“Think about the arc of your hips…if you start in close, and then you come up, you are always falling out (away)...What you need to focus on is to start with the hips out, do the move, [so that] you have time when the hips come in and come back out.”
- Alex Waterhouse
There's always a hold that seems just out of reach.
Maybe you can touch the hold, possibly even slap your fingers against it, but to grab it, to actually use it, seems impossible. It’s just out of reach, one could say.
Your default response might simply be to try harder.1 Jump higher. Explode with your legs more. But there’s a fundamental problem with this approach: the wall. It’s, well, a wall. It’s static. The wall isn’t changing to accommodate your bigger jump. The wall won’t move out of your way. The wall occupies the same place in space that you want your body to occupy: the space directly over your foothold. And in a battle for territory between you and the wall, the wall always wins.
In a battle for territory between you and the wall, the wall always wins.
Because the wall will always win, any attempt to stand vertically will inevitably fail (unless your body’s width is less than the depth of the foothold, of course. In that case, you and the wall can buddy up close just fine, perhaps move in together, and plan a future with a wall-baby hybrid named Gaston). So, instead of jumping UP to the hold, PULL IN to the hold.
A jump, or even just a reach, has three parts. The up part, the top part, and the down part. There are probably fancy physics words for these pieces, but they aren't important. The aim of Waterhouse’s hip arc, pull-in approach is to maximize time spent at the top part of the jump, also known as the dead point.
Simply put: start your reach attempt with your hips low and away from the wall, instead of low and near the wall. Then, pull into the wall as you extend your legs. This will allow you to “float” briefly, giving you time to plant your hand; time that would otherwise be wasted with a panicked, desperate reach for the handhold.
Think of this hip arc like the swing in a playground swing set. As you get closer to the apex of your swing (ie, the dead point) you feel a floating sensation. And at the very apex you do actually float, just briefly, as kinetic energy becomes potential energy before kicking back to kinetic energy for the exhilarating downswing.
That apex float, that’s what you need to capture on the bouldering wall. This gives you time to place your hand as you come into the wall and as you fall away from the wall, rather than only as you fall away from the wall.
Answer in the comments, will you try maximizing your dead point during your next climbing session?
Do you have any bouldering tips to share? Leave links to articles or videos that you’ve found helpful.
The climber: Alex Waterhouse
The source: How to Maximize Your Reach with a Pro Climber
Which is still a good idea:
https://sendship.substack.com/p/bouldering-tip-use-an-effort-index