Your centre of gravity sits a little below your navel, and your hips are a good marker for it. Moving from one balanced position to the next, with your hips shifted over the foot you are about to stand on, lets your legs push you up while your hands mostly keep you in balance. From a camera behind you, the side-to-side shift of your hips over your feet is the part that reads best; how far your hips are from the wall is much harder to see.
Shift weight over the foot
Treat your hips as your centre of gravity. It sits a little below your navel, so wherever your hips go, your weight goes.
your hips steering your weight.
Before you stand up on a foot, slide your hips sideways until they sit over that foot. On slab and easy vertical ground you can balance your whole weight on one foot.
the other foot going light.
Commit your weight onto the foothold instead of hovering. As you load it, lower your hips a little and bend that knee so more force goes through the foot.
the hold taking your weight.
Push up from the loaded leg
Push up with the leg. Use your hands to stay in balance, not to haul yourself up; your legs are built to carry your weight.
the leg doing the lifting, hands light.
On slab and vertical walls, stand tall on the leg at the end of the move. Standing tall puts more of your weight through your feet than sinking low on straight arms.
legs straight under you, grip relaxed.
Finish each move balanced, with your weight settled over a foot, before you reach for the next hold.
a pause where nothing is straining.
Stay over your feet as the wall steepens
On vertical and steeper ground, gravity pulls your hips away from the wall. Turn a hip in toward the wall to bring your weight back over the foot you are pushing from.
one hip close to the wall, body side-on.
When you can't get your hips over the pushing foot, flag: let the free leg swing out as a counterweight so your weight stays near the pushing leg.
the free leg balancing you like a tail.
Don't try to glue your hips flat to the wall. In one study, elite climbers kept their centre of mass about 5 cm farther from the wall than non-climbers, and swung it side to side more, shifting weight between their feet. Aim for weight over the feet, not maximum closeness.
hips moving side to side, not frozen.
Expect your hands to take more of your weight as the wall gets steeper. On overhangs your centre of gravity can't sit over your feet, so some arm load there is normal, not a fault.
Stay safe
Warm up before you climb: raise your pulse, rotate your joints, then do some easy climbing.
warm and loose before the first real move.
Learn the weight shift on easy, low-angle ground close to the floor first, where you stand upright with your weight over your feet, before taking it to steeper walls.
Feel it
Your hands feel light. As your hips settle over the foot, the hold takes your weight and your grip can relax before you push up. If your arms are tiring on easy ground, check your hips first: they have usually stayed between your feet or drifted out from the wall, so your arms are holding weight your legs could carry.
Fix-its
- You pull up on your arms with your hips still between your feet Shift first, then move: slide your hips over the foot you want to stand on, then push with that leg.
- Your foot pops off when you stand up The foot wasn't weighted. Move your bodyweight over the hold, lower your hips a little and bend the knee as you press, then stand.
- Your hips hang out from the wall on vertical ground, square to the wall Turn a hip in toward the wall, or flag the free leg, so your weight comes back over the pushing foot.
- You sink low on your arms on slab or vertical ground Stand tall on your legs at the end of the move and use your hands for balance; that puts more weight through your feet.
- Your hips stay stiff and centred the whole climb Let them swing from foot to foot. Experts move their centre of mass side to side more than novices, shifting weight onto each foot in turn.
Drill
- Floor weight shift: on the ground, shift your hips from one foot to the other and lift the unweighted foot each time, to feel how hip position moves your weight.
- Slab one-foot balance: on an easy slab near the floor, shift your hips over one foot until the other foot and your hands can go almost weightless, then switch feet.
- Any-feet traverse: on a vertical wall, use one colour of handholds and any footholds, and focus on where your hips are before each move.
- Flag reach: reach far to one side and let the opposite leg swing out as a counterweight, then repeat on the other side.
- Hip-marker film: wear a bright band or sling at hip height and film from behind. Check that your hips cross over each foot before you stand up on it.
Sources
- Mountaineering Ireland — FUNdamentals of Climbing workshop guidance notes (2014)
- Philadelphia Rock Gyms (Dave Rowland) — What every climber needs to know about balance (2022)
- Lattice Training (Aiden Dunne) — Rock climbing footwork: the basics (2023)
- Bonelli, Rampichini, Esposito, Rossi, Colombo, Limonta — Climber's muscle excitation and force distribution at different wall angles and body positions, European Journal of Applied Physiology (2025)
- Zampagni, Brigadoi, Schena, Tosi, Ivanenko — Idiosyncratic control of the center of mass in expert climbers, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports (2011)
Last checked 2026-10-26.