Body Position

Features, features, features! You’ll get sick of hearing about them! This problem is characterised by awkward body positions separated by long moves. Some very useful features help the climber orientate himself to make best use of the holds: this problem teaches that the biggest hold isn’t always the best – body position is more important.

 .. it is harder to be precise when catching hand-holds dynamically and body positions are not consistently secure. Most problems require a combination of static and dynamic movements.

Owing to the awkward holds, maintaining a good body position is essential for making progress on this problem. In the video you’ll see there are two ‘sequences’ – or series of movements – for completing the crux of the problem. For the first, the climber utilises his flexibility by placing a high right foot on a feature on the lip of the wave. This allows him to push some weight through his right leg, oppose it with a ‘locked off’ left arm and reach accurately with his right hand for the undercut above. In the second sequence, the climber uses a large foot hold rather than a feature to make the move to the undercut. This second sequence requires less flexibility, but due to the long reach the undercut is harder to hold. Your body shape will define which sequence works best for you.

When pulling over the lip of the wave, you’ll see the climber drop his left hand and right foot from the wall. Although he has fewer points of contact with the wall, his centre of gravity is advantageous for executing the next move – to a left-hand ‘gaston’.

Static vs. Dynamic 

The climber uses several different styles of movement to complete the problem.

‘Locking’ off your arm, shoulder and back muscles will cause rapid fatigue, but also allows you to reach holds accurately and maintain stable body positions. Alternatively, dynamic movement can be more efficient as it requires less muscular contraction and uses momentum. However, it is harder to be precise when catching hand-holds dynamically and body positions are not consistently secure. Most problems require a combination of static and dynamic movements.

The blue problem provides a good example of this. The first move is best executed dynamically, since the body positions involved are too strenuous to hold for any significant amount of time. Also, the holds are good enough here to allow quick movement and less overall exertion. Similarly, when the climber throws his right hand to the triangular hold over the lip, he moves dynamically because the body positions are extremely difficult to maintain. In contrast, the undercut higher up is too awkward to swing dynamically to, and a left arm ‘lock off’ is required. As can be seen in the video, this allows the undercut to be reached accurately and in control, and the climber can set up effectively for the difficult next move.

Try experimenting with static and dynamic movements on the Wave!

Beta Bites is a series of videos showcasing tips, tricks and advice – or “beta” – for the numerous bouldering circuits at The Foundry.

In our first week, we’re looking at a level 1 problem in the groove of The Wave. This problem is quite technical, demanding delicate footwork and good body position. The level 1 circuit is perfect for learning and refining basic climbing techniques such as bridging and foot swapping, and offers a gentle introduction to a huge variety of hand holds.

Body Position

When bouldering on The Wave, features play a vital part in gaining optimum body positions for different moves. In this problem, the climber uses features from the sit-start all the way through to the top out to create opportunities to ‘bridge’ and to get established in the groove. You will use features much more in the Level 2, 3 and Elite circuits, but for Level 1 problems, features provide foot placements additional to the bolt-on holds so height and strength need not be limiting factors.

Remember that ‘over gripping’ holds will fatigue your forearms more quickly. This is called ‘getting pumped’, and will definitely cut your climbing session short!

‘Bridging’ between holds and features distributes your weight onto your feet, reducing stress on your fingers and forearms. Look for places in grooves and between arêtes to bridge – it’ll help you control your weight, stay in balance and preserve energy.

Endurance

Efficient movement is a key element of climbing successfully. Notice that the climber keeps her arms straight wherever possible – when climbing, think about bent arms as being ‘switched on’, and straight arms as being ‘switched off’. Keeping your arms ‘switched off’ for longer saves energy, which will become more and more important as your climbing improves. Additionally, remember that ‘over gripping’ holds will fatigue your forearms more quickly. This is called ‘getting pumped’, and will definitely cut your climbing session short!

