Why Beginner Climbers ACTUALLY Bend Arms
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- čas přidán 18. 01. 2019
- My Take on the Bent Arm Phenomenon in Beginner Climbers. They bend arms instinctively while climbing, although straight arms are more energy efficient. Are they really?
Why Beginner Climbers ACTUALLY Bend Arms by Mani the Monkey
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This is spot on. I recall learning straight arm technique and having an even harder time climbing and feeling completely off-balance and uncomfortable. My hands were dead way before my biceps and back gave out on sessions.
In my opinion something that is easily overlook is that certain techniques are only effective in combination with other "good" technique features. In this case of the straight arm, it moves the climber away from the wall. Only in combination with other techniques such as frog position, turning your body, standing low with bent knees,... it will actually improve your position. By just presenting one part of the solution, the improvement will not happen and often lead to worse performance. Techniques should always be understood and taught in all their aspects
Foobar Couldn't have said it any better! Thank you!
just what i thought and wrote moments ago - just because 'bent arms are bad', moving your center out is a terrible idea, i guess. it initially makes your arms work more than they need to, meaning it doesn't get better, but worse.
finally, together with the original video somebody understood what is quite obvious. And the final bit is that for most of the beginners the lack of technique actually means the lack of the special muscles power, in particular, even a flexible enough person, who can get into correct position with straight arm will not benefit from it as some of his core muscles are not ready to hold it, while for us, more advanced climbers it feels so natural and we can greatly reduce the force on the arms without noticing the core and legs tension (which is not very hard but involves unusual muscles)
I think there may be another, more direct feature for the bent arm phenomenon - whether or not it's harder or more energy efficient, it feels like how the beginner would usually traverse. You climb a ladder with straight legs and bent arms, you walk upright. You know already how to look around and manoeuvre your body from this position. Bent knees and straight arms puts you in a radically different perspective and a much less normalised body position. In addition to worrying about how physically strong they are to simply perform an action, suddenly the brain is having to develop at the same time a whole raft of schematic processes to develop perception/awareness and a natural movement form from this different perspective, with limbs in this different position.
Probably the way that finger strength is engaged differently with a bent arm plays a factor, but I feel like that emphasises a less substantive factor.
It's spot on. As I beginner I remember everyone yelling "straight arms" and feeling frustrated as it sapped my strength.
Another major, more psychological factor of bent arms in beginners: Fear. Especially on rope climbing. Just wanted to amend that, have a strong weekend!
Mani the Monkey I don't think climbing with straight arms is more efficient, it just takes away work from the arms and redirects it to the legs; the legs do more work, because you need to move your whole body more often, but your bottkeneck are the forearms, and while you may need more energy to climb with straight arms, your weak forearms are doing less of the work.
When fear comes „power moves from legs to the arms“. The grip gets to strong and the arms bend.
In my opinion the straight arm is important for the blood flow towards and from the forarms. Bizeps and triceps never fatigue while climbing. Beginners should be educated early about bloodflow, resting and shaking, so they can develop a good climbing style from the start.
100% agree. That's the impression I get from beginners.
Your arms look pretty bent in that picture. Must be a beginner.
Bit late to the party :) I can see that in case of my wife. She's holding on to the holds with all strength she has when gets scared with bent arms and almost straight legs. However, it is different on the rope where she feels in fact safer. Sometimes I just give her a little pull to feel on the top rope she knows that she's absolutley safe and this seems to relax her. Before, she tried bouldering and the fact of not wearing any safety gear was scaring the hell out of her (especially when it came to downclimbing, forget about trying to jump down). Fear can be that strong but good for her she fights it brave (I'm not forcing her to anything but helping out). Additionally, the fear causes not only bent arms but chronic overgripping which ends with irritated skin (another of her complains).
