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What is Your Bouldering Body Type?

Tall, small, strong and lean all have their advantages

Talking about body types in climbing isn’t easy, but we can group most boulderers into four broad groups: tall, small, lean and strong.

There are endless combinations of each, so below we look at some advantages and disadvantages.

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The Tall

You’ve been working the new V5. It’s not at your limit, but V5 is hard. It sure would be a shame if someone were to simply lank their way through it. Fortunately the movement is forced. Or so you had thought. Six feet and two inches stretch towards the ceiling. They across the pads. They says their ape index is “zero” but you know that at 6’2”, that doesn’t really matter. The taller pulls on and boom. That double clutch turns into a reach. Your heart is broken. They don’t seem to notice. Instead, they throw on their hat and move on to reach through the other cruxes of the gym.

Tears streaming, you look to see what they are is working now. They are sizing up the crimpy V5 in the overhang. Surely if they walked through your project, this boulder will fall easily. Pulling on, they fall. They can’t do the first move. Their limbs are pushing their hips so far off the wall that they can’t maintain body tension. Locking off looks difficult with such long arms. It becomes clear that height is not necessarily an advantage. Perhaps the taller have more beta options, but you can always build your feet higher. After all, you aren’t that tall.

The Small

So the tall boulderer is off in the corner getting dropped by that V5, but the smaller has gotten through the double clutch on their project. Five-foot-three a tough height to climb at, but they know it’s merely a perspective.

Of course big moves are hard when you have to throw farther than taller climbers. The smaller heads to the 45-degree wall to take down the new proj. V6, a tough one. The taller, discouraged by their efforts on the crimpy V5, has left the boulder and watches the smaller climber walk to the new project. They holds are black and flat and the moves are super powerful, but with lots of heel hooks. 6’2” and 5’3” stand side by side.

The moves begin to go. The taller nails the first three holds off a right heel. Starting on a big dish, they comes out left to a sloper before crossing to a lipped right hand, and a similar left opposite to the right. They are able to get the holds, but cutting the right heel looks tough. They can’t seem to keep the shoulder tension. The smaller climber suggests “just holding it,” but that’s like telling a the smaller climber to “just reach for it.”

Even still, their shoulders have difficulty supporting the weight of the cut.

The smaller climber takes a few tries, but manages to figure out the first sequence eventually. They is unable to go for the left-lipped volume with the heel in, but they is light, so they jump and catches the good hold with ease.

The cut looks so simple. Getting a heel in the right gaston, they reach back to a pocket and hucks for the lip. The taller manages to switch a right heel to a left toe hook and statics the right heel to the high gaston. They also send to the lip. Bumping fists, the two morphologies praise each other. They realize for the millionth time that there are many ways to be strong.

The Lean

Enter the lean climber. Standing 5’9”, they are average in height. They look like they haven’t eaten in days, but you know that they packs away more cookies and cake than the rest of the gym combined.

They know it to, telling you about how fast their metabolism is. Their arms are noodles. There appears to be no core to speak of, and yet, there they go, climbing V9. Walking up to the taller and smaller, the leaner flashes the V6. Using a combination of tall and short beta, they appear to just dangle from their hands, swinging their hips instead of pulling. They live for the overhangs. Of course they do, they have a positive ape index and only weigh 120 lbs.

The Strong

This often frustrates the stronger. Standing six-foot-even, they are built like a brick house. Muscles popping, they weigh in at a thick 170 pounds. They likes jugs, slopers and pinches. All they want is to sink their fingers into something incut.

The leaner is a good match for them. Possibly the best friends at the gym, they push each other to climb on each other’s anti-styles. Where they leaner can dangle, the stronger can pull. They poke fun at each other, but support one another in their projects. They know that height and weight are merely aspects of climbing. For them, it wouldn’t be fun if it were easy.

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