17 Footwork Drills for Climbing

If you feel too tired to finish a route, or a climb feels way harder than the grade says it should, odds are you’re pulling with your arms way more than you’re pushing with your feet. Good footwork drills for climbing fix that fast, because they force you to trust your feet and let your legs do the work they’re built for.

I asked hundreds of climbers on Reddit, Facebook, and at the gym, “what footwork drills do you do?” and these are the 17 best ones I found. If you actually run these drills, you’re going to climb better and you’ll start sending harder routes. If you’re brand new to structured practice, our bouldering drills 101 guide is a good place to start before you dig into these.

Drill 1: Quiet Feet 

This one’s a more basic footwork drill. If you’re a beginner, hopefully you’re already doing it. If you aren’t, let me walk you through it real quick.

Overview:

You’re going to place your foot as quietly as possible on each foothold. Maybe in the gym you’ve heard a big bang, or you’ve accidentally kicked the wall. That loud placement is exactly what this drill kills. It makes you be as precise as you can by quietly setting your foot on the hold.

Modification for higher difficulty

1. Some folks crank the difficulty by putting a bell on their foot. Now you’re not allowed to let the bell ring while you place your feet either.
2. An even tougher version is to cut your feet off every time you’re about to move them. So if you want to move your feet up, you cut both feet off and then place them back on the wall, as quietly as possible.

Drill #2: Pivoting 

This one helps you get the body position you need so you’re not working as hard to reach the next hold.

Overview

On each foothold, you’re going to pivot one way or the other on the hold.

Eventually you’ll get to the point where you pivot without even thinking about it.

Modification for higher difficulty

If you want to make this a little harder, do what’s called a hip tap. So instead of just pivoting your feet, you actually have to touch the wall with your hip before you’re allowed to move on to the next hold.

Drill #3: Feet Only 

This is kind of a fun one, but you’re going to need a slab (an overhang route won’t work for this drill). It actually took me a couple tries to find a route I could do this on, because most of the walls at my gym are overhung. If slabs feel awkward to you, our 23 tips for climbing slabs will help you feel steadier on them.

Overview

For this drill, the whole point is to use your feet and transfer your weight side to side without using your hands.

You have to transfer your weight from one foot to the other so much that you’re going up the way you’d walk up stairs. Your hands can touch the wall, but you’re not allowed to hold onto anything with them.

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Drill #4: Blinking 

This drill’s different than any footwork drill I’d done before. First time I ever tried it was for this video.

Overview

Right before you make contact with the foothold, close your eyes, make contact with your eyes shut, transfer your weight to that foot, and then you can open your eyes for the next move.

The whole point is to trust your feet more.

One thing I’ll say about this drill though, the shoes I wear make it a lot easier. I have soft sole shoes, so I can actually feel the divots of the rock under my foot.

Some of you have stiffer soles, and while those are great for edging, they aren’t great for this particular drill because it’s harder to feel the rock underneath. If you’ve got stiff soles, you might have to put a little more effort into trusting your feet.

Drill #5: Down Climbing

If you’ve watched some of my videos recently, you may have seen me do this one. I do it a lot with warmups, but I actually first started doing it as a footwork drill.

Overview

A lot of coaches will have you down climb on full rope routes where you’re on top rope or even lead. So instead of getting lowered by the belayer, you “lower” yourself by down climbing, which forces you to focus on putting weight in your feet. It works the same way with bouldering, but you don’t have a rope in your face or quickdraws to unclip.

Keep track of where you’re going to place your feet on the way down while you’re still climbing up, so it’s easier. And as you climb down, you’re probably pretty tired, so you need to adjust your body to leverage your feet and keep your arms as straight as possible.

If you don’t use your feet to lower yourself and you’re in a lock off the entire time, this drill’s going to be really hard to do.

Drill #6: Smearing 

There are actually pro climbers like Timo Narasaki and Jain Kim who are famous for smearing their foot all the way up until they reach the hold their hands are on, at which point they mantle it. One of the main reasons they can do this is because they’re super good at smearing.