As a beginner, my bent arms are absolutely about fear. It holds me in close to the wall. It's also the reason I prefer to climb straight on versus with either hip towards the wall. Straight on means that my face is close to the wall and I"m "safe". Whereas climbing with either hip against the wall, or "side on", means that the wall is beside me, not in front of me. In front of me is a wide open space. In my head, that means that if I fall forwards, I'm falling into open space versus if I fall forward into the wall, I can grab onto something or I'll drop straight down. I'm not saying it's logical. I'm just saying that's the conversation in my head when I'm climbing. Having said that, the mental aspect of climbing and facing fears (illogical or otherwise) is part of what I love (and hate) about this sport. lol :)
Im the same, and also my biceps are stronger than my fingers
Newbie here.
Agree with the finger strength problem, and the frog legs flexibility without which it'll be hard to keep the centre of gravity close to the wall.
Also, I guess on a traverse wall like this, you could nearly stand on the holds without using hand holds, so the hands and arms only need to help balancing; when climbing up a wall, straight arms are encouraged to avoid using the arms to pull the body weight up and to use the stronger muscles on the legs to do the job, well, they have always been supporting our weight anyway. But when pushing yourself up with the legs and straight arms can create a big gap between the body and the wall momentarily, and this could be scary for beginners.
Maybe your best thumbnail pic so far 👌👌👌
Thanks for the analysis, Mani! Another great video :)
I laughed with this video, I was just like that when I began 😆
Length tension relationship in muscles. Some finger muscles (ie. flexor digitorum superficialis) have origins on the medial epicondyle of the humerus (lower part of the upper arm bone). Straightening the elbow puts them on stretch. Muscles can't generate as much force when they are stretched.
Actually, sarcomeres and thus muscle fibers are their strongest when stretched, of course, that is so long as there is no actin myosin dissociation due to over lengthening of the sarcomere. Check out sarcomere length Vs tension curve. Anatomically speaking, muscles don't stretch that far for the most part, and forearm muscles are a great example, hyperextend (or dorsiflex depending on nomenclature) your wrist, and you'll notice your grip strength increasing. Ventroflex, and you'll have the exact opposite effect. Having these principles into consideration (and I say this because I haven't explicitly read the statement nor confirmed it myself) elbow extension should increase grip strength.
Wow, Mani, excellent topic, great presentation and analysis, and even more to learn from some truly intelligent comments! Thank you all! The intro questions really drew me in and got me wondering and thinking, but really glad for the split screen and postulations around 3:18! Great info for better instructing and movement analysis. Thanks!!
Thanks for the information man!
amazing content, never heard before. thanks !
The video and problem addressed is spot on.
I think it is mainly related to anatomy. With bend arms you have more power in the fingers because you can use your soulders and core muscels. Try to make a fist as hard as you can with a stright arm in the air and than start to bend your ellbow. Suddendly you will reach a point where you can feel an extreme raise up of power.
could that also explain getting pumped? since climbers prefer to climb with straight arms it means more emphasis is placed on the forearms as opposed to the shoulders
Informative Vid. Thx.
Been wanting to get into this. My gym has a wall I think 10 bux for a couple hours. This is my motivation thanx ♥️💪🏼
Really interesting insights, Mani! That makes sense. It’s great to put yourself in the shoes of the beginner and understand their unique mental and physical limitations. It’s easy for “experts” in any field to forget what it was like to be a beginner.
One more thought: beginners might feel more comfortable reaching for closer holds, which automatically puts their arms at a bent angle unless they adjust body position.
Just finished my first week of climbing boulder indoor and think you are spot on. I left every session with my forearms absolutely dying and nothing much else sore at all. I'm not in shape either so it was a bit puzzling. What I realized climbing today was that I was focusing a lot on keeping my arms straight as much as possible which meant that I had terrible body position and stuck my butt way out from the wall most of the time instead of getting weight over my feet. Or I was even tilting back away from the wall for no reason when in in a spot I could basically stand with no hands at all.
Keeping arms straight helps a lot on decent overhangs but on more vertical walls I think beginners want to think about keeping good foot positions and using legs to support your weight.
Wow. This rings so true - I try to straight arm and my forearms just blow up as I fall to my doom. You may be the only channel that really "gets" the beginner experience. Thank you!
As always we'll explained. Your videos about beginner technics helped me a lot with my climbing progression. Thank you for that!
It's mostly easy physics to understand... So a good trainer should mention strait arms always with an open hip...
