By the end of this page you’ll know which of four skills is most likely keeping you off V4, what the research says about each one, and one drill to start with on your next session. The short answer: most climbers stuck at V4 have enough strength for the grade. They usually stall on one of four things:
- Core tension
- Fear on committing moves
- Over-gripping
- Reading the problem too late
Why V4 is where so many climbers stall
Up to V3, you can often get by on good holds and pulling hard. V4 is usually the first grade where gym setters start testing specific skills on top of grip. Here’s what tends to change:
- Walls get steeper, so your feet need tension to stay on.
- Moves get bigger and more committing, often a few feet off the pads.
- Holds get smaller and sloppier, so squeezing everything as hard as you can stops working.
- Sequences get trickier, and the wrong hand on the wrong hold ends the attempt.
That’s why simply trying more V4s often leaves you falling at the same spot for the same reason. Find that reason and you’ve got something specific to practice.
What holds climbers around V4 to V6 back
The Grip & Grind climbing assessment names the one area most holding each climber back. Among 144 recent finishers who climb around V4 to V6, four areas came up most often as the main weakness:
- Core tension: 39 climbers
- Fear management: 30 climbers
- Grip efficiency: 25 climbers
- Route reading: 22 climbers
The rest were spread across other areas in smaller numbers. These are anonymized totals for the whole V4 to V6 range, so they show what’s common around this level. To find which one is yours, use the quick check below and the full assessment.
1. Core tension: your feet keep cutting loose
What it looks like on a V4:
- Your feet pop off the moment you reach for the next hold on a steep V4.
- You can do every move on its own but fall when you link two of them.
- You barn door off sidepulls and end up facing the wrong way.
What the research says
The takeaway: Even a small step up in steepness takes weight off your feet by default. Keeping your feet loaded as the wall steepens is the skill that counters that shift onto your hands.
The finding (Bonelli and colleagues, European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2025): The team put 14 intermediate and advanced climbers on a wall fitted with force sensors in every hold and changed the angle from a slight slab to a slight overhang. Tilting the wall just 5 degrees past vertical shifted load off the feet and onto the hand, and arm and back muscles worked harder as the wall got steeper.
How to use it: Do the drill below to practice pressing through your feet before every hand move on steep problems.
Try this next session
- Pick a V2 or V3 on the steepest wall you can find.
- Before every hand move, press your toes into the footholds and pull your hips toward the wall.
- Climb it three times without letting a foot cut. If one cuts, start again.
For the full fix, read why your feet cut loose on overhangs and why you barn door and how to stop it.
2. Fear management: you freeze before the committing move
What it looks like on a V4:
- You climb V4s fine until the top-out or the last big move, then you down-climb or jump.
- You won't try a dyno or a big deadpoint even when you know it's the beta.
- Your climbing gets stiff and slow as you get higher off the pads.
What the research says
The takeaway: Fear makes you climb like a less experienced version of yourself, so working on fear is technique work.
The finding (Pijpers, Oudejans, Holsheimer and Bakker, Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 2003): Novice climbers traversed the same route twice, once low on the wall and once high. Up high they reported more anxiety, had higher heart rates and more muscle fatigue, took longer to climb, and climbed less fluently. The authors suggest fear pushes climbers back toward the way they moved at an earlier stage of learning.
How to use it: Do the drill below to practice staying loose and breathing through committing moves before you take them onto a V4.
Try this next session
- Choose a V2 or V3 with a committing top or a big move.
- Climb it once while breathing out loud on every hard move, then repeat it.
- Add one practice fall per session from a safe height onto the pads, landing on your feet and rolling back.
See how a pro climber manages fear while climbing for more ways to stay loose up high.
3. Grip efficiency: you pump out on problems you should flash
What it looks like on a V4:
- Your forearms are burning halfway up a V4 that looks easy on paper.
- You grab every hold as hard as you can, including the jugs.
- You climb with bent arms and rarely shake out.
What the research says
The takeaway: Better climbers grab with just enough force and keep climbing, which saves the forearms for the crux.
The finding (Fuss and Niegl, Sports Technology, 2008): The researchers instrumented a climbing hold with force sensors at competitions, including a World Cup, and in training. More experienced climbers put less force through the hold and spent less time on it, while getting more friction from it.
