Footwork is the fastest gain available to most climbers, and the one people skip, because it does not feel like training. Nobody has ever finished a session and thought I really placed my feet well today.

But almost every move that feels desperate is easier with better feet. Bad placements make good holds feel worse than they are, and the compensation is always the same: you grip harder, you pull more with your arms, and you run out of forearm on a problem your legs should have carried.

Why do my feet keep slipping?

This is the most common footwork question and the answer is almost never the one people expect. If you can stand on a hold but it pops the moment you reach, the hold was never the problem. Friction depends on how hard your shoe is pressed into the wall, and that pressure comes from where your hips are. Move them away and the foot goes.

The other half is angle. Most climbers have exactly one way of standing on things, usually heels up from gym edges, and that setting is wrong for roughly half the holds they meet.

Start here

• Why Your Foot Keeps Popping Off FootholdsStart here
  The physics behind foot pops, the test that tells you whether it is your hips, and the four fixes.
• Heel Height: Angling Your Foot for Edges, Slopers and Smears
  Three heel settings, which holds each one is for, and why the tiptoe habit costs you on slab.

How do I place my feet better in the first place?

Precision is trainable and it improves faster than almost anything else in climbing. Beginners reposition a foot two to four times before committing. Advanced climbers hit the spot they aimed at first time, most of the time. The gap between those is not talent, it is whether you look at the foothold before you put your foot on it.

Noise is the giveaway. A foot that lands quietly was aimed. A foot that scrapes was guessed at, and then corrected by feel.

Start here

• 17 Footwork Drills for ClimbingStart here
  The full drill set, from quiet feet to foothold stare, with what each one is actually training.
• How to Use Your Toes in Climbing
  Which part of the shoe to stand on, and why most climbers use the wrong part of it.

What about when there is nothing to stand on?

Slab and blank terrain are where footwork stops being a nice-to-have. There is no edge to bite, so everything comes down to friction, contact area, and whether you are willing to put your weight on rubber that looks like it should not hold.

This is also the terrain most climbers quietly avoid, which is why it stays their weakest ground for years.

Start here

• Smearing: How Climbers Use Friction on the WallStart here
  Standing on nothing, and why committing your weight is most of the technique.
• 23 Tips for Climbing Slabs
  The terrain that punishes bad feet hardest, covered end to end.

Where to go next

Footwork does not sit on its own. Feet you trust let you commit sooner, which means less hesitating on the wall. Feet that hold let you grip less, which means forearms that last. Most climbers who think they have a grip problem or a head problem have a footwork problem wearing a different hat.

Start here

• 20 Climbing Drills, Grouped by What They Fix
  Ten minute drills with video, sorted by the movement problem each one targets.
• Grip Efficiency for Climbers
  Why better feet mean less gripping, and what to do about forearms that pump early.
• The Climbing Training Hub
  How often to climb, how to tell whether it is working, and when to add something harder.