Hey Mani, I love how often you make observations about physiology and biomechanics. I am sure there are additional factors in every specific beginner, but for the most part you are spot on here. I bouldered and climbed as a kid and have some feel for it; however, I recently started climbing seriously after at least 6 years of really not climbing much at all and this is definitely the reason. Finger strength is one of the biggest hold backs for athletic beginners adults. I have known of the straight arms talk, but found myself thinking that I had trouble doing it because I had a hard time generating a lot of power from that position without potentially losing my hold. For example, if I was really starting to fatigue and I am going to need to make a pretty powerful move to reach my next hand hold I would often have a very hard time keeping my left hold, but if I stand up prematurely and keep myself into the wall by pulling in with my bent arms I would be able to reach without falling off. In a situation that is straight vertical and not overhung, I cannot think of a reason other reason other than finger strength.
This is very recognizable for me.
I was recently beginner and I confirm everything. One more reason for bent arms: first few weeks/months it drained all my energy just to have my arm up, as the gravity drained
blood from it. With time this stopped to be the issue and climbing on straight arms became more efficient. But this was a big reason for bent arms.
I find that when you start to pump out your fingers will open up so I would flare my elbow away from the wall so that my fingers could still cling to the hold, otherwise it would just be like an open hook and I would slip off.
Something I didn’t like when starting to climb was the amount of “climb with straight arms” advice but the lack of “how to climb with straight arms” advice
My brother (absolute beginner) told me that he couldn't hold himself with straight arms, which i found very interesting. Nice video!
I feel a lot of advanced climbers have no idea what they're doing when they "impart" beta or technique to beginners whilst conveniently forgetting the beginner has way lower strength in fingers, forearms, core and feet. Beginners should go through that initial phase doing what they feel more comfortable with. There is no benefit to forcing them to use better technique when some of them can't even do more than 2 pull-ups (or maybe even zero). It is important to get them to take baby steps, which in most cases would be just to build up some confidence first before they eventually are forced to refine their technique.
You absolutely nailed this one! I’ve been climbing about 4 months now and about a month in I actually comment on other videos asking about why using straight arms was so fatiguing for me and if I should stick with it or not. my finger strength has already improved greatly in the last 3 months and i am able to climb with much better form. what i tries to do was use straight arms and much as i could, but also have the idea to just send the darn thing any way i could if i got too fatigued. i mostly boulder.
Thank you, you are spot on. I am a beginner and I keep telling others that my main problem is the strength, while they keep convincing me "it's not strength, it's technique". Well, I can't even lift my foot to another hold because I just can't hold myself with my fingers, having arms straight. I guess it's hard for people who have been climbing for years to relate to these initial pains. When I was shown the basic position, with arms straight and legs bent, I simply could not even fit into that position properly, much less make a move from it. So it is about finger and arm strength. At least until you can hang for at least a few seconds, while getting to another foothold. Another important point is the toe strength, which is a bit neglected. We don't all do ballet, so I'm totally unused to standing on my toes and they get tired and cramped quickly. Anyone with knee or hip injuries will also confirm how hard it can be to lift oneself with one leg only/mostly. There's a lot of aspects to the "basic position and movement" in climbing.
Amazing, it sounds so simple when you explain it, yet I never thought about the reasons why beginners didn't understand my explanations. Thank you so much for you instructive videos !
I've just started climbing at 54 and I experienced exactly this at the start. Only after about a year is it easier for me to use a straight arm. Even then, on fingery holds the extra 'pull' and angle change from straight arms is felt on my fingers but I stick with it if possible.
Tim Parkin Happy to hear of another middle aged beginner climber! Started 6 months ago and fell in love with the sport.
It really is all about finger strength. I took a hard fall and braced with my right hand and did serious damage to my thumb, and as a beginner it's hard to overcome the ping of fear when it comes to holding a pinch or crimp, no matter how open it is. Your advice is spot on, and I've forced as many routes as I can avoiding jugs in order to build this strength. As a result in the past month I've "graduated" to heavy overhangs.
At any rate, love the channel. It was the first place I was recommended on youtube and it's helped my climbing immensely.
