Contributed by SAFRA Adventure Hub

rock on 2010

Rock On! will take place from November 10th to 14th. (Photo courtesy of SASC)

Rock On is back!

All climbers take note. Rock On is making a comeback from 10 to 14 November. Jointly organised by SAFRA and the Singapore Mountaineering Federation (SMF), this year’s event promises to rock you with more excitement, heaps of fun and a challenging route. The novice category has also been reintroduced this year to give newbie climbers an opportunity to compete for the first time.

With the competition just around the corner, SAFRA Adventure Sports Centre (SASC) brings you some training tips to help you prepare for the big day. Here are 10 valuable sport climbing tips to hone your skills and improve your performance.

10 Tips
1. Always warm up and stretch before you start climbing. Remember, tight muscles and ligaments don’t perform as well.

2. Preview and plan how you intend to tackle each segment of the route before you climb it. Developing this skill will help you get in the right position to make the move at the crux.

3. Do not use your arms to hold your weight. Use your legs instead. Your legs are much stronger and will carry you further.

4. Keep your body as close to the wall as possible to keep your centre of balance over your centre of mass. This will minimise the load on your arms.

5. When doing moves and sequences that require a great deal of upper body strength, move quickly through the sequence.

6. Use only the degree of strength on your grip to secure your balance. Your grip is often the first to go so don’t exhaust it too quickly.

7. During dynamic movement, use momentum to peak at the dead point — the point at which you grip the hold.

8. Have short rests so that your muscles can perform longer. Develop a skill at finding rest positions during your climb to extend your endurance.

9. Build up the necessary muscles which you will need on your climb and it will give you a huge advantage.

10. Finally, watch and learn from other good climbers. Practice good rock climbing technique every time you climb and your climbing performance will measurably improve.