Rock Climbing: Static Vs Dynamic

With rock climbing rapidly gaining popularity, and a new generation of climbing, an argument is starting to emerge, static or dynamic climbing?

Firstly, dynamic climbing (also referred to as Dynos) are moves or boulder problems which may include high energy movements, such as reaching up really fast, jumping to a hold, and sometimes even running across footholds. In recent years they have been majorly incorporated into competitions, even the olympics.

Then there is static climbing. Static climbing is the opposite of dynamic, it often has very controlled moves, and can involve lots of reaching out, and almost never swinging/ jumping. In some cases, static requires more strength, especially whilst hanging and controlling movements.

But in recent years of climbing, the older generations of climbing have argued against dynamic climbing, the main argument being that, at a certain point, it stops being climbing and becomes glorified parkour moves on a wall, and calling it climbing. However, is this true?

Well, whilst it is true that dynamic climbing shares similarities with parkour, only a percentage of parkour is climbing, and the majority of dynamic climbing moves are completely different than parkour.

You could argue that static climbing is a waste of time, and that in most cases,  doing a single dyno is easier than doing multiple controlled static moves in the problem. (Sometimes dynamic moves are difficult and dangerous, if you don't feel comfortable doing a dyno, try static, or just try another problem)

Dynos are typically used on overhang (>90º) walls, as it is nearly impossible to stay in a controlled position when your upside down, and so dynoing is easier than static (most times), whilst static climbs take place on slab (<90º) walls, where footholds may be smaller, hand holds might be worse, and so doing a dyno can be too hard and dangerous, and static is the only available option.

In conclusion, both climbing styles have their pros and cons, and both should be utilized in their best environments.