That's how I climb, after 10 years 😅😅
but how? I've been climbing for one year and adopted it only by repeatedly observating
@@derailedtrain2517 joke
I default to it when im in trouble. V1s/V2s feel too easy most of the time and i can use good technique. Then as soon as i do a v3 the reaches are too far, the grips and footholds too small that i have to ‘muscle it’ because im too scared of slipping and falling
I know it's in your other videos, but a quick explanation why straight arms are better would be cool in this video x)
Good to get inside the head of those you are instructing. The wall you were explaining this concept on was less than vertical. Therefore, the weight is already over the legs, arms are for balance. Pulling tight into the wall with bent arms assures the weight says over the feet. Also, traversing is not really ideal for demonstrating the straight arm, hip to the wall, twist and reach. Move over to the past-vertical wall and move upwards to demonstrate how twisting the hip into the wall, dropping the knee and keeping the opposite arm straight is more efficient for reaching up vs. locking off over straight legs.
Alex Megos als Beispiel das einem die Elbogen hoch gehen, wenn die Kraft ausgeht... GÖTTLICH ;)
Im about 3 weeks into the rock climbing and it has been quite a while since I have been doing something, so I am very weak. You are 100% correct on finger strenght. Its always the bottle neck when I am climbing. Every part of my body would love to continue climbing but I have to end the session because I simply cannot hold myself.
When I started I tended to draw a lot from the one prominent climber I knew most of, which was Alex Honnold. If you look at the guy's climbing it's quite obvious that the priority in his technique is not about having straight arms but rather about standing right on top of his feet. I supposed that's probably got a lot to do with the fact that he climbs mostly slab.
With indoors sports climbing I suppose it's different. Nevertheless, the first step of noticeable improvement I was able to get technique-wise was when I became really disciplined about basically hugging the wall constantly. In my mind at the time, all having bent legs did for me is take my butt away from the wall, and force me to work harder with my hands. Also keeping my hands high over my head would ultimately drain the blood out of my forearms and make me tired without even doing anything (remember having that question that the teacher seemed to ignore for minutes?).
Anytime I tried going with my arms straight and I'd just get tired somehow within 20-30 seconds. But when I did it the other way I was able to send the routes easily.
I think you observe right. When starting, the fingers and forearms strength is so bad for most people that they just can't afford the extra effort that comes with keeping the arms straight. It's only with time, and as I understood proper leg techniques, that I finally started understanding the straight arms advice. Now I usually start my session with drills where I just pretend to have no elbow for a couple easy routes. I just force my arms to remain perfectly straight and work with my core and legs the whole time. But I know for a fact that this is only possible because I now have the finger strength to make it viable. Earlier, there's a bunch of cases where, even in low level routes, there would've been some holds that I just couldn't hold on to.
Beginner here. Thanks for this video. Searched this video exactly because of the finger strength. Today I had a climber friend correcting my stance towards straight arms, but my fingers are simply not strong enough to hold/grab/pinch. I kept falling all the time. Clearly finger strength is what I must focus on.
I accidentally tuned out half way because I was paying too much attention to the skit
in my experience it's more of a comfort thing when climbing, when i hang i tend to do just as good on crimps bending or straight, but jugs it's better straight and slopers are far better bent for me, I also find when on extremely overhanging sections when i'm hanging straight arm it's harder to keep my core engaged and feet on the wall, where as if i bend my arms even a little it becomes easier to keep my feet more pressed and core better engaged
You're suck a good actor :) great video as always
Yo thanks for the video, really nice perspective on this problem!
I don't know where to put a question for next possible Q&A so ill write it here. Do you practice vizaualization? When i go to sleep after a successful boulder session i firstly lay on my back and try to imagine that boulder that i progressed on today. I try to recreate move sequence and imagine the same feelings i get from lets say that hard pinch or some compressed body position with toe hooks. i try to really re-live those particular moments, that went right this time, but were not in place in my previous attempts on this problem. In this way i kind of try to reinforce the memory and understanding of the move sequence. Do you practice something similar and what do you think about it in general?
