The 80/20 Rule for Working on Climbing Weaknesses
From the very beginning of trying to improve at climbing, we’re told one thing:
Work on your weaknesses.
I’ve probably said this a million times myself. But I’ve also paid attention to what happens as a result of that type of instruction. And what happens is:
We end up in this constant cycle of trying to determine what our weaknesses are and fix them.
So much so that I end up getting similar messages from my clients, friends, and many other good climbers. They go something like this:
“I just tried this new project, and I think I need to do some shoulder work. I’m really weak at the crux gaston.”
”I think I need to do some hamstring strengthening. The heel hooks on this new boulder are really hard and I suck at them.”
”Please program some lockoff work. There are two really hard lockoffs in a row on the new project and I can’t seem to link them together.”
And they nearly always follow this pattern. I bet you’ve walked away from some hard project thinking the same thing.
There is a big problem with this line of thinking. I’m going to tell you why this is one of the slowest ways to improve and what you can do instead to make sure you aren’t inadvertently holding yourself back.
The place we have to start is the advice itself. Because it’s lazy. And like I said, I’ve given it. I’m a fan of the idea that we should train our weaknesses and leverage our strengths. It makes good sense if we want to keep improving and perform our best.
But the simple “work on your weaknesses” advice itself? It’s just surface-level lazy.
How do you know what a weakness is?
Is it just what we think we’re bad at? Based on what?
Falling? Failing? Aren’t we supposed to be trying things that cause us to fail?
Can’t we also fail at our strengths?
Does that mean we’re weak at everything?
No, of course it doesn’t. Climbing on slopers is a strength of mine but it’s not very hard for me to find slopers I can’t climb on. That doesn’t mean I’m weak at slopers. There are always going to be moves that we are perfectly suited for that we still can’t do. None of us gets to “solve rock climbing.” That would be horrible actually. If there were some endscreen for climbing, it wouldn’t be that fun.
But back to that advice. I do think it’s important to work on weaknesses, but I’ve talked to a lot of climbers who have completely misdiagnosed what their weaknesses actually are. It’s easy to do in a sport where we are trying to find things that are harder and harder for us. And in conversation with these people, there’s actually an easy way for me to tell if that’s the case:
Was it the crux?
Because the thing is, the crux is supposed to be hard. That’s literally the definition. So if you’re trying a new project that is anywhere near your limit and you find that the crux is really hard for you… Yeah, exactly.
It might not mean you are weak at that thing.
You may not suck at heel hooks or gastons or underclings. It might just mean that you encountered a really hard heel hook or gaston or undercling. That’s what you were looking for, right?
Congratulations! Finding a thing that is harder than what you already understand is exciting. It doesn’t mean you should go double down on your deadlifts.
More likely, it means you get the rare opportunity to learn something new about something you already know a bit about.
And you have the lesson and the test right here in front of you. Spend some time on it. Study it. Learn it.
Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t work toward improving when you find something difficult. But there are some common errors in thinking when you make that knee-jerk “I’m-weak-at-this” response.
First, the idea that you have to get physically stronger in order to do this move just doesn’t hold up.
We’ve all thought, I just need to get stronger, only to do the move a few tries later. You didn’t get stronger. Getting stronger actually takes quite a bit of time, so it’s rarely the best answer to sending a specific rock climb. If you regularly say this, you should go watch this video.
Second, I used examples like gastons and underclings and heel hooks because for most climbers those moves are in the minority.
Especially difficult versions of them. So if you are just realizing on a hard project that you are bad at this very specific thing, then you have to ask yourself: how often are you actually encountering this thing?
Is it worth it to spend a bunch of time training for this exact thing if you don’t encounter it very often?
If it’s a technique that you could likely use more often to greater effect and you’re just missing those opportunities, then maybe it is worth it. But for specific beta that requires a very specific hold and position that you don’t encounter so often, is that worth it? If you have unlimited time to dedicate to this thing, then maybe. But most of us don’t. Most of us have increasingly limited time for climbing and training as we get older and have more responsibilities. There’s an opportunity cost to working on something, so we have to weigh that opportunity cost.
A strategy you can use to decide is to ask yourself:
How will this impact not only your climbing on this project, but your climbing in general?
How will it affect your training time?
Does it mean that something in your training has to be removed to prepare for this? Does it mean buying some new implement that you won’t need for any other reason?
Again, the answer might be that it is indeed worth it. But it might surprise you how often it ends up being not worth it. You should definitely ask the questions.
