What does the snow mean?!

What can being snow-bound teach us about responding when things don't go according to plan? Flexible problem solving and open-ness to new experiences when the going gets tough

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Photos from 2010 open course

If you are on Facebook, then you can join our Smart Climbing group and see photos from the 2010 Open Workshop

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Open Course 10-12th June 2011

New dates for next year's psychological aspects of climbing workshop

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A bit of leg work

Wintry views from Y Garn make the uphill effort totally worthwhile

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Does it really matter why you are anxious?

Why maintaining factors are more important for getting over anxiety

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Stretching your comfort zone

How to stretch out your comfort zone, inch by inch

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Holidays!

a quick low down on my recent bouldering trip to Fontainebleau

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Research Roundup

Research Roundup

Work, Learn, Play

Work, Learn, Play

Too Busy!

Summer course update

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Cycling holiday!

Smart Climbing goes cycling around Mull and the Outer Hebrides

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Knowing when to push yourself http://ping.fm/KOCC3

My multiactivity weeknd! http://ping.fm/XoANo

Smart Climbing - Blog http://ping.fm/5WYus

Talking, climbing, practising

This weekend was full of Smart activity :)  On  Friday evening I gave a talk at Plas Y Brenin on psychological skills and climbing, titled Use your Head.  A lot of the talk was about thinking and some of the ways thinking can be both useful and unhelpful to climbers.  It was a small but lively audience, and I was asked lots of interesting questions.  I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did!

Saturday I went to practise what I preach when I had an evening bouldering session.  I made an effort to try every problem rather than leaving out the ones I thought I couldnt do.  I also spent a lot of time thinking about how I did the problems I could do, and realised how much power I was putting through my legs to get success.  I was bouldering with my friend Di, and was able to pass this knowledge on to her.  It can be tricky sometimes working out why something is working for you, but knowing what does work means you can repeat it in other scenarios.

On Sunday I worked with Tony, who coincidentally was overusing his top half and neglecting his lower body.  We spent some time indoors in the morning, looking at foot technique and balance, and then how to give yourself time to refocus on the lead, before heading outdoors to the slate quarry.  Tony did a great job of using his feet and balance on a couple of climbs, as well as refocusing when things got tough which was fantastic to see.

I rounded off my weekend with another quick bouldering session, again working on some problems which I think are way beyond me, but hoping that over time I can work out the moves and begin to see them as possible. 

Smart Climbing - Blog http://ping.fm/gA9G8

North Wales Ice http://ping.fm/251As

Smart Climbing - Blog

Smart Climbing - Blog

Indoor climbing session - a bit of training

This evening despite being pretty tired after work, I decided to put Dave McLeod's advice into practice and go try some problems.  I have been reading '9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes', and one of the key messages I got from it was that really good climbers try harder, more often and for longer than other climbers.  This was also a message I picked when listening to Pete Robins run through his talk for the upcoming Llanberis Mountain Film Festival.  Pete's talk was quite inspiring as he spoke about something I think all of us can relate to - how to break out of a performance plateau.  I wont spoil it for you - come to Llamff and listen!

Anyway, returning to my wall session, I tried a variety of problems and resolved to give them just one more go than usual. I also repeated a few that I did manage to do, something I dont normally tend to do.  It was certainly different, and as I keep saying, variety in training is good.  

Tomorrow am biking to work to keep my fitness up for another quick Scottish hit, and I will be back at the wall on Thursday to do some routes.  Monday evening saw me in a yoga class, getting thoroughly stretched and employing intensive concentration and breathing practice.  So a good week fitness wise!

More Scottish Winter Climbing

Last week I headed up to Fort William with a good friend, Gareth, hoping for some good conditions.  We had one perfect day, in perfect conditions, on a great route, in a week which was sadly filled with tragic accidents in other parts of Scotland.