Footwork

Foot swapping is an intuitive action that you’ll probably be doing already. It can easily help climbers to adjust their body position without losing balance. But like any technique, foot swapping still needs to be done efficiently. A tidy way to swap your feet is to place one foot on top of the other, then remove the lower foot. As with all foot movements, try to move your feet precisely and quietly. You know your footwork is delicate if you can’t hear it, and good footwork stops your boots wearing out too quickly!

Our infamous bouldering wall, The Wave, was built over 20 years ago and still remains one of the best indoor bouldering venues in the country. Renowned for its outdoor-style features and top outs, delicate arêtes and a big, burly overhang, The Wave has everything for novices, veterans and professionals alike. 

The league this year was well attended, and we got to see some rather impressive performances in all categories.

Scores were close – there was only seven points splitting the top three competitors. The Junior Female category had a mere eight points splitting the top two. Big well done to Adam Harrison, Leah Crane, Izzy Hough and Jack Ainscough for winning their respective categories.

SCORES:

Round 1 Results (PDF)

Round 2 Results (PDF)

Round 3 Results (PDF)

Round 4 Results (PDF

Overall League Results (PDF)

This year we had sponsorship from the following great businesses:

Beta Climbing Designs

Planet Holds

The Clinic

Clif Bar (for the final round)

Round 1 Highlights

Round 2 Highlights

Round 3 Highlights

The Final Round

High Scores:

Ashley Wolsey-Heard (247)
Leah Crane (219)
Jack Ainscough (191)
Gracie Martin (148)

Best Improver:

Peter Briggs

Most Entertaining:

Nathan Jones/Chris Lockyer

Best to watch: 

Dana and Matt Windle

The Foundry Winter Bouldering League will return in 2013!

See you soon!

Tom

Members of the Mammut Pro Team will be visiting The Foundry on Saturday 26th January for a whole day of events.

Topping the bill will be free coaching masterclasses from Mammut Pro Team members Anna Stöhr and Jakob Schubert!

We’ll be running six sessions in total, with Anna giving three bouldering masterclasses and Jakob offering three lead climbing masterclasses.

The sessions are free and attendees will gain entry to The Foundry for free also!

The sessions will run on the following times (please only enter this competition if you are sure that you are available for all of these times):

2.00 – 3.00pm
3.15 – 4.15pm
4.30 – 5.30pm

HOW TO ENTER:

Jakob Schubert – Lead Climbing World Champion

There’s only four spaces available for each session, so we’re drawing names out of a chalk bag to see who’ll be lucky enough to join the masterclasses!

To get your name in the chalk bag you can either:

Anna Stöhr –  Bouldering World Champion

Call us: 0114 279 6331

Email us: wall@foundryclimbing.com (with your full name, age and a contact telephone number, and whether you want to attend the bouldering masterclass, or the lead masterclass)

Send us a Facebook message (with your full name, age and a contact telephone number, and whether you want to attend the bouldering masterclass, or the lead masterclass)

Or simply stop by reception at The Foundry.

If you’re keen for the lead climbing session, remember that you’ll need to be a competent lead climber at your grade (give us a call if you’re unsure about this).

What else is on?

There will also be plenty of other stuff occurring if you didn’t manage to get a place on the masterclasses:

- Members of the Mammut UK Pro team will be on hand to give climbing tips and training advice - Cailean Harker, Ethan Walker, Jess McCaskey, Nathan Lee and Oli Grounsell will be at The Foundry from 2pm.

- Mammut will be handing out random spot prizes and giveaways all afternoon – stickers, pens, toys, beanies!

- There’ll be two hard routes set on the prow (F8a and F8b) with cash prizes for the highest/first ascentionist.

- Mammut will be demo-ing climbing kit – the guys will have a range of climbing harnesses and belay equipment from people to try out.

- And as if all that wasn’t enough, it’ll be day one of The Mammut Climbing Challenge – this is a friendly, score yourself competition to attempt 12 brand new routes ground up – look out for more details shortly!

