boulder was created for Ben Moon.

Move 4 Summary

• Jason’s Lessons

• Emile’s Lessons

  • Small mental hiccups can cost you big time on the wall. Rehearse moves in isolation to get them dialed in. The “I only work problems from the ground up” mindset is ridiculous and logically flawed.

  • Go train on a system board or flat, overhung wall if you struggle with these kinds of climbs

Other notes:

1. Leg strength!!

   1. Again, leg’s sometimes matter, folks! He stabilizes with the right leg and then uses that not only to feel around with the right hand but also to get him high enough to reach the next hold. 

   2. Recommendation: pistol squats or deep squats / sumo squats 

   3. Yes! Even Alan needs it. Look at that hip strength and mobility. He pulls it up super high (mobility) and then fully rocks onto it and stabilizes before the next move. Now, he has both hands on holds when he stands up so it’s not a try pistol squat. BUT… that’s still a good recommendation. If you feel really weak in your single leg squats, do them with TrX straps! We aren’t always doing full body weight single leg squats! In fact, normally we have 1 or 2 hands helping, so it’s OK to do pistol squats with a strap! 

   4. Recommendation: TRX / Strap single leg squats 

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Disclaimer:

As always, exercises are to be performed assuming your own risk and should not be done if you feel you are at risk for injury. See a medical professional if you have concerns before starting new exercises.

Written and Produced by Jason Hooper (PT, DPT, OCS, SCS, CAFS) and Emile Modesitt

IG: @hoopersbetaofficial