Mastering heel hook technique can be a game changer in your climbing progression. As new climbers, using our toes can come fairly intuitively (but not without its own nuances) but the use of our heels can be something quite new to us. Learning how to effectively use the heel when climbing increases our movement options and can in many cases be more effective than pulling in with our toes. In this video Josh and Jen go through situations where heel hook techniques are used most often, the mechanics of how to use your heels and two ways to get practising these techniques. We aim to cover the fundamentals in this video but if you have any tips or techniques you would like to add, please comment below.
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Good! I need to kickstart my heel hooking, as I flop more like a dying fish on the wall
😂
i have a deja vu, wasnt something similar to this already uploaded?
Heelhooks cause me a crazy amount of pain in the ourside of my knees, any ideas?
not an expert, but maybe a lack of hip flexibility?
you would want to have a medical doctor have a look at your knee. It should not excessively hurt (or at all) when hooking. So something is probably going on in you knee where you don’t want Dr. Internet to give you medical advise.
sounds like an lcl problem is it on one leg or both? I think it’s probably best to go to a physiotherapist
Definitely a question for a physio. Its best to get to the bottom of the issue with a specialist.
Most of the knee problems in regards to the heel hook technic revols around excessive external foot orientation in regards to the tibia. It puts loads of pressure to the ligaments such as ACL, MCL as well as meniscus.
Wish you all the best
Physio
Can’t wait for the toehook video!❤️
TO master it you should specify that the person has to have the best shoe possible for your foot otherwise all of it’s uselss, n ice vid btw
Yea, i thought my shoes we snug to the point of perfect but fail me with ambitious heel hook holds
Thanks Mathieu. Yes, totally agree. We debated doing a bit on shoe selection but decided to keep things simple in this video because we have another with Tom Randall that covered different shoes “Best Climbing Shoes…”. We also see heel preference vary quite a bit e.g. some like a tight fit and other like a bit of bagginess to “sky hook” or mould into the holds.
Thank you for this series
Thanks Logan 🙂
Sheffield 👌
one tip left off most heel hook videos- warm up your hamstrings. I’ve strained both of my hamstrings doing slightly too intense heel hooks, so if you are prone to hamstring injuries or have tight hammies this is for you.
warm up your hamstring by contracting the muscle, bring your heel to your butt, maintain the contraction through the range of motion, this is essentially an unweighted hamstring curl. this does not need to be super intense and can be done laying down or standing up. I usually do one set of 8-10 reps per leg and I’m good to go. I can’t heel hook without risk of injury, even on easy ones, so I do this before every sesh and it helps a lot
Thanks Charlie, we totally agree. Very important to warm-up! Jen makes a point of recommending glute bridges and SL-RDL’s for a warm-up in this video (5:01) but the key is activating the muscles involved in the heel hook like you say.
I think Jen is my favourite of the lattice coaches to watch climbing 🙂
A lot to be learned from watching a great climbers move!
2:58 :O
Flexibility required!
I really appreciate y’all offering these tips for free 🙂
Thanks Justin!
has anyone gotten a swollen foot from toe hooking? my foot is swollen 🙁
Great vid thanks
Thanks Jim!
2:59 – WHAT!
Flexibility is a game changer with heel hooks!
Amazing. Thanks! Very well explained.
I always had knee pain when doing heel hooks. My physio said to do exactly the same exercises and now I don’t feel pain anymore 😀
does anyone have knowledge to share about pressing the inside of the foot into the wall when heel hooking to lever the hips into the wall? it helps immensely, but also feels like doing that will destroy my knee.
Can we get another video on toe hooks?
I’m quite good at heel hooks but reaaaally bad with my toe hooks, so that would be quite helpfull!
SO GOOD!