Spot on. I am also convinced that sufficient trust in finger strength is also a prerequisite for applying several other techniques properly. E.g. will you dare to clip draws with a straight arm holding a smaller ledge, or use a suboptimal clipping position locking off on a jug. Or will you efficiently stand up on an outside edge holding a somewhat crimpy sidepull instead of making a reachy move locking off a jug down to your hip.
It may go against popular belief, but I think strengthening fingers does make sense in the lower grades as well.
great argument/explanation, also I miss the light hearted humor that's portrayed in this video, alot like your older stuff :D!
when i saw your example of beginners climbing with straight arms my initial thought was what you explained right afterwards - center of gravity moves out of the wall, which means you instantly consume more power from your arms and fingers than in a situation where your center is (almost) above your feet and your legs can do most of the work.
what might also play a role is the length of the levers - your arms - that work on your shoulder muscles. beginners (like me) also often don't have a lot of shoulder strength to pull their center into the wall. with stretched arms you need more force to do so compared to your hands holding right next to your core... i think
Great video. As you may know considering some of your calisthenics oriented videos, bent arm strength is not the same as straight arm one.
So I'm wondering if training on the fingerboard in a tucked front lever position could be a good idea. Or even in a simple straight arm, fully retracted scapulas position. Anyone tried training finger strength like this way before?
10 months in, and my coach's emphasis on straight arms seems to be more about learning scapular engagement, as well as resting smartly.
I could be wrong and I don't know 100% how this applies to climbing but I do know that when your muscles are fully extended or really just in a static position ( can be in a flexed or extended position but is not actively bending or extending) they are contracted this is called isometric contraction, or at least you are utilizing mostly isometric contraction while you climb. When they are actively flexing (arm bending) this is concentric contraction (acrively extending is eccentric contraction). In isometric contraction, our muscle fiber's filaments have less cross bridge formation which is needed for contraction (this also means less ATP or energy used to form cross bridges). This means that you would have a weaker contraction than concentric contraction where there is more overlap of muscle filaments and thus more cross bridge formation (more ATP used). This could explain why it is harder initially to climb with extended arms or even if your arms remain in a flexed position (this is also isometric contraction) as a beginner when you dont have something like finger strength to compensate.
Ideally, if your arms are extended you are most likely using less ATP and thus less energy to form cross bridges but it comes at the expense of a decrease in strength. However, increased strength of your finger muscles can aid you in this as you get stronger. (I should also note that your finger muscles are really in your forearm)
I think this makes sense but please feel free to look more into it as I could have some facts mixed up here. There is a lot going on and the anatomy and physiology of this particular activity has a lot of components that each play a different part.
Thanks for the videos, as a beginner I really appreciate the perspective you provide; keep it up!
Def has a lot to do with fear for me, I’m still a beginner but have been working on using my feet more, getting them up higher so I can push with my hips/legs and not just pull with my arms. I start off straight armed but when I find myself getting higher up and onto trickier holds where I don’t feel so confident in my feet or fingers (getting tired too) I stretch my body out too far and bend my arms to get closer to the wall since it feels like it takes less effort to push myself up/feels safer. I know afterwards that all I had to do was straight arm it and get my feet high to push up and grab the next handhold but I’m still a little shaky at the top. I feel the need to keep all hands and feet on the wall as much as possible but it just ain’t the way to go most of the time.
mani, do you have a set regime for the difficulty you climb during a session?
After getting problems with my tennisarm I realized I only climb routes at the upper end of my abilities and that lead to the injury.
How big is the portion of your training that really taxes you and takes you to the limit of your abilities?
In other words, how much strain do you think is sensible to put on your body?
Thanks for your great input!
Seems to make sense. My personnal observations would be that it's mostly about lack of hip flexibility/good hip placement that makes straight arms less attractive than they would be coupled with better body positioning. I hadn't thought of the different strength ratios for arms/fingers but that makes a lot of sense as well. For my part, if I have to suggest improvements to a newer climber, I still think straigthening the arms would be part of it, but perhaps with a greater emphasis on the overall body position that allows to actually leverage the advantages.
