Chapter Four
Body positioning
In this chapter
This chapter is about where you put your hips, shoulders and free limbs. A good position puts your weight on your feet, lets each hold work in the direction it faces and stops you swinging off the wall. Chapter 1 explains the mechanics behind this, such as your centre of gravity (the point your weight acts through).
Each entry starts at the grade where you start to need the technique indoors. No syllabus fixes these grades, so they are judgement. Each grade note gives the evidence.
If you’re tall, you reach many holds square on that shorter climbers must twist for. That hides missing technique until the holds get small or far apart (see Chapter 9). Practise the V3 and V4 entries on problems you can already climb square on.
| Grade | Technique |
|---|---|
| V0 | Weight shift |
| V0 | Straight arms |
| V1 | Frog position |
| V1 | Barn door |
| V1 | Matching hands |
| V1 | Stemming |
| V2 | Turning the hip in |
| V2 | Side flag |
| V2 | Crossing hands |
| V2 | Layback |
| V3 | Backstep |
| Grade | Technique |
|---|---|
| V3 | Back flag |
| V3 | Drop knee |
| V3 | Sitting into it |
| V3 | Body tension |
| V3 | Lock-off |
| V3 | Opposition |
| V3 | Bumping |
| V4 | Twist lock |
| V4 | Inside flag |
| V4 | Compression |
4.1 Reading the wall for body position
Run through these checks on the ground, before you pull on. Each one points to an entry in this chapter.
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Check the wall angle. It sets your default position [2, 3, 119].
Reading the wall for body position Wall Start with Hips Arms Slab Square on. Shift your weight over each foot. Out, over the feet Bent is fine Vertical Square on. Twist only if no front-on option works. Over the feet Stand tall Overhang 10–30° Turning the hip in, Backstep One hip on the wall Straight Steep 30–75° Drop knee, Twist lock Locked in Straight Roof Body tension, hooks Hanging Straight -
Name the hinge. Pick the hand that will stay on and the foot you will stand on. The line between them is the hinge: your body can rotate around it. Opposite hand and foot are stable [17]. On the same side, expect a barn door and plan a flag or a foot swap [120].
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Read the holding hold. Its direction tells you which hip goes to the wall.
- A sidepull faces away from your body. A right-hand sidepull on your right faces right; you hang to its left. Turn in your left hip, backstep your left foot and reach with your left hand [16, 121].
- A gaston faces your midline. You pull it outward, elbow out. Stay squarer and use the inside edge of the opposite foot [16]. Don’t backstep off it [121].
- An undercling faces down. Put your feet high and keep the arm straight [9].
- A sloper: sit your hips low, keep your arms straight and your trunk tight [15].
- Two holds that face away from each other: squeeze them. See Compression.
- Two surfaces that face each other: push them apart. See Stemming.
- A vertical edge or arête: see Layback.
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Place your feet against the line. The line is the vertical line under the hold your holding hand pulls [121].
- A foothold on the line, or a little beyond it away from your reach, at knee height or higher: Backstep.
- A foothold on the reaching side of the line, with a second foothold wide on the other side: Drop knee [122].
- All footholds on the holding-hand side, too high or small to backstep: Back flag [119, 123].
- No foothold where the free foot would help: Side flag or Back flag.
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Measure the distance.
- A target at the limit of your reach: turn the hip in and roll the shoulders.
- Beyond static reach (reach without a jump), with a small hold on the way: Bumping.
- A hold too small to share: cross instead of matching.
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After a failed attempt, read the symptom. Each entry lists its symptoms. The troubleshooting appendix collects them.