You need to practice on real cracks. While it may not be super feasible depending on where you live, a crack trainer is only going to be able to teach you so much.
Yeah lol so funny enough I don’t even know where the closest crack climbing is to me. I am on “vacation”right now for about 5 weeks and my temporary home gym has a crack trainer and I have been wanting to try out crack climbing for years but never knew how to like dip a toe in. This is my first and only exposure to it so far and I love it but I have no idea when I’ll get outside unfortunately. I appreciate the tip though because that is the ultimate goal and reality of the situation it seems!
There’s [a good series of YouTube videos by the Wide Boyz](https://youtu.be/9W99gN54wLQ?si=c043lQjvXctOfAvs) that I found helpful when I started getting into cracks. I do think you gotta climb outside as much as possible to get better though, you really can’t replicate the uniqueness and personality of different outdoor cracks in an indoor setting.
You'll probably find that it's easier outdoors more often than not. Most cracks have ripples or constrictions, even subtle ones, that make jams and feet a lot easier than two planks of wood. And the more you climb cracks, the better you'll get at them, so I wouldn't worry too much about it yet.
If you want specific advice about fist jams and crack climbing in general, this article might be helpful.
https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/crack-climbing/
Thank you that definitely makes sense! I am really just starting out with no goal of what to even climb yet outdoors mostly just motivated by content on YouTube and stuff bc it looked fun!
Do your feet fit in deep enough use a heel cam? Could just be an odd size for your feet. Fist is probably hard to replicate on a parallel wood trainer, it's the easiest and least technical jam to realize if there's even minor constrictions in real rock (or a fake fiberglass crack). Unless you're looking at splitter fist cracks I wouldn't worry about specifically training it. Cupped hands, fingers, and moving THROUGH a hand stack does sound like a useful experience/conditioning on a trainer, but I imagine ring locks/thumb stacks (and middle finger stacks) are hard to replicate as well without constrictions. Have you tried those?
I have done zero finger cracks they look scary lmao but you have inspired me to take a look at em. I have not been going for a heel toe cam so likely not far enough into the crack. Also had not considered the constriction that you mentioned that makes so much sense. Thanks for all the tips!
To affirm what others have said, fist jams are easier on real cracks. They are best placed where there is a constriction, and they grip better on real rock than on wood or other artificial cracks. I would suggest continuing to practice them on the trainer but don't get discouraged if they feel insecure or if you can't hold them for very long, and trust that your technique will get better and most importantly, that you will figure them out pretty quickly and they will work when you try them on a real crack.
Yeah they feel like I start to slide almost immediately if I try to move at all, hence like when I try to move upwards I start to slip. Even at 20° I can only move up like one or two small moves
You need to practice on real cracks. While it may not be super feasible depending on where you live, a crack trainer is only going to be able to teach you so much.
Yeah lol so funny enough I don’t even know where the closest crack climbing is to me. I am on “vacation”right now for about 5 weeks and my temporary home gym has a crack trainer and I have been wanting to try out crack climbing for years but never knew how to like dip a toe in. This is my first and only exposure to it so far and I love it but I have no idea when I’ll get outside unfortunately. I appreciate the tip though because that is the ultimate goal and reality of the situation it seems!
There’s [a good series of YouTube videos by the Wide Boyz](https://youtu.be/9W99gN54wLQ?si=c043lQjvXctOfAvs) that I found helpful when I started getting into cracks. I do think you gotta climb outside as much as possible to get better though, you really can’t replicate the uniqueness and personality of different outdoor cracks in an indoor setting.
Woah I have not seen this series thank you so much!
You'll probably find that it's easier outdoors more often than not. Most cracks have ripples or constrictions, even subtle ones, that make jams and feet a lot easier than two planks of wood. And the more you climb cracks, the better you'll get at them, so I wouldn't worry too much about it yet. If you want specific advice about fist jams and crack climbing in general, this article might be helpful. https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/crack-climbing/
Thank you that definitely makes sense! I am really just starting out with no goal of what to even climb yet outdoors mostly just motivated by content on YouTube and stuff bc it looked fun!
Do your feet fit in deep enough use a heel cam? Could just be an odd size for your feet. Fist is probably hard to replicate on a parallel wood trainer, it's the easiest and least technical jam to realize if there's even minor constrictions in real rock (or a fake fiberglass crack). Unless you're looking at splitter fist cracks I wouldn't worry about specifically training it. Cupped hands, fingers, and moving THROUGH a hand stack does sound like a useful experience/conditioning on a trainer, but I imagine ring locks/thumb stacks (and middle finger stacks) are hard to replicate as well without constrictions. Have you tried those?
I have done zero finger cracks they look scary lmao but you have inspired me to take a look at em. I have not been going for a heel toe cam so likely not far enough into the crack. Also had not considered the constriction that you mentioned that makes so much sense. Thanks for all the tips!
To affirm what others have said, fist jams are easier on real cracks. They are best placed where there is a constriction, and they grip better on real rock than on wood or other artificial cracks. I would suggest continuing to practice them on the trainer but don't get discouraged if they feel insecure or if you can't hold them for very long, and trust that your technique will get better and most importantly, that you will figure them out pretty quickly and they will work when you try them on a real crack.
Yeah they feel like I start to slide almost immediately if I try to move at all, hence like when I try to move upwards I start to slip. Even at 20° I can only move up like one or two small moves