The Matching Drill

This weeks “how-to” video is an interesting drill that can feel odd at times but is really beneficial and can develop fantastic body awareness. The Matching Drill is very self explanatory, climb a boulder problem and match each hold before proceeding to the next. It sounds simple and in theory execution of this drill is very basic, however, the “devil is in the details” as they say.

Perhaps the biggest challenge when working on this drill is the fact that matching each hold will often pull or push our natural center of gravity out of “alignment” and force us to be out of balance. That might not matter that much if this is being performed on say a vertical V0, BUT it makes a world of difference when that changes to a 30˚ overhung V5. Another element that can seem challenging is the fact that not all holds are matchable, this means that often the “match” is nothing more than a quick hand stack before moving to the next hold.

The real benefit and maybe the biggest take away from this drill is an intangible - body awareness. Body awareness is tough to qualify but is critical to successful movement as we advance as climbers. When we climb we often know what feels comfortable in terms of our balance, but why? Rarely, if ever do we take the time to think about why we feel in balance and what anchor points (and our trunks relationship to them) are causing that. By forcing ourselves out of that comfort zone and being slightly out of balance we are shown very quickly which anchors and positions we rely on to stay in balance.

Inherently by being out of balance and out of that comfort zone we are also pushed to try a little harder. Sure there’s more “pull” involved at times but we also use our core to create and maintain body tension while we’re in those odd positions. Strengthening our core with anterior and posterior focussed exercises is the best way to increase the “power output” from those muscle groups but spending equal or greater amounts of time applying that strength on the wall is just as, if not more important.

Another fun trick this drill teaches us is how to initiate a pause between moves. Often when we’re faced with long, isolated pulls our hips are tilted and one shoulder is lower than the other. This means we need to overcome that height deficit on top of the distance between the holds to complete the move. The Matching Drill teaches us to break that motion up by pausing halfway. I can think of many times in “the wild” I’ve needed to match and pause quickly before latching the next hold due to fatigue or when onsighting in unfamiliar terrain.

I really like this exercise for all level athletes and like most all drills this is very easy to scale for all abilities.