Because here’s the thing: more often than not, you can do this move or improve at this very specific skill just by climbing on it a few more times. It’s unlikely that anything you do in the gym – even a nearly exact replica – will have even a tenth as much impact as a single dedicated session on the actual sequence.
But I see a cycle playing itself out for so many climbers:
They identify a “weakness” related to a specific project.
They work on that weakness for a few weeks, often at the expense of other training.
They send the project.
They try a new project and find a new weakness.
And again and again. And oftentimes, they end up stuck, spinning their wheels. Yes, they are sending things, but at the same relative grade for a long time.
And lets consider this: if you find yourself in this situation on 8 or 10 projects in a row, meaning you’ve found 8 or 10 different “weaknesses,” does it mean that you’re weak at everything? And does being weak at everything mean that you’re not actually any weaker at anything?
…So you’re strong at everything?
It’s a strange loop to get caught in.
I believe this is one of the reasons for climbers’ overemphasis of training finger strength. We can almost always blame it. It’s the most direct connection we can make as to why we are falling. But like I’ve said before, it’s likely people weaker than you have done this climb. So maybe it’s your technique choice. Maybe it’s your efficiency on the previous 15 moves. Maybe you’re overgripping because you’re scared or uncomfortable. But the usual response is:
“I just tried this hard rock climb and I couldn’t hold this grip, so I need more finger strength.”
And striving for improvement is a good thing. Trying to get stronger is a good thing. Working on what you perceive to be a weakness can build confidence. But when you do eventually send that project, how often is it because you actually gained finger strength, or hamstring strength, or shoulder strength?
Probably not often. That strength is more likely put to use on something down the road.
Instead, we can try to apply something like the Pareto Principle, which says that 80% of consequences come from 20% of actions, and so when applied to improving at climbing, would say that 80% of our gains come from 20% of the work. Then we will likely find that the things we gravitate toward, like getting stronger and working on these perceived weaknesses, may not be nearly as powerful as we think in the immediate moment. Or at least that it might be some side effect of trying to get stronger, rather than actually having improved strength, that’s helping most immediately. And like I said, you should absolutely keep getting stronger for as long as you can – it’s just not a good reaction to an immediate problem.
If you want to know if you’re falling into this trap, we can ask these questions in addition to the ones we’ve already discussed:
Is this new “weakness” actually the crux for most people my size?
If it is, that’s pretty much settled. It’s just hard. This alone can be pretty freeing; you’re now open to trying other alternatives or employing more intense effort because you know that you don’t just need to get stronger to make it work.
But what if it’s not the crux? What if it’s your crux, but nobody else's?
Have you noticed this specific thing being hard for you before, even on climbs that are well below your top level?
If no, then there is probably something you’re just missing. A body position or confidence in the footholds. Your doubts crept in. You didn’t rest long enough between moves. You haven’t eaten in hours. Something other than the physical strength required to do the move. The move or hold itself is probably not a weakness at all.
Of course there are times when you’re going to find an actual weakness. I’m not trying to dissuade you from working on it. But it might be worth it to run an 80/20 analysis:
Is this skill or quality going to contribute to 80% of your climbing, or only 20% of your climbing?
All I’m trying to do is point out that it isn’t as easy as it seems on the surface to recognize your weaknesses.
But what if we can get to the bottom of what is actually holding us back and put time toward the things that will actually help? What if there was a tool that would help you run that 80/20 analysis? That would be a game changer. And this is where our Atomic Elements of Climbing Movement course comes in. It includes a self-analysis tool for movement and technique that can really help with this. And we’re working on similar things for mindset and tactics as well as the physical metrics.
But honestly, I don’t have easy answers for you. Climbing is complicated. I do think you’ll do yourself a favor if you really interrogate how you climb and how you train, and try to run an 80/20 analysis on all of it: your process, your approach, your mindstate, your physical training.
So ask yourself: what is actually moving the needle and what is merely a fun distraction?
If you’ve been trying to get stronger for a while now, and the needle still isn’t moving, check this video out next.
EXPLORE FURTHER
You might enjoy these related articles, episodes, and other resources:
The Atomic Elements of Climbing Movement
The Two Biggest Barriers to Sending Hard Climbs
Board Meetings | Is It a Weakness or Is It Just Hard?
Board Meetings | Should Climbers Generalize or Specialize?
Adapt: Lessons Learned Climbing 100 5.13’s
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