When used properly, a heel hook is a great technique for using your legs to take some weight off your hands. Solid heel hooks can make even the worst hand holds usable as they can take the majority of your weight. However, for heel hooks to work properly, you can’t just place your heel on a foothold and hang off it passively. This is both ineffective and dangerous for your knees. Instead, when heel hooking properly, you pull through your glutes and hips to actively engage your heel.

To help you learn correct heel hook technique, here’s a video from Rock and Ice Magazine and Earth Treks. In the video, personal trainer Brendan Kilian takes you through a series of exercises that will help teach you to actively engage when heel hooking.

Heel Hook Exercises

The exercises in the video are a series of mobility drills and muscle activation exercises. The exercises are designed to:

• Loosen the outer hip muscles and muscles of the inner thigh
• Activate outer hip muscles and glutes

Doing these exercises will teach you the safe way to engage your hips and glutes so that you are not putting excess stress on your knees when heel hooking. Ultimately, they will not only help improve your heel-hooking performance, but are also a great form of injury prevention work. Click through below to watch the video and see exactly how they are done!

Original Video: Rock and Ice – Heel Hook Exercises

Other Articles You Might Like:

• How to Heel Hook – Climbing Magazine
• Climbing Heel Hook Exercises- livehealthy
• TBP 094 :: Esther Smith – Treating Knee and Hip Injuries in Climbers
• Natasha Barnes – Hamstring Injuries in Climbers