What people fail to realize is that the key to climbing is Energy Conservation. I’ll say that again because it bares repeating, The Key To Climbing is Energy Conservation. If you are burning yours arms out because you are not using your feet to lift your weight, guess what, you are going to get gassed and come off the wall. Learning how to conserve energy is the most important and most difficult thing you will ever learn while climbing. Figuring out every way to conserve energy you can should be your primary goal.
With that said here are a few pointers to think about as you climb more and more, believe me I think about them constantly and soon enough you just make them habit because everything else seems silly.
#1. Climb like a monkey
I know it seems silly to hear this and I’m sure it needs some explanation but, you really do want to climb like a monkey. Hang from your arms. Don’t constantly pull yourself close to the wall. You are going to burn your forearms and grip out in no time.
#2 Move a Hand, Move a Foot
As you are climbing pretty much every route will be configured in such a way that you should be able to move a hand then move a foot. Don’t get stretched out. If you get too far stretched out you are going to suffer as all your moves are going to take WAY more energy then you want them to.
#3 Move your weight up the wall in a pendulum motion
Don’t try to plow up the wall like your climbing a ladder. You are going to end up fighting the holds as you just force your way up the wall. Learn to shift your weight to a side, move your foot or hand away from your center of gravity then shift your center of gravity to the new position. It is going to be much easier by adding a little cross body zig and zag then to just try to stretch out and pull yourself up.