Knee Hold

Is the knee hold where you’ve got your top leg hooked round the pole and the bottom leg braced agains the pole? I take it, it is the knee you have braced which is causing you trouble. On your knee, or just directly below it there is a big dip between your knee cap and your shin bone. Below that you should feel the top of your shin bone and then another much smaller dip, with another little hill. Try bracing your leg against this smaller dip (not the dip between your knee cap and your shin bone – i don’t want you shoving your kneecap half way up your thigh) at an angle where you have the most contact with the pole along your shin, this means your knee should be facing down the way, the more your knee faces down the way (with your foot heading towards the ceiling) the more contact you’ll have between the pole and the bit your bracing your knee on. This way, you’ll take the pressure off the bone slightly and transfere it across a larger area. Don’t do it too much or you’ll get no grip on the pole to do the wavey arm thing.

Nx

I had the same problem and I had boots on! Boots do help soften the blow though, until you get a little more used to it. Also for me, the farther I push my hips out the more contact my bottom leg can make with the pole so it spreads it out over a wider area and the pain isn’t quite as concentrated. Also make sure the bottom shin isn’t actually resting on the pole – you want to have the part between your shin and your calf making contact with it so you don’t have bone splitting pain there…ouch!!! I’m glad you got it though!

It does become easy with time, I believe Novadog is right, it is a matter of finding the right position and then you can hold it very comfortably. (I normally do it from a side climb and it just sort of puts my higher knee in the right position, the one which is dow is, as Novadog said, sort of to the side of the knee with much contact on the pole – she explained much better than I can, but I just wanted to say it does get much better).

Yep, the knee hold does hurt like the dickens, as others have already said make sure it’s not your knee cap on the pole and not your shin, more the side. It will hurt still, and the only thing to do will be practice. I can now hold it for ten seconds or more when previously 2 seconds had me jumping off and swearing, so it does get better!