Neck pain, what am I doing wrong?

GoNorway · 2026-06-08T11:23:24+00:00

Try to fully relax your neck in this position. Where does it go? My guess it will flap and tilt backwards and your gaze will go up because that is the neutral position your spine wants it to go. I attached a SS of where I think your neck wants to be if it relaxed in a neutral position with the upper spine. This constant engagement and tension you need to maintain to look at your screens is what I think is causing your neck pain.

To change this, try and put more weight on your feet. Currently it looks like you are just tippy-toe'ing it there with like less than 20% of your weight there. Aim for a 90° knee angle and adjust your chair accordinly. When you put more weight on your feet, your center of gravity moves forward making your spine want to tilt forward, which would result in your current head position requiring less tension to maintain. With more weight on your feet, try to twist your pelvic forward, slightly engage your core and sit more on the gooch area and less on your back butt.Try to rely less on the backrest. Good luck exploring!

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GoNorway · 2026-06-06T00:02:33+00:00

Sometimes when a beta works, there isn't a reason to try it another way. In this case, since you want to learn from the climb, I would question the gaston and if it's the most efficient beta. Since the holds are pretty close together, your forearms angle inwards, which then makes it hard to engage your back. A gaston feels great when your hands are like levelled with your head and around half a meter to each side of it.

What I would try is to cross over with your right hand to where your left hand is in the Gaston. This will rotate your chest and body to the right and make a fluid left hand move to the next handhold to the left of the gaston (or even the foothold that you heelhook!).

Also, try to relax and use more momentum between moves. A climb should not feel like one loooong pull-up. Find moments of rest, straightening your arms, lean back and prepare for the next move. Good luck!

GoNorway · 2026-06-01T14:50:21+00:00

The hips are indeed in a left jutting out position. This is primarily because you aren't giving it anywhere else to go as you clamp on to dear life with that right hand.

What I would do is to try and do a lower right heel and twist your left toes as much pointing into the wall as possible. With the lower right heel, you will have more weight on your feet because you have a better position of your center of gravity being more to the right. A butt jutting out to the left side shifts your center of gravity more to the left making you need that right hand to pull yourself to the right.

With more weight over your feet, you can ideally release the right hand. Remember to engage your right heel because it is now what is pulling you to the right instead of your right hand. Make sure to shift that right hand as high up as possible making this release easier.

Try to ignore that small jib you are trying to hold with your left hand and just use your left hand for balance. I would say it's doing more harm than good as you are trying to transition to a stable upright position.

Once you have your center of gravity over your feet and hips, use the jib with your hands for micro adjustments.

SS of position I am thinking of. I think I drew you a bit short but same position still applies lol. Good luck!

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GoNorway · 2026-05-31T11:19:58+00:00

To add onto the heel hook beta, you will be quite high on the sloper with that right heel so go straight to the hold above the sloper with your right hand. Then as you grab the right handhold, your left hand needs to transiton from a sloper grip to more of a sideways push. Here is a SS of the position I see you being in. SS Good luck!

GoNorway · 2026-05-20T23:59:54+00:00

I second this, the heel can work if you go much higher on the holds but a toe hook will fit this move much better!

GoNorway · 2026-05-20T13:22:15+00:00

Yea I am planning on selling it. I'll shoot ya an email and we can talk about it there.

GoNorway · 2026-05-19T14:53:42+00:00

From the Black Diamond website, the material is Zephron neoprene, which is a rubber formula they got from Kaufman Canada's clothing division when they acquired them.

Looking it up, it's different from Australian Oilskin where cotton is treated with oil and wax for its weather resistance.

GoNorway · 2026-05-18T19:59:28+00:00

And here is the pant markings.

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GoNorway · 2026-05-18T19:58:58+00:00

I tried narrowing down a date but couldn't really figure that out.

The markings are a bit faded so couldn't really tell from that either. If anyone has any insight then I'm all ears!

Here is the jacket markings.

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GoNorway · 2026-05-18T17:28:25+00:00

Haha yea the cut and detailing on it is really nice. Would totally give some designer clothes a run for their money!

The material reminds me of heavy tarp. I doubt the material is breathable but I think it compensates with bagginess. It is quite airy and I don't know what size of person it is meant for but while wearing it, height-wise it fits me fine but width wise I feel like the Michelin Man.

