Rock Climbing skills
19 skills, beginner to advanced. 16 of them you can film on a phone and get measured. No fake scores.
Skills by level
You can film16 of 19 skills
Beginner 5
- Straight Arms & Body PositionThe single most important habit in climbing is to hang from STRAIGHT ARMS whenever you're resting or assessing a move — a straight arm lets your SKELETON bear the load, while bent arms burn muscle and pump out your forearms fast (the #1 beginner mistake is constant bent-arm over-gripping). The partner habit is…
- Footwork: Edging & SmearingFootwork is the most important climbing skill — your legs are far stronger than your arms, so precise feet conserve energy and create stability ('think with your feet, not your hands'). The two basics: EDGING — standing on the EDGE of your shoe (inside edge by the big toe for power/stability, or outside edge),…
- Center of Gravity over FeetClimbing is really continuous CENTER-OF-GRAVITY management — keeping your weight (your hips/pelvis) over the supporting foot so your legs carry you and your hands mostly balance. Before and during a move, you deliberately SHIFT your pelvis over the foot you want to stand on, so that foot is fully weighted and you…
- Relaxed Grip & RestingBeginners 'death-grip' every hold, which pumps the forearms in minutes. The skill is using the MINIMUM hand strength needed — trusting your feet and body position to hold you, and gripping just firmly enough not to slip.
- Safe Falling (Bouldering)Falling is part of bouldering, and learning to fall well is a genuine safety skill — nearly two-thirds of bouldering emergency-room injuries are lower-limb, with ANKLE SPRAIN the primary one, plus wrist injuries from landing on hands. The rule: aim to land on BOTH FEET with your knees BENT to absorb, then ROLL…
Intermediate 5
- Silent Feet & PrecisionPrecise footwork is what separates smooth climbers from those who slip and pump out — and the classic drill is SILENT FEET: place your feet so quietly they make no sound. Noisy, slapping feet mean you're bringing the foot down too hard and fast, and your placement is sloppy and uncontrolled.
- The Rock-OverThe rock-over is how you stand up onto a high foot — you shift your center of gravity UP and OVER a high foothold so that leg can press you up to the next hold (essential on slabs and big steps). The key is the weight shift: your hips actually DROP slightly toward the high foot and onto your heel as you load it,…
- Flagging (Counterbalance)Flagging is using a non-weighted leg as a COUNTERBALANCE — and it's the only way to stop a 'barn door' (when your body swings open away from the wall because your holds are stacked on one side). You extend the free leg out to one side (or cross it behind), pressing it against the wall, to shift your center of…
- Hips to the Wall & BackstepGetting your HIPS to the wall is the key to climbing steeper terrain efficiently — and the BACKSTEP is the main tool. Instead of facing the wall square with your big toe on the hold, you TURN one hip into the wall and step with the OUTSIDE edge (little-toe side) of your shoe.
- Static vs Dynamic MovementEfficient climbing uses BOTH static and dynamic movement, and choosing the right one conserves energy. STATIC = slow, controlled, balanced movement where your muscles hold you in position and you can reverse a move — best when holds are close and you want control.
Advanced 5
- Heel Hook & Toe HookHooks turn your foot into a 'third hand.' A HEEL HOOK places the heel on a hold and ACTIVELY pulls with the hamstring/glute to bring your body in or up (great on overhangs, slopers, and topping out); a TOE HOOK hooks the top of the toes to pull you IN toward the wall and stop a swing (on roofs/steep terrain). The…
- The Drop-KneeThe drop-knee (Lolotte) is a powerful twist-lock that glues your hips to the wall on steep terrain. With a foothold out to the side, you place the OUTSIDE edge of that foot on it and rotate the KNEE DOWN and in, twisting your hip into the wall — creating an oppositional pair (one foot twists in, the other pushes…
- The DynoA dyno is an all-out DYNAMIC move — a controlled jump/lunge to a hold that's too far to reach any other way, where your body (and often all four points) leaves the wall. The power comes from your LEGS and HIPS, not your arms: you sink into a coil, then explode upward, timing the catch for the DEADPOINT — the brief…
- Overhang & Steep MovementSteep and overhanging terrain is where body TENSION becomes everything — gravity pulls your hips off the wall and your feet off the holds, so you must actively hold yourself in. The keys: engage your CORE hard to keep your hips up to the wall and your feet weighted; keep arms STRAIGHT and hang off your skeleton…
- Reading & Sequencing MovesReading a route — 'beta' — is planning the sequence of moves, hand/foot placements, and body positions BEFORE and during a climb so you don't get stuck mid-crux. This is a perception and problem-solving skill a single video can't grade, so it's coached here.
Insane 4
- Movement Efficiency & FlowAt the top level, 'technique' means EFFICIENCY — moving up the wall with the least wasted energy, and it's the most differentiated thing a camera can actually assess in climbing. Efficient movement looks SMOOTH and continuous (not jerky or hesitant), keeps the hips open and close to the wall with weight on the…
- Advanced Rests (Kneebar/Bicycle)Advanced positions let you REST or generate force in ways that free up your hands and save energy. A KNEEBAR wedges your knee/lower thigh up against a feature (a roof, block, or hold) in OPPOSITION to your foot — when it's solid, it can be a no-hands rest that lets you shake out completely.
- Finger Health & Grip AwarenessFingers are the #1 injury site in climbing (up to ~40-52% of injuries), and the signature injury is a FLEXOR PULLEY tear (the A2 pulley most often) — usually from the CRIMP grip, which puts 3-4x more force on the A2 pulley than the fingertip and is the mechanism for these injuries. None of this is gradable from a…
- Antagonist & Shoulder PrehabClimbing relentlessly trains the PULLING muscles and the finger flexors, creating imbalances that drive elbow and shoulder overuse — so off-wall ANTAGONIST and shoulder PREHAB is the evidence-backed way to stay healthy (a structured strengthening program has been shown to prevent shoulder and elbow injuries). The…