NICROS - Training Center

Often called campusing, feet-off bouldering is a popular indoor training exercise among advanced climbers. Todd Skinner first turned me onto this training method on his garage woodie at Lucky Lane (Lander, WY) in the early 1990s. Since then, I’ve incorporated it into my power/max strength phase of my training cycle, but only when I'm in on-season (good) shape. Be warned: Feet-off bouldering is stressful and should only be engaged in by well-conditions climbers with no recent history of finger, elbow, or shoulder injury. A good warm-up is of course essential beforehand.

The exercise goal is simply to ascend a section of overhanging wall (around 45 degrees is best) by climbing hand-over-hand with no use of the feet. Problems should be four to ten moves in length. Perform five to ten such no-feet problems, with a three- to five-minute rest in between, as part of your power/max strength workout. Other complementary exercises include max bouldering, hypergravity bouldering, campus board training, power pull-ups, and weighted pull-ups.

Focus formative sessions on ascending juggy problems (large holds) to gain the feel and skill of back-to-back dynamic movement up a steep wall. You will quickly master the art of “deadpointing”—that is, making a quick, controlled reach to the next hold while your body is in the upward phase of a lunge movement. As skill, strength, and power increase, you’ll soon be able to campus up a 45-degree wall on much smaller holds. I enjoy no-feet bouldering on holds as small as full first-pad crimps and solid two-finger pockets, but never anything smaller or more tweaky. Long ago, Todd inspired me to develop the skill of no-feet boulder up my 50-degree wall using only “mono” (middle finger) pocket holds—this was a skill that I found valuable in my 20s and 30s, but as an age 40-something climber I choose to avoid injury...and I hope you will, too, by eschewing such extreme training tactics!