Have you learnt how to fall?

Falling is a skill and most climbers haven’t actually learnt it yet.

Unless you grew up skateboarding or doing parkour, gymnastics or training in contact sports you’ve probably never been taught how to land, absorb force and roll safely.

Yet in bouldering, we’re expected to climb 3-4 metres up the wall and just fall well after a quick safety fall demo.

Now whilst finger strength is important for your climbing performance it’s not the only thing that matters. Your ability to absorb force through your whole body is just as important.

Too often as a physio I see injuries in clinic from awkward falls

• broken wrists

• dislocated elbows and shoulders

• ankle sprains

Most of these happen not during the climb but the landing.

A huge part of committing to big moves on the wall is confidence in your ability to bail if you need to. When you know that you can fall and roll safely you begin to move differently.

My practical tips for you:

Landing practice (start simple)

• start from a low height

• land onto a soft surface double leg

• focus on bending through the hips, knees and ankles

**think absorbing the forces rather than bracing

Practising falling & rolling

• train rolling into different directions and being comfortable with these

• keep your arms tucked close to you (avoid reaching your wrist out)

• round your back to allow a smoother roll

• a little bit of momentum helps!

Only climb up to a height you feel comfortable falling from.

• easier said than done, it’s easy to get carried away bouldering especially on the fun new set!

Now if falling feels awkward, stiff or something that you avoid when climbing, that’s usually a sign that it hasn’t been trained yet.

And it’s one of the most overlooked parts of staying injury free when climbing.

This is something I work on with climbers returning from injury to building confidence again. If you’re unsure about falling it’s something we can build into your training step by step.