Well, after weeks of insanity, design, re-design, re-re-design, color picking, hold purchasing, construction, noise, long hours, re-re-re-design, flooring discussions, renovations, debates, re-re-re-re-design, and labor….OUR NEW BOULDERING WALL IS DONE AND OPEN. It debuted at our seminal yearly HEART OV ZTEEL event to a blown-minded crowd of enthusiasts and climbers. And for the last few weeks since the comp, the wall has been set with just under 20 boulder problems from V0-to VGnarly and is ready to be climbed! In addition to the sick new wall which boasts a 17 foot lip, and is 28 feet wide, we also made a big investment in an amazing custom flooring system from Futurist Climbing. Many of you may be a little wigged out when you come in and see a huge tall highball wall like this with no crashpads under it. But we assure you, the 14″ thick, seamless custom flooring system from Futurist Climbing is the best landing you could ask for! This flooring had just as much thought put in to it as the wall itself. There is not a flooring system like it in the Northeast! Unlike most commercial gyms with carpet bonded foam and drag mats, this flooring system greatly reduces the possibility of turned ankles on uneven edges of drag mats. We are happy to be able to offer this increased risk management to our die hard bouldering fans, because believe us when we say this wall is tall! Let these pictures by our good friends at ASA PHOTOGRAPHIC speak for themselves:
Category Archives: training
Glue Hands With Silent Feet.
By Chris Mireault
The next time you’re on the climbing wall, try this basic skill building exercise, it’s one of my favorites! It’s called “glue hands with silent feet” and it goes something like this.
First off let me explain “glue hands.” To initiate glue hands, pretend you have glue on your hands, simple enough right? Now every time you grab a climbing hold, try not to move your hands from the original position that you first grabbed the hold until it’s time to reach for another hold. That’s it!
This exercise is geared to make you think twice about how you grab a hold. Rather than just feeling the hold out and hoping for the best, you will have made the perfect placement the first time. Ideally this will train you to use hand holds better the first time around.
The other exercise is called, “silent feet.” Silent feet involves making perfect foot placements on foot holds without making any sound during placement. This act of silently placing your foot requires much more concentration and will require much practice at first. This exercise is also geared at having you, the climber, make your foot placement correctly the first time around.
Once you get the hang of silent feet you should start to move with more fluidity and grace. Also in theory, the better the foot placement and less foot scraping, the longer the rubber on those expensive climbing shoes will last. This is always a plus in my book.
Combine the two exercises together and you get what is called “glue hands with silent feet.” Practice these together as often possible and in time you will find yourself moving on the rock with more precision and confidence in no time. I guarantee it.
Try it the next time you’re in the gym and let us know what you think.
For more awesome exercises, and to learn climbing technique from a pro, check out Boston Rock Gym’s NUSCHOOL technique classes. These classes are guaranteed to get you climbing better faster.
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