Steve Bechtel, the author of our Strength Training Guide, posted an article on his site climbstrong.com that outlines the difference between training vs practice. In this article, Steve describes how as climbers we often overuse the term “training” to refer to anything that we do in climbing where we are trying to get better. In reality, Steve asserts that for something to be training it has to be a specific act that is “organized, progressive, and repeated.” According to Steve, practice and training are two completely different activities that must be treated as such.
“Training is how you get stronger. Practice is how you get better”
“The saying ‘practice makes perfect’ is known to all of us, but the truth is that practice makes permanent. Simply doing something a lot doesn’t make you good at that thing. What we really need to do is practice correctly, do it a lot, and then reap the rewards. This is where my 75/25 rule comes back into play: 75% of your ‘training’ time should really be practice time. Don’t go to the gym to get tired, go to get better.” – Steve Bechtel
Steve goes on to explain that for the 75% of our climbing time that is not training to qualify as effective practice we need to be pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone and actively trying to learn new skills. The article goes on to describe how it can be difficult to shift the focus from simply climbing back to practice. Steve, however, suggests that by effectively structuring of a practice session, providing appropriate feedback, and separating practice from performance we can fully utilize our non-training time to become better climbers.
In order to help us practice more, Steve also provides and explains three overarching rules for practice:
- Practice success
- Stay fresh
- Keep your head in the game.
Take a look at the article and learn how practice as well as train.
Click Here: Don’t Train – Practice: Training vs Practice
(photo courtesy of climbstrong.com)
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