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

muscle groups (see the “Progressive Relaxation Sequence” exercise that follows). This process results in a sharpened awareness of tension levels in the different parts of your body, and the ability to release the tension on demand. In time, you will be able to discern even small increases in muscular tension and act to immediately eliminate the tension before there’s any degradation in performance.

     

Progressive Relaxation Sequence
     
    Perform the following procedure at least once a day. I find it most useful during a midday break, as part of a long rest period at the crag, or last thing before falling asleep. Initially, the process will take about fifteen minutes. With practice, you’ll be able to move quickly through the sequence and reach a state of complete relaxation in less than five minutes. Concentrate on flexing only the muscle(s) specified in each step. This is an invaluable skill you will find very handy when using the Differential Relaxation and ANSWER Sequences that are discussed later.
    1. Go to a quiet location and sit or lie in a comfortable position.
    2. Close your eyes and take five deep belly breaths. Inhale slowly through your nose to a slow, silent count to five, then gradually exhale through your mouth to a slow, silent ten-count.
    3. Keeping your eyes closed and maintaining slow, relaxed breathing, tense the muscles in your right lower leg for five seconds. Feel the tension in your right foot and calf muscles, then let go and relax the muscles completely. Compare the difference in sensation between the tense and relaxed states. Repeat this process with the left lower leg. Now, with both lower leg areas relaxed, say to yourself, My feet and lower legs feel warm and light. Upon saying this a few times, the muscles in this area will drop into a deep state of relaxation.
    4. Next, perform the same sequence in the muscles of the upper leg (one leg at a time). Tense the muscles in your upper leg for five seconds, then relax them. After doing this with both legs, finish up by thinking, My upper legs feel warm and light. Feel all tension dissolve as your upper legs drop into deep relaxation.
    5. Repeat this process in your hands and lower arms. Tense the muscles below your right elbow by making a tight fist for five seconds; then relax these muscles completely. Repeat this with the left hand and forearm, and conclude with the mantra, My hand and forearm muscles feel warm and light.
    6. Repeat this procedure on the muscles in the upper arm.
    7. Next, shift the focus to the many muscles of the torso (including the chest, abdominal, back, and shoulder areas). Repeat the process exactly.
    8. Conclude with the muscles of the face and neck.
    9. You should now be in a deep state of relaxation (possibly, you will have fallen asleep). Mentally scan yourself from head to toe for any isolated pockets of remaining tension, and drain them with the warm and light mantra.
    10. At this point you can open your eyes and return to work or climbing with a renewed sense of calm and focus. Or you can leverage this relaxed state by performing some mind programming—visualization of the process of reaching some goal or the act of climbing some project route.
     

Using Differential Relaxation to Enhance Performance
     
    Differential relaxation is used in active situations where you wish to relax any muscle(s) not needed for the task at hand. I find this skill especially useful in regaining an optimal state while hanging out and chalking at rest positions on the rock. I scan for unnecessary muscular contractions or pockets of tension and, with a few deep belly breaths, visualize the tension draining from the muscle like air escaping from a balloon. Try this next time you go climbing.
    Many climbers shortchange themselves and reduce their apparent strength because of undue tension in muscles not needed for upward motion or stability. Unwanted contraction of the antagonist muscles or overcontraction of the prime movers interferes with even the simplest movements and wastes a tremendous amount of energy. Observe how climbers who try too hard or get gripped on a route become extremely rigid and mechanical, maybe even while moving through an easy sequence. Instead of using their muscles optimally, they’re pitting one muscle against another, resulting in stress, fatigue, and premature failure. Conversely, the best climbers actively control undue tension (it’s a mainly unconscious process in top climbers), move with