RACE: TECHNIQUE
Photos: Louise Dean www.louisedean.photography
In this session we are looking at Jacob’s Ladder (caving/rope ladders).
In particular, the ones that are not tethered to the ground. Why is this important?
Well, untethered, they will swing around as you climb them which means you need to pay
more attention and work harder on your body position!
On most obstacles, you’ll hear
me bang the drum about
keeping your arms straight
in order to preserve the
limited amount of strength
we have available to us but
with caving ladders (ones
that aren’t tethered) that all
goes out the window as it’s
all about getting our centre
of mass (which is just below
our belly button) inside the
system. What I mean by that
is getting your centre of mass
as close to the hanging point
of the ladder once you are on
it (when you are not on it, the
hang point is directly below
the anchor point but when
you are hanging on it, you
move it away from you).
“Don’t lean back and
don’t load the arms!”
Keeping your head in is key,
the more it hangs back, the
more you will load your arms
which will cause early fatigue.
This means keeping your
chin as close to the ladder as
possible as you look up, you
should find that every rung
(horizontal bar) is the same
distance apart so once you
get into a rhythm, you don’t
really need to look any more.
Now it is time to drive up with
the legs and use your hands
and arms to keep you in and
upright. Alternating hands and
feet work really well (like you
were going up a set of stairs).
For the way down, simply do the same but in reverse, stay in, load
the feet and try to relax the hands. You should find that your feet
automatically find the rungs so try to trust them. Getting into a
rhythm on the way down is just as important as on the way up. It is
natural to be slower on the way down, accept this, don’t rush it.
What does that all mean?
It means get small! Get as close to the ladder as you can and load as much on
your feet as possible (the best place is mid sole so you don’t stress your calves
unnecessarily) and try to relax your hands. Clearly you need to hold on enough
not to fall off but you don’t need to grip the granny out of it if you load your
weight onto your feet.
The Beard at Dirty Dozen Races tutorial
Jacob’s Ladder
For more tutorials from
The Beard at Dirty
Dozen Races, check out
com/master-classes
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