March Contest Post – What’s Your Weakness?

(Leave a comment for a chance to win a sweet new Metolius Contact Hangboard!)

After you’ve been climbing for awhile, most people tend to gravitate towards a certain a style. It might be a kind of hold your prefer, movements you enjoy, a rock type you like, etc. As such, it’s not uncommon ton find ourselves avoiding the things we aren’t good at, or don’t like.

Personally, my weakness is small holds. I dealt with a string of finger injuries for several years, and that has had the end result of me being unable to bring myself to crimp anything, no matter how small the hold is. I open hand almost everything, and have next to no crimp strength to speak of.

Worse, I also have a mental hang up about using small holds, as it’s hard for me to think I can use them without getting injured, and I’d just rather not do a specific route than risk the downtime that comes with an injury. But I know as I push myself to be a more complete climber, I need to move beyond this weakness, and I’ve found hangboarding to be the best method for working on this in a systematic and controlled way. (For more resources on this topic, see the post about Ramping up Your Training.)

So what is it for you? What’s your climbing kryptonite, the thing you need to work on to make you a more well-rounded climber?

Leave a comment and you’ll be entered to win the new Metolius Contact Hangboard. Even if finger strength isn’t your weakness, it’s something we can all work on, and this is a great way to do it. We’ve had the Contact up in our gym since November and it’s been an incredible training tool. Click the ad below to find out more, and be sure to leave a comment for your chance to win!

Contest closes on 3/31/13, one entry per person. Winners will be chosen by random drawing through the Splitter Choss super computer. If you won last month, you can’t win this month. Folks affiliated with Splitter Choss aren’t allowed to enter, more fine print, etc, etc, etc.