The fine details:

The sessions will run at the following times on the 26th January:

2.00 – 3.00pm
3.15 – 4.15pm
4.30 – 5.30pm

You’ll need to be a competent lead climber at your grade to attend Jakob’s lead climbing masterclass (give us a call if you’re unsure about this).

Entry to the wall for masterclass attendees is free. As are the masterclasses themselves.

You can put your name in the chalk bag for either masterclass or both. But only one masterclass session will be awarded per person.

John and The Clinic have supported The Foundry for many years – you may have even met him at one The Clinic’s free injury screening sessions that run through Winter at The Foundry.

Check out our interview with John below:

How did you become a physiotherapist?

As a keen sportsman in Australia, it was a career that really attracted me.  I went to university immediately after secondary school and studied physiotherapy for the next four years (it’s a four year course in Oz, unlike the UK 3 year courses).

Can you give us a little history – how did The Clinic come about?

I arrived in the UK in 1990 with a plan to stay for a year before moving on to the US. In 1998, I realised I was still here and thought I’d better get myself sorted with a proper job.   After initially renting clinic space in Totley for a couple years, I opened The Clinic, here at 919 Abbeydale Rd, in 2000.

It’s not been an easy time for anyone in business recently. What are the particular challenges you’ve had to face?

Any small business faces challenges when there’s a downturn in the economy but we’re here to make people feel better and by keeping our costs competitive and quality of service high, we’re keeping our heads above water and doing better than many.  We’re very lucky that we have a loyal clientele who return to us when necessary and refer us to friends, etc.  The greatest compliment we can get is to be recommended for our services and the best form of advertising is a satisfied client.

Business fluctuates month to month and whilst things are reasonably vibrant, we do have quieter periods, but we’re far from complacent and always keen to explore new methods of promoting The Clinic – eg social media to reach a younger clientele; our YouTube videos are one example and look out for us soon on Twitter… Tweet! Tweet!

How did you get into climbing?

I joined the university climbing club and was made treasurer which luckily allowed a small group of us to get funding for trips out to Arapiles or the Grampians.  Looking back, I reckon we were more of a drinking club at the time (pretty much like a UK Uni club!). Towards the end of University, I discovered windsurfing and stopped climbing for a good while, taking it up again when I came to the UK.

Do you have a favourite crag?

Whilst I love the Peak District, I have particularly fond memories of the Grampians –a beautiful, extensive area in Victoria.

Indoor climbing seems to be getting more and more popular, do you see this as good or bad?

It’s a great alternative to and more exciting than going to the gym for a lot of people.  It’s a great introduction in a relatively safe environment and for many is their initial exposure to climbing.  Anything that encourages people to exercise is a good thing.  Keeping obsessive people off the streets must be a good thing for society as well!

What’s the most common type of injury you see at the clinic? Finger injuries? Bad elbows?

Shoulder strains from over training are very common. March is our busiest month for climbing injuries as people are often at their strongest after spending Winter indoors and then go out and rip themselves to pieces on their projects.

What advice would you give beginner climbers about avoiding injury?

I could say “Don’t climb, stay home and wrap yourself in cotton wool” ; some form of injury is almost inevitable in any sport but a good warm up and warm down at the beginning and end of a session can help reduce the risk.  Don’t overdo it, listen to your body and seek help early.  We have a good selection of videos on YouTube that might help.

I hear more and more climbers talk about getting into yoga to aid their climbing. I don’t know anything about yoga, what can you tell us about the discipline, and how can it help climbing?

Yoga is great for the mind, body and soul – pretty much like climbing can be in the right environment.

Most forms of yoga combine a physical and a spiritual element.  The physical includes particular methods of breathing and stretching which require mental and physical control.  The stretching increases flexibility also.

Most climbers find that they need to do it if they are in their 40s and still training. It really does help recovery. My advice is to start it young and continue as its fantastic stuff.

Which athlete inspires you the most and why? (… and it doesn’t have to be a climber)

The Clinic

Mohamed Ali is inspirational – physically at the top of his game yet witty and spiritual.  He’s not called the Greatest for nothing.

