Bouldering Fall Technique for Beginners

Yes, you will fall off from time to time, but that’s just part of the sport, and most of the time injuries occur because of bad landing.

Bend Your Knees on Landing

Bend your knees: Instead of your weight bearing down on stiff, straight legs, have soft knees and absorb the impact as you land. This will help you progress through the rest of the fall smoothly.

Spread the Impact Through Your Body

As you land, try to allow your hips to drop and the force to be transferred up through your legs. Don’t try to catch yourself with your arms, as you’ll be attempting to absorb the impact on your stiff wrists, which will easily sprain or break.

Tuck Your Chin

Tuck your chin to your chest when you fall to stop the back of your head hitting the floor.

Step Down From High Feet

Stepping off to the side or rolling off the wall will lower the height of your drop and allow you to step down from high feet more safely than jumping down from the height you have fallen from.

Look at the Mat Before You Fall

Look at the area of the mat where you will land before you fall off. Bouldering moves can end quite abruptly so you need to have an idea of where the mat is for the fall.

Practise on Low Moves First

Go through the falls on the low moves first and make sure you can fall correctly before trying to climb the problem. More on Bouldering can be found at https://www.270climbing.com/bouldering/.

By practising these simple fall techniques within a few sessions of climbing, you can develop good habits that will remain with you throughout your climbing career.