Hey guys, we get so many repeat comments and not all the time in the world to reply to them, so I thought I'd pin this here in reply to them :) I appreciate people will not agree with me, and that's OK, but I certainly don't have time to have a KZfaq comment debate on the fact, but I appreciate your opinion nonetheless Comment 1) These aren't HACKS, they're TECHNIQUES! Reply: Sure! Never said they weren't techniques. We used the term hack to describe a technique that could be quickly implemented to make some obvious improvements. Of course honing these techniques would lead to further improvements in them, but I chose these because when I discovered them they made instant gains for me. I have since coached many others who've utilised the same techniques and found them game changers. As to whether you agree with me or not on whether they are hacks or not... let's not argue semantics, it's just a word in a title of a video teaching climbing techniques, hardly offensive language. Comment 2) The Quarter Crimp Causes Injury Reply: Sure! As does Full Crimp, Open Hand, Monos, 2 finger pockets, heel Cams, Heel Hooks and climbing in general.I have personally not found the quarter crimp more injury prone than any other grip types, in fact I've found it less prone than full crimp and marginally more than the open hand, but to satisfy curiosity, I actually utilised the quarter crimp a lot when I had an A2 pulley injury and couldn't crimp... It was the only way I could get a bit more support through my grip without resorting to full crimp. A big part of avoiding injury is conditioning your body to dealing with new stresses. Why does Alex Megos not blow a tendon when he does a one finger pull up? Because his body is conditioned to it. I would recommend anyone tackling new techniques to approach them with due care as anything new could feel awkward or a bit tweaky at first. Comment 3) These are beginner techniques, nothing special about them at all Reply: Cool! You don't have to watch this video and instead get back to climbing your 9c's :) But seriously, these are just techniques I have learned over many years climbing. I personally don't think these should be pigeon holed into beginner category - having been a climbing instructor for many years, my understanding of beginner is basic footwork and body positioning. Anything after that is advanced... and to be honest, there aren't really any secret techniques to climbing hard, just honing the ones you learn as a beginner and taking them to a more advanced level :)

ngl i pictured a go pro on the foot when hearing heelcam

This is literally like 3 years of trial and error condensed into a 15 minute video. Props.

the "kneebar-bar-bar" Wicked lmfaoooo

I'm new to climbing, but my perspective on kneebars would be that banning or shunning a specific move would be a very inorganic way of going about things. It would be like saying 'dynoing is cheating because you have zero points of contact on the wall'.

I brushed a boulder last year with a big dyno, i have probably tried it a hundred times and never been able to stick it. Sent it the session after watching this. Thanks a lot! And congrats on the 10k, to be honest I’m surprised you don’t have 100k. Love the videos! Keep it up!

I have to say the "quarter crimp" is very interesting. I appreciate channels on here that actually have unique ideas focused on climbing harder. Well done Robbie!

I thought this was probably gonna be a silly joke video, but these are like actual legit cool tips :D

This is exactly the type of video I need. An in depth break down of technique. Heck, I'd watch a 10 minute video dedicated to one specific movement.

Thanks for the video - it's definitely worth thinking on. I've a couple of hacks I've been shown, too. 1. On a very narrow (two-finger) edge, you can mush your index finger and ring finger together on the hold, with your middle finger bearing down on top of these. This allows you to pull with three fingers instead of two! I've a feeling it works better on slabs and walls than steeper ground. 2. It's fairly well known, but if you can get a heel on a hold, bring it to your crotch and sit on it, you can manufacture a hands off rest pretty much anywhere except really steep ground. This one does take practice: both to trust it, and to see all the opportunities for it. 3. Even where you don't quite manage a heel-cam, turning your foot down and out whilst you're heelhooking (i.e. as RP does whilst heel camming) seems to allow you to engage your muscles better and really pull with heel hooks - compared to foot vertical/toes up. Happy climbing!

I paused after the "Quarter Crimp." Walked over to my Hangboard and gave it a go.... Very interesting.

