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

the main line of the route—a single missed foothold or high step can make the difference between “impossible” and “possible.”
     
    A common thread running through this chapter has been that the mental and technical aspects of climbing are intimately connected. Ahead in chapter 4 you will find an in-depth study of motor learning and performance (how you acquire skill) as well as a primer on the fundamental climbing techniques and several powerful strategies for developing superior technique. Let’s climb onward.
    Problem-Solving Tips and Success Strategies
     
    1. Focus on problem solving, not performance. View each climb as a puzzle that you will enjoy and learn from, no matter what the outcome.
    2. Relax and remain confident. Use the ANSWER Sequence to maintain a relaxed state, and direct positive, productive self-talk to fortify confident and sustain effective action in the face of difficult climbing.
    3. Chunk down the route into manageable sections. Work the most difficult chunks first, then begin linking the sections from the top down.
    4. Engage both sides of the brain. Which side is more dominant for you? Strive to bring both creative, intuitive (right brain) and analytical, practical (left brain) power to work for you.
    5. Employ multisensory learning by seeing, feeling, and talking yourself through tough sequences.
    6. When all else fails, try something ridiculous! Seemingly impossible cruxes often require a trick move or non-intuitive sequence, so experiment with a variety of moves and techniques no matter how improbable or inappropriate they seem to be.
     
     

 
    Ines Papert on-sights the 5.11a first pitch of the North Face of Castleton Tower, Utah. KEITH LADZINSKI
     

    CHAPTER FOUR
     
    Training Technique and Skill
     
    We are what we do repeatedly. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
    —Aristotle
     
     
    Moving over stone is the essence of climbing and, therefore, no subject can be more central to improving your climbing than this chapter on training skill and developing technique. Despite this, the subject of strength training tends to get all the attention and hype in conversations among climbers, and getting stronger is the most popular topic of magazine articles about climbing performance. In this book mental training and improving skill and strategy come before the subject of strength training because I feel most climbers can benefit more and improve more quickly on the rock with focused training in these areas. If you want to put yourself on the fast track to the higher grades, strive to understand and apply the information contained in this chapter as much as or more than any other chapter in the book. This will make you a better climber.
    Ironically, the majority of climbers spend little, if any, time on dedicated practice of the vast spectrum of techniques inherent to our sport. With little coaching or guidance available, most climbers unknowingly service their lust for ticking routes by constantly climbing for performance. Of course, becoming proficient (or excellent) at any sport requires focused practice of new skills and work on weaknesses that need improvement. Still, some climbers just don’t want to spend time practicing on routes below their maximum grade; others avoid routes that might highlight their weaknesses. Can you imagine a baseball player who never took bat-ting or fielding practice outside of the competition of a nine-inning game, or a quarterback who never threw a pass except on game day?
    In this chapter you will learn the three stages of motor learning involved in acquiring a new climbing skill or move, as well as how the brain creates motor programs to execute specific skilled movements and generates “software” that can approximate solutions, on the fly, to unknown moves. This is powerful information if you understand it, because it will empower you to practice more effectively than the mass of climbers, rapidly develop superior technique, and grow to become a true master of rock.
    Next I present a primer on the fundamental techniques of efficient climbing movement. Beginning climbers would be wise to read the unabridged coverage of climbing technique presented in my book Learning to Climb Indoors. Intermediate and advanced climbers can likewise benefit by reviewing—and, if needed, shoring up their use of—the key techniques detailed in this chapter.
    The action portion of this chapter is a series of practice drills that you can use