Nick Ranelli

WHY MOST CLIMBERS FAIL CAMPUS PADDLES

Campus paddles aren’t about power—they’re about precision and positioning.

Master these 3 components 👇🏼

1️⃣Hand Positioning

Because we need to pull with our upper bodies during this movement actively, we need to find the ideal hand position on each hold that gives us maximum pull in the desired direction.

Here’s what most climbers get wrong 👇🏼

A common mistake I see is climbers focusing solely on where their torso is during the movement and almost ignoring the hand position on the holds.

👉🏻Bad Hands = Wasted Momentum

2️⃣Timing

You can’t pause mid-move—so timing has to be automatic. When to pull and kip.

As your hands connect and your body moves through space, the tension you intrinsically feel will change throughout the movement.

When your body is in a straight line to the end position, you pull and kip to complete the movement.

Emma’s cue to pull and kip for the finishing jug is that split second where tension increases.

👉🏻Move Too Early/Late = You’ll Miss

3️⃣Pull & Kip

The other common mistake I notice is climbers relying on their momentum to carry them through the entire movement.

It’s crucial to actively pull through with your upper body and kip your hips as you enter the ideal ending position of these campus paddles.

👉🏻Momentum Starts It. Pulling Finishes It.

Emma didn’t hit this right away.
She learned to feel the timing—and everything clicked.

Movement is the multiplier. Train it as it matters.

If you want help training movement intentionally, remote coaching spots are available!

🔥Personalized Training Programs & Direct Mentorship
🔥Structured Skill Practice
🔥Periodized Strength Training
🔥In-Depth Mental Conditioning

Comment “COACH” and I’ll send the link to apply!

YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE

Your brain can literally reduce your power output before you even jump.

Your self-talk dictates how you perform.
Belief is the first step toward growth.

Your nervous system responds to your self-talk.

🔹Positive belief INCREASES commitment and power.
🔹Negative self-talk can literally REDUCE motor unit recruitment.

Yes, your body responds physiologically to positive self-talk.

That’s exactly what was happening here with Abby’s triple clutch.

Watch the video.

She finds the positions.
Her timing is right.
Her hands hit the holds.

Yet she still can’t latch the move.

During the session, I realized she didn’t actually believe she could stick the move.

She was limiting her own physical capabilities before she even jumped.

The central nervous system downregulates power output when failure is predicted. That’s exactly what Abby was doing.

As soon as I realized Abby was doing this, we shifted how she was talking to herself. She started rephrasing her thoughts.

We went from:
“I’m not sure I can do this.”
to
“If I just grab and pull as hard as I can, I can do this.”

Not just belief, but also what needs to happen to unlock the move.

Knowing the exact beta + believing with conviction are 🔑.

Now this triple clutch is part of her warm-up circuit 🤯

She didn’t get stronger.
She just believed.

If you predict failure, your body prepares to fail.

Have you ever missed a move you know you should have stuck?