There were so many tremendous athletes in the Olympics and Para-Olympics who were all inspirational it’s hard to name one, being a keen cyclist though, Mr Wiggins is a modern day hero of mine – if only I could grow my sidies …

What’s in the pipeline for The Clinic?

We are using a new form of bio-resonance therapy which is a little known approach in the UK. My biased opinion is that it is fantastic for injuries! One of the pioneers of this approach is a doctor from my home town of Melbourne. I am spending a couple days with him in his clinic just after Christmas, so watch this space………………………..

I’ve knackered my shoulder through climbing. How can I book an appointment?

Pick up the phone and dial …0114 2501162……….  We’d be delighted to see you.

Thanks to John and The Clinic for sponsoring The Foundry Winter Bouldering League!

The next round of the Bouldering League is on 14th January, starting at 5pm – be there!

Each month, The Foundry will be conducting an interview with one of the sponsors of The Foundry Winter Bouldering League.

Episode #2 of  ’who’s that sponsor’ features our interview with Iain Whitehouse, General Manager of Beta Climbing Designs.

Beta Climbing Designs have been around for a while; The Foundry has enjoyed a great relationship with Beta over the years. We get Bleaustone and Lapis climbing holds from Beta, as well as chalk, Climb On!, brushes and much more….

You must have had a tussle on this bad boy if you’ve climbed on The Foundry’s level 2 circuit….

Can you give us a little history – How did Beta Climbing Designs get started?

It started out making and selling slackline kits and BetaSticks, then took on the UK distribution of Climb On! and it went from there.

The real stand out feature is the texture. They’re just lovely to climb on. The two ranges are also thought out surprisingly scientifically: Each range is carefully thought out to fit in amongst all the others to add something new, rather than just be a limestone-like version of an existing Font hold or whatever. Between the two brands every conceivable size and positivity of hold is there, giving setters the absolute maximum number of options to create great problems. Sets like open-handed jugs aren’t really available elsewhere, for example.

We ‘re specialists in (often niche and funky) products for Climbers, Ultrarunners and Outdoor types.

A remote clipping device. The BetaStick Sport lets climbers clip fixed gear from way out of reach.

The Beta Stick Technical – folds away to super compactness…

It was born after one of the owners of Beta smashed his ankle falling off. He wanted to be able to protect that first section of sport climbs before the first gear is clipped to avoid doing it again.

They’ve been around a while but not so well known in the UK up until now. The three models we have here in the UK now are all-round flat-lasted performance shoes. Tenaya have resisted the strange modern fashion for thinking that shoes have to be weird shapes to perform well. The result is performance shoes that are really wearable!

Injinji Toe socks for the runners, Yates Big Walling gear for weirdos like me. Check out our website for more details about products we stock..

Tenaya have resisted the strange modern fashion for thinking that shoes have to be weird shapes to perform well.

I’m not sure how good people say they are. It would be difficult to overstate how good they are so probably yes. The only way to make them better would be for them to be cheaper – but you get what you pay for.

I got into it at uni a scary number of years ago. I actually joined the club to be a bimbly hillwalker and got taken climbing by accident.

Usually, but I tend to change my mind from time to time. I’m most often in the Eastern Peak but if i could climb on any UK crag this afternoon it would probably be somewhere on Southwestern granite. Bosi or maybe somewhere on Lundy like the Diamond?

We’re trying to move into a bigger and better warehouse because we’re running out of space where we are. We also have some great new Snap Pads coming into the UK over the next six months or so – The Calzone in about a month and then some new designs in maybe May

Cheers Iain, and thanks to Beta Climbing Designs for sponsoring The Foundry Winter Bouldering League.

The next round is on MONDAY 10TH DECEMBER…. be there at 5pm!

