Bouldering Holds and Techniques: A Complete Guide

Every boulder problem, whether in a gym, at a competition, or outdoors, is essentially a puzzle made of two elements: the holds you grip and stand on, and the movement techniques you use to connect them.

In recreational climbing, you have unlimited time to figure out the sequence. In competition bouldering, you have 4 minutes per problem in finals, with no prior knowledge of the problem and no ability to watch others attempt it first. This makes the ability to instantly recognise hold types and instinctively reach for the correct technique the defining skill separating good climbers from elite ones.

Hold types create physical demands. A crimp requires finger flexor strength. A sloper demands open-hand friction and shoulder engagement. A pinch activates the thumb and forearm. Routesetters combine hold types to test different muscle groups across a single problem — you might crimp off the start, then transition to slopers on the crux, before pulling on a jug at the top.

Technique multiplies the effect of holds. A hold that looks impossible with straight-arm pulling might become manageable with a heel hook that unweights your hands. A sloper crux that requires brute upper-body strength for one climber might be solved with a precise drop-knee and hip rotation by another. In comp-style bouldering specifically, the routesetters are often designing problems where the intended technique is the crux, not just the hold difficulty.

Understanding both layers — what you are gripping and how you are moving — is the foundation of reading beta (sequences) and improving as a boulderer.

Every hold on a climbing wall can be categorised by its shape, orientation, and the grip position it requires. Understanding these categories lets you immediately recognise what a hold demands from your body before you are even on the wall.

Crimp

The most fundamental hold in finger-intensive bouldering. A crimp is a small ledge — typically 10-20mm deep — that you grip with your fingers curled over the edge. There are three grip variants:

• Full crimp: All fingers curled, thumb wrapped over the index finger. Maximises contact force but places extreme load on the A2 pulley tendon. High injury risk.
• Half crimp: Fingers bent at roughly 90°, thumb not engaged. The most commonly recommended position — strong and safer than full crimp.
• Open hand: Fingers relatively straight, all pads in contact with the hold. The safest grip and the one most practitioners recommend developing first, though it requires more friction and open-hand strength.

Sloper

A rounded, sloping hold with no defined edge. You cannot hook fingers under it — instead, you rely on palm contact and friction. Slopers demand open-hand grip, high shoulder engagement, and body positioning directly below the hold. Moving through slopers with bent arms typically causes slippage; keeping arms extended and pushing down through the shoulder is key. Slopers are heavily featured in comp-style problems because they expose climbers who rely purely on finger strength.

Pinch

Any hold where you must grip from both sides, squeezing with your thumb opposed to your fingers. Pinch strength is highly specific — it is possible to be strong on crimps but weak on pinches. Routesetters use pinches to build problems that specifically reward climbers who train thumb strength and the thumb-opposing grip muscles of the forearm.

Jug

A deep, positive hold with a pronounced lip you can fully wrap your hand around. Named colloquially because gripping one feels like grabbing the handle of a jug. Jugs are the most positive hold type and are used as rest holds, start holds, and top holds. In hard problems, jugs often appear after a crux sequence as recovery holds. A jug rail is a large jug spanning arm-width or more.

Pocket

A hole in the wall that accepts one or more fingers. Pockets are categorised by depth:

• Mono: A single-finger pocket. Extremely high load on one finger — monofingers are rarely used in youth or beginner competition due to injury risk.
• 2-finger pocket: Two fingers (typically middle and ring). Common in comp settings.
• 3-finger pocket: Three fingers. Less demanding than mono or two-finger, but still more specific than a full crimp.

Undercling

A hold oriented so the gripping surface faces downward, requiring an upward pulling motion with the palm facing the ceiling. Underclinging is physically counterintuitive but unlocks powerful body positions — by pulling out and up on an undercling, you can generate large amounts of upward drive while keeping your hips close to the wall.

Sidepull

A hold where the gripping surface faces sideways rather than outward. Sidepulls require a lateral pulling motion; the climber leans away from the hold to generate tension through it. Sidepulls often require precise foot placement to counterbalance the lateral force.