I came here like yeah I’ve been climbing for a while... there no way a “hack video” would hold any legitimacy. I was pleasantly surprised:)

I have been climbing for a bit more than a year now, and did my first 7A last week. I’m super keen on learning new things, and this video gave a lot of new ideas. Thank you ! 💜

The vice-grip is gonna be a game changer for me! Thanks! I am proud to say that I figured out the dyno-hack on my own. I thought it was the beta for one dyno problem I did and just kept using for all the ones I did after that. haha

wow this was incredibly useful. i have been climbing for years and you covered things i didnt know about.

oooooh love a crinch!!! pinches are not my strongest suit and i feel like maybe i can hack them a little bit better now!

This video was actually surprisingly dense with great climbing information that I don’t hear from other climbing sources. Thank you so much, I will definitely recommend when possible!

gonna implement your heel technique more into my climbing session next time, seems like good advice and I'm pretty sure I'm underusing it a lot even though it can be a massive advantage especially for heavier climbers like myself

Every single thing in this video other than the knee bar is something that I instantly know what problems in my local gym I can use them to help me on.

Great hacks! Pleasantly surprised to learn new things. As a return, i offer you my secret crimp: "the 5/8 full crimp"! As the name suggest, it is is half full crimp, half quater crimp and works like a charm for slots. Basically, bended 4 fingers as from full crimp, but the thumb is not next to the nail of the index finger (as it is blocked from the slot) but instead on the second pad.

I’m new to climbing and I have really long thumbs and fingers. I’ve been using that quarter crimp without even knowing it had a name. Its been helping me through my improving grip strength. This video immediately helped me think through movements, thanks!

Didn’t know there were so many rock climbing vids on KZfaq! Thanks for these epic tips!

thanks mate, my friend just taught me the heelcam which I didn't get at first and you just explained it perfectly, also quarter crimp is what I needed because I have big hands

Great content thankyou(been climbing for over 30 years and that helped me).

Some new tricks to try out! I remember at first, I tried using a lot of power with my arms as well and didn't get quite as far, so definitely rely on those legs. And I have found personally that jumping with pretty straight arms as a pendulum can work quite well. It seems like it gives a slightly inwards angle and more clearance from the wall and other holds to smack into. worked for my friends too.

One of the best video to learn how to reach to the next level... I’ll definitely try those hacks!! Many thanks!

Aside from the dyno technique all of this was new to me (well except kneebar but this was a good reminder not to sleep on it). I’m a very new climber and I’ve been struggling with some v4 and v5 boulders involving crimps and heel hooks specifically. This video was a godsend for real

It seems like the quarter crimp is less about generating more force through your fingers and more about changing your wrist posture to make your flexion muscles function more efficiently. Normally you would rely entirely on your extensors to bring your wrist back into the cocked position given by a quarter crimp. This would not be possible (or at least very difficult) with an open hand or similar grip type due to the angle at which your extensors are forced to operate, which is why a relatively higher shoulder and elbow are necessary for a full crimp. With the quarter crimp you are able to gain much of the increased firing power from a cocked back wrist similar to crimping without sacrificing reach length, energy to extensor use and friction/pulling direction.

Amazing video ! I’ve been climbing for years and I’ve never even heard about the quarter crimp, can’t wait to give it a try tomorrow

Thank you for the nice contents. I have one remark to the quarter crimp: it might help if you already are advanced in climbing, meaning already intensely and specifically training your fingers for at least 2-3 years. For beginners, the slight twist and increased pressure it gives on the index finger's joints are quite injury-prone (to capsulars, pulleys). Also, when using this in a project at one's limit and one tries to fire off this grip would again multiply the stress on your index finger. Anyway, it is a nice tool in your mentioned occasions. Thx and climb on! :)

Not often I see techniques I hadn’t considered. Great video Robbie!

cant wait to get back to the gyms and implement these hacks. mega

Crinch & Dyno seem most relevant hacks me now and thanks for hacks that don’t require insane training. I place my thumb near my hand in open crimp, so now will to place over top. I definitely don’t ever do closed crimp, so need something instant and natural. I’ve been doing a lot of dynos wrong in past few weeks or really my whole time-except maybe a few times. Now to practice. 🤘

