Hand-foot matches: how to put your foot where your hand was

The hold is good, so use it twice

Sometimes the best foothold on the whole problem is the jug you are holding. There is nothing below it, nothing out to the side, and the next handhold is a long way up. The answer is to put your foot on that jug, right next to your hand, and stand up.

That is a hand-foot match. It looks strange the first time you see someone do it, a knee up by the ear and a toe tucked in beside the fingers. Once you can do it, a whole category of problems stops being impossible and starts being a bit awkward, which is a much better place to be.

We covered it briefly in matching and bumping. This is the longer version, because it is one of those moves nobody explains and everybody needs eventually.

Where it turns up

Mantles and topouts. The classic. You pull onto a lip, press down on it, and the only way to finish is to get a foot onto the same edge your hands are on. There is more on the whole sequence in how to mantle.

Big jugs with blank rock below. Common on steep gym problems and on roofs. The setter gives you one great hold and nothing for your feet, on purpose.

Rails and breaks. On a long horizontal break, a hand-foot match lets you walk your feet up and stand in the break before reaching for the next one. Gritstone and limestone are full of this.

Rockovers. A hand-foot match is often the setup for a rockover. The foot goes high onto the hold, then you shift your weight over it and stand.

How to do it

Make room first. Before the foot leaves the wall, slide or shuffle your hand to one end of the hold, or open it up so your fingers take less space. If the hold is small, you may need to swap to the other hand, then match with the foot where the first hand was. Trying to jam a shoe in beside four fingers is how toes land on knuckles.

Get your hips away from the wall. This sounds wrong, but you need space for your knee to come up. Straighten your arms and sit your hips back and slightly out. A high foot needs a gap to travel through.

Turn the knee out. Bring the foot up with the knee pointing out to the side, not straight up into your chest. Turning the hip out gives you far more range, and it puts the inside edge of your shoe in line with the hold.

Point the toe in beside the hand. Aim the toe for the space you made, next to your fingers rather than on top of them. Look at the hold until the shoe is on it. Precision matters more here than almost anywhere, because the hold is right under your eyes and your fingers are in the way.

Press, then move the hand. Once the foot is on and weighted, the hand either stays and presses down or moves off to the next hold. Keep your hips close to the foot as you stand, the same as a mantle or a rockover. If you stay sitting back, you will never get your weight over the foot.

When you cannot get the foot up

Use a heel first. If a toe will not reach, a heel hook on the same hold is often easier because the leg does not have to fold as far. Once the heel is on, you can pull your hips up and swap it for a toe.

Use an intermediate foot. Look for any smear, texture or tiny chip halfway up. Step on that first, then take the second step onto the hold. Two short steps are easier than one enormous one.

Swap sides. Try the other leg. Most people are noticeably more flexible on one side, and the problem does not care which foot you use.

Change the start position. Hang lower on straight arms before you bring the foot up. Bent arms pull your hips into the wall and leave no room for the knee.

It is mostly mobility

If hand-foot matches always feel out of reach, the limit is usually hip mobility rather than strength. The move asks for a deep fold at the hip with the knee turned out, which is exactly the position most of us lose sitting at a desk.

A few minutes a day helps more than a long stretch once a week. Deep squats with your elbows pushing your knees out, a frog stretch on the floor, and lifting one knee up and out to the side while standing all train the same range. Do them after a session when you are warm, and do not force anything that pinches.

Drills that make it normal

Jug ladder matches. On an easy wall with big holds, climb up and put a foot onto every handhold you use. Slowly, with the hips away from the wall. It feels silly and it works.

Mantle practice. Find a low, flat topped boulder or the top of a gym volume and practise pressing out and getting a foot up beside your hands. Low, safe, and lots of repetitions.

Heel then toe. On a big hold at waist height, place a heel, pull your hips up, then swap to a toe. It teaches the transition you will need on the hard ones.

Other side only. Spend a session doing every high step with your less flexible leg. The weaker side improves quickly once it gets some attention.

The short version

Make room on the hold before the foot moves. Straighten your arms and sit your hips out so the knee has space. Turn the knee out, point the toe in beside your hand, and look at the hold until the shoe is on it. Then stand up and bring your hips over the foot. If it will not reach, use a heel first, find an intermediate foot, or switch legs, and work on hip mobility off the wall.

When a problem that needed a hand-foot match finally goes, write down which foot you used and how you got it there. Sendit keeps your sessions, projects and notes together, so the next time a setter hides the only foothold under your fingers, you already know what to do.