Gaston

The opposite of a sidepull: a hold where you grip with your elbow pointing outward and push the hold away from your body (like opening elevator doors). Gastons test a different set of shoulder muscles than pulling holds and appear frequently in comp problems designed to punish climbers who only train pulling strength.

Volume

Large geometric shapes — triangles, wedges, facets — bolted to the wall that change its angle and geometry. Volumes are not gripped in the traditional sense; rather, they serve as platforms for feet, surfaces for slopers, and structural elements that change how the wall behaves. Competition-format routesetting in the past decade has been heavily volume-influenced, creating steep, complex terrain that rewards whole-body movement over finger strength alone.

Tufa

Elongated vertical or diagonal ridges — often shaped like stalactites — that are gripped in a pinch-and-pull or hug-like fashion. Common in Spanish limestone sport climbing outdoors, but increasingly featured in comp settings. Tufas reward compression strength and a specific hugging technique where both hands grip the tufa from different angles.

Elite boulderers are distinguished as much by their footwork as by their hand strength. Sloppy footwork wastes energy, destabilises body position, and makes otherwise accessible holds feel desperate. Precise, deliberate footwork is the single highest-leverage technical skill for developing climbers.

Edging

Using the edge of your climbing shoe to stand on small ledges or features.

• Inside edge: The inner side of the shoe, near the big toe. Used on inward-facing footholds; allows maximum precision on small edges.
• Outside edge: The outer side of the shoe. Used in drop-knee positions and when stepping through in a crossover; important for hip rotation moves.

Smearing

When there is no defined foothold, climbers press the sole of the shoe flat against the wall surface and rely on rubber friction to maintain contact. Smearing requires slab wall technique — weight over feet, hips close to the wall, and often a slightly bent knee to maximise contact area. Smearing is far more physically demanding than edging and requires trust in your shoes' rubber.

Heel Hook

Placing the heel of your foot on or over a hold and pulling with the hamstring. A heel hook converts your leg into a pulling tool, dramatically reducing the weight that your arms must support. Heel hooks are ubiquitous in steep/overhang bouldering, where gravity pulls the climber away from the wall. Aggressive heel hooks on volumes or large holds can generate enough force to allow the climber to release both hands simultaneously.

Toe Hook

Hooking the top of the toe (or toe box) of the shoe under or over a hold, using body tension to prevent the foot from slipping off. Toe hooks are body-tension moves — they work by creating a compression force between your foot and your core. Common on roofs and overhangs where you are essentially horizontal. A poorly engaged core causes the toe hook to fail regardless of foot placement quality.

Toe Cam (Knee Bar)

Jamming the toe into a pocket or feature, or establishing a knee bar where the knee and foot press against opposing surfaces to create a hands-free rest. Toe cams are common in pocket-heavy problems; knee bars appear on steep terrain with specific geometry. Both allow active recovery — resting the upper body while the legs take the weight.

Flagging

Extending one leg sideways or diagonally off the wall to counterbalance the body and prevent barn-dooring (rotating away from the wall). Flagging does not require the extended foot to be on any hold — it is purely a counterbalance manoeuvre. There are two main variants:

• Outside flag: Leg extended to the outside of the body, away from the active foothold.
• Inside flag: Leg crosses behind the standing leg and extends inward.

Drop-Knee (Egyptian)

A powerful hip rotation technique where one knee is dropped toward the wall while the other hip opens outward. The inside edge of the lower foot presses against the hold while the hip rotation brings the body closer to the wall and extends reach significantly. Drop-knee is one of the most important techniques for steep bouldering — it converts otherwise desperate sidepulls and gastons into manageable holds by reorienting the hips.

Bicycle

Advanced technique combining a heel hook and toe hook on the same hold simultaneously. One foot hooks from below (toe hook) while the other heel hooks from above, creating a pinching action on the hold. Bicycles appear on specific problem geometries and require significant flexibility and body tension to execute.

