Variety is the spice of life

Following on from conversations I have had regularly with fellow climbers over the last few months, maintaining motivation can be tricky.  As the weather closes in, and we all head down to the wall, I notice how easy it is to get set into routines - for example, always warming up on the same few routes or problems, climbing with the same partner (!) and so on.  No wonder then that motivation starts to dip.  Whilst routine can be helpful to manage anxieties, and its good to develop a pre-big-climb routine, for training it can be pretty counter productive.

Variety really is key over the winter months, and its important to introduce this at every level.  Climb with different people, go to different indoor venues if you cant get outside, mix up bouldering, and routes, and do not keep doing the same ones over and over.  Even more radically,  try alternating with some other activities such as scrambling, a few gym sessions, runs or winter mountaineering.  How about some yoga or pilates to enhance the mind-body link?  All of these other activities will complement your training and hone your overall fitness and body concentration, and more importantly, prevent your climbing motivation from dipping by mixing things up a little.

Tips for a good belaying partnership

After a month of not going to the wall, I felt ready for a bit of exercise, so I headed up to the Beacon.  After taking my time to really warm up body and brain (this takes a lot longer than most people give it!) I tried a couple of new routes which had moves/ holds on them that I dont usually find too easy, ie slopers and steep overhangs in combination.

What was interesting to me was, climbing with a new belayer, how difficult it was to fully concentrate on the climbing as I hadnt yet developed that trust in my belayer, not helped by when I glanced down, seeing him chatting with his neighbour! 

I often see this happen, and the climber begins to shout down to the belayer more and more anxiously.  This is a strategy which is guaranteed to create tension and actually make things worse.  If you start shouting down (as you need to to be heard often), you start to over breathe and store tension in your body, creating an anxious feeling even if there wasnt one there beforehand.  Also, it can create a difficult atmosphere - you may feel self conscious about shouting, your belayer may feel annoyed or embarrassed ("of course I'm watching you!"), and at this point, reassurance isnt usually going to help anyway.

A better tactic is to think whilst you are on the ground, do I trust my belayer?  And if not, why not? Is it you (you never trust anyone's belaying!) or them (they are a bit sloppy).  Either way, have a conversation about it with them, and work out what you both need to do to build that trust so you can focus on the climbing.  Maybe its a bit of practice falling, maybe its a one off reminder that this is going to be a hard route for you, maybe they need to give you a bit of encouragement.   Whatever it is, work this out on some routes you feel comfortable with before gradually trying something harder, so you can focus on the climbing.

Course dates for 2009 now online

click pic to enlarge

Welcome to the new Smart Climbing Blog!

As I start planning our 2009 Smart Climbing workshop, I have had a chance to review the workshops we ran last year. Feedback was really positive from both the open weekend, and the privtae courses I ran, and it was great to hear people's success stories as they put their new skills into practice, and everyone commented how it had renewed their enthusiasm.

Motivation is a fickle thing, and for all of us it tends to wax and wane. Winter for me is typically a time to rest, recover and review which skills I need to work on, and I dont tend to climb as much as I do over summer. For me, its the outdoor element of climbing that I love, but by supplementing and varying indoor sessions with running, biking, winter mountaineering, yoga and some gym sessions, I find that I dont lose too much overall fitness! More importantly, having a little bit of a break from climbing this side of Christmas improves my motivation no end, and by February time I am usually itching to get outside on rock.

For me, the key things to consolidate over winter are the odd techniques I find difficult (slopers typically!), and to spend as much time falling off indoors as possible. Falling off is the commonest fear climbers have, and the only way to manage this very natural fear is to do it, and do it often. This sets me up well for my early outdoor leads of the season, where everything can feel a little rusty! My top tip this week, especially if you are feeling a bit like hibernating, is to take a break from climbing, curl up by the fire and read some good climbing books, and trust that your motivation will return!