Movement Blog

If you've been climbing for a little while, you've probably heard someone mention crimping or even been told to stop doing it so much. And if you're newer, you might not have thought much about your grip at all. You're just holding on however you can.

So you’ve been putting in the reps top roping, building confidence, and eyeing those draws on the wall. Lead climbing can be an exciting and rewarding next step in your climbing journey. Leading challenges you both physically and mentally, and because it comes with more risk than top rope, learning the right systems, building good habits, and having a solid belay partner really matters. The good news? You don’t have to rush into it. Like any new climbing skill, learning to lead climb safely is all about progression. In this guide, we’ll walk you through three approachable ways to start lead climbing to build your skills, confidence, and comfort on the wall.

Board climbing has boomed in popularity—and for good reason. It allows us to stay in one place while gaining access to more than 36,000+ problems (at the time of writing), all while sharing the same user experience with climbers around the world. These boards also distill climbing down to its rawest form, demanding a tremendous amount from our bodies. This intensity is why many of the best climbers spend the majority of their training time on boards. They are an exceptional tool for targeting the most critical strength components required to climb harder: finger strength, power, contact strength, and core strength.

Crack climbing is one of those styles that looks completely unhinged from the outside. You watch someone willingly get their hands and feet stuck, grimace, and somehow move upward, and you think, “How in the world does that even work?”

Climbing is one of the most rewarding (and demanding) sports out there. Whether you’re chasing your next boulder project or logging endurance laps on the rope wall, your body is constantly adapting to stress. At The Climb Clinic, we work with climbers of all levels (from first-time gym members to seasoned 5.14 crushers) and we’ve noticed that most climbing-related injuries fall into just a few categories. Here are the five most common injuries we see and how to prevent them at Movement.

Have you ever hopped on the wall, only to get confused a few moves in? Climbing can often feel intuitive, but sometimes a tricky sequence can throw you off and burn precious forearm power. That’s where route reading comes in. By taking some time to plan before you pull on, you can climb smarter, save energy, and give yourself a better shot at sending. In climbing competitions, you’ve probably seen athletes miming moves from the ground or even rehearsing an entire route in their heads. Route reading helps you (and the pros!) separate the mental processing from the physical effort. By studying a climb before you get off the mat, You’ll create muscle memory for key techniques, anticipate the crux (the hardest part of the climb), and feel more confident when it’s time to commit. Ready to give route reading a try? Here are a few tips to conserve forearm power, maximize each attempt, and give yourself a better chance at flowing through your beta.