Beyond footwork, bouldering requires a vocabulary of full-body movement techniques that determine whether a climber reaches the next hold at all. These range from fully static controlled positions to explosive airborne dynamics.

Dyno (Dynamic Jump)

A dyno (short for dynamic) is a move where the climber generates momentum and becomes fully airborne — both feet and hands leave the wall simultaneously at the moment of release. The climber catches the target hold at the apex of their trajectory. Dynos are one of the most visually spectacular moves in comp bouldering and are deliberately set by routesetters for crowd engagement.

Sub-categories of dynos include:

• Double dyno: Jumping from one set of holds to reach two widely separated target holds simultaneously.
• Paddle/run and jump dyno: The climber runs along the wall or generates momentum through a rocking sequence before releasing into the dyno. Common in comp-style settings where the start features a runway of large holds leading to an explosive jump.
• Cross-body dyno: Reaching across with the opposite arm to catch a distant hold.

Deadpoint

A deadpoint is a controlled dynamic move that is distinct from a full dyno in that the climber does not become fully airborne — at least one point of contact (usually a foot) may remain on the wall. The key characteristic is that the climber catches the target hold at the apex of their upward momentum (the dead point), when vertical velocity is momentarily zero. This allows the hand to land on a small or difficult hold with minimal impact force. Deadpoints are arguably the most important dynamic technique in technical bouldering — most moves that feel static to observers actually involve a micro-deadpoint.

Campus

Climbing without using the feet — moving between hand holds using only upper body pulling strength. Campusing tests raw upper body power in its purest form. It is named after the Campus Board training tool developed by Wolfgang Güllich. In competition, specific moves may be intended to be campused, but routesetters generally avoid setting full-campus problems due to the extreme injury risk.

Mantle

Pressing down on top of a hold or ledge to transition from a hanging position to a standing or balanced position on top of it. Named for the motion of getting out of a swimming pool — pushing down with palms rather than pulling. Mantles require shoulder and tricep strength and are common on volume tops, wall lips, and certain indoor problems that mimic crack or ledge terrain.

Compression

Squeezing two holds (or a hold and the wall) inward from both sides simultaneously, using opposing force to maintain friction and body position. Compression problems appear on steep terrain where there are no edges to pull outward on — instead, the climber generates friction through body tension and inward pressure. The classic compression move is bear-hugging a volume between both palms and pressing inward.

Figure Four

An advanced technique where the climber hooks one leg over the same-side arm (crossing the leg over the forearm), using the weight of the leg and the geometry of the position to dramatically extend reach. Figure fours appear in very specific problem geometries — typically steep overhangs where the target hold is far above and to the side. Rarely set in mainstream competition but used at the elite level.

Rose Move (Paddle / Swing)

Using the momentum of the swinging body — rather than static strength — to generate reach or power. A rose move or paddle involves deliberately initiating a lateral swing and catching a hold at the moment the swing brings the arm closest to it. Common in comp-style problems built on large volumes where dynamic momentum is the intended movement style.

Coordination Moves

Problems that require multiple body actions to happen simultaneously — for example, a jump where both hands must catch separate holds at exactly the same time, or a move where foot placement must coincide with a hand catch. Coordination moves are designed to test timing, rhythm, and the climber's ability to execute complex movement sequences they have never rehearsed.

Comp style is a genuine sub-discipline of bouldering that has evolved substantially over the past decade, diverging significantly from outdoor rock climbing and even traditional gym bouldering. Understanding what defines comp style is essential to making sense of what you see at IFSC World Cups and the Olympics.

What Makes Comp Style Different?

Volume-dominated terrain. Modern competition walls are built on enormous geometric volumes that create artificial angles, channels, and features. Unlike outdoor rock, which has defined edges and natural features, volumes create walls where the primary surface is large, smooth, and requires whole-body engagement rather than fingertip crimping.

