Rock Technique and Training for Beginners

Mani the Monkey is a climber and climbing coach that has put together a youtube channel filled with excellent training and technique information for climbing movement skills. We've featured several of Mani's videos on the blog over the last several months. Most of these are for more advanced climbers.

In this video, Mani talks about what beginning level climbers should focus on to build their climbing movement skills.



In review, here are Mani's suggestions for beginner climbers:

1) Diverse Climbing - Try lots of different things: boulder, alpine climb, climb cracks, climb faces, gym climb, join competitions...just do whatever you can to build a wide array of climbing skills.

2) Determine Your Climbing Level - Do a lot of flash attempts in the gym. Don't spend much time projecting routes. Don't try anything more than three times. It's better if you can get on a lot of diverse terrain instead of focusing on specific problems. Additionally, you'll build finger, tendon and hand strength, which will help you to avoid injury.

3) Diversity Allows You to Determine Focus - The more you have variety, the more you'll determine what's best for you and what discipline you really want to focus on. If you start with diversity, it will help you figure out what you should train for.

Mani notes that this focus on diversity is what allowed Adam Ondra to become one of the best climbers in the world.

--Jason D. Martin