A leisurely start on Tuesday saw us tramping up towards Curved Ridge on Buchaille Etive Mor.  Sunshine and hard snow, plus 2 great ice pitches, and a detour into a nearby gully to leapfrog a bigger party, made the route so enjoyable, and the airy moves on the ridge with views to Glen Etive were fabulous.  At the top, we stopped to savour the view and those feelings of elation and a sense that the world is a wonderful place, as well as to eat a much needed butty!

After carefully negotiating our way down, we planned for a trip to Ben Nevis the next day to try a route called Green Gully.  We got a great early start (5am!) but when we got to the CIC hut, the wind was howling, with spindrift avalanches cascading down the face, and reports of small slab avalanches up ahead of us.  We decided to leave the mountain alone, and headed back for coffee at Fort William.  A good decision as it snowed for 24 hours solidly, and by the end of the afternoon, the wind was very strong, making conditions very unstable.

Winter Climbing

Last week I headed to Scotland to Cairngorm and then to Glencoe to do some winter climbing.  I thought I was fairly fit, but of course nothing really prepares you for Scottish walk in's with a big pack and winter boots on ....unless you have already spent a couple of weeks doing the same!

This was my first year to try leading some winter routes, and I was pleased to find that my summer skills 'winterised' quite well.  Making do with less than perfect gear, sometimes shifting snow and the weather can make everything feel much more nerve racking.  However, using the techniques that work for me such as breathing into my feet (they seemed to feel quite warm!), staying focused on the task in hand and not letting myself get ahead of....myself (!) worked well.   The latter skill is particularly important - we have a habit of gazing as far ahead as possible, thinking about the end of the route, getting ahead of ourselves, which can really rachet up the anxiety.  Instead, its better to think about the gear you just put in, try to spot the next one, but gaze no further than that, until you get to that next piece of gear.  This way your brain stays on the foot and axe placements you need right now, rather than worrying about the ones you might need on the crux sequence on the next pitch.

I really enjoyed my leads, and am off up again next week for some consolidation hopefully!

Enjoy the pictures :)

A busy couple of weeks

Its been manic here!!  Last week I spent an evening coaching the Beacon's "Next Generation" climbing team, this week I worked with Dave on some of his sticking points, bookings are coming in for the Open Course, and I am trying to finish up all the little niggling bits for the new website and sort out some posters to send out to climbing walls and to have at the upcoming Fort William film festival and LLAMFF (the Llanberis Film Festival).  So its all go! 

In reviewing the last week or so, what themes have come up?

Firstly, there is something for me about being totally honest with yourself.  Working with the teenagers in the Beacon team was great, as, unlike many adults I have worked with, they were pretty honest about their fears, how much they were committing to moves, and how far they were willing to push themselves.  It was also great to work with Dave, where we spent a lot of time thinking about all the sneaky ways we hold ourselves back without even realising.  The brain is great at developing what we call 'safety behaviours' - little mental crutches or strategies we adopt to make us feel safer.  Unfortunately, these safety behaviours become insidious (eg checking our belayer has 'got us' at the top of a climb, fingering a hold but then letting go before you actually try to move up on that hold, getting your partner to let you come down before trying what looks to be a hard move, etc) and serve to reduce our comfort zone.  So its important to have someone help you notice all the little things you do to stop yourself getting to that point of no return, where you are pushing right up against the edge of your comfort zone.  It could just be saying "I'm tired", or only doing routes you know, and so on, its different for everyone.

The second theme (pertinent to me right now given the time of night I am doing this!) is, balance.  Pushing yourself in climbing is all very well provided you have the mental space and energy for it.  But if life is stressful and hard at the moment, back off a bit!!  Take some time out for yourself, climb just for fun, and leave the pushing until things calm down a little.  You are only human!!

You can take a sneaky peak at the new website whilst its under development here but keep checking back as its not finished yet!!  And if you are thinking about booking onto the open workshop, get in touch asap as places are filling up fast.