Dynamic and parkour-influenced movement. Comp-style problems increasingly reward explosive, athletic movement — run-and-jump starts, paddle dynos, coordination moves, swings, and coordination-heavy sequences that look more like gymnastics or parkour than traditional climbing. This is a deliberate broadcast and spectator decision: dynamic moves are visually exciting and compress well into highlight reels.

Coordination over raw strength. Many comp-style cruxes are not physically maximal — a strong climber trying to muscle through them will fail. The intended solution requires a specific sequence of movements executed with precise timing. This is why watching elite athletes attempt the same problem reveals wildly different approaches, with only certain beta (sequences) actually working.

Novel movement vocabulary. Problems at World Cup level regularly introduce movement that nobody has specifically trained — combining holds in unexpected orientations, using volumes in non-intuitive ways, or setting holds so that the intended technique is counterintuitive. This tests movement intelligence alongside physical capacity.

Routesetters as Creative Directors

At the IFSC level, routesetters are highly skilled professionals who treat problem design as an art form. They aim to achieve:

• Spectator engagement: Problems that look exciting and create dramatic moments when solved.
• Athletic separation: Problems that distinguish 1st from 6th place reliably, even across an athlete pool at roughly the same fitness level.
• Style variety: Across a 4-problem finals set, routesetters deliberately vary styles — one power problem, one coordination problem, one technical footwork problem, one dynamic problem — so no single physical attribute dominates.
• Unpredictability: The best comp problems have solutions that most climbers do not find in the 2-minute observation window and often discover mid-attempt.

Comp Style as Training

Many climbers now deliberately train comp style as its own discipline, working on dynamic coordination, momentum-based moves, and volume-specific body positioning separately from strength training on traditional holds. The Olympic programme's growth has accelerated this trend — comp specialists who are less developed on outdoor rock but excel on comp-format walls have become a recognised athlete type at the World Cup level.

In competition finals, climbers face problems they have never seen and receive exactly 2 minutes of observation time before the clock starts on their first attempt. This observation period — watching the wall from the ground — is one of the highest-skill elements of competition bouldering and the point where movement intelligence separates elite climbers from everyone else.

What Happens During Observation

After leaving isolation, finalists gather at the edge of the competition zone to observe all four (or five) problems simultaneously during a shared observation window. They can move between viewing positions but cannot touch the wall or holds. No coaching input is permitted. Athletes are free to mime sequences with their hands, discuss possible beta with teammates (within earshot limitations), or simply stand and visualise.

Elite climbers use this time to:

1. Identify hold types: What is each hold? Crimp? Sloper? Pinch? Does it face up, sideways, or down?
2. Identify required technique: Is there an obvious heel hook position? Does the body need to rotate? Is there a dyno?
3. Map the crux: Where is the hardest section of the problem? What are the one or two moves that will stop most climbers?
4. Plan the sequence: What is the intended left-right hand order? Where do the feet go?
5. Identify rest positions: Are there places to pause and recover grip endurance?
6. Plan backup sequences: If the primary sequence fails, what is the alternative?

The Crux Identification Skill

Identifying the crux (the hardest section) from the ground is a trainable skill. Experienced climbers look for:

• The most unusual hold type in the sequence — the hold that is least forgiving.
• Maximum reach requirements — where does the climber need to be most extended?
• Transition zones — where the hold type changes, since the transition itself is often harder than either individual hold.
• Body position constraints — where does the geometry force an awkward or powerful position?

Adapting Mid-Climb

Observation plans frequently fail in practice. A hold that appeared like a definite crimp from the ground turns out to be slightly sloping and requires open-hand technique. A heel hook that seemed obvious does not match the wall geometry at height. Elite climbers practise micro-reading — continuously re-evaluating the sequence as they climb and adapting on the fly without losing body position or wasting precious time.

The onsight ability — completing a problem on the first attempt having only observed it from the ground — is the most prized skill in comp bouldering. A flash (onsight) scores a single attempt toward tops, the best possible outcome. Developing onsight ability requires thousands of hours of exposure to novel movement and deliberate practice at restraining the instinct to watch others' beta before attempting.