Like the ideas shared in these climbing techniques. If I may I would like to add a little explanation on how these "hacks" work. So the biggest thing in how any foot beta works is how much weight you can get on the foot, preferably in the toe but were talking heels here. In a heel hook/cam the more you point the toe down your knee will eventually lift and then start rock over the foot, and a very good heel hook/cam your hips will rise up all bringing more weight on to the foot itself. And we all know that climbing starts with the feet. You can see a little example of this at 1:33 in this clip as Robbie sets in his cam. Bringing the hips up would even further the goodness of a heel hook, but ultimately if you can use your toe its better as you do not have to do two extra steps to get the weight back on the toe for the next sequence. Heel hooks can sometimes be the only option in situations where the only foot option is well above the hips in a zone limited by flexibility, or even around an arete were you are trying to prevent a barn door. Also great for clipping and resting, but if at all possible USE YOUR TOES! Using the toe will allow for more pivot allowing you to twist and turn on the wall, along with give you at least your hands length of reach. The next tip given in here that can be further explained is the order of operations given in the dyno. This however can be applied to most movements in climbing. As you climb you want to move in J like motions, moving horizontally first bringing you beneath the target grip and your weight onto your feet. Once you have your weight on your feet you can then use the might of your legs to push you upwards to the target grip. Always Always Always think J motions dynamic or static... unless campus climbing which you do not use your feet so it just can not be applied the same way. Some movements will be more subtle then others but if you try hard to see it, the J is there. Watch the hips of someone who knows what they are doing at your local Gym/Crag. Example shown in the diagram given at 12:51 The hand beta is pretty on point here. I will say though that as mentioned the open hand crimp is the weakest of the crimps, which is way when training you want to go with the open hand crimp. Work at what you suck at to get stronger. Also using an open hand crimp will ensure that your tendons are as straight as the can be when hanging all that weight on the fingers promoting less chance of injurie. Training this way will allow you to train longer and even though you are not specifically training the full or half crimp, your over all crimp will get stronger. So when you do use the other types of crimps given they will have developed just as nicely and you will have built up proper finger strength in all your fingers! Sorry if this was a long read but knowing the reasons why and how we use these different betas might help to focus and dial things in. Don't know if there has been a Knee bar clip yet but lets see it, WOOOOT! Happy sending my fellow rock people.

Thanks for the video Robbie. Keen on trying these out next time I go climbing! Would be keen on more hacks videos including tactics/thinking about climbing. Also keen on a kneebar video

I actually did a knee scam on a problem starting with a overhang into a far-away hold the other day. I could not reach it, without falling straight down, because I am a new and pretty weak climber. Just having that extra power to hold myself while reaching out for the hold did an amazing job.

Way more useful than I was expecting

Thank you so much ! it is extremely interesting and I need all those hacks ! Thanks,thanks,thanks...from France

Great explanation on the dyno hack def helps with decreasing distances thanks for the great video :)

Thank you, Robbie!

Hey thanks for that Robbie, been putting the quarter crimp to good use on my long vertical traverse wall; really helped a lot with extending my finger and forearm endurance throughout the challenge.

kneebar pokemon was really unexpected, made me laugh quite hard!=D=D knee bar bar bara bar bar bar

This is gold. Genuinely great hacks. Thank you! Stoked to try the 1/4 crimp.

This is really helpful! I would love to see more of this stuff but I guess there are only so many hacks you can teach before going back into the obvious! Thanks a lot

Helpful tips thanks. I've always used my knee and had no idea people didn't like it, but it feels really natural!

what a great HacksTips bro. thanks for sharing you guys... I´m gonna improve with Vice Grip and Quarter Crimp. Love u!

my dynos suck so bad, so really happy about that last tip :)

Very good breakdown. All of these are very well described.

thank you for the timestamps!

Great tips. I knew about knee bars, but I didn't know the old school climbers frown upon them. Interesting to learn some of the social aspects of hard core climbers.