Overview

The whole point here is to smear with one foot while using the other. Ideally you actually use the foot you’re smearing to work your way up the climb. This takes practice, so you may just find yourself sticking your foot on the wall at first. But if you can really focus on pushing against the foot that’s on the wall, it’ll help you get up higher.

Drill #7: Coin Holds

I’ve seen this one a lot on YouTube and blogs as a way to get super precise with your feet. It’s also a drill I hadn’t done until I started filming this video, and honestly, now that I’ve filmed it, I’m not sure I’d recommend it.

Overview

You put a coin on each foothold on the route with the coin facing up and leaning against the wall, or laying down depending on the size of the foothold. When I did this, I was using American coins, which are super skinny quarters for example, and they kept falling off the hold before I could even start climbing. Luckily I had some foreign coins that were a little thicker, so I could do it on a few holds.

After finally setting up all these holds with coins, I went to actually do the drill and yes, I had to be super focused and precise placing my foot on each foothold to keep the coin from falling, which I pulled off. But I was putting a lot more work into placing the coins than I was into actually climbing, because setup was really hard.

Someone commented on my video that they’ve done this with corks, so maybe try that. I’d love for you to enjoy this drill, but I’ve got some real reservations about whether it’s worth the time. Instead of this one, maybe work on quiet feet.

Drill #8: Foothold Stare

This is the exact opposite of number four, which was blinking.

Overview

For this one, you’re going to make eye contact with the hold while you place your foot. Only once your foot is set and your weight has transferred to it can you move your gaze up to where your hands go.

This isn’t just a drill for learning footwork, it’s something you should be doing on all of your routes.

On most routes your feet are visible, and being able to look at those holds while you place your feet will improve your trust and let you use your legs a lot better than if you were staring at your hands the whole time.

Repeat this drill over and over. You can run it on your projects too.

Drill #9: Traversing 

This one can be really fun and challenging. Instead of climbing up a route, you climb to the side and across the wall.

Overview

What I recommend is finding a section of the gym where you can go from one side to the other without getting interrupted or interrupting other climbers.

While you’re doing this, it’s ideal to mix in some smaller moves where your body has to stay super close, and then some where you extend your body way out to see how far to the side you can go.

Sometimes you’ll hit spots on the wall where it’s really hard to keep moving sideways, but that’s the great thing about this drill. You really have to pay attention to your feet and make adjustments so you can make it to the end of the traverse.

Drill #10: Tennis Balls

The idea here is to limit how much you use your grip while climbing. This drill really made me pay attention to where my feet were so I wasn’t going to fall off. Another great thing is it reminds you not to over crimp. A lot of times, especially beginners, when they get into a crimpy climb they over crimp and put their thumbs on top of their fingers, which can cause tendon injury if you lose your footing. When you’ve got a tennis ball in your hand, you can’t over crimp.

Overview

Put a tennis ball in each hand and then climb with whatever holds are on the wall. The reason this footwork drill works so well is because you have almost no hand contact with the holds.

You have to really focus on where you’re placing your feet so there’s minimal weight in your hands.

It forces you into what some people call “the three finger sloth,” where your hand stays pretty well open the whole time. So yeah, it’s great for your feet, but if you’re known for over crimping, add this one to your training too.

Modification for higher difficulty

If you’re a beginner, I’d do this on jugger climbs so you can still get a pad or two on the holds. If you’re more advanced, try it on crimps.

I found a climb that was a mix of jugs and crimps, and it got really difficult when it hit the crimpy part. I actually started panicking a little. So maybe this is something I should do to help with my mental training too.

Drill # 11: Switching Feet 

This is another one of those super essential skills you need as a beginner, and even intermediate climbers may need to work on it. If you can’t switch your feet on a route, you’ll struggle to get into the higher grades.

Overview

The idea is that every time you move your feet, you switch them.

There are three different ways to switch your feet, so repeat this drill for each version of the switch.

1. Squishing your other foot and wiggling out: you have one foot on the hold already, and you usually have to wiggle it to the side to make room for your other foot.
2. Jumping on your foot: this one, you do a little hop, and while the one foot is off the hold, the other foot jumps into its place. Usually the other foot is smearing above the hold, ready to be placed the moment you hop. It’s a little more risky, but depending on the foothold size, it may be necessary.
3. Side to side: if the foothold is a little bigger, you may be able to place your foot next to the other one on the same hold. This is probably the easiest switch, but it isn’t possible on a lot of routes with smaller footholds.

