It’s an old axiom of hard bouldering that the holds are worse and farther apart. Early in climbing, generating power is mostly a question of using the upper body to “line up” the more powerful lower body muscles. Easy dynos on less steep terrain are almost reminiscent of a barbell power clean or kettlebell snatch in terms of symmetry, speed and body coordination.
As climbing gets harder/steeper, this is less true. There are fewer basic principles to rely on for organizing movement. It’s no longer just stacking the center of gravity on the legs or getting a hip in the wall. Points may be preoccupied with holding tension (“locked”) and unable to create movement. Entire segments of the body, from connection point to the elbow, shoulder, ankle, knee or hip, will be locked. Points that are freer may still be limited. Many limitations = high need for variability in momentum generation.
It’s not that it’s *not* a strength thing. But it’s more a moving well for your body thing. Figuring out intuitively what parts of your body are locked, and what parts are free. Being strong is so we can hold on to the position for long enough, or try it enough times in a day, to be able to come up with the beta. But we can shortcut that process somewhat. We can create our own situations, on easier climbs, to use fewer points of contact. There are a lot of options, but one of the most logical is to isolate the pulling arm by taking the other arm out of the equation completely.
Performed across climbs, this means generating power from a lot of unique positions: lots of physical work with the pulling arm, lots of “pop” with the hip and the swing of the free arm, and skill training for the timing and to connect that pulling arm through the core to any foot options available. Drilling this is highly specific, can add difficulty in situations where available climbs are inadequate for training, and fits my preference of doing physical work and sport practice at the same time.
It’s proportionally harder with directional holds and larger moves. Start with jugs and move well first.
Integrating snapbacks as a drill
The easiest way is to perform the exercise as movement practice on progressively harder problems. On a training board like a Moonboard, you’ll want to use all feet at first. This will make it easier to focus on the drill itself. Keep in mind that you might need to climb normally (no snapback) on certain positions or types of holds. However, if you have limited ability to create momentum then you have found the type of position the drill is trying to work on. So don’t be too quick to write off positions with the drill (unless they’re too difficult, or painful!)
Snapbacks can also be done as a system exercise, e.g. on jug campus rungs. Simply pull on with comfortably spaced feet, let go with the leading hand, swing it and launch to a higher rung. This makes a good last-phase warmup or preparatory work before campusing. Check out the videos in this Instagram post to see it in action.
PS – tons of hard board problems are just varieties of this exercise. Limited foot options and dynamic movement. The difference is the intention you bring to the session, and letting go of the ego so you can experiment on easier terrain instead of banging your head against benchmarks.
Keep it simple and do most of the work on the wall.
coachjfire1 – as a system exercise
2/3/4 – movement practice on progressively harder problems
5 – an example of a problem where one arm is “locked.” On the final move, my right arm is underneath my left armpit and can’t do much to aid in force production.
PS – tons of hard board problems are just varieties of this exercise. Limited foot options and dynamic movement. The difference is the intention you bring to the session, and letting go of the ego so you can experiment on easier terrain instead of banging your head against benchmarks.