Most people would call these “techniques” and not “hacks” but yknow Modern vernacular stuff

tnx dude..gotta try that quarter crimp :D

Thanks for your sharing

Knee Bars!! Hell Yes!!! Great video as always. 👍

Awesome man, thanks!!

7:55 the cheekiest edit I've ever seen

Brilliant video. Thank you mate.

I always use the quarter crimp since I climb in France a lot of person use that but this is good to share this in vidéo 👍

Amazing, my grip has never been so strong before. Specially my left hand's grip.

Awesome actually stuff I haven't seen before

The quarter crimp will be quite useful for me, my open hand is actually my strongest crimp type and the addition of the thumb will hopefully add the feeling of security i get from a closed crimp since i often feel i can pop at any second with an open hand even though i know its strong

That was gold - can't wait to try these. Shame it's raining, otherwise my garden woody would get some use now.

That dyno hack was really useful, been struggling at those for ages

Very helpfull! Thank you

Highlight: Pokemon 'knee bar bar barr'

So I often climb ladders, and I understand that rock climbing and ladder climbing are completely different. However, I just learned I use the Heel Hook method to secure my legs on ladders often and that blows me away. Definitely makes you feel more secure.

Usually, I climb v5, but after these 5 hacks, i just sent Burden of Dreams! Thanks a ton, Robbie ;-). Loved the vid!

Awesome video. Great hacks. Very solid points for improvement. Took me a while to start using the proper heelhooking. It's a real game changer. As for the 1/4 crimp, I'll definitelly give it a try and experiment a bit. When using the thumb, it is very obvious on other open grips that it gives better grip options. Never used it this way :) As for the pinch crimp, the similar approach works on slopers as well.

Knee bar lover !! Go go go video of knee bars !!!

Fantastic vid, looking forward to trying these techniques out, found your channel through your epic Edinburgh bridge crack climb!

I gotta say i was sceptical when i read the title but those were actually some good tips.

Wow, the quarter crimp is so cool, never thought about using the thumb while holding openhanded. Hope I'll remember this tip during my next climb.

Love your supertopsecrethaks brother props

1/4 crimp...nice one. Never thought about that!

Hell YEAH, I’d love to see a kneebar video. Mainly I want to see how to ID a good candidate for a kneebar.

nice vid. thank you

Awesome video! Thanks dude

I think I was using them (not the quarter crimp, totally new) but not in a mindful way, so focusing on these will definitely help me improve

Omg these help so much please provide us some more

Quarter crimp 🤯

Thanks brotha. This video was worth a subscribe.

Thank you!

Super usefull! I couldn't imagine that the content was super triccky!

Really good things to think about. Been climbing for 2 years and really found this useful. I'm sure I've done quarter crimps , but it wouldn't be a conscious decision :)

Will have to try this 1/4 crimp

all im sayin is that quarter crimp thing hes on about did bits for me the other day, only works in really specific holds but is really solid when its there

Nice tips man, gonna try them out.

Thank you !!

I can add one thing: It may seem funny, but if you have a bigger belly, you can use it as a 3rd hand. It may hurt, but helps me sometimes when I get pumped out and gives some time to think about... matter of life or so. When I used it for the first time, everyone was laughing, but they told me it was a clever move as well. So, try to make what it seems as flaw of your body into a merit :). How to do that? Just hang your belly on the bigger grip. It can't be used everywhere but it may help in some cases :D. Cheers!

great man

🐲 Okay: I intuitively use the "quater crimp" at hard crimpy routes. That I learned at the hang board. I just tried different methods. And this kind of crimp is really efficient and strong. .

wow the crimp move helped my finger, thumb on pointer all day

That quarter crimp thing is actually very cool.

They gave me Playboy fragrances ads on this video, so I guess KZfaq finds you attractive xD

Good video men 🙌🙌🙌

The quarter crimp deserves a Nobel

Quarter crimp .... I love it

Kneebar bar bar 😂😂😂 im dying!

This episode was lit. Give us the kneebar special!!

The part of the video with the example of the jump is it from Boulderbar Vienna? Good video, mate :) Thanks for the tips :)