The #1 reason you’re thrutching on offwidths

Hey Cracksters,

I’ve just come back from the Bohuslan Festival in Sweden, where I was teaching a Crack School class. Today, I want to go over one of the main offwidth techniques we worked on and the biggest takeaway that everyone learned. This is crucial for leveling up your offwidth game!

The Main Offwidth Technique

One of the main techniques we worked on was the outside foot technique on the edge of the offwidth crack.

Why did we work on this? Because the outside foot is what generates the power to help you move up offwidth climbs effectively. The outside foot is what we at Wide Boyz refer to as "the pushing foot"—and pushing is what helps you go upwards!

What many people tend to do with the outside foot is leave it floundering around on the edge of the crack being pretty useless. However, when this foot becomes useless, that’s when you start thrutching wildly. And we all know what happens when you thrutch wildly: it becomes exhausting and you end up scraping yourself up.

Remember: the outside foot does the pushing, while the inside foot/leg and hand stack or arm bar do the holding. A little tip: don’t try to pull up too aggressively with those inside body parts. Get that upward momentum from the outside foot!

Now that we have the concept dialed in, what was the biggest takeaway about the outside foot from the Crack School workshops?

The Biggest Takeaway

The biggest takeaway was HOW you position your foot.

There is no point plonking your foot on the outside of the crack and "making do"—you have to position it correctly.

For this technique, first you want to insert your heel into the crack first (so the outside back edge of the heel is touching the inner crack wall). This will make your toes want to rotate into the crack naturally. Then rotate your toes inside and gain friction from the inside edge of your shoe coming into contact with the inner crack wall or the crack edge.

The important thing to remember is that the heel should sit slightly deeper inside the crack than the toes.

A couple of things to avoid:

• Going toe-first into the crack: This can work, but you will have to forcefully jam your foot rather than letting the foot automatically cam into place. Placing your toe into the crack first also immediately indicates to me that your body positioning is wrong and you'll be getting less friction from your shoulder.
• Pointing your toes too far down: This creates more contact on the top of the shoe rather than along the inside edge.

If you want to get in-depth knowledge about all this and what really matters, plus really master the subtleties, don’t forget Global Crack School is opening again in September. This is the only place where you have direct access to me to ask your specific questions (send me a video, ask about a project, etc.) and I will give you a tailored answer specifically for you.

Sign up your interest here, and if you reply to my email on signup, I’ll give you a little something extra when we re-open the course! :)

Happy jamming and hope to see you inside,

Pete