Assessment of grip difficulty of a smart climbing hold with increasing slope and decreasing depth

Coordination in Climbing: Effect of Skill, Practice and Constraints Manipulation

“…Indeed, in contrast to the findings discussed above, results in Fuss and Niegl [44,62] showed, that, to increase friction at a hold surface, climbers can only reduce tangential force by moving their COM closer to the wall. Fuss and Niegl [83] and colleagues [62] also evaluated reaction forces during dynamic climbing.…”

“…At specific values, a transition from applying horizontal pulling forces at the hold to applying horizontal, pushing forces to use the hold was exhibited (22° from the horizontal in less experienced individuals, and 34° in more experienced climbers). The latter coordination strategy indicated that the hips were moving away from the wall in a qualitatively different manner in order to use the hold at the more extreme angles [62]. Transitional behaviour is of tremendous interest, because, it suggests the potential for identifying control parameters underpinning the emergence of a new coordination mode [101].…”

“…Increasing the distance of the COM from the wall during this technique had the effect of increasing the hip angle, reducing the effective height of the climber, signifying that a higher jump was needed to reach the hold. Fuss and colleagues [62] also examined how the slope of a hold, when systematically reduced from the horizontal, influenced coordination of hold forces. At specific values, a transition from applying horizontal pulling forces at the hold to applying horizontal, pushing forces to use the hold was exhibited (22° from the horizontal in less experienced individuals, and 34° in more experienced climbers).…”

“…Fuss and Niegl [83] and colleagues [62] also evaluated reaction forces during dynamic climbing. In their study, participants with a range of ability levels (including an elite climber) were required to jump and grasp a hold scaled across six different vertical heights.…”

“…Third, practice effects also provide insights into how coordination evolves and what factors influence the rate, retention and transfer of skill acquisition [31,[59][60][61]. Finally, coordination and it's acquisition can be understood by observing the effect of manipulating different environmental and task constraints (such as changing hand-hold characteristics [62,63]). …”