Effective footwork is the key to enjoyable progress in Rock Climbing. In a previous article, I discussed the most basic elements of footwork: maximizing weight on the feet, quiet footwork, and agility. In this article, I'm going to describe my experience with a very specific topic: using the feet in coordination with the hands for maximum effectiveness.

Coordinating Feet and Hands

The most important skill in technical rock climbing is using your hands effectively. Holding onto difficult holds and conserving forearm endurance are the twin problems every climber faces when moving up the difficulty grades.

The primary means of using your hands effectively is positioning your body and the direction of force on the hand holds with your feet and core. Here is a simple example. Consider a common artificial gym hold shaped like a tongue, facing downwards. It is large enough to grasp with either or both hands. Assume there are a profusion of foothold opportunities. What's the best way to grasp this hold with your hands to move upwards?

The answer is that the hold works best as an undercling. You want to get your feet high so that the hold is near your waist. In this position, the direction of force on the hand hold is upwards, counter to the force of gravity, however the force on the hand hold is now in the direction that offers the greatest comfort for the hand tendons and forearm muscles, giving the most positive holding power and the least strain. The hold becomes positive, "bomber" in the parlance.

If you position your feet so that the hold is at or above your shoulders, you must execute a "pinch," which is far less effective because the direction of force is now in a direction where the hands must strain to provide friction, at high cost to the tendons and muscles.

This simple example demonstrates that the choice of body position can greatly affect the effectiveness of the hands, and that the feet must be used to position the body correctly for effective hand use.

The "core" muscles have a part to play. When you are connected to the wall by two or more holds that are connected through your center of gravity, you must stiffen your core to remain attached to the holds. This stiffening is called "body tension." In the most extreme case, if you are hanging from a steeply overhanging wall using your left hand your right foot, both stretched to their limit, you must use almost maximal body tension. If you are standing on an extremely positive foothold and have "locked off" your hands at shoulder height on a slab that leans away from you, you need very little body tension.

Optimizing the Direction of Force in Two Dimensions

Consider first the two dimensions parallel to the wall you are climbing. You have up and down (one dimension) plus left and right (the second dimension).

In the example above, moving high on a hold created an opportunity to use it so that the direction of force was upwards. This is very common: many holds on rock and on plastic work best when you use them as underclings. When the direction of force is downwards, staying low on the hold offers the most positive grip.

Does this seem obvious and not worth the electrons to mention it? Many novices have trouble with holds such as slopers and ledges. These holds may be extremely positive when the direction of force is parallel to the wall and downwards. However, as you move up past the hold, the direction of force is no longer downwards and parallel to the wall, and it becomes insecure. Clever use of the feet and hands may fix this problem. For starters, stay low on the hold as long as possible. Choose low footholds where available. If the best footholds are close to the hold, bend the legs so that the center of gravity remains as low as possible. Another technique is to "mantle": push down on the hold from above, creating a downward direction of force.

Many holds offer the most positive grip in a sideways direction. These are often called "side pulls." Looking at the hand hold in isolation provides little clue how to negotiate it. But when you look at the opportunities for positioning your body with your feet, the solution will appear.

The most elementary way to create a sideways direction of force on a hold is with gravity. Even if the foothold you wish to use is directly below a hand hold, you can create a partially sideways direction of force on the handhold by leaning away from the handhold. This can be done facing the wall or by turning one hip into the wall. You often flag the free foot.

For example, if you have a handhold that is very positive when the direction of force is to the left, you will place your right hand on the hold, your left foot on a foothold, and lean your body to the left, flagging your right foot. Your next hand move will be with your left hand. You can face the wall, turning your left knee out and using the inside edge of your left foot. You can also twist your left hip into the wall, facing right, and using the outside edge of your left foot. This is called "backstepping."

Backstepping creates a very big reach opportunity, especially if the next move is high and to the back stepped side, left in the example given. Another benefit is that you have an opportunity to create a "twist lock." Your arm has the greatest isometric efficiency when it is fully extended. It has nearly as much isometric efficiency when the elbow is held into your side and locked into place, "elbow to lat" in the parlance. When you "twist lock," you can often adjust your position to lock the elbow of the arm that grips the side pull into your side, which creates a very secure and efficient position. On overhanging walls (discussed in more detail below), backstepping and twist locking may be the only way to conserve enough energy to complete the climb.

