Most of the articles we post on this blog are about how we can train our physical abilities to improve our climbing performance. While this is certainly a big part of improving at climbing, it is really only one side of the coin. Climbing is an incredibly challenging sport that requires mental toughness. Just like we work on strengthening or fingers and our core, we also need to work on controlling or mind so that it helps us reach our climbing goals rather than holding us back.
To help, here is an article by veteran climber Chris Weidner on ways we can improve our mental toughness. In the article, Chris gives us four tips he has learned through his own climbing as well as conversations with mental training guru Arno Ilgner and other experienced climbers.
“Our conversation turned to confidence and mental toughness: How do we tackle intimidating challenges? How do we deal with doubts? What kinds of goals are appropriate?”
“I’m certainly no expert on this stuff, but I spoke with someone who is — Arno Ilgner, author of “The Rock Warrior’s Way: Mental Training For Climbers.””
“My discussion with Ilgner, plus previous conversations, inspired the following four tips for mental toughness.” – Chris Weidner
4 Tips for Mental Toughness:
Training our minds to help our climbing performance is an ongoing process that every climber, no matter how strong they are needs to continually work on. Here are Chris’ four tips for mental toughness to help you kick start your own journey of leaning to control your mind when climbing:
- Make leaning your goal, not achievement
- Free yourself from wishing behavior
- In the midst of doubt, come back to what you know
- Get out there and try hard
Click through below to read about all four of these tips in greater detail. Abstract concepts like these are often difficult for us to wrap our heads around. However, no amount of fingerboarding will change the fact that climbing is an incredibly mental sport and without being able to control our mind we can never reach our full potential.
When reading through these tips, remember you may struggle with some more than others. Be honest with yourself and really think about which of these points you need to focus on. Just like you attack weakness when training your physical abilities, working on your mental toughness needs to be targeted at your own specific needs.
Full Article: Chris Weidner on Mental Toughness
(photo courtesy of Chris Weidner and Chad Umbel)
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