How to use it: Do the drill below to practice gripping just hard enough, starting on easy problems.
Try this next session
- On a V1 or V2, climb while gripping each hold as lightly as you can without slipping.
- Hang straight-armed whenever you stop, and shake out the free hand.
- Repeat on a V3, then try the same light grip on your V4 project.
Pair this with straight arms so your skeleton carries more of the load.
4. Route reading: you figure out the beta halfway up
What it looks like on a V4:
- You hop on a V4 without a plan and stop to think on the wall.
- You get matched on the wrong hand or crossed up on the wrong side.
- You only find the right sequence after watching someone else.
What the research says
The takeaway: Reading the problem before you start makes your climbing smoother, with fewer stalls where your grip drains, and that's often the margin on a V4.
The finding (Sanchez, Lambert, Jones and Llewellyn, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 2012): Twenty-nine climbers at three ability levels climbed indoor routes with and without a 3-minute look at the route first. Previewing the route cut the number and length of stops on the way up. It had no clear effect on whether they finished.
How to use it: Do the drill below to build a one-minute read into every V4 attempt.
Try this next session
- Before every V4 attempt, stand back for a full minute and name each hand and foot in order.
- Mime the hard section from the ground with your hands.
- After each attempt, say where your plan was wrong and fix it before the next go.
Our guide to beta reading walks through the full routine.
How to use your next three sessions
- Session 1: Try your V4 project three times and write down exactly where and how you fall each time.
- Session 2: Match that fall to one of the four areas above and spend the first half of the session on its drill, using V2 and V3 problems.
- Session 3: Repeat the drill, then take it onto the V4. If you fall in a new spot, that's progress, so note it and keep going.
Once your focus area feels solid, learn the three techniques that open up V4 and V5:
- Lock-offs
- High feet
- Rooting
Stuck at V4: FAQ
Why can I flash V3 but can't send a single V4?
V4 is usually where setters start asking for things V3 lets you skip:
- Staying tight on a steeper wall
- Committing to a move you can't reverse
- Holding a smaller hold without crushing it
What you need is one or two specific skills, and the fastest way to find yours is to watch where your V4 attempts end.
Do I need to get stronger to climb V4?
Most people who are stuck at V4 have enough pulling strength for the grade already. Climbers around V4 to V6 in our assessment data most often stall on tension, fear and grip use, which are skills you can practice on problems you can already climb. If you've tried the drills on this page for a few weeks and still can't hold the positions, strength work becomes a fair next step.
How long does it take to break a V4 plateau?
It depends on how often you climb and how clearly you know what to practice. Climbers who pick one focus area and practice it on purpose tend to progress faster than climbers who just try more V4s. Give one focus a few weeks of steady sessions before you judge it.
Should I keep projecting V4s or go back to easier problems?
Do both. Spend the first half of a session practicing your focus skill on V2 and V3 problems, where you can get it right many times, then take that skill onto one or two V4 projects. Projecting only at your limit gives you lots of falls and very few clean reps.
Is V4 a good bouldering grade?
V4 is a solid intermediate grade in most gyms. It's also where a lot of climbers stall for a while, which is why this page exists. If you're working V4s, you've already built the basics, and the next step is usually a specific skill.
What should I read after this?
Read our three must-know techniques for V4 and V5. It goes deeper on the specific techniques that open up V4 and V5 once you know which area to work on:
- Lock-offs
- High feet
- Rooting
Find the one thing holding you back at V4
Get a clear focus for your next session. The free Grip & Grind climbing assessment takes about 10 minutes and names the one area most holding you back, so you can stop guessing which drill to do. If you want a plan built around your result, Grip & Grind also has a free trial.
Take the free climbing assessment
Sources
- Bonelli E, Rampichini S, Esposito F, Rossi G, Colombo A, Limonta E. Climber's muscle excitation and force distribution at different wall angles and body positions. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2025.
- Pijpers JR, Oudejans RRD, Holsheimer F, Bakker FC. Anxiety-performance relationships in climbing: a process-oriented approach. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 2003.
- Fuss FK, Niegl G. Instrumented climbing holds and performance analysis in sport climbing. Sports Technology, 2008.
- Sanchez X, Lambert P, Jones G, Llewellyn DJ. Efficacy of pre-ascent climbing route visual inspection in indoor sport climbing. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 2012.