Gravity is not the only way to create a sideways direction of force on a handhold. You can also use your feet to push your body in any direction. This will create a direction of force on a handhold just like leaning. Standing high on an undercling is one example.

Another common example is "lie backing." Consider a vertical crack. Presume you don't wish to use any jamming techniques. You can climb the crack by placing the hands in opposition to the feet: push against one side of the crack with the soles of your feet and pull against the other side with your hands. You can walk up the crack in a smooth, albeit strenuous manner. Again, you have used your feet to make your hand holds more efficient.

Sometimes the opportunity to optimize the direction of force is subtle: slopers, pockets in limestone, and Huecos in sandstone may afford a grip in any direction. But they may offer the most positive grip from upwards or sideways. You have to feel the hold and then position yourself to use it effectively.

Optimizing the Direction of Force in the Third Dimension

In the discussion above, we looked at ways to use the feet to direct the force in either of two dimensions. We will now discuss a few advanced concepts making use of the third dimension, namely inwards towards the wall and outwards away from the wall.

The first consideration is the dreaded "barn door." In all but slab climbing situations, you are best served by climbing with opposing feet and hands. This places your center of gravity between two holds and ensures that you will not swing away from the wall. But sometimes you have no choice but to cling to the wall using your left hand and left foot, or right hand and right foot. In both cases, gravity pulls you in the third direction away from the wall, twisting your hand off the hold.

One solution is to "flag" your free foot, moving it to the other side of the holds, moving your center of gravity back between the holds and preventing the barn door. As a bonus, this also maximizes weight on the foothold, relieving your hand. (As one reader pointed out, other solutions exist, of course. You could avoid the situation. You could plan ahead and execute your movements so that you arrive at the foothold and hand hold with opposing hand and foot in place. You could switch feet. You could switch hands. You could make the next move so quickly that you do not barn door... etc.)

When climbing overhangs and roofs, gravity is trying to pull you away from the wall. Therefore, you must attempt to use your hands and feet to hold yourself into the wall, not just parallel to the wall as you would on a vertical face. Wherever possible, you must hook your feet onto the holds using your toes, heel, instep, or anything else so that your feet are held to the wall and can take some weight off your arms.

You can also use body position to change the direction of force on a hand hold so that it is not pulling your hand away from the wall. Consider hanging from a roof using one hand and the opposing foot. If your foot is very close to your hand, the direction of force on your hand is almost completely downwards. If your foot is very far from your hand, say both leg and arm are completely extended, the direction of force on your hand is partially downwards and partially in towards the foothold. This is because your center of gravity pivots around the foot hold. In the first situation, you need almost no body tension. In the second, you need maximal body tension and may find it difficult to breathe.

Which is best? Well, if the hand hold is very poor in the downward direction, such as a pinch, you may be unable to hang from it. But with body tension and a redirection of force towards your feet, you may suddenly be able to hang from it long enough to make another move. Again, the use of your feet enables you to optimize a hand hold.

Some holds, such as flakes, provide a very positive grip in an outward direction. You can use these by smearing your feet against the wall creating an outward direction of force. Opportunities for smearing to optimize hand holds also abound in open books. A related opportunity exists in open books and chimneys for stemming. Use your feet in opposition to each other or in opposition to your hands to climb, minimizing the strain on your forearms and tendons. The ultimate example of minimizing strain on the hands is to carry your entire weight on your stemming feet, leaving the hands free for placing gear, eating, drinking, or consulting your topo.

The spectacular "drop knee" is a variation of stemming that can be used in almost all overhanging wall situations. By twisting one hip to the wall, pointing the inside knee to the ground, and pushing with both feet against each other, you create a force that holds your hips to the wall, taking weight off your hands. This also directs force from your hand hold towards your hips while requiring less body tension than fully extending your hand and foot in opposition. Drop knees are often combined with twist locks for maximum efficiency when climbing steeply overhanging walls.

Exercises to Try

Try looking for opportunities to use these techniques when training. When bouldering, compose problems requiring each technique: underclings, shelves, side pulls, body tension, stemming, drop knees. When warming up, your traverses are a bountiful opportunity for practice. Try a side pull only traverse or try to use as many underclings as possible.

Good luck!