Scenarios Read
The rest hold is worse than it looked
You reach the planned rest and it turns out to be poor. Stay and shake anyway, take a quick shake and go, or change your body position first?
1 min read
3 sections
1 interactive
Play it
Read the situation, pick a choice, and watch the forearm gauge and the clock. Then try the other choices.
What to take away
A rest only works if you can hold it lightly. On a poor hold, recovery flattens out almost at once, so staying costs time and pays back little. Changing body position can lower the grip the hold needs and turn it into a real rest.
Model assumptions
- The route is a 40-hold diagram; the climber's position, forearm oxygen and clock are illustrations, not measurements.
- Forearm changes follow the rules of the forearm model, with the 47 s refill half-time measured in intermediate adult climbers (Fryer et al. 2015).
- Falls and top-outs are chosen to show the typical consequence of each choice. Real outcomes depend on the climber, the route and luck.
- Each reason is labelled: measured (from a cited study), coaching practice (common advice without a study), or model (this site's simplification).