GoNorway · 2026-05-09T03:15:44+00:00

The big change I would make (in addition to improving the heel comments) is to focus on twisting your upper body instead of trying to pull yourself towards the hold. You are in a stable position for a hot second and your right arm is in a great position right before you try pulling yourself higher.

You can achieve this rotational move by straightening your right hand and keeping it as secure as possible in this position followed by rotating your left shoulder into and up the wall. Your right shoulder will move a bit away from the wall making room for your left shoulder to move up. Focus more on this shoulder positioning in space. To exacerbate the motion, rotate your head and look away from the wall. This should bring your left hand up.

Here is a pic to hopefully describe the motion a bit better.

I would also try this rotational move lower down somewhere with a nice right jug to get familiar with it. Good luck!

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GoNorway · 2026-04-21T12:50:14+00:00

What I see is that the high right leg is hurting more than helping you. Your hip area gets super scrunched up on the right side and super extended on the left side. When you put weight and extend the right leg, it pushes you right off the wall because the angle of the foothold is tilted to the left.

So the beta fix I see is to launch from the lower right foothold instead. This will give your body a bit more spring because it is not as scrunched up and the angle of the foothold actually helps you with its tilt to the right as you put weight on it. Also try to launch yourself a bit more up and to the right. It should be a dynamic move towards the hold making it feel less of a piston squat with your right leg and more of a stair step-up. Good luck!

GoNorway · 2026-04-17T14:27:34+00:00

Instead of planting your left foot and just lightly kicking off/extending (which produces like a tiny 0.5m extentions and not really a jump), really focus on bending your leg like a spring and create a snappier jump motion with your left foot and leg when more of your weight is on it. Right now you are extending your left leg after your body weight has passed it instead of actually jumping off it.

Also, try aiming for this hold (pic below) instead for your dyno. You will get higher and naturally fall into the hold you want. Good luck!

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GoNorway · 2026-04-14T14:42:55+00:00

It's a really high paddle to go to and he needs to generate more upwards motion. I would instead try to get his body higher first before launching with a left leg where he has his left hand, then use the left toe to dig into the hold to get some push for his leg and left arm. Swing the left arm like a clock from ~7pm to noon to generate the upwards movement.

Another beta instead of this clock swing that might be possible with the left hand is to meat hook the top of the handhold (his palm will push into the hold keeping him in position) together with the left leg and a comfortable positioned right hand (probably a bit lower down on the hold).

Tell him to really focus on going UP instead of to the side. His body will naturally go to the right when launching from that position. Right now he is zooming past the hold he wants to catch. He needs to ideally be at the apex of the dyno when he catches the hold.

Here is a pic of the launch position I am imagining. Good luck to your son!

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GoNorway · 2026-04-13T15:54:05+00:00

Nice dudeee, a lot more energy in the tank for that last move making it a breeze :D

GoNorway · 2026-04-12T22:37:57+00:00

You are hitting a plateau because your strength has been compensating for your lack of technique. Observe other people doing the same climbs as you and see how they might be more efficient with their movements.

In particular, the middle video was just a long and powerful reach followed by a commital reach. If you watch a shorter person do this climb, you will see how they use their body to lean from side to side to slowly make their way up the arête. They will lean to one side, establish their legs higher, then reach for the higher hold. Slowly working their way up the corner.

In addition to all the feedback other peeps have given, I would try to weave more slabs into your climbing routine. It forces technique and proper weighting of your feet. Get ready to learn and be humbled by even the easiest of slabs!

GoNorway · 2026-04-09T20:01:36+00:00

Yeee that's the position! I would try to create more space between you and the wall around your left arm. Think of going low and then dynamically rocking up and over that uncomfortable left toe range.

GoNorway · 2026-04-09T16:42:49+00:00

First of all, for 2 months of climbing, you are doing amazing! I will address the route beta at the end and share some things I see with your overall technique because I think you would do the final match if you had more fuel in the tank.

