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Bouldering technique for beginners: Moves to know

When stepping into the gym, the first things we’ll see are the beautifully coloured holds, and it is no mystery that most of our first runs at the gym ended with pumped forearms and broken dreams after only a few tries on the easy problems. So what’s the secret to more endurance, a greater success rate, and, of course, becoming a local superstar?

The answer is pretty simple: technique. Training represents an upward scale that you have to climb step by step, and somehow it can’t be rushed, but if bouldering were a video game, mastering your technique would be like having cheat codes.

So let’s dive into the bouldering technique for beginners and learn the moves that will take you up on the V scale with the snap of a finger.

Static vs Dynamic Climbing

Before we get into the deep climbing lingo with your flagging, smearing, heel, toe hooks, and knee moves, let’s talk about the difference between static and dynamic climbing. It’s the same old story with two schools of thought, both saying their technique is better, with dyno climbers just bolting through routes using momentum and static climbers taking their time for every move in search of accuracy and control.

Basically, static climbing means that you’ll calculate your moves and make steady, precise steps up the wall, while dynamic climbing requires you to move faster using momentum to conserve the energy you would be spending on struggling to latch onto a small crimp. So the first step would be to read your route and evaluate the sections that require static or dynamic moves.

The key is, as always, trying to find the sweet spot where your fingers don’t get hammered from turning the route into a fingerboard session while not wrecking your forearms jumping from one hold to another.

Bouldering moves for beginners

There are a couple of easy moves that will take your bouldering to the next level without even noticing. Getting used to these bouldering moves will help you conserve energy and even get past moves you found as cruxes before.

Footwork

It’s all in the feet, chico! Well, not always, but most of the time, your feet will get you out of trouble in this sport that seems dominated by upper-body strength. Being aware of where your feet are and how to move them on the wall is essential, and here are a few moves that will take you out of the lurch.

Foot swapping

There are many situations on the wall when you simply don’t feel so cool on your feet, and switching between feet brings you more balance. You can swap feet by overstepping (try to avoid catching your other toe), jumping from one foot to another just like a bunny, or inching until you replace the other foot. Most climbing tutorials tell us that overstepping is the best method and uses less energy, but doing a bunny swap is also effective if time is essential.

Smearing

No holds? No problem! Smearing is that almost magic-like technique that will take you up the boulder problem when you don’t find footholds. Putting the soles of your shoes on the wall and applying pressure while sliding your foot in a controlled manner to maintain friction and balance, will help you get past that slippery section.

This is a great move for beginners. It is good to have it all dialed up because tons of hard climbs require this bouldering technique.

Edging

One of the first bouldering techniques you’ll work on as a beginner is edging. A pretty hard one to master, edging means that you’ll try to stand on the edge of your shoes (not the tip), and it’s hard because it requires balance and some hip work. But after getting the hang of it, it’s a great technique for slabs and face climbs.

Heel hook

Keeping it on the footwork section, the queen of the ball, the crown move that saves you when things get complicated, the heel hook will save you from blowing your forearms and finding creative ways on tons of boulders.

Heel hooking involves placing your heel behind a hold or feature while pulling with your hamstring to get past the move. Pulling your toes downward will help you get a stronger heel hook, and mastering this move will significantly decrease the difficulty of a boulder.

Toe Hook

The heel hook’s brother, the toe hook, is basically the opposite of the other bouldering technique. Requiring a little bit more finesse and strength, the toe hook engages your core and helps you stick closer to the wall by placing your toe under a feature and pushing your heel outside while pulling your toes towards you.

By making this move, you’ll gain more stability and be able to get out of some tricky situations.

Bicycle

The bicycle bouldering technique is the process of having one foot on top of the hold while the other is underneath. By hugging the hold or feature, you’ll gain more stability in certain situations, which helps you get past some areas with not so many foot holds.

Bouldering techniques for beginners

Now that we have passed the footwork, we can focus on some other moves that are somewhat essential to your development as a climber. Remember that static vs. dynamic thing we were talking about earlier? This is where some of them apply.

Layback

Do you know that the first time you went bouldering, everyone shouted at you to not stay with your face stuck to the wall? Laybacking is the technique that helps you find balance when you don’t have an opposite hold. So creating tension by leaning away from a side pull will give you that extra balance needed in order to get to the next move.

It may sound easy at first, but it’s a move that requires technique, as you can slowly start swinging like a barn door and fall in disgrace so practice makes it perfect.

Flagging

Maybe one of the first moves you’ll learn as a bouldering beginner is flagging. When flagging, you are opening your hips and extending your leg out to the side with your hip open to the wall. The optimal way to perform a flag is by creating an opposition between the foot that’s on the hold and the one pressing into the wall.

This particular move is really important for regaining your balance after a sketchy move and will even help you extend to gain that extra inch that you need to reach another hold.

Flagging comes in forms, and the most popular sound like this:

  • The back flag, is a way to get more balance as you pass one leg behind the other, crossing them. In this way, if you don’t have a good position in which to switch feet, a back flag might be the solution to your problem.
  • The inside flag isn’t as popular as the regular or back flag. The reason for its lack of popularity is its complexion. So basically, when pulling an inside flag, you’ll make a reverse back flag, meaning you’ll bring your foot in front of the one that you’re standing on, not the other way around.