Well, some well known dude, called Adam O. once said, that he is for sure not the climber with the „the most beautiful climbing style“... but „the most efficient one“.
As you said in your video.
Good explanation!
(I will try to find the video of Adam, and place a link)
As a complete climbing beginner, I can tell it's quite tempting to stay in straight-legs/bent-arms position and for example, my girlfriend didn't have much issue spending almost 4h doing climbing and bouldering using that beginner's posture, while at the same time, I was trying to work more with my legs, and keep my arms as straight as possible for as long as possible. We both run and do a lot of mountain hiking all year round (means, we also do some front pointing in crampoins during winter season in the mountains) so our legs are in a relatively good shape. That said, I felt my arms were much more tired after the session, than I assumed they should. I visited climbing gym only once, but I hope to do it more often in near future so will try to pay more attention to how I improve with posture and the techniques. For now though, I think it might be, that I'm not loading up my legs as much as I should, and with straight arms, I still put too much weight on them - I hang on arms rather than just use them as secondary holding points. I think, next I should try to use more of my legs, and maybe just one hand for stabilization. Maybe that will force me to use the technique more properly.
3 minutes introduction, 2 minutes of actual content, 50 seconds of conclusion.
Think how one would climb a ladder.
Also eye level with hand holds is nice for beginners
Hey mani, i mainly climb outdoors and have a question about training. Between training (traversing, running laps on easier climbs) or working beta on projects... which do you feel would benefit me more?
I think traverse is a bit different from climbing up because in traverse, bent arms make a little sense. However, when climbing up, it makes no sense to have bend arms and straight legs (vs. straight arms and bent legs). Good video
I think core strength plays a major factor into it too.
Look at any straight arm exercise ie Front lever, skin the cat, planche etc Ask a beginner to do a variation of those with properly locked arms and 99% can’t because the core/shoulders are too weak. I also agree that on slab leg flexibility will often force bent arms especially in tall people.
also my thought - i know about weak core/shoulders ;) ... i'm more the cyclist kind of guy that went to the climbing gym a couple of times with friends just for fun. with straight arms it might sometimes be hard to pull yourself into the wall, because of long levers pulling on your weak shoulder muscles.
Thanks for a great Vlog Mani the Monkey. Make sense this, never heard someone say it before like that. I guess most of us are told, when we start climbing, how important it is to keep straight arms. Is your conclusion then that this advice is waisted on a rookie?
Probably good advice still to use straight arms as it gets your fingers stronger quicker but perhaps some better advice would be to go to a less overhung, more slabby climb instead of reverting to bent arms.
I also think this might be why smearing is hard for beginners. It requires a straight arms and a lot of pull to create pressure back on the feet. That's a lot of finger strength if the holds aren't great.
such a friendly wall. they should climb with NO ARMS on this. helps to train balance as well.
Interesting topic, that beginners feel that climbing is easier with bend arms.
Sure I try to climb with straight arms, but sometimes a „fully locked arm“ can also be a good solution I guess. As a second solution when a better one is not obvious, for example for clipping in a flash attempt. Locking - like the elbow down touching the ribs besides the body and the hands are near the shoulder.
(Hoffe ich konnte das irgendwie auf Englisch verständlich rüber bringen)
Sometimes I regret it to clip in a nasty locked position, but sometimes I experience it’s better to act „quick and dirty“ than to think to long while hanging on the wall.
I'm a beginner and the first time I climbed I had my arms bent the whole time. I think I was doing it simply out of fear of falling. When I was advised to straighten my arms and push my way up with my legs I actually started having fun. My fingers aren't....terribly weak...and I don't think that was what was compelling me to bend my arms, personally. It was just straight up anxiety lol.
Just started indoor climbing last October at InspireRock, Spring , Texas. I have the very same problem. I still try to climb with bent arms instead of straight. I have to be careful about my left arm due to a fistula in that arm used for kidney dialysis. I will NOT quit climbing! My dream is to be the first kidney transplant recipient to climb El Capitan. "If your dreams don't scare you, they ain't big enough"
Inspire Rock is a great gym. Very cool environment to spend a day. Best of luck to your dream! My best advice is to avoid injury and always be intrigued and learning. Get out to Reimer's and E-rock!
