Taped Tips | The Hidden Value of Lowballs

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On the surface, Margin of Error in Red Rocks is an unimpressive lowball, probably a little overgraded, and just doesn’t fit into what most climbers would call “proud”…

…but since we’re in the midst of examining movement and skill acquisition, I pulled this video out because it’s a really great example of useful constraints that lead to unique solutions – in this case, a move I had never seen.

In case you haven’t been following along lately, there are two main theoretical approaches to skill acquisition: Information Processing and Ecological Dynamics.

Information Processing is what most of us are taught – that we have some computer in our heads storing our movement, and we rifle through and pull out the motor program when we need it.

Ecological Dynamics says that we aren’t storing anything per se, but instead our actions are informed by – and always coupled with – our perception of our environment; that they aren’t some separate mental file of motor programs.

On this ecological side, the common approach to coaching movement is known as the Constraints-Led Approach. Rather than being informed about the mechanics of a movement and then being asked to execute it, the coach puts a constraint into place that renders a specific solution ineffective, and ideally, guides the athlete into finding the desired solution.

In the case of Margin of Error, its main constraint is that you have to fit your moves into a small area or you’ll dab. Being so close to the ground forces the climber to find solutions that allow them to stay tight to the roof. For me, it forced me to find movement solutions that I wouldn’t normally have needed or looked for.

I was climbing with my friend Josh Muller, a Canadian climber and gym owner who’s climbed a number of V14’s, and we were both having trouble with the opening move. I couldn’t make a heel hook work, and a drop knee, which I wanted, wasn’t working because my arm was in the way. And it occurred to me that instead of getting my arm out of the way I could just set the drop knee differently… and it worked. We jokingly called it the “Figure 6”. And here’s the thing:

I’d never seen it, so I didn’t have some motor program in my head telling me how to do it or in what scenario it would work. I ended up at that solution entirely because of the constraints given. 

We often think that if a climber doesn’t know a technique, we have to tell them; that if they’ve never seen a kneebar before, they’ll never find a kneebar. But someone was first to find a kneebar.

Solutions emerge based on the constraints.

And that might just be a better way to teach. And a better way to learn.

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