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

fundamental to controlling our attitude and climbing our best.
    Which voice—the critic or the doer—rules your mind? Hopefully you’ll conclude that the doer’s voice rules your mental roost about 95 percent of the time (or more). If not, you can surely improve your performance by eliminating the self-destructive internal dialogue. The first step is to sever your ties to negative, critical people: Their verbal and nonverbal communication will absolutely pollute your thoughts and attitude.
    Next, strive to heighten your awareness of your self-talk—the goal is to think about what you are thinking about!—and allow the doer voice to run the talk show. When you notice the critic voice speaking up, determine if it is useful (for instance, to help with risk management) or just trash talk. Take the critic’s non-useful comments and invert them into positive statements. For example, change This route looks impossible to This route looks challenging; replace I feel nervous with I feel energized; convert I’ll probably fall into I think I can do this, but if I fall it’s okay because I’ll get it next time. Direct such positive self-talk on every climb and throughout every day and you will marshal psychic energy that enhances your performance in all you do.

10. Love climbing, no matter what.
     
    A common trait of successful people is resilience to criticism and bad results, and an unwavering belief that success will come with time and effort. Developing such a mind-set takes a disciplined effort to constantly spin negative feedback into some kind of a positive—real winners never dwell on the setbacks or accept defeat.
    Remember, climbing is about the journey, not the summit. Vow to love the process of climbing and all it entails, whether it is a perfect send or a painful struggle. Sure, a perfect ascent is immensely gratifying; however, it’s on the arduous journey that you actually become a better climber and grow as a person. The bottom line: Love climbing unconditionally, and you will always have a great day on the rocks!

Controlling Your Emotions
     
    Your emotions have a direct effect on your body and mind. What you are feeling exerts an influence over the quality of your actions and your ways of thinking (see figure 3.1). Consider how nervousness before a climb can derail your concentration as well as trigger preclimb jitters throughout your body. We can then conclude that emotional control is essential for optimal performance.

     
    Figure 3.1 How Emotions Run the Show
     

    Observe great climbers such as Chris Sharma and Lynn Hill at work and you will notice either positive, productive emotions or no emotion at all. Even when they fall, you sense little anger or angst—only love of the process of climbing, which occasionally includes falling. Now consider how your thoughts and emotions evolve when the going gets tough—do they sometimes become negative, fearful, or even self-defeating? If so, then your physical performance will absolutely suffer given the intimate mind-emotion-body relationship shown in figure 3.1.
    The following storyline illustrates how negative emotions can sabotage performance.
    1. The climber leaves the ground and moves cautiously through the initial moves. He looks apprehensive, as if he’s trying not to make any mistakes.
    2. As he enters more difficult moves, his breathing becomes shallow and irregular. He may even hold his breath on hard sequences.
    3. Negative emotional energy rises, resulting in increased muscular tension and mental stress.
    4. This building stress disrupts his coordination, balance, and footwork. Movements become tight, mechanical, and inefficient. He begins to overgrip holds.
    5. He begins to hold back on hard moves, afraid to fully commit, and hangs out too long on marginal rests.
    6. The fight-or-flight syndrome is triggered, adding some adrenaline to the mix. This burst of energy may help the climber thrash through a few more moves; more commonly, however, the jolt causes him to grab the rope or a quick draw, and retreat from the route.
    7. The death grip sets in and flames out his muscles.
    8. He falls and lets loose a few expletives.
    9. Hanging on the rope, he engages in critical thinking that further raises the tide of negative emotions.
     
    Does any part of this story sound familiar? If so, I have some good news. You can learn to rein in your emotions and thus open up a whole new level of climbing performance and enjoyment. If you have good