I'm not a good climber myself, but what I found out from giving tips to my friends who were climbing for the first time, it's more about them wanting to stand on straight legs. It seems that more important than emphasizing straight arms is emphasizing that frog like position.
And that stuff about being able to hold better on bent arm especially when exhausted is a thing that I believe will notice everyone who climbs regularly.
jajajajaj.... super! I recognize myself from 0:30 to 1:49...
You can keep your hips close to the wall and stand up straight with bent arms climbing. It feels natural to stand up straight, but there is no efficiency to it. Bending your knees and moving your feet is not intuitive when you are new.
Do not think about arm position, focus on BALANCE. Standing on your feet at all times is like free money. Let the arms follow the feet, legs and hips.
Of course fear and fingers strength are good explanation for this king of behaviour, but when even really good climbers climb they just use both straight and fold arms.
My point is that instead of forcing new climbers on straight arm, they should focus on the feeling each hold gives, the alternation of straight and fold arm will follow, because they will feel it as the most comfortable position. Sometimes it's useful to show them some possible strategies and they will imitate (of course when you are tired you just grab and use all your body to spare as energy as possible, with the few positions you know, if you show them a new one, they can become confidential with that and spare energy in a more functional way).
Thank god my shitty arm- and shoulder strength saved me from this.
Good advisements, but i would like , you had compared twice tecniques, the fake And the true
I find straight arms mean bent legs- which actually seems less energy efficient. If I want to climb longer I'd do straight arms but the lazy way is straight legs.
Basically, climbing with straight arm is a result of stronger grip strength, not a technique.
When you climb with straight arms, you should be reaching much higher so you are close to the wall, not hold the same spot and stick your butt out from the wall. Your comparison seems kind of contrived since you can’t hold higher up on the traverse. I think a vertical climb would be a better experiment.
I'ts muscle biomechanics. With straight arms your muscles will never work so strong as they can with bent arms.
Dat face 👌👌
i have heard advice like 'straight arms' and 'keep body close to wall' and they just aren't logically sound. how can a restrictive rule lead to optimal performance?
'straight arms' literally means we are optimal if we didnt have elbows. absurd.
'keep body close to wall' is another example of how something so wrong sounds right. what it probably means is engage your core.
i think the real advice is to engage the core/back. without that, the straight arm technique tends to take on more weight because nothing is supporting the waist up. or if they are low and legs bent, their weight rolls off further from the wall.
i think it actually means: most of the time your center of gravity will be way more close to a neutral balance point when it's closer to the wall.
And probably engage the core too, you're right. just wanted to add the balance aspect - which i think most beginners neglect
I bend them just a bit m, not totaly bend but not totaly bend, you see? Btw im a beginner
The straight arms is not for the arms but to get lower on your legs Adding more weight to them
The straight arms is also to hugely reduce load on the biceps and on a lot of holds helps you get a firmer, more angular grip by having your weight under your hand instead of behind it. You want weight on your legs because they're used to carrying it every day - your arms aren't. It seems odd to say that would mean the position is not for the arms as a result.
Climb Musk!
What about blood circulation? Keeping your arms above your head will make you loose circulation. Climbing wipes out your arms in minutes for beginners. Straightening and flexing your arms pumps your arms so much that you need any chance you can to bring back blood flow. Maybe if you are climbing sideways like in the video but I just don't see keeping arms straight is any technique to begin with since there aren't usually a whole lot of options like in a gym wall. You grab what u find right?
Ciaoooo!!!!😁
Please slow your speech down. Not always but at times you speak smoothly yet quickly and of course with an accent. Thanks
You look like Elon Musk Mani
i think the most important part is that beginners are to uncomfortable to climb with straight arms, because they lack the technique and experience to position their body accordingly. the fingers strength had almost nothing to do with it and is not worth mentioning or worth to take in consideration.
Sorry but straight arms aren't energy efficient for beginners at least
So true, stop teaching people to straighten their arms, ppl who think straight arms=good technique r so navie and lack empathy
How to make a fun activity boring. A true European!