Are you a beginner at bouldering, or is it your kid facing a problem with climbing? Avoid These 10 Common Mistakes Beginners Make When Bouldering to Make rock climbing easy, Indoor bouldering is your first step toward becoming an expert rock climber. However, in no time, do you feel it is impossible for yourself.
The expert fellow climbers amaze you. And you want to figure out what’s wrong you’re doing there. Stop worrying. We’ve found the biggest mistake that you should be careful as a rock climber. So, here are those with their best solution. Let’s read and solve the problems.
Table of Contents
Avoid These 12 Common Mistakes Beginners Make When Bouldering
1. Climbing with no or Insufficient Warm-up
The first mistake from the mistakes beginners makes when indoor bouldering is a poor warm-up. Do you feel tiring muscles after climbing? You might be following the techniques correctly. Yet, it’s the beginning
that can be a killer. Your muscles demand the blood flow for the elastic stretch and
tolerate the force.
However, because of no warm-up, you make them harder to breathe. And the result is the injury. So, make sure you always prepare properly before bouldering indoors. For this purpose, use the push-ups and stretching exercises, then climb the more accessible routes first. It’ll enhance your performance.
2. Only Climbing: the Result is Crying Arms
The top is undoubtedly a goal. But one of the most common mistakes beginners makes when indoor bouldering is to focus on the top. They think of themselves as “Spiderman” and try to reach the top. The result is a tired and uncooperative body. Besides all this, you lose your stamina too fast. So, how to solve it?
Be attentive to how you’re using your arms. So, keep your arms a little straight and only bend them when you’ve to catch on a hold. Similarly, try to shift your effort on your legs by bending them a bit.
3. Not Prioritizing your FootWork
Ladder climbing: the typical way of climbing by every new climber, also results in tiresome, slow climbing. In contrast, to climb on a wall you also have to position your feet first to shift your weight before acting a hold and moving up. In this way, you also maintain a balance and prevent swings without leg support: the heaviest on your arms and exhausting, eventually. The wrong technique also keeps you away from the wall.
4. Focusing on Building Strength, not Learning Techniques
Can you move a boulder with your hand? No…. what if I give you a simple lever? Yes….now you can. So, it’s the technique that wins. Yet, most beginners ignore it and try to spend most of their time training upper body training exercises — more time lost.
Instead, if you extend your practice with the techniques, you can do better, just like the experts who are making records and marking history. So, know your areas of improvement and play games that help you improve your techniques.
5. Wrong use of Hip Technique
Can you imagine climbing like a dragon? You’re not a dragon. You’re human. Your basic climbing mistake as a new climber is also a misunderstanding of the climbing process, including the wrong application of hip technique. So, when you grab hold by your side, use your hip and leg too. To do so, use your hip to keep it against the wall. For example, if you are using your left arm to hold a jug on the wall, keep your left hip by the side. It’ll not only increase your speed but also provide balance.
6. Looking high
Go to the top. However, looking at the top will not take you there. One of the biggest mistakes beginners make when bouldering indoors is to ignore their closest goals, leading them to the next level. No one is going to shout to tell you, “look around” when you want to make a move.
Instead, analyze the patterns you follow while climbing. If it’s looking only at the end line, then be mindful. Whenever you’ve to get on hold, search for your supports, looking both sides and at your feet, first catch the pockets with your feet, and then grab your hold.
7. Wrong use of Feet: Stressing the middle foot only
Which part of your foot did you use to step on a ladder or a staircase? “Of course, I use the mid feet,” you might answer. It’s the use of the middle foot to balance yourself in a hold. And it’s one of the primary mistakes beginners make when indoor bouldering.
Do you know what’s the outcome? It’s’ the minimum momentum and no hip swing. Thus, you can’t proceed toward the next hold without XX’s effort—pretty disappointing.
The solution is here. Use your heels and toes. Again, put your toes first. Heels are helpful. Yet, as a beginner, practice more utilization of your
toes.
8. Making a Wrong Selection of Rock Climbing Shoes.
As a new climber, you usually start bouldering at a younger age. And Keeping the growth in view, you pick the loose shoes. As an intermediate climber, you can just rush to pick the rock climbing shoes without understanding your foot needs. Consequently, your boots can be loose for ill-fitting.
The tight feet can make the toe movement difficult. Besides this, restricted blood circulation can also lead to the foot’s fatigue — and body. In contrast, with loose shoes, you struggle for the grip inside your shoes with loose shoes and ultimately use the middle foot to climb.
So, don’t compromise on your shoes. Change them if they are no more fit and don’t get those which will fit after1 year. So, get the best rock climbing shoes according to your foot size.
9. Improper Descend and Unmanaged Fall
Spider-man again….!!! You like to run towards the top and don’t like to climb down with that patience. And the result is: you can fall from high and get injured. Therefore, safe movement is essential. So, get time to climb down and do it carefully.
Jumping early or requesting a fall is also one of the biggest mistakes beginners make when indoor bouldering. Mostly, the reason is, they are tired of being unrealistic about the process—ready to invite
real-life consequences as injury.
Even if you’ve got an enthusiasm for jumping, it can hurt your spine. Thus, soon, you’ll not be able to be an expert, but resting in bed or avoiding rock climbing forever. Hence, manage proper landing through the route and fall on your crash pad.
10. Neglecting the safety rules of indoor climbing
As an indoor climber, you’re climbing at your DIY wall or going to the gym. No matter where you’re climbing, the rules are not about the places but out of the natural laws. Once you overlook the safety rules, you’re bound to suffer. For Example, always land on your crash pad.
The negligence will cause harm, you can understand. Similarly, if you don’t avoid bouldering under or above other boulders, you can become a source of accident, or they can.
Hence, abiding by the rules is inevitable, for they guarantee your life in a demanding sport like rock climbing.
11. Putting Minor Injuries aside
Novices are enthusiastic about climbing. Sometimes the craze makes them ignore the bruises and injuries. Though the healing can be faster, still no car for the rest causes long-haul terrible outcomes. The practice is common among kids.
They forget their cuts and strains in no time, especially when they love climbing as a game. So, the parents must keep watch. In the same way, elderly beginners also become eager to climb. They also show a similar pattern for adopting training exercises. For instance, the teens become hasty to pick up a hang board. Does it help? No, it only breaks the joints or misshapes them. Thus, the consequence can be unfavorable, even drastic. Therefore, when you want to become competent, try to be smart with your training, not impatient.
12. Fruitless Frequent Training with no Rest
Rock climbing is ecstasy for the climbers. They want to leave no stone unturned to climb. Every challenge entices them. Finally, they begin focusing on, climbing, climbing, and climbing…. more than their technique. It can help them turn into athletes, but not climbers. Or even cause so much pressure on your human muscles that the body feels it hard to recover.
So, it’s highly desirable to allow your body to rest for 48 days once you’ve done 2 sessions. So low???? Yes….be selective about what you’ll practice. Hence, go for the technique-based training.
Stop Doing Mistakes Beginners Make
As a rock climber, you or your kid certainly want to be a rock-climbing expert. Therefore, it’s necessary to balance your short-term goals with your long-term goal. By keeping a check on the mistakes beginners make when indoor bouldering, you can cut all the risks that prevent you from attaining your core challenges. Count on the mistakes you’ve been making and adopt the relevant solution now
Check out our selection of climbing tips below:
35 Best Rock Climbing Tips For Beginners
How To Find Climbing Partners?
Discussion about this post