Pro’s Tips for a World-Class Boulder Problem | Anatomy of the Climb
Hooper’s Beta Ep. 85
Anatomy of the Climb Ep. 4
Intro
Welcome to a very special episode of the Anatomy Of the Climb featuring professional climber, Dan Beall! We get Dan’s take on an epic climb in the Buttermilks, Evilution V11
Climb Info
Climb: Evilution (V11)
Location: The Buttermilks, Bishop
Climbers: Vincent Mollicone (@vmollico) and BadWater Bouldering (@badwaterbouldering)
Movement
First Move:
The first move I want to talk about is this big yard out to a far away right hand.
Now the body position and the incline of this climb make this a really interesting move. The right hand is very abducted and he is getting a lot of latissimus dorsi activation. Now, because of the incline he also wants to keep himself closer to the wall, but he is so extended that he is at a mechanical disadvantage for the right shoulder. Seemingly, the left foot and hand would appear to be what’s keeping him close to the wall. But, Dan, you have much more experience on this climb, can you talk about this first move and even into the set up for the next left hand?
It is interesting to see the different holds as well. The kind of side pull undercling versus the more traditional hold. One of them makes the next left hand move look far easier
As he unwinds he gets into a more traditional wide pull position and seemingly moves to the left hand without any issues. Is that because of the good right foot? The right hand? Etc.
The second move
Another yard to a right hand, this time more straight overhead
I really like this move because while it looks simple, there’s a lot going on. He has some opposition with the left hand and left foot, but the balance has to favor the hand slightly. That is because the next right hand is slightly to the left. So his body control and position is determined by the amount of force generated between those two body parts. The right foot is what will help boost him up to the hold, but that precision is really cool and I enjoy that move.
Training that opposition off the wall can be a part of your warm up. If you use a mobile board, which I recommend as a warm up before climbing, practice that setup. Use your left hand and left foot. Push and pull, and focus on other components such as good scapular retraction, good core engagement, and good tension in the foot and toes.
the wide foot vs the heel hook
Dan what can you tel us about the difference in this technique? Is it a strength difference in why one person does a heel hook and then crosses/bumps whereas the other person uses a wide foot, matches, then bumps out right hand?
The Third Move: The very casual crossover
I love the shoulder, core, and hamstring/foot integration here. He makes this crossover look casual. He has great strength in his horizontal abductors, great engagement of the feet, and this allows him to casually cross the left hand over.
Training tip: I actually have a recommendation that would help with this move but is not 100% specific. It’s a Palof press with a walk out. It will help strengthen the horizontal abductors of the shoulder, but if you do it right, it will also work on core tension especially controlling rotation, which is huge. This is an amazing general exercise to do but could be beneficial particularly in this scenario.
The 4th move: the heel hook
OK again with the neck thing, what is going on? I legit feel like he casually approached this problem and forgot to take his necklace off.
But anyways, he has a solid heel hook with great external rotation allowing him to take a rest, and then allowing him to fly up the wall. Now, take note of the positioning.
He is not using a straight leg heel hook here. The heel is very engaged and the knee is bent. This is another example of where our bent knee hamstring strength is very helpful. In this example in addition to external rotation. To work on that, we can do Nordic hamstring curls but add in a little body twist to create rotation
Training Tip: nordic hamstring curls with cross body reaches
Another note on this is to look at how much hip flexion he has at the top of the movement. If he didn’t have this mobility, this move would be much harder as he would essentially block his mobility
Training Tip: garlands pose and/or 3 way child's pose stretch
The 5th note: The Frogger!
OK I’ll admit, I don’t think I could do this part. Look at that hip flexibility! Beautiful! The frogger pose greatly helps here and allows him to stay closer to the wall. I feel like I need to go do that stretch now
Training tip: frogger stretch.
6th note: super high foot
Oh my, mobility and strength again! Suuuuper high foot! This is wonderful. For this I recommend:
Training Tip: Standing in front of a wall or other object and working on your end range hip mobility. This would work best if coupled with a garlands or childs pose stretch to loosen the hip up. Try and get the hip up as high as you can while keeping the hips close to the wall.
Summary of Training Tips
With your warm up, practice same sided opposition with your mobile board while not just pulling through your fingers. Make it focused. Engage the shoulder, shoulder blade, core, and legs.
Work on that shoulder and core strength with a palof Press with walk out
Make sure to include those nordic hamstring curls into your routine
And as for stretching:
Definitely work on child’s pose and/or garlands pose. And really make it useful by combining it with some high feet drills standing up against a wall.
Oh, and how could I forget. Always do that frogger stretch :)
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 Presented by Jason Hooper, PT, DPT, OCS, SCS, CAFS
IG: @hoopersbetaofficial
Filming and Editing by Emile Modesitt
www.emilemodesitt.com
IG: @emile166
