Training for Climbing, 2nd: The Definitive Guide to Improving Your Performance (How To Climb Series)

car accident in 1992, he opened up several new grades of maximum difficulty by leveraging the synergy of his physical and mental fortitude. I support Wolfie’s sentiment not only because the mind is one-third of the climbing performance triad (see figure 1.1) but also due to the fact that poor mental control can instantly sabotage your physical and technical abilities.
    Below are ten strategies that you can start using today in all aspects of your life. Apply them faithfully with the knowledge that most truly successful men and women in this sport possess these skills.

1. Separate your self-image from your performance.
     
    If you are reading this book, then climbing surely plays a major role in your life. However, if your self-image is tied too strongly or singularly to this role, it leads to an obsessive need to perform perfectly every time you touch the rock. The result is intense pressure, anxiety, and fear of failure—all of which will make performing your best difficult, if not impossible.
    The fact is, you will perform best in a process-oriented frame of mind, where the outcome is accepted as unknown and allowed to unfold without anticipation. Detaching your self-image from your climbing performance is the first step to escaping an outcome-oriented mind-set. Strive to focus only on things immediate to the act of climbing—your warm-up, mental rehearsal, gear selection; when climbing, focus only on the move at hand, never projecting ahead. Accept the feedback the route gives you without frustration or judgment and liberate yourself to try new things, take chances, and—most important— fall. Such process orientation and self-image detachment will reduce pressure and anxiety; paradoxically, you’ll climb better by not needing to!

2. Surround yourself with positive people.
     
    There is an aura of influence that surrounds each of us, and its effects are based on our personality and attitude toward life and its events. Your thoughts and actions will affect the thoughts and actions of those around you, and vice versa. As I see it, there are three options—either climb alone, climb with upbeat and positive people, or climb with cynical and negative people. But why would you ever want to climb with the negative, excuse-making complainers of the climbing world? Their negative aura will adversely impact your climbing and enjoyment whether you recognize it or not. The bottom line: Vow to either climb with positive individuals or climb solo. Both approaches can be hugely rewarding.

3. Stretch your comfort zone.
     
    To improve in anything, your goals must exceed your current grasp and you must be willing to push beyond your comfort zone in your reach. In performing on the vertical plane, this means climbing onward despite mental and physical discomfort; it means challenging your fears head-on by doing what you fear; and it means attempting what looks impossible to you based on past experience. Through this process, you will stretch your abilities to a new level, redefine your belief system, and reshape your personal vision of what is possible.

4. Anticipate and proactively manage your risk.
     
    Climbing is an activity with obvious inherent risks, and the desire to climb harder often requires taking on even more. This can come in the form of obvious physical danger such as a potentially injurious fall, or as less tangible mental risk like opening yourself up to failure, criticism, and embarrassment. It’s interesting to note that for some climbers, the physical danger can feel more tolerable than the mental. As an example, consider a climber who foolishly continues upward on a horrendously dangerous route he’s not prepared for because of the fear of being dissed (by those standing safely on the ground!) should he back off.
    Make it your MO to carefully assess all the possible risks before starting up every climb. Determine ways that you can reduce the risk of the climb (such as rigging a belay differently than usual or getting an extra spotter or crash pad), and anticipate how you will respond to new emerging risk as you climb (for instance, discovering there are no protection placements higher up the route). As for the mental risks you might face (like the fear of failure), see Mental Strategy 1 on separating your self-image from your performance.

5. Fortify your confidence.
     
    Your degree of self-confidence is primarily based on your self-image and the thoughts you possess minute by minute and day by