Rock Climbing Body Technique: How to Use Your Hips

Rock climbing is more popular than ever before.

Indeed, 25 million people are now regularly climbing all over the globe.

That’s great for the sport!

But it isn’t an easy sport to master. Most newbies struggle to move their body correctly. Of all the things to learn, mastering certain hip movements can make a big difference.

Looking to improve your rock climbing body technique?

Keep reading to discover 3 tips on how to use your hips on the wall.

1. Arc from Side to Side

Watch good climbers and you’ll see them flow with grace from hold to hold.

One contributing factor to this wave-like motion is their use of the hips. For bigger moves, newbies tend to lock one arm in place. They’ll then reach statically for the next hold with the other hand.

This requires lots of effort! Equally, when the next hold is slightly out of reach, it’s tempting to lunge. The body swings in an uncontrolled way, shifting the center of gravity off the wall.

A better approach is to arc with the hips. Hanging on your hands, get into the habit of swinging your hips in an arc. Swing towards the hold, reaching out at the same time.

This provides momentum that’ll help make the move.

2. Push Away from the Hold

This tip is an extension to the last.

Imagine having a hold that’s slightly out of reach, up and to the right-hand side.

By ‘pushing away from it’, we mean pushing your hips away from the hold in the opposite direction. In this instance, you’d shift your weight (push the hips) down and to the left. Your trajectory should be a straight line from hip to the hold.

In this case, you’d push off the feet and swing with the hips upwards and to the right. Doing so will provide the momentum and energy-efficient wave-like motion you’re after.

3. Keep Center of Gravity Over Your Feet

This is essentially rule number one of climbing: keep your weight over the feet.

Imagine standing up straight on a steep rock face.

It doesn’t matter how you’re climbing. It’ll be far easier to maintain the position with your center of gravity over your feet. Tucking yourself into the wall can sometimes place the feet behind you. Pushing yourself too far backward can put the feet in front of you.

In both situations, your body position demands excessive use of your arms. Climbing is an epic workout! But over time, you’ll become increasingly fatigued. Keeping your center of gravity (which is generally where the butt and hips are!) over the feet will rectify the problem.

Now, this isn’t always going to be the case. Many situations will call for alternative body positioning. However, for beginner climbers, remembering to position hips and butts in line with their feet will make a difference.

Hip Movements to Improve Rocking Climbing Body Technique

There you have it: 3 ways to use your hips to improve your rock climbing body technique.

Rock climbing has gone mainstream. But that doesn’t mean people know how to do it properly from the outset! Newbies to the rock face will always need some guidance to get started. Body positioning can be all-important.

Hopefully, these hip-related tips will come in handy!

Looking for more climbing advice or to buy new climbing gear? Contact us today.