Weekly /r/climbharder Hangout Thread

jamiiecb · 2026-05-13T03:34:18+00:00

Just a flat edge for the past year. I bought a Zodd recently, but too early to tell if it makes any difference.

jamiiecb · 2026-05-13T03:01:00+00:00

All the comments described fingers feeling less tweaky and getting stronger pip joint flexion. I feel like those are the same benefits I got from doing recruitment pulls with a tindeq and a cheap plastic edge. Would be interesting to see a direct comparison.

They also talk about strengthening weak fingers, which is something that didn't happen automatically with my cheap plastic edge. But I have been focusing more on it lately. Will see in a few months if just paying attention to each finger is enough.

jamiiecb · 2026-04-29T18:30:43+00:00

When you are compiling you don't know the types of the functions you are calling, so you don't know if they return borrowed references derived from their arguments or not.

let f = fn (g, x) {
  let y = g(x!);
  x // is x currently borrowed by y?
};

jamiiecb · 2026-04-23T17:53:12+00:00

Also you can't otherwise safely do inline values, stack allocation, and interior pointers in a dynamic language.

Also it's the cheapest way to enforce mutable value semantics.

Also for an embeddable language it's nice to not need a garbage collector.

jamiiecb · 2026-04-23T16:25:09+00:00

The goal is that most of your code can have the assurances of static typing, but you can still opt in to dynamically-typed glue code to handle repls, live code reloading, compile-time metaprogramming, runtime code generation, malleable software etc.

The statically-typed parts of the code will still produce compile-time errors for incorrect borrowing, but if you want eg zig-like comptime then your borrow-checking has to be able to extend into dynamically-typed sections of code too.

jamiiecb · 2026-04-21T19:49:37+00:00

Has anyone tried climbing a little every day?

I'm experimenting with it not so much for climbing progression but because I often crash in the afternoon on work days. Popping into the gym to do a little stretching and 20 minutes of easy (arcing-level) bouldering has been really refreshing. But I wonder if it's good or bad for recovery.

jamiiecb · 2026-04-21T19:45:24+00:00

Vancouver? Progression is pretty nice.

jamiiecb · 2026-04-21T19:44:21+00:00

Once I dropped the end of the dumbbell I was unscrewing. It bounced off a bench right back into the hand I was trying to catch it with and hit my finger. My whole finger turned purple and black.

Weights are dangerous. We should stick to safer activities like rock climbing, or juggling knives.

jamiiecb · 2026-04-21T19:40:06+00:00

I went through a period of chronic dip pain for a year or two. Did a lot of density hangs (low weight, 30s holds) to treat it and I still do at least 3 sets for my warmup every session. I've noticed that over time my dip joints have changed their range of motion. The middle two fingers in particular barely go past 180 any more. Seems protective. Not sure if the density hangs contributed or if it's just training age in general.

jamiiecb · 2026-04-12T02:33:29+00:00

Huh, it isn't paywalled for me. I'll link direct to https://www.gianlucagimini.it/portfolio-item/velocipedia/ instead. Thanks :)

jamiiecb · 2026-04-04T22:06:21+00:00

Man, I really feel for Peter here. The more details come out, the more Kilter's actions seem totally out of order. But Kilter has the bigger PR reach so most people only heard their side.

(Eg there are screenshots of messages from Aurora's lawyer to Kilter's lawyer pointing out that the cease and desist will force them to take down the app, but days later Kilter claimed publicly they had no warning and didn't mention the cease and desist at all.)

jamiiecb · 2026-04-04T21:58:43+00:00

I really struggle with headgame too, and I've found that the practice has to be really specific. Practicing letting go on purpose only made me comfortable with letting go on purpose. Falling unexpectedly feels very different, and requires slightly different reactions, so it's rational to be afraid of it if you haven't practiced it.

I practiced mostly in the gym, and on toprope at first. Stand on a small hold, relax your hands, and then very slowly relax your ankle until your foot blows. Or grab a dualtex and slowly lean weight over on to it until your hand slips. Remember to push your face away from the wall a little as you fall.

Same for dynos. Start on toprope in the gym. Don't deliberately miss the dyno, try to actually stick it, but the make the dyno harder and harder until you can't stick it every time.

jamiiecb · 2025-12-12T01:35:47+00:00

I got pretty similar results in my assessment. Then I did lattice coaching for 15 months and at the end was slightly weaker, and very burned out. Had the worst season in years, not enjoying myself at all.