And on that note - I'm off to relax!!

sticking to your resolutions

Its about this time of year that people who had big plans for this year start to wane a little on their resolutions.  If you have had a big climbing training plan for the year, sticking with the regime whilst the mornings and nights are cold and dark and your day job escalates its demands can be tricky.  

Generally, people have trouble sticking to their resolutions because they try to make changes which are too big.  We see what we want to achieve at the end of it and try to take giant steps towards it, often due to impatience.  Instead, think of it of being like a rollercoaster, which starts at a slow and gentle speed, chugging up the incline, building up to top speed towards the end of the ride.  This is how to change habits, take up a new challenge or training plan.  Take small, gradual steps and accelerate as your goal nears.

More useful tips can be found here

Coaching the next generation

This evening I coached the Beacon's youth team - what a great bunch of teenagers!  I spent a bit of time thinking about how I could adapt what I do with adults and what might be most useful to them, and they were great in being honest about what things they struggled with and asked some really pertinent questions.

We spent the evening in falling practice mainly, with some discussion about how our thoughts affect our behaviour and how this in turn affects and is affected by our physical state.  I will be going back in a few weeks time with some more individualised stuff to psyche up those who need to get motivated for competition, and psyche 'down' those who have a tendency to get too tense pre-comp and choke.

The great thing about teenagers is they are more honest and less polite than adults, so you soon know if you have hit the spot with them!  and they are also much better than adults at following instructions!  They were great at putting into practice a graded approach to falling practice, and some were brave enough to say they didnt feel ready to move on to above clip lead falls - so much more resistant to peer pressure than some adults I have worked with.  

An enjoyable session - I hope they thought so too (but I am sure they would have let me know if it wasnt!!)

Committing to moves

Yesterday I worked with Chris who has been climbing a while but had got a bit stuck. It was tricky working out what the problem was, but I think we got to the bottom of it.  It seems as though Chris was struggling to fully commit to harder moves.  This can arise for lots of different reasons.  It can be to do with low expectations of yourself (not thinking something is possible), fear of failure, lack of practice, fear of falling, lack of trust in the belayer, embarrassment or even not knowing how it feels to physically try at your limit.

Whatever the cause, the effects of this are easy to understand.  Its a vicious downward spiral, where you never climb at your limit, and so your limit gets steadily lower and lower - you dont maintain your limit/grade, it steadily drops.  We need to constantly push up against our limits/ boundaries just to maintain them, let alone begin to expand them.

The remedy takes a big commitment in and of itself.  It means challenging yourself systematically and regularly, and making sure that you fully commit to this, and not just pay it lip service.  Its quite a subtle thing to be sure of.  If you are doing routes/ problems that you are failing on, then you could be trying at your limit, but equally, you might be stopping short of giving something 100%.  Ask yourself, am I falling off naturally here (ie in the middle of a move), or am I paused and clinging on before letting myself drop off.  Its not easy to tell sometimes.  Our mind is so powerful that if the thought creeps in that maybe this is a bit too hard for us anyway, then we tend to tail off our effort.  Expanding our expectations of ourselves also brings with it painful possibilities - of losing motivation as we achieve fewer successes, altering how we see ourselves.  The trick is to choose small increments by which to expand our horizons, steps which might just be a few millimetres away, but very definitely within sight and almost within our grasp.

Partial success!

This week has been a marathon of beginning to overhaul my website and update it a little, and I have partially completed that task!  Getting a little more help from Dave tomorrow in a skills-swap which is great as really web stuff isnt my bag.  But have a look at what's here so far and let me have your feedback please!  Many heads are always better than one.

London Marathon

No, I'm not doing it, but one of my closest friends is running for the Outward Bound Trust, a great charity, in April.  If you can spare a few pounds, please can you sponsor him here.  He is training with a dodgy knee with a partial ligament rupture, so fingers crossed he can nurse it through the weeks to come and over the crucial 26 miles.  Thanks for your support!

