Slab Climbing 101: Techniques and Exercises for Beginners

@AnnaHazelnutt joined us at the Lattice HQ to teach us some slab techniques! In this video we Anna covers the two major styles of slab movement - Smearing and Edging. These vary massively in foot position, hip position and movement style. Josh also jumps in to talk through a couple coaching drills to help you develop your climbing ability.

Don't forget to go check out Anna's YouTube channel for some amazing and funny climbing content :D

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[AnnaHazelnutt]

Thanks for having me!! Always stoked to share slab tips with the world 🥰

[adribier]

She is not just a "slab pro", she is **the** slab queen 😁

[satanaz]

@3:46 this is a very common misconception, that rubber follows Coulomb's law of Friction Force, meaning that the friction force is not a function of the area of contact.
In reality, with rubber and other soft materials you cannot apply this law, it simply does not hold true (well, it holds true if you consider that the friction coefficient is not a fixed value, but a function of the contact area). Rubber has a much more complex physics behind how it generates friction.
The rubber is conforming to the surface and mechanically locking itself to the small imperfections/indentations of the wall/rock, and the bigger the surface of contact, generally the higher the friction - this without discussing the more complex 'adhesive' phenomena of the attractive forces between the rubber surface and the rock, that happens on a micro-scale.

Just look at racing cars - they wouldn't use those fat and wide tires, which are part of the unsprung mass and VERY heavy, if they could get away with using skinny small tires and generating the same amount of grip (friction force).

The friction goes down with the smaller contact patch of rubber!
Great video! I really liked how you moved your feet, making the contact patch smaller and smaller, until it slipped, great practical example Josh!

[klatplos]

I just started climbing a little while ago, and this video made me realize how unflexible my hips and hamstrings are, Definitely something i have to work on more to do this kind of stuff 👍

[sarahmarie_e]

Met Anna while she teaching a slab course in Bishop, CA. She is a CRUSHER! Stoked to see her on here!

[ryanhathawayhathaway]

The section on edges helped me really understand the importance put on balance. I will use this as a lesson to incorporate more balance of strength, which I tend to resort to out of frustration. Thank you for the eye opening demonstration!

[IMTURTLE]

Absolutely fantastic video can't wait to get back in the gym and try out some of these tips. Always enjoy slab climbing but I am way worse at slab boulders compared to any other type.

[DN]

Thank you both SO much for your tips!!! You guys are really great at explaining things in a straightforward way. Cant wait to put these drills into my practice!

[AllegraClimbingPsychologist]

Love the video, technique + strength exercises! P.S. You presented Anna wrong. She's no slab pro, she's the *Slab Queen!*

[Bodiemc]

Anyone know the brand of sweater that Anna is wearing? It looks awesome.

[AceMathias]

Really struggled with smears so thanks for the tips. Will give a try at the wall tonight

[MdnightCrashB]

Great vid! I had a some bad slips on the wall and this video really helped me understand why it was happening. I was blaming the shoes 😂but now know better! Thanks☺

[whydidthetilda]

The way I see it with the rubber contact thing is that while there may be some small contribution of contact area (I don't know much about materials), we're missing a big factor here which is the biomechanics of your leg and how you can apply force to the wall.

At a basic level, max static friction is the coefficient of friction times the normal force. The normal force being the force you apply perpendicular to the surface. With a low heel, you push more directly into the wall. As soon as you lift up your heel, your legs move and your resultant force starts to angle downwards. Pausing the video at the start and end of the demo shows this very clearly, the angle of your shin is a good standin for the angle of your force on the wall and that changes a fair amount.

So your overall friction, assuming a coefficient of, say, 0.4, would be 0.4*cosine(angle from the horizontal)*F, BUT you also have to contend with sine(angle)*F additional downwards force which is going to contribute to you wanting to slide. So you have less friction and more pulling (pushing?) you down that that friction has to fight against.

If you wore shoes that had a bendable toe and you repeated the experiment my belief is that you would still have the same point of failure even with a whole toe's worth of rubber on the wall.

As a climber, I try to think about pushing perpendicular to any surface where I'm worried about slipping. I find that helps more with my footwork than just "heels down" because it encourages more force on the wall, and it integrates well with the stuff Anna was talking about with keeping your feet high so it's kind of an all-encompassing philosophy.

edit: just an addendum - notice how at 1:11, Anna has a small contact area yet she is still staying on the wall. But when she stands up later she slides off, even though she has the same (or possibly slightly more) contact area. The difference being her force direction :)

[Ant-IW]

Great tips thanks a lot, I am looking forward to trying them out.

[LydiaHChrist]

Awwwwesome. Thanks for the truly useful education.

[oovlocityoo]

Hi thank you for the video. At 3:13 you said that the wall doesn't have texture, just normal paint. I am on the way to make my own climbing gym at home. What would you do it. Textured wall. Or regular paint? I am doing it for my kids and I. Thanks

[manocaio]

I swear I first read the title as: Techniques and EXCUSES for Beginners

[BennoSchultheiss]

Great content! Thanks a lot for the training tips! :)

[MasthaX]

Balance exercises from gymnastics will also help allot with establishing good balance.

[tessab]

So I actually find slabs easier than other types of problems and can climb a few grades higher on slab. Is that common?