Read Online Training for Climbing, 2nd: The Definitive Guide to Improving Your Performance (How To Climb Series) by Eric J. Horst - Free Book Online
Authors: Eric J. Horst
actions always seem to leave them in an all-too-familiar situation. The phrase same s___, different day is born of this affliction.
If any of this sounds familiar (in climbing or life), it’s important to begin taking notice of just who is directing the actions you take on a daily basis. In many cases you’ll discover that outside forces are calling the shots for you—that is, you are taking the actions someone else wants you to make, not those congruent with your goals. This is what the multibillion-dollar advertising industry is all about. Large companies spend millions with the sole intent of directing your actions in their favor (to make them money and drain your wallet). So while you might have a very worthy goal of, say, “getting out of debt” or “saving for a house,” advertisers cleverly divert your actions in their favor. Unless you are acutely aware of what’s going on (and the power they wield over you), you will veer off your course and onto theirs—and maybe never reach your goals.
This may sound negative, but the same thing often happens when you’re training at the gym or climbing at the crag. Instead of doing the precise exercises and drills you need to improve your weaknesses, you end up climbing down the blind alley of someone else’s agenda. Consider how many climbing days you’ve spent working on someone else’s dream project (one that is either over your head or just not what you had planned) when you would have gained more by getting on a different type of climb. Or ponder how often you’ve gone to the gym and ended up socializing and just climbing mindlessly with no goal or direction. Sure, these kinds of evenings can be relaxing and fun once in a while, but on a regular basis they will not make you a better climber.
The win-win solution is to find a partner equally motivated to taking actions that will produce the fastest possible gains in ability. With this person you can evenly split the climbing time, so that you each can work effectively toward your goals. Unfortunately, in many partnerships one person makes all the calls and gets most of the benefits of the time spent training or climbing.
In summary, strive for hour-to-hour, day-to-day awareness of the “whats” and “whys” of the actions you are taking. By formulating short-term goals, as discussed earlier, you can best maintain your focus on the things you need to do to improve short term and advance toward your meaningful medium- and long-term goals. Finally, foster an acute awareness of the results you are getting from your actions. Peak performers are those who most rapidly recognize when they are off course, and respond with a reassessment of the situation and an appropriate course correction toward the desired goal.
Tips for Achieving Your Goals
1. Know yourself. Live your passion. What worthy goals will drive you to excellence?
2. Regularly assess your strengths and weaknesses. What’s holding you back in terms of action (or inaction) and self-defeating thoughts and habits?
3. Take the self-assessment in this chapter at least once per year, and consider getting the objective evaluation of a climbing coach.
4. Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your actions—are you obtaining the intended results? If not, make course corrections that will yield more effective actions.
5. Don’t be afraid to step away from the crowd and pursue your own mega goals. Ally with like-minded individuals, and avoid people with bad attitudes and unproductive behavior.
6. Set mega goals that will inspire and energize you from sunrise to sunset, and make your life an amazing journey.
If it’s beginning to sound like becoming a better climber is a very mental thing, you are right! So let’s dive into chapter 3, “Mental Training.”
Phil Hoffman deep-water soloing at Summersville Lake, West Virginia. DAN BRAYACK
CHAPTER THREE
Mental Training
The wise man will be the master of his mind. A fool
If any of this sounds familiar (in climbing or life), it’s important to begin taking notice of just who is directing the actions you take on a daily basis. In many cases you’ll discover that outside forces are calling the shots for you—that is, you are taking the actions someone else wants you to make, not those congruent with your goals. This is what the multibillion-dollar advertising industry is all about. Large companies spend millions with the sole intent of directing your actions in their favor (to make them money and drain your wallet). So while you might have a very worthy goal of, say, “getting out of debt” or “saving for a house,” advertisers cleverly divert your actions in their favor. Unless you are acutely aware of what’s going on (and the power they wield over you), you will veer off your course and onto theirs—and maybe never reach your goals.
This may sound negative, but the same thing often happens when you’re training at the gym or climbing at the crag. Instead of doing the precise exercises and drills you need to improve your weaknesses, you end up climbing down the blind alley of someone else’s agenda. Consider how many climbing days you’ve spent working on someone else’s dream project (one that is either over your head or just not what you had planned) when you would have gained more by getting on a different type of climb. Or ponder how often you’ve gone to the gym and ended up socializing and just climbing mindlessly with no goal or direction. Sure, these kinds of evenings can be relaxing and fun once in a while, but on a regular basis they will not make you a better climber.
The win-win solution is to find a partner equally motivated to taking actions that will produce the fastest possible gains in ability. With this person you can evenly split the climbing time, so that you each can work effectively toward your goals. Unfortunately, in many partnerships one person makes all the calls and gets most of the benefits of the time spent training or climbing.
In summary, strive for hour-to-hour, day-to-day awareness of the “whats” and “whys” of the actions you are taking. By formulating short-term goals, as discussed earlier, you can best maintain your focus on the things you need to do to improve short term and advance toward your meaningful medium- and long-term goals. Finally, foster an acute awareness of the results you are getting from your actions. Peak performers are those who most rapidly recognize when they are off course, and respond with a reassessment of the situation and an appropriate course correction toward the desired goal.
Tips for Achieving Your Goals
1. Know yourself. Live your passion. What worthy goals will drive you to excellence?
2. Regularly assess your strengths and weaknesses. What’s holding you back in terms of action (or inaction) and self-defeating thoughts and habits?
3. Take the self-assessment in this chapter at least once per year, and consider getting the objective evaluation of a climbing coach.
4. Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your actions—are you obtaining the intended results? If not, make course corrections that will yield more effective actions.
5. Don’t be afraid to step away from the crowd and pursue your own mega goals. Ally with like-minded individuals, and avoid people with bad attitudes and unproductive behavior.
6. Set mega goals that will inspire and energize you from sunrise to sunset, and make your life an amazing journey.
If it’s beginning to sound like becoming a better climber is a very mental thing, you are right! So let’s dive into chapter 3, “Mental Training.”
Phil Hoffman deep-water soloing at Summersville Lake, West Virginia. DAN BRAYACK
CHAPTER THREE
Mental Training
The wise man will be the master of his mind. A fool
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