Drill # 12: Follow Hands

This drill is one I’ve included in a previous video on my YouTube channel about drills for body position and footwork. If you haven’t seen that one, go check it out.

Overview

You can only use holds you’ve placed your hands on as footholds. So as you go up a route, when your feet follow, they can only touch the holds your hands previously used. This makes you way more aware of where you’re placing your feet and your body position, so it may force you to flag or backstep more, since you don’t have the option of all the other holds. If you want a full rundown of moves like these, our guide to 22 climbing techniques covers them step by step.

Modifications to make it harder

There are two extra variations to this drill.

1. The next level is that you have to touch wherever your hands are before moving your hands, on top of only using the footholds your hands have touched. This teaches you to be more precise with your footing, and it’s a crazy ab workout too.
2. The more advanced version is still outside my skill set, so I haven’t been able to pull it off, but maybe you can. Not only do you have to do a hand foot match (your foot on the hold your hand is on), you have to leverage that hold before moving your hand.

The second variation is essentially mantling, or like the Tomoa Skip (a speed climbing move named after Tomoa Narasaki that uses a hand match and mantle at the same time).

It’s really difficult and advanced, but if you’re super bored with the drill, you might want to try it more dynamically. So have fun with it.

Drill #13: One leg/foot 

This one really helps you be precise about where you’re placing your feet in relation to where your hands are going. That way you don’t end up overstretching or going to the side when you should be square on.

Overview

The whole point is that you do each route twice. Once where you only use your left leg and foot to climb, and once where you only use your right.

The leg that isn’t in use can hang down like a dead limb, or you can swing it or put it out to the side for balance if you need to. Depending on the route and the movement, I usually find it easiest to leave it hanging like a cat’s tail.

This can be a really fun drill if you find the right type of route, and I’d use an overhang climb so you don’t hurt yourself jumping or cutting feet while you do it. What I found was that when I went up with my left foot, my body position was really different than when I went up with my right.

Drill #14: High, Low

This is one of my favorite drills, and it’s a great way to test and improve your limits with how scrunched up you can be and still work well on the wall, compared to how stretched out you can be.

The more stretched out you are, the more likely you are to cut your feet, so you might fall off. The closer your feet are to your hands (the more scrunched up you are), the harder it can be to leverage your legs, and you’ll have to use your core more to stay in place.

It also teaches you to use body tension and really hold onto those holds. Even when you want to swing off your feet, you have to dig in and figure out how to do it with your body. This has been a really fun drill for me, and I think you’ll probably have fun with it too.

Overview

For this drill, you do the same route twice.

Attempt 1: you do the route with your feet super far from your hands, so you’re really stretched out. To do this, you move your hands super high until you can’t reach a higher hold, and then you move your feet just enough to reach another hold.

Climbers usually find it’s really hard to find footholds because you’re so stretched out, so this teaches you how close you need to keep your hands to your feet for your size and preference. On top of that, the more stretched out you are, the harder it is to leverage your legs to hold on, and you may cut your feet more often.

Attempt 2: you repeat the same route, but this time you’re super scrunched up. When you’re scrunched up, you may find it harder to move your body if your legs are really long (like mine). I’ve also found it’s harder to control the direction of my body, so if you’re scrunched up with your feet super close together, spread your hands apart to create the triangle of balance. And vice versa. If your feet are further apart, place your hands closer together.

Drill #15: Flagging Everything 

Flagging is an essential skill for anyone who wants to level up their grades. And it’s a fantastic static movement.

Overview:

What you’re going to do is find a climb with some sideways movement, so it’s not just an up and down ladder. As you go up the route, flag on every single move.

The more you do this drill, the easier it gets, and it’ll become almost natural for you to do on your projects too.

When I first started doing this drill, I was still figuring out flagging, and I sometimes did the wrong flag or flagged the wrong direction. To make sure you’re not making flagging mistakes while you do this drill, you may want to check out my flagging mistakes video right here.

And as long as you’re avoiding those mistakes, this is going to be a great drill for developing your flagging skills.