If you’re a registered member of The Foundry, you can sign in up to two people under your membership, so long as they are either under 18 or novices. Prior to November, we had no restrictions on novice guests belaying climbers. Now, we’ve introduced a new policy:

We’ve had a few sets of Planet Holds in the centre over the past couple of years, and people seem to like them. Last year the ‘big red ball’ featured heavily in the Foundry Winter Bouldering League – in fact it was so popular that we asked Planet Holds to sponsor the comps this year – so get ready for even more comedy dynos, grim grovel – fests and frenetic flash problems…

To kick off ‘who’s that sponsor’, here’s our interview with Micheal Elmes, of Planet Holds:

Michael Elmes of Planet Holds

Can you give us a little history – How did Planet Holds get started?

Five years ago I was a frustrated route setter struggling to find holds that inspired me and did the job they were designed to do.  Thus Planet Holds was born – simple, well-designed and effective holds that went back to basics with fantastic shapes that are friendly to use and great to set with.

Why ‘Planet’ Holds?

We wanted something catchy that depicted the huge variety of styles and designs in the collection so Planet Holds stuck!

How did you get into climbing?

My climbing passion began by a chance encounter with a keen climber looking for a partner.  This was in the 90’s when I soon found myself trad climbing in North Wales but then switched to southern comforts and spent more time on sports routes in Portland and Swanage.

How do you think climbing has changed over the years, if at all?

The popularity has just soared over the last few decades and not just indoors, the crags have become hives of activity and the growth in indoor walls has been fantastic to see.

Does the business eat up all your time? Do you still get out climbing much?

Between running Planet Holds and looking after 4 year old twins the climbing has taken a bit of a back seat but I still try to get out as much as possible to get inspiration for the next sets!

Have you got a favourite crag/venue?

Portland still ticks my box even after all these years and is a must do for anyone visiting the south coast.

It’s not been an easy time for anyone in business recently. What are the particular challenges you’ve had to face?

Despite the economic downturn it is really encouraging that so many new walls are still opening up and business is steady.  The biggest challenge for us has been trying to keep pace with the massive hike in p&p costs due to the rise in fuel prices in recent years.

Indoor climbing seems to be getting more and more popular, do you see this as good or bad?

Got to be good news, not only as training for real rock but also as a great social evening out and it is encouraging to see so many people now giving it a go.  This has of course meant more traffic on outdoor routes and it is a shame that the lower grade climbs are now becoming so polished in many popular venues.

What do you think makes a good indoor route? And a bad one?

Bad indoor routes for me consist of a series of linked boulder problems or over-reachy moves as a compensation for challenging moves.  For me a good route must flow and stay within the grade throughout the climb without any stopper moves that can cause frustration.

What’s your local climbing wall like?

I have recently moved to West Sussex and now find myself within easy reach of the newly opened White Spider.  I am itching to rebuild my home training wall and campus board as not having one is a real frustration!

What’s unique about Planet Holds products?

Planet Holds is unique as it uses today’s technology in improved materials and safety features but goes back to the old-school style giving classic shapes and designs a current edge resulting in great quality holds that are imaginative and actually work!

How do you come up with the shapes, what’s your inspiration?

I have to confess to being totally obsessed with hold designs.  So much so that I often find myself completely sidetracked looking at rocks, pebbles, stones on beaches – you name it!

What’s in the pipeline for Planet Holds?

Planet Holds has recently been joined by a new partner giving me more time to focus on designing new products.  We are planning on widening our online shop, increasing the number of sets in our range and continuing to build on our solid base.

Can anyone buy your holds, or do you only sell stuff to climbing walls?

Anyone can order direct through www.planetholds.co.uk. The sets are suitable for all kinds of climbing too. We have a range of products that not only combine to give real versatility and range for climbing walls but are also ideal for home wall users – crimp set 1 was actually designed especially for home users as an ideal training set.

Thanks Michael, and thanks to our sponsor, Planet Holds.

Remember, Round 1 of The Foundry Winter Bouldering League is on Monday 12th November. Be there at 5pm!