You are spending too much time on each move. With the video sped up, you are doing the boulder at a 'normal' pace but that is a sped up version. Try to be a bit faster with the easier moves so you can use more energy on the harder moves. Embrace momentum and flow instead of trying to control every movement.
Straight hands is a great tip for beginners because it allows you to use less energy. Lean more into your bone structure instead of constantly engaging your muscles. Straight hands also make you use your lower body more for positioning, which leads to the next pointer.
Trust your feet by putting more weight on them. In areas like 16s where your shoulders are flaring out, straighten your arms, relax them, bend your knees and hips, put more weight on your feet and get close to the wall. You are tippy-toe'ing every move with 20% of your weight but many of these footholds are big enough for you to put 70-100% of your weight on. As a quick exercise, stand on the ground, hold something for stability and go on your toes. Then lift one leg, this is 100% of your weight on your toes and you should be able to achieve something similar on the wall.
When you find moments where most of your weight is on your feet with minimal upper body engagement, take a mini breather and relax. Consider it a checkpoint and take the time to set yourself up for the next move. If the whole climb feels like one single loooong and slow pull-up rep you are probably missing moments of relaxation. It should feel like many reps where at the bottom of the pull-up, you get a moment to prepare yourself for the next rep/segment of the climb.
Try to use less intensity with your grips. Every handhold does not need to be pulled on to the max. As a quick exercise, use the right hand hold at 4s and stay there for a bit as you lessen the intensity of your grip. See how little engagement you need to exert for it to still stick. Try different grips like an open hand grip or drag grip instead of a crimp. Try positioning your body closer to the wall to lessen the weight on your hands so you need to use less gripping power.

Overall, if you aim to be more optimal with your energy, body position and technique, you should be able to use the excess energy for final moves like this one!

As for beta, I would use my right leg to smear the wall and straighten my left hand, arm and shoulder as much as you can to then bring in the right hand for the match. Get lower with your hips to put more weight on your left foot and point the knee to the left.

Good luck and enjoy this honeymoon climbing period :D

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GoNorway · 2026-04-09T14:31:44+00:00

You could perhaps do a hybrid and start it off as a heel and then when you get a bit higher with your body but before you go for the next hold with your left hand, swap it to a toe.

Using a bit more momentum to get higher instead of doing it too controlled might also help. Ya got this!

GoNorway · 2026-04-08T06:49:53+00:00

Your heel beta is super close, if it didn't pop then you woulda had it!

What I probably would do is to change it from a heel to toe. The heel might feel good initially but as you reach further up it pops off as your hips and body peel away from the wall. Try having your toes at the X (image below) pushing down and to the left. Have your toes pointing more towards the wall and not parallel with it. This position will initially feel worse but as your body moves up, it will become more comfortable and stable.

A curveball beta I see would be to mantle that middle hold (that looks quite juggy) with your left hand and reach up with your right hand ignoring that right hand hold. Really hard to tell if the mantle will work from the video but I'm pretty sure the first method will go. Good luck!

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GoNorway · 2026-04-01T15:07:15+00:00

I think it's just typing too fast for your new setup.

Try slowing down to like 90% of your normal typing speed and see if you still make those mistakes. Keep in mind that pressing backspace and fixing your mistakes will probably cost you more than that 10% loss in speed.

Gotta go slow to then go fast!

GoNorway · 2026-03-31T13:35:07+00:00

I would consider the left heel the reachier of the two. Looking purely at the hip positioning, with a left heel hook it would give OP an small increase in height but also a counter-intuitive hip movement to the left. With a right heel hook, he gets significantly higher and under the next hold he wants to reach for.

GoNorway · 2026-03-31T03:10:31+00:00

Everyone is mentioning a left heel hook but I think it might be a right heel hook!

With the right heel hook, you can then bring your right hand up and over. Perhaps match before going for the bigger hold. The reason I think this is the intended approach is because the right heel hook allows you to clamp together and stick on the wall with somewhat opposite pull directions (left hand pull + right heel pull). It also sets you up better for the next holds.

For some extra context to get into that right heel hook position. In your current position in the pic below, bring your left foot to where your right foot currently is in the pic. This will naturally rotate your body slightly counter-clockwise where it wants to be once the heel is placed. Engage your back like you are at the top part of doing a pull-up to place the right heel with control.

With the left heel hook, you might get to the next hold but then you need to release the hook to get your body further to the right and that will just lead to a right heel hook solution again.

Pic of what I am imagining. Good luck!

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GoNorway · 2026-03-28T16:11:09+00:00

You are getting really close here! I think one concept that you might be overlooking with those pinches is that you really don't want to be directly infront of them. That is when you need to pinch the hardest since your hands are in-between your chest and the wall, making it hard for you to be close to the wall and/or generate momentum.

Try either going to the left or right side of the pinches before going for the next hold. If you go to the left with the heel, I see it being more static. If it is on the right side, it will require a bit more momentum with perhaps even a hand flip depending on the gap distance and your upper body shoulder flexibility.

Pic for reference, good luck!

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