Training notes #1

I will post up some notes of mine on training for climbing as regularly as I can. You might be expecting some advice containing words like 'sets', 'reps' and other stuff to do with the nitty gritty of physical training. But there is loads of that stuff out there and most people go wrong for basic reasons rather than small details. So the first few posts will be general but hopefully a little enlightening before the hardcore stuff later.

Most of the training that makes us better at whatever we are doing happens in the mind. Its important to see thinking as training. The more you think about what you are doing, the more you tend to learn about it. The other really good thing about training in your head is that your mind takes much longer to tire out than your body – if you apply yourself, you can go very far in a short time.

So, the very first piece of training to be done when you decide you want to get better at climbing is to ask yourself “what for?” Why is getting better a good idea? Answering this question will probably be the hardest bit of training you’ll ever do, but believe me, if you can even nearly manage it, the rest will fall into place.

Unfortunately, only you hold the answer to why you climb and what you get out of it. But there are a few things you can do to help. Reading about the experiences and thoughts of other climbers in magazines and books can help you identify with things that motivate you like adventure, getting a buzz out of doing scary things or just hardcore cranking for the pure pleasure of it.

Different people see the rewards from doing any sort of endeavour differently. For me, the reason why its worth it to put in a huge amount of effort into getting better is because the reward comes from breaking barriers – making something that seems impossible, possible. Climbing motivates me because the barriers are obvious, in your face and intimidating.

When you are deciding why you think you would get more reward by getting better at climbing, its important to be able to separate out the different strands of your motivation. For instance, I enjoy the act of climbing because I like being in the mountains, I like working out moves, learning what moves I can do and how subtle they can be and many more aspects besides. However, these are not the aspects that make me want to get better, I only need to participate in climbing at any level to enjoy them. The aspects that drive me to get better are breaking barriers (as I described above), adventure (the buzz of not knowing if you can do something) and the process of physical training itself (the simple pleasure of using your body – I like to call it ‘athleticism’).

Not many people are very aware at a deep level what makes them train or climb. This makes them drift in and out of motivation. If you can get it clear what you’re in it for, you will never have this problem and can get on with the nitty gritty of chasing the rewards you are looking for.