Check out this excellent video on flagging:

YouTube video

Drop knee

The drop knee, or one of the most overused techniques in climbing, is a must-learn for two reasons: it’s highly efficient, and it looks freakin’ great! A great addition to the topic is that this is a static bouldering technique; you can’t really jump into position.

So in order to perform a drop knee, you’ll do a twisting motion, rotating your hips perpendicular to the wall and pulling with the hand on the same side you’re turning. So, for example, if you twist your body from right to left, you’ll reach higher with your right hand. By making this move, one of your knees will drop (drop knee, you know), and you’ll gain some more stability and a higher reach for the next hold.

Cross through

Sometimes (as far as I noticed, on overhangs), there’s a great hand hold on your opposite side, like you should reach to your right with your left hand. Well, my friends, we call it a cross through, and it is one of the most efficient bouldering moves when it comes to climbing efficiently.

One of the essential indoor bouldering techniques, the cross through will not only give you more mobility but also an extra inch when in need, especially if you combine it with flagging, so you’ll be super awesome on the wall.

Bridging

“Ow my God, how many times I wanted to have a bridge between two features on the wall,” said the beginner boulderer at the gym. Well, here’s an idea for you, and it’s called bridging. So, this bouldering technique will help you both inside and outside the gym when you are facing a corner and have holds on both sides of the wall.

Basically, bridging is putting one foot on one side and one on the other. It’s more of a foot technique, as your hands will help you only to keep balance, and your feet will do all the hard work. Mix bridging with some good smearing technique, and you’ll find yourself not needing foot holds on a boulder problem that involves a corner.

Jam

Jamming is the spark that started the fire called WideBoyz. The most popular are, of course, the fist jams, where you put your hand inside a crack or between two features and close your fist. When closing your first, the expansion of your hand will jam your hand in there, and there you go—literally, a new hand hold.

The other kinds of popular, and let’s say entry-level jams are the toe jam and the heel-toe cam or bananaing.

The toe jam is pretty self-explanatory, it implies you sticking the tip of your shoes inside a crack or between two features, and by making a twist-like motion, jam your foot inside the crack so you can push and get higher.

Bananaing or the heel-toe cam, implies putting your entire foot inside the crack and making a sideways rotation so your heel will press against one side and your toe on the other. It’s called bananaing because the more you push, the more your foot will start looking like a banana.

Kneebar

The king or queen of new school bouldering, the kneebar is one of the most beloved moves in the sport. You could consider it somehow related to jamming because it basically implies placing your foot on a hold and pressing your knee on another feature found at a knee-high level. What could it be used for?

Well, kneebaring is a great technique used in sport climbing and in bouldering for resting because after you make the move, you can let go of the hand holds and breathe for a bit.

Rock over

One of the basic bouldering moves is the rock over, which consists of moving your center of gravity over a foothold. It’s very efficient when climbing slabby features or when you are facing those nasty button-like foot holds. As you lean over to hold to create pressure, your whole body will help you get over it, with the hands keeping you balanced and your core and legs helping you get the momentum to get over it.

The rock over is another seemingly easy move; it doesn’t need much exercise, but the commitment must be 100% there because if you do it too fast, you may slip and fall, and if you do it too slowly, you might not make it.

Mantle

A bouldering move is found especially when climbing outside boulders, but I must say I found it necessary in some indoor gyms too. The mantle is the technique that helps you get from underneath a hold to above it, like getting on top of a rock.

Frankly, I find it sometimes terrifying because you are up there most of the time, pumped and sweaty. To get past it, use a heel hook above the edge and raise yourself on top of the rock. I find it scary because it most often requires force, and let’s face it, on top of a hard boulder, strong is one of the last words that come into your head.

Dyno

We saved the best for last. The dyno, or dynamic move, is the equivalent of hitting the skip button on YouTube ads. Pulling a dyno means basically getting yourself low and exploding into a jump movement to reach a higher hand hold, which you couldn’t normally get to.

Pulling a dyno is very efficient when you’re climbing jugs or large crimps. Also, there is a variation called deadpoint where you jump very precisely to a hold, like deadpoint, get it?

A good dyno usually involves a full extension on the wall, and it should be pretty accurate because if you miss the hold apart from falling, you might end up with a blown pulley like yours truly got after pulling such a trick.

Deadpoint

As mentioned earlier, the deadpoint is a specific kind of dynamic move. But is it more special? Well, yes! There’s an entire philosophy around it and you can read literally tons of articles on this particular subject.

Without getting that much on the subject, deapointing is performing a precise dyno towards a handhold while keeping in consideration the rules of physics. That means that before taking the jump, you should calculate the force applied so when you get to the desired hold, you should be almost at G0.

An easier way to explain this is when throwing an object into the air, the point it reaches before it comes back down, that’s the deadpoint, hence the name of the move.

Pulling a good deadpoint for sure will give you a lot of satisfaction, as you almost feel weightless when slapping that sloper hold.

Blowing the dust

As a final thought, mastering these movements will indeed climb on the V scale pretty fast, at least up to a certain point. A good bouldering technique can indeed save you from a lot of pain and frustration, but that doesn’t mean that training should be neglected, as a good routine combined with great moves will make you a Dave Graham-like figure in your gym.

And of course, the most important move, don’t forget to slowly blow the dust off your fingertips while making a move on the wall. It gives you extra coolness credits, and it’s a fact that if you have +10pts cool in your moves, you climb better!

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