Triggered by a recent subject on uneven holds for finger strength training I would like to come back to subject that have haunted me for a long time: Why are some people so incredibly bad at climbing outdoors?
There are of course many reasons why the droves of climbers who can warm up on my indoor long term projects cannot go bolt to bolt on my outdoor warmups.
I have started to suspect that one culprit is that they lack the fine motor control required to take awkwardly shaped outdoor holds. From the perspective of the brain, the body looks something like this:
In this illustration, each bodypart has a size proportional to the number of sensory nerv endings. I have never seen a similar illustration but where bodyparts are sized proportional to the number of motor units controlling the movement of each skeletal bone, but I imagine the hands and the feet are similarly oversized.
One way we can improve by repeatedly trying a route or by climbing a lot on a singular type of rock is that we get better at adjusting the grip so that each finger pulls optimally on the holds. Indeed, veteran outdoor boulder specialists spends a lot of time thinking about and discussion the finer points of where to optimally position their fingers. The same goes to a lesser extent for the feet, where the advantages and disadvantages of placing a certain part of the shoe on one little nubbin over another is explored in length.
I hypothesise that this builds up a better motor control of the fingers and the hands over long time, and that this expertise might continue to improve over a lifetime, even as all other bodily functions start to wither and fade. I also hypothesise that bad motor control of the fine movement of the fingers and the hand is one reason some indoor specialist are so unbelievably bad at rock climbing.
As a supporting argument I have noticed that some climbers are only good at specific gyms, where they have learned how to grab all the holds this gym has in its warehouse, but are pretty useless at other gyms that use holds from other manufacturers.
Are gym rats better at outdoor styles that does not require much fine control? Like dynos from jug to jug eg.? Or on certain outdoor spots where the holds are unusually easy to grab?
There are of course many reasons why the droves of climbers who can warm up on my indoor long term projects cannot go bolt to bolt on my outdoor warmups.
I have started to suspect that one culprit is that they lack the fine motor control required to take awkwardly shaped outdoor holds. From the perspective of the brain, the body looks something like this:

In this illustration, each bodypart has a size proportional to the number of sensory nerv endings. I have never seen a similar illustration but where bodyparts are sized proportional to the number of motor units controlling the movement of each skeletal bone, but I imagine the hands and the feet are similarly oversized.
One way we can improve by repeatedly trying a route or by climbing a lot on a singular type of rock is that we get better at adjusting the grip so that each finger pulls optimally on the holds. Indeed, veteran outdoor boulder specialists spends a lot of time thinking about and discussion the finer points of where to optimally position their fingers. The same goes to a lesser extent for the feet, where the advantages and disadvantages of placing a certain part of the shoe on one little nubbin over another is explored in length.
I hypothesise that this builds up a better motor control of the fingers and the hands over long time, and that this expertise might continue to improve over a lifetime, even as all other bodily functions start to wither and fade. I also hypothesise that bad motor control of the fine movement of the fingers and the hand is one reason some indoor specialist are so unbelievably bad at rock climbing.
As a supporting argument I have noticed that some climbers are only good at specific gyms, where they have learned how to grab all the holds this gym has in its warehouse, but are pretty useless at other gyms that use holds from other manufacturers.
Are gym rats better at outdoor styles that does not require much fine control? Like dynos from jug to jug eg.? Or on certain outdoor spots where the holds are unusually easy to grab?