So today Emily, who is a slab expert, will be teaching us some slap techniques,
and she's the only one that I know that is able to clear the entire slab set, which is
really impressive. I'm really looking forward to showing you guys all of the special things
that slab can offer you as a climber. Alright so Emily so which climb are we going to go for first?
We are going to start with number five here, and I really like this climb because
it teaches precise foot movement but at the same time it also teaches you that you don't actually
need your hands for a lot of kinds of slab climbing, and that's really important to remember
that slab climbing is all about your legs, and I can demonstrate that in this climb very easily so
slab climbing is anything where the wall is vertical or leaning slightly in, so balance
is the most important part of slab climbing. I can do this part without my hands because my
feet are so solid, and that's what you want to think about when you're learning slab climbing.
What are some tips to keep your balance because it might be kind of difficult for newer climbers to
not use their hands and kind of move around the walls. Well, the other thing that's great
about slab climbing is you can use the wall if you want to, and put your hands directly
on it. Now for this one, I know that it's tempting to go at it sideways, but the problem
is that right here you're going to run into these two holds, and you're going to run out of room so
some people will use the volumes in order to stabilize, but it's important to have
your heels facing outwards through this section so that you have the room to move
around these starting holds for this other climb. So it's focusing on putting weight onto your toes
rather than just the sides of your feet. You're tiptoeing across the volume, so I like the idea of
you know keeping the heel outwards, yeah, so can you kind of further explain what does it do to the
viewer's, like why keeping the heel outwards. So keeping your heel outwards is good because
being sideways is nice until you have to get around a different hold
the reason that having your toes to the wall and your heels out is important
is because you can raise and lower yourself on your toes using the strength of your calves,
so when you need to make adjustments it's much much easier to do it by doing this than it is
by trying to pivot your foot sideways, so I can get closer to the wall up on my tiptoes like this
when I need to lean away slightly, because this is in the way, I drop my heels and walk slowly on the
tips of my toes whereas if I were sideways, trying to move my leg this way is extremely difficult and
without having really good balance and maybe solid hands, these are so in the way that will push me
off. So Emily that was a great tip we'll move on to the next climb so which climb are we gonna look
at. We're going to look at number seven, and I see a lot of people struggling with this start
because they try and approach it head-on. The problem with that is that you're starting hands,
your starting feet are very close, so trying to do this is difficult whenever I see a climb
that has close hands and feet, I try and think about how can I approach this from the side.
You have a lot more freedom to stand into your start hold if you can start from the side,
so I started this way with my left foot on and my right hand is just sort of pinching,
so I can stand like this and I have the room to stand up and down rather than trying to do this,
which is less room, so standing, and I use my bottom foot to just stabilize me slightly,
so that I can have solid footing as I move into the next part of this climb.
Volumes are your best friend when you're slab climbing because they're legal for any climb. You
can use them in any way that you, any way that you can, so especially for shorter climbers it's great
because I can use the edge of the volume to pull myself up,
and using this left hand volume to stabilize me as I place my left foot,
and using the left hand to push against this volume because I want to go that
way and rather than having to spend all the effort of pulling myself this way,
if I just push with the left hand it takes a lot of force
off.
So Emily that was a great tip so what's the next climb that we're gonna work on? Alright,
now we are going to work on number nine. I'm reducing my weight by pushing as well as pulling,
so pulling with the top right hand, pushing with the bottom left hand, and when I insert my foot
into this pocket I'm making sure the pointiest part of my shoe is going into the deepest part
of this pocket because I want to have a good point of contact for my starting foot,
so pulling with right hand pushing with the left hand stepping through the left foot,
and using the right foot to counterbalance and the counterbalance is super important because
it leaves my left hand free, but more importantly it keeps me from doing this.
Barn dooring is bad. You want to stabilize,
so think about how you can utilize your free limbs in order to counterbalance.
So,
left foot behind me in order to counterbalance again.
In order to create space for my foot rather than flat palming this hold, I go up onto my fingertips
and that gives me just enough space where I can complete this move,
so we're gonna move up on difficulty right? Yes, slab lab number eleven. I really like 11 because
it teaches some really good skills about how to start climbs but also just in general so,
the high angle start,
it would be a lot of effort if I was going to start this climb in a half pull up position.
You don't need to do that that's just wasting energy, so I want to start this climb using
my skeleton because using your skeleton always requires less energy than using your muscles,
so I want a straight line going from my fingertip all the way to my shoulder. I just use this as a
lay back, I treat it like a side cling and lay back off of it to reduce the muscle strain,
so my points of contact are my left foot placed carefully in the dimple of this start hold,
my left hand long and straight on this start hold and my right hand
underneath me supporting me, so that I can use this to push rather than using the strength of
my left arm to hold me away from the wall, because my second move is going to be placing a foot here,
and I need to make sure that I'm leaving space for myself to make that second move.
Twist and stand on the top of the volume. Okay slab lab number 12. I really love this one
because it forces you to think ahead, so because this is clearly a side cling,
I want to start my climb from the side because if I start square on I'm going to have to readjust,
so save yourself the energy and start from the side. Also, there is only one foothold that means
both of my feet are going to be occupying this hold, so when I make my first foot placement
I want to be sure that I'm leaving space for my left foot, so right foot placed carefully
allowing space for my left foot to join it underneath once I complete my second move,
side cling, lift the right foot to insert the left underneath, push with the left hand
to create space and make a drop knee. The drop knee keeps my hips close to the wall,
also I'm solid on my feet to the point where my left hand is free, so this climb is all about my
legs. Alright Emily, so what's the last climb that we're gonna look at?
Lucky number 13. Alright, I love this climb, so again thinking about planning ahead,
where am I going to want my hand for the second move, because that's another side cling, I want to
take it from the side using my right hand, so when I'm placing my hands on the start hold
I'm thinking about how am I going to make it, so that my right hand is free in order
to catch that second hold and similar to number seven. The starting hand holds and the starting
feet holds are very close together. I like to approach those kinds of climbs
from the side rather than square on, because your knees get in the way. If you're trying to start a
climb square on with the hand and footholds very close together, it becomes extremely difficult to
stand out of this, so I would suggest if you can try starting it from the side so
right hand to the side cling, left hand behind me.
Right foot onto the textured part of this dual texture hold, left foot out, this volume
becomes good when you use it as a side cling as well, so how do I get my body into position where
this is something I can lay back on, I pull hard with the right arm and I go toes first,
keeping my arms long until I contract them in order to get around this hold,
I need to take my feet underneath me and flag the left foot out so that I have space
to get around this orange hold that's in front of me. Thank you so much Emily for teaching us
all the slap techniques it's really great, and I also heard that you have a coaching business
right? I do have a coaching business, I coach here at mira mesa and at mission valley. I love slab,
I love coaching slab especially because I think anybody looking to get into climbing new climbers,
you should start with slab because it teaches you excellent habits from the beginning,
and it is much much easier to learn good habits than it is to unlearn bad habits.
If you're looking for coaching send me a dm, and I would love to start working with you.
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to order some 5BARs. Thanks again Emily and see you guys in the next video, bye!