beta videos - tool or crutch?

The short answer is, well, both.

Don’t get me wrong, I love beta videos. They are a great tool for many reasons, the main one being efficiency.

If you have limited time, skin, and/or energy, beta videos help conserve all of these resources. They allow you to avoid "reinventing the wheel" and to test your execution skills.

But on the flip side, how often do you fall on a move then immediately look up a beta video?

For me, I go through phases where this becomes a knee jerk reaction. I go to a new climb, I fall once or twice, and I quickly get impatient.

I want to know the answer to this problem RIGHT NOW!

Then I realize that this takes away half the reason that I love climbing. I forget that I really enjoy solving the movement puzzle that each climb brings.

Here are 3 ways that forgoing beta videos can help you improve as a climber:

1. It gives you the opportunity to get creative and explore your ideas so you can become a better problem solver.

2. You’ll gain understanding of what works for your own body and helps find your beta quicker in the future.

3. It gives you trust in your body. Sometimes pulling on the wall and letting your body get into positions on its own unlocks the sequence.

So, do you use beta videos as a tool or crutch?