It's Really Annoying. What's the Solution?
How do you prevent the annoying ‘barn door’ in climbing? In simple terms, cross-body tension. Here’s an example. In a perfect world, we would be able to achieve maximum efficiency in every climbing move. We would carry 100% of our weight on our legs.
If we were on slab, we would climb without using our hands. But, in the vast majority of climbing, walls are too steep (or holds are too small) for this to be possible.
Most of the time our hands are required, at minimum, to keep our balance, much like climbing a ladder. Because of this (some would say, obvious) requirement, it is important to understand the relationship between how we use our hands and a common cause of falls: the barn door.
What is a Barn Door?
A barn door occurs when only one side of our body is “attached” to the wall. For example, pushing up on our right foot while holding on with the right hand, or vice versa.
This position makes it nearly impossible to keep our weight over the foot doing the work. This is because as we push up, our weight lifts off of our lower foot. As a result, our weight tends to shift out and away from the upper foot.
This causes our body to swing out from the wall, and open up like a barn door in the wind.
How to Prevent a Barn Door
Regardless of the angle, the simplest way to prevent the barn is to have the opposite hand on the wall from the foot that is going to do the work.
For instance, if you are pushing up on your right foot, your left-hand needs to be on the wall. Do this while you reach with your right hand, and vice versa.
This position creates a diagonal line between the foot you are stepping up on. In addition, the hand you are using for balance prevents the barn door. This is referred to as cross-body tension.
What is Cross-Body Tension?
As we have previously mentioned in our article ‘How to Climb on Slab Using This Technique,’ practicing new techniques on slab first is an excellent way to master skills. Slab helps you refine skills without the risk of getting too pumped or tired to learn. And cross-body tension is no exception.
Nonetheless, over the years I have discovered that despite it seeming simple, cross-body tension can be a challenge for climbers to master. I believe this is because, when done properly, this skill does not have a terribly distinctive, or beneficial feel.
Cross-body tension simply prevents something that feels wrong, namely the barn door. And this skill requires that climbers do something which many new climbers can find a bit unnatural. It’s that you have to “give up” your lower foot when doing a move.
This puts all your weight on one foot. In turn, it reduces the number of points of contact with the wall from three (two feet and one hand) to two (one hand and one foot).
How to Prevent the Annoying 'Barn Door' in Climbing
Practice! The starting point I recommend for getting the proper feel for cross-body tension is to develop an intuitive “fear” of the barn door. This is to prevent any potential barn door position. So, perhaps counterintuitively, we will first try the position we wish to avoid.
Practice barn dooring to understand the movement that you do not want your body to do. Want more specifics on how not to barn door on slab versus vertical? Check out our next article, ‘Why Do You Need Cross-Body Tension in Climbing?’
All material is reprinted with the permission of the author. Copyright 2022 David H. Rowland. All rights reserved.