New Year's Resolution - be more compassionate to yourselves

I came across an article (number 9) about negative automatic thoughts and negative self talk whilst browsing the web today.  Whilst reading, I reflected back on my own frustrations when not improving, and the clients I have worked with over the last 12 months.  Many people are literally kicking themselves over the things they cant do - frustrated and angry with themselves, they try harder and harder, all the while talking to themselves in a more negative and punitive way.  I heard people saying things like "come on you idiot! for god's sake sort it out!  Why do you always mess it up? why cant you get it right?! Why are you such a scaredy-cat!".

It can be hard to imagine the effect this might have on ourselves, after all its only us talking, right?  But imagine if you talked to someone else the way you talk to yourself.  Imagine if you spoke to a child the way you speak to yourself.  What effect do you think it might have?  We know that constructive criticism, delivered well, is helpful.  But a barrage of negative comments, delivered in an angry tone, is really bad for self esteem, motivation, and in fact doesn't help the other person alter their behaviour.  If we wanted a child to do something differently, we might be better off saying something like "try doing x next time", and we certainly wouldnt be inflicting a barrage of criticism on them would we.

So why do we do it to ourselves? It can be just being in a negative frame of mind, frustration, or it can be rooted in the way we were coached/ given feedback in the past.  Regardless of its origin, its important to try to become aware of it and begin to use different language with ourselves.  Try talking to yourself as if you were talking to another person, offering constructive advice to improve performance, rather than a litany of what is wrong.  Treat yourself with the compassion a child learning a new skill deserves, and let me know the results!

Beautiful North Wales

If only I was technologically up-to-date enough to have a digital camera!  Then I could show you the stunning view I found today at the top of Elidir Fawr, made all the more worthwhile by thrashing up through deep snow!

It was one of those days which makes you feel glad to be alive.  The sun was high, the sky clear and for miles in most directions, white peaks.  I sat at the top and just soaked up the view.

On the way over to Carnedd Y Filiast, small details grabbed my attention.  The curves in the snow made by the wind.  The square icicles on the wire fence.  The odd blades of grass poking through the snow.

What has this got to do with climbing?  Absolutely nothing, except as a reminder to do the things you love.  I think I can use the images I absorbed today to help me relax at times of stress, and the exercise did me good no doubt, but mostly, just being in such a beautiful place felt good for the soul.

I hope you can get out walking too :)

Happy New Year

Its always good to look back before looking forward and setting the direction of travel for the year ahead. How to sum up 2009? Well for me personally, this was a year where my health and fitness didnt quite go to plan, but even so I managed to climb the routes and problems I had in mind, but more importantly, I think I consolidated my technique and mental strength when climbing. This I attribute entirely to mindfulness practice - being mindful of my movement, regular meditation, and using body-centering techniques to manage fearful thoughts. Where does that leave me for 2010? I think, more of the same, some more cardio-vascular work to try to help me stay strong and fit, and to continue to enjoy climbing rather than getting hung up on improving - as someone who often 'chokes' psychologically, letting the improvements happen naturally seems to work best for me!

2009 was a busy year for Smart Climbing - I had a number of articles published , lots of private clients, and a jam packed open workshop, where we were lucky to have Lucy Creamer as one of our instructors. The June workshop gave rise to the short film which I hope gives an idea of the way the workshop runs, and I was really grateful to everyone who allowed us to film! Brave indeed and much appreciated. 2010 is already looking busy, and my intention is to continue to keep up with the latest psychological research in climbing so I can pass this on to you. The June workshop will be similar, but there are plans afoot to design a slightly more advanced workshop to put on later in the year for people who have already been on the open workshop.

I have worked with a lot of high achievers this year, who like me, suffer from 'choking' under pressure. Its been great working with them, sharing tips for reframing, relaxing, and refocusing, and helping them get the enjoyment back into their climbing. Enjoyment can get lost really easily when you are always focused on training and improving, and certainly if you have a perfectionist personality, it does the power of good to learn to play again with climbing.

So, happy new year to you all, enjoy your climbing, remember why you love it, and make that the focus of your 2010 climbing year :)