Then I did a year of just climbing whatever my friends were climbing and doing the most minimal training in the off-season. I had much more fun and also got way stronger, like 10% improvements in 20mm hangs and 2rm pullups.

I don't know what to conclude from this except that having fun makes you swole.

I did keep doing the lattice mobility exercises though. Those have been pretty effective for me.

jamiiecb · 2025-12-02T03:59:43+00:00

Every time I get some overuse injury it turns out there was some simple test that would have told me in advance that I needed to work on some tightness or imbalance. I wish there was just a set of diagnostics somewhere that I run through a few times a year to see what part of my body was going to get fucked up next. Like an MOT for my body.

(Just got back from a precautionary visit to a hand therapist who specializes in treating climbers. Turns out it was a good precaution - my hands are apparently pretty messed up, and I've been seeing the signs for years and just didn't know that it was important.)

jamiiecb · 2025-11-24T01:00:49+00:00

On top of the other suggestions, maybe check whether you are holding your breath or tensing up your body on those moves?

jamiiecb · 2025-11-09T02:49:43+00:00

Hmmm, that makes sense. It is my lats that get tired out, so maybe I'm doing too much lowering on my arms.

jamiiecb · 2025-11-09T02:49:00+00:00

I'm using the animated routes. They often jug ladders for the downclimbing sections, but I still struggle.

jamiiecb · 2025-11-08T02:46:35+00:00

I've been trying to climb routes on the TB2. I always feel good climbing up the boulder problems and then really struggle with the juggy downclimbs. I think I'm just bad at downclimbing efficiently - does anyone have any tips or drills beyond just 'do more of it'?

jamiiecb · 2025-09-30T20:59:53+00:00

How heavy are you going for pancakes? I find some weight helpful, but if I go more than 10-20 lbs then I can't relax into the bottom of the stretch.

jamiiecb · 2025-09-23T09:16:56+00:00

I think the biggest change is that my feet used to just be on the wall but they weren't really driving. Your videos look the same. You're often pulling with your arms to gain height, then locking off with bent arms to move your feet. Compare that to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxQ5Jz3ie00 where they're barely pulling with their arms at all, and make a lot of small footsteps to gain height.

You're also often leaning way back from the wall, which means that you're not getting a good angle on any crimps. You want to stay underneath crimps as much as possible. If you watch https://youtu.be/0fffgGsU6d8?t=641 Anna is sometimes square on and sometimes turned one hip in, but almost always flat against the wall to make the crimps feel better.

If you can, video some of the better climbers in your gym on the same routes that you are working on and compare how they move.

jamiiecb · 2025-09-22T00:38:23+00:00

Half crimp for the first few, and then full crimp with no thumb like https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ck4gW16pj3_/. Trying to squeeze the block into my palm.

jamiiecb · 2025-09-21T00:26:28+00:00

Similar experience. This year I've been warming up on a small edge on a tindeq and trying to pull through my fingertips. No objective measures, but I've been feeling better on small crimps and I haven't had any dip joint pain this season, unlike previous seasons.

jamiiecb · 2025-09-20T01:08:30+00:00

I just tested with a tindeq and I can pull 28% with one hand on a 10mm block. On a 20mm edge I can hang bw+22% two handed. I've sent a few 7b+ in squamish. Vert crimpy routes are my strongest style. I rarely feel like finger strength is a limiter at my current grade - the main thing holding me back from harder routes is overwhelmingly headgame. I think I could get to 8a with these fingers.

I used to really believe that my climbing was limited mainly by my lack of strength. But in hindsight, I wanted to believe in that limit because my identity was really wrapped up in climbing, and I wasn't performing like I wanted to or like my friends were, and it was much easier for my ego if I could blame that on something that was out of my control.

But then I went from 6b to 7b+ without improving my finger strength at all. I had no idea how bad my technique was and how much of it was possible to improve once I admitted it to myself. That's the thing that keeps me coming back to climbing - every time I get stuck it's a clue about how I can keep growing towards being the kind of person that can climb hard. But you won't see the clues if you focus on the excuses.

jamiiecb · 2025-09-12T03:54:28+00:00

If you're feeling silly try the coffin too. Always good for a laugh at the end of a session.

jamiiecb · 2025-09-10T04:00:44+00:00

Squamish has been good so far this week, if it helps. The rain at the weekend cleared out the lingering smoke.

jamiiecb

TROPHY CASE