Introduction
WHY TECHNIQUE ISN’T THE ANSWER
TECHNIQUE VS. SKILL
Technique is the move, or moves, we choose in order to solve whatever movement puzzle is in front of us.
The technique we choose is usually dictated by the orientation of and distance between the grips, as well as our action capacity – how strong and mobile we are. We employ that technique, then choose another for the next move, and so on.
Skill is the ability to adapt those techniques to a variety of situations, using the principles of the movement as a guide.
Knowing what a heel hook is and how it looks, does not mean you are skillful with a heel hook. Within this one technique there are infinite possibilities of how to place it, position it, use it to move or to lock you in place, and so on. Being able to recognize and then adapt to the various uses requires skill.
To be skillful, we have to understand the principles of the movement itself.
You’ll hear things like, “Heelhooks should always have a pointed toe,” or “Your leg should be externally rotated,” or some other “rule”. These aren’t actually rules, these are just methods of adapting the technique to a specific situation. If you’re skillful, you understand when to employ these adaptations to the technique – not because you’ve tried and memorized every possible variation, but because you understand the foundational elements that go into making the heel hook work in any given scenario.
This is why good climbers can find micro-beta on the fly – not because they already have these techniques programmed into their head, but because they are skillful. They understand how to use global thematic principles in combination to make any movement solution work.
We can think of it similarly to a grade pyramid.
It might seem faster to send the next grade if you just spend a bunch of time projecting that next grade. But the person who spent an equal amount of time shoring up the level they were on, instead of jumping forward, can suddenly do multiple of this harder grade in short order, passing the person who took the shortcut.
It’s certainly faster to send a project if you dial in the microbeta and dedicate your time to those specific moves. But if we can dig a little deeper and find the foundational skills we need to work on, this allows us to better understand what’s required of us during a move.
We must recognize the distinction between performance and practice.
During performance, spend time working out all of the subtleties and microbeta.
During practice, spend time building more robust, more adaptable, foundational skills.
How can we address and improve our skill in a way that translates to various performance situations? How can we make sure it improves all of our climbing and not just our ability to use single techniques in single situations?