Put in the time, train hard, and keep climbing harder and harder season after season, year after year. This kind of linear progression is what we all want. Unfortunately, this isn’t typically how things play out for climbers in the real world. Climb for long enough and chances are you’ll find yourself feeling stuck. You can be plateaued for numerous reasons, but no matter what the cause is it’s frustrating.
To help any of you who are feeling stuck or plateaued, here’s an article by climbing coach and trainer Steve Bechtel of Climb Strong. In it, he examines some of the common training pitfalls that can lead you to feel plateaued and then outlines some strategies for re-evaluating your training so that you can start progressing again.
“The funny thing about plateaus is they are not an indicator that you’ve messed up. On the contrary, they are an indicator that you’re doing something right. If you train your body to the point that it now easily handles what was once a difficult workload, you did well. The hard next step is to understand that a little more effort, or a refined effort, is in order.” – Steve Bechtel
Why Am I Stuck?
Bechtel’s most important point is that plateauing doesn’t mean you’ve made an error in your training. As he outlines in the article, plateauing isn’t a time for completely scraping your program. You shouldn’t just switch to something new and different where feeling progress will be easier.
Instead, finding yourself stuck is a sign that you need to take a look at your training, evaluate how you can refine your efforts, and prepare yourself to keep working hard for your gains. Click through below to read Bechtel’s suggestions about how to do this effectively.
Full Article: Climb Strong – Why Am I Stuck?
(photo courtesy of climbstrong.com)
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