A piece of advice gets handed to nearly every new climber: size your shoes painfully tight, because aggressive, downsized shoes are what serious climbers wear. So the beginner crams their feet into shoes that hurt, endures it because they think it is the price of progress, and sometimes decides the whole sport is an exercise in foot pain. For a beginner, this is bad advice. Brutally tight shoes do not help you climb at the beginner stage; they just hurt, and the pain can sour the sport before you ever get good.
Why aggressive sizing is wrong for beginners
Very tight, downsized shoes exist to serve advanced techniques — standing on tiny edges and holds where a precisely shaped, tightly fitting shoe gives an expert an edge. A beginner is not using those techniques. They are learning footwork on big, friendly holds where shoe precision barely matters, and on terrain where painful shoes give zero benefit. So the beginner endures real pain for an advantage they are not yet capable of using, which is the worst possible trade. Comfortable enough to wear for a whole session and to actually practise footwork in is what a beginner needs, not a competition fit.
Why the bad advice spreads
Because it is passed down from advanced climbers who genuinely benefit from tight shoes, repeated as received wisdom without the context that it is for a level the beginner has not reached. "Climbing shoes should hurt" becomes folklore, and beginners suffer through it assuming the pain is doing something. It is not; it is just pain.
The takeaway
Do not torture your feet because someone said climbing shoes should hurt. As a beginner, choose shoes that are snug but genuinely wearable for a whole session, so you can climb more and learn footwork in comfort. Aggressive downsizing is for advanced climbers exploiting techniques you are not using yet — adopt it, if ever, when your climbing actually calls for it. Until then, comfortable enough to keep climbing beats painfully tight every time. Your shoes should not hurt that much.