Drill #16: Rooting

I wouldn’t do this drill until you’ve really figured out flagging and are comfortable flagging on your projects.

It’s using your feet to pull your body toward your foot or push it away, all with pushing and pulling movement in your legs and feet.

It may seem basic and simple, but if you’ve tried it, you know better.

It’s actually more advanced and kind of hard to figure out how to get your hips to move places. So once you’ve got flagging down, it’s time to start doing this drill, which is rooting.

Overview:

What you’re going to do is find a route similar to (maybe the exact one) you were doing the flagging drill on, and instead of flagging, place your foot on the hold you need your body to get closer to.

Then pull your body toward it, digging into your foot and pulling with your hips and legs.

This drill really forces you to pay attention to where you’re placing your feet, and how you’re using them to pull your body in. If you aren’t using your feet right during this drill, you may slip off.

If this is your first time rooting and you don’t feel like you have the muscle for it, focus on these three muscles.

1. Lower back
2. Glutes 
3. Hamstrings.

These are probably the biggest muscles you’re using during this movement. So if you aren’t sure how to pull your body toward your foot, ask yourself, “am I engaging my lower back? Am I engaging my glutes? Am I engaging my quads and hamstrings?”

Drill #17: Perfect Repeats

Knowing rooting and flagging helps for this drill, but even if you don’t know how to flag and root, you can still do it. The idea is that you repeat the climb until you get the footwork perfect.

Overview

I’d find a route a couple grades lower than what you’re currently climbing. When you sequence the route, try to figure out each movement, but understand you’re probably going to be a little off.

Then climb the route. Once you’re off it, evaluate how you climbed and figure out what you could do to make it easier. Then climb the route again.

Repeat this process until you feel like you’ve climbed the route perfectly, then climb it one more time repeating that perfect beta and movement.

This can be pretty exhausting, so consider taking longer breaks between runs to fully recover, that way you can perform your best on each one.

How to get the most from these footwork drills for climbing

You don’t need to run all 17 in one session, and honestly you shouldn’t. Pick two or three footwork drills for climbing that hit your weak spot, work them into your warmup or an easy route, and stay with them for a few weeks before you rotate. Footwork is a skill, and skills stick when you practice them a little bit often instead of cramming them once. If you like having your drills laid out and tracked for you, the Grip & Grind app walks you through movement drills like these session by session, but you can absolutely run everything above with nothing but a wall and a bit of focus.

Want a fresh climbing drill in your inbox every week? Join the free Send Edition newsletter and you’ll get one short, do-it-in-about-15-minutes drill each week to level up your footwork, technique, and strength. No fluff, just something to try next session.

Frequently asked questions

Which footwork drill should I start with?

Start with Quiet Feet. It’s the most basic drill on the list and it builds the precision every other drill relies on. Once you can place your feet silently, add Foothold Stare so you’re actually watching each foot land before you weight it.

How often should I do footwork drills for climbing?

A little bit often beats a big one time push. Work two or three drills into your warmup or an easy route every session, and stick with the same ones for a few weeks before rotating. Footwork is a skill, so consistent short practice makes it stick.

Do I need any gear to do these drills?

Most of these need nothing but a wall. A few use small props, like a bell on your foot for Quiet Feet, coins or corks for Coin Holds, or tennis balls for the Tennis Balls drill. Soft sole shoes make the Blinking drill easier since you can feel the rock, but they aren’t required.

Do I need a slab or an overhang for footwork drills?

It depends on the drill. Feet Only needs a slab, while One Leg and a few others work best on an overhang so you don’t hurt yourself cutting feet. Most of the drills work on any angle, so use whatever your gym has and pick the drill to match the wall.

Will these drills actually make me climb harder?

Yes, because most climbers over grip and under use their feet. When you train your feet to be precise and trusted, you take load off your arms and save energy for the hard moves, which usually shows up as sending harder routes and pumping out less.

Sara Climbing Coach, Climbing Trainer, Writer

Sara is the founder of Send Edition, author of '77 Drills to Help You Climb Better,' the creator of 'Elevate Your Climbing: Training Planner and Tracker,' and climbing coach.

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