Bouldering is a great sport that doesn’t require you to climb a very tall wall which is good for people who are afraid of heights but it doesn’t make bouldering easier than normal rope climbing is. Bouldering is often considered a more technical type of climbing than rope climbing.
There is a common belief that V4 is the real start of bouldering and that is because up until V4 routes are very easy and they don’t require any special techniques to top them. So moving from V3 to V4 is a hard step to accomplish, and here in this article, we will make sure that you finally will be able to top that V4, so stay with us!
Going from V3 to V4 is a bit different from V2 to V3 because there is something that you will have to do differently and we will touch on that a bit later because right now we would like to give you a quick response to your question. You should find a problem that you have the most experience with, that experience will make it easier for you. But that’s the way without additional training, and we will talk in detail about both ways.
How to move from V3 To V4 in bouldering without additional training?
Sometimes we know that our body is ready for something and in this case this “something” is V4. So If you are sure that your body and your technique don’t require any training then the best and quickest way for you to climb V4 is to find a problem that suits your experience.
Sit down for a while and think about what you are good at. If you are good at climbing crimps then you should find a V4 that has a high amount of crimps. Also If you have a technique that you feel good at, like flagging or dyno moves then you have to focus on that while looking for a potential V4.
But we highly suggest you do a little bit of special training before trying out V4 especially if you have never topped one, but more on that in the next paragraph.
How to move from V3 To V4 in bouldering?
Almost everything up until V4 you could have done simply without any special technique only using muscles… experienced climbers tend to call that “muscle your way to the top”.
V4 is the point where you will often face at least one move that will require you to do something different than you usually did. So V4 often requires things like:
- Pushing
- Flagging
- Shifting body weight
- Balance
- Using a volume
- Dyno moves
Those things are very often while you are climbing V4 so if you have a problem right before your eyes make sure to look for potential moments in a route where you will have to use one of the above. We also recently posted a great article about that so check it out “Why you are climbing so slow?“.
How to improve my bouldering techniques?
Always when we do love a sport we try to get better and better every time we are doing it, so when we see a regression in our skills then we feel down.
There are several ways to improve as a climber:
- Losing weight
- Improving strength
- Improving and learning new techniques
We will focus on the last one. So think if you already know some of the climbing techniques like flagging, swapping hands, swapping feet, edging, dropping knee, steering, backstepping, side pulling, and many many more.
If you don’t know what technique you should practice first then we highly suggest you start with swapping hands and feet, because it is not very hard to do and you will do it a lot almost for every problem you will face.
But no matter which technique you would like to improve, you will have to watch how to do this technique properly and then recreate those moves while climbing in your local gym. The more practice the more you will feel sure about your own movements.
You can also watch other climbers while they are climbing because that will give you a lot of ideas about what you can do with your body to top your problems.
Is V4 intermediate?
Bouldering grade is very wide for every climber to find a problem that will make that climber enjoy climbing it. That scale often represents how you place in terms of your skill compare to other climbers, so just simply by looking at the grade you can tell if someone is a beginner or a professional.
Of course, a lot of advanced climbers warm up on easier grades but after some time you will be able to see if someone is struggling to reach the top or maybe that climber did it without putting much effort into this.
Here is a bouldering scale that represents your climbing skills in comparison to other climbers:
- Beginners – V0, V1, V2
- Intermediate – V3, V4, V5, V6
- Advanced – V7, V8, V9
- Professional – V10+
As you can see a lot of people consider V4 and even V3 as an intermediate level of bouldering skills so you should be proud of yourself!
How to improve my stamina at home?
If you truly think about climbing as something that will stay with you for longer then you should definitely start your home training even today. You don’t have to go to the gym to train climbing, so even if still didn’t visit a climbing gym, then you can practice before that at your home!
Most advanced climbers use things like hangboards or other climbing devices for training at home, some even create their own climbing walls in their apartments, but there are small versions of hangboards that are easier to attach, and also they are way cheaper than the average hangboard used by professional climbers. Navaris rock climbing fingerboards are a nice start for less experienced climbers and they are also way cheaper than other climber training tools.
With this simple hangboard you will be able to train even before you visit your climbing gym, and also when you won’t be able to travel that far away from your home. Using a fingerboard is the perfect way to improve your stamina which will let you climb longer without being pumped out so quickly! It will also make you climb that V4 easier and faster!
Let’s summarize this up – How to go from V3 to V4 bouldering?
V4 is the level where things start to get hard, and most people do struggle to overcome those issues you have to face right now. To be precise V4 also is a level when a lot of climbers plateau, so you are not alone. In our opinion, you should look for some simple techniques like swapping feet which will let you improve as a climber.
Make sure to watch other climbers that are around you, because often they know things that you don’t and simply looking at them will make you a better climber.
If you still have problems with getting better at climbing and you feel down about it then we recently posted a great article that will explain this phenomenon to you and also we will tell you what to do to overcome it “Why Am I Not Improving At Climbing? – (Tips To Improve)“.
