Foot rules on the board

When you set up a problem on a board, you are not just choosing hand holds. You are also choosing what counts as a foot, and that choice changes the climb completely. The same hand sequence can be a friendly V4 or a brutal V7 depending on which foot rule you pick. Here are the common ones and what each is actually training.

The main foot rules

Most LED boards let you set a foot rule when you create or filter a problem. The usual options are these.

• Footholds only: you may only use the holds marked as feet, often shown in a different colour. This is the standard for graded problems, because it fixes the footwork and makes the grade mean something.
• Feet-follow-hands: any hand hold becomes legal for your feet once it is in play, but only hand holds. No dedicated foothelds, no kickboard tricks beyond the holds themselves.
• Screw-ons allowed: the small bolt-on footchips scattered around the board are fair game, alongside whatever else the rule permits. These tiny chips make footwork far easier.
• Anything goes: feet anywhere on the board, including the kickboard. The most forgiving setting.

The strict end of that list makes a problem harder and more precise; the loose end makes it easier and more about the hands.

What each one trains

Footholds-only is the discipline that makes you place feet accurately. Because you are restricted to marked holds, often poor ones at awkward spots, you have to think about exactly where each toe goes, when to drop a heel, and how to keep tension when the only legal foot is miles from where you want it. This is the rule that builds real board footwork, and it is why graded problems use it.

Feet-follow-hands sits in the middle. You get more options than footholds-only, so the climbing feels a touch more flowing, but you still can not just smear anywhere. It rewards using your hand holds as feet cleverly, which is a genuinely useful outdoor skill, since rock does not come with marked footchips either.

Screw-ons and anything-goes lower the footwork demand sharply. With tiny chips or the whole board available, your feet are rarely the problem, so the climbing becomes about the hands and the pulling. That is not lazy, it has its uses: it lets you isolate and train the hand sequence, or push into harder hand holds without footwork being the thing that stops you.

Picking a rule on purpose

The rule you choose should match what you want from the session. If you are working footwork, body tension and precision, climb footholds-only and accept that it is harder. If you want to train pulling power on small hand holds without your feet being the limiter, loosen the rule so feet stop getting in the way. Both are valid, as long as you choose deliberately rather than by accident.

One thing worth knowing: a problem's published grade assumes the rule it was set with, almost always footholds-only. If you climb it with screw-ons or feet-anywhere, you have made it easier, so the tick does not really count at the stated grade. Keep your hard sends honest by climbing them as set, and use the looser rules as a training tool rather than a shortcut to a grade you have not actually earned.