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‘Head game’ in sport climbing & 8 stages that could help improve it


Have you ever felt nervous about falling? Do you often stay 'take' when you are not even pumped?


There is a variety of different mental obstacles you face when climbing, and it varies depending on the person, the route and even the day.


Every person has a comfort zone, an area defined by their own limits and wants. In climbing, this is the mental zone in which you feel safe. Beyond this is the danger zone, which is where we no longer feel as comfortable. Here’s some telltale signs, you may be in this zone, shaking legs like Elvis Presley, ridiculously pumped arms and shortening of breath. In order to expand our comfort zone, we must cross the line to widen its boundaries. For example, you are scared of taking falls on lead: to become more comfortable with this, you must practice small falls and work your way to bigger ones. Each fall is helping you grow your comfort zone in this area. But this can be tricky... 


What goes through the mind of someone who suffers with ‘head game’ in climbing?


It is really difficult for my boyfriend to understand what goes through my mind when I climb. He’s a strong climber and has been climbing since his teens. Whereas I started in my mid-twenties, and have been climbing for the past 2-3 years. The reason I mention this is because your head game strength will be largely different to others and cannot be comparable. This can be due to experience, personality, varying goals and other attributes. So when climbing with your partners, remember to think that their ‘head game’ abilities can not be comparable to your own, no matter if it is weaker or stronger. 


To share some perspective and quite an amusing insight, here's a glimpse into my mind during an onsite attempt on a sport route, this is when I suffer most with my ‘head game’...


<<try not to laugh🤭>>


I begin the climb. One, two, three clips up. I begin to reassure myself:


 “Gooooood, see? It’s not that bad. You read the route well from the ground”. 

I come across a shinier foothold: 

That’s shiny… Am I meant to put my foot on that….?” 

I nervously place my foot a little less confidently: 

Wow, I’m feeling a bit pumped”. 

I begin to feel my arms swelling. 

“Am I gripping too…hard?”

I lean on a jug to shake out and look down. 

Oh man, I am sooooo far above the bolt!”


I glance up: 

Seriously, the next hold is all the way up there!”


I begin to panic and try to move, over-gripping on every hold, climbing very inelegantly to the next clip, locking off on a giant jug. I lift the rope to the clip: 

Go in, go in, go in….” 

Finally the rope goes in, and I feel a little hair flapping in my eye, and my mouth is dry. 

“Oh darn it”

I give in and shout “TAKEEEEEE!” 


Yes, I know, I am crazy! And I overthink far too much. These thoughts cloud my judgement and hinder my progress during my climbing. Fortunately, I have had some great friends and fellow climbing partners who have helped me in terms of learning some techniques /stages that helped me grow my comfort zone in a fun and friendly way. Below I have summarised a few of those stages.


8 steps that helped me to strength my head game as a climber


Stage 1: Accepting I need to actively work on pushing my comfort zone 


No matter how ridiculous it may sound to you, it is time to admit that for some unknown or known reason, you have some kind of anxiety when it comes to pushing your mental barrier during climbing. When I accepted this, it gave me the ability to look forward to my next stage. Like anything in life, acceptance of who you are must always come first. 


Stage 2: Step back from the top rope... 


For me, top rope was a clutch. When I used to send routes outside, I would have practiced the moves until they were dialled. So that when I actually sent the route, I knew there was a slim chance of falling. This doesn't apply to everyone, but for me it was evident something needed to change as my onsite to red point grade was so vastly wide. Now top rope is something of the past to me, which has helped me mentally progress as a climber. 


Stage 3: Learning how to breathe 


It sounded odd to me too: I remember thinking "but breathing is something that we do naturally, why do I need to learn to do it better?" Turns out for me, it's a really useful skill: a deep breath can clear the mind of panic, and give clarity of what needs to be achieved next. Also, it helps to keep you relaxed and stops you pumping out as fast! Major perks! I know a lot of climbers who use yoga to breathe, personally I found meditation to be a very powerful tool. 


Stage 4: Falling is fun 

Do you remember your first fall? It was terrifying, but so much fun. Adrenaline is amazing, and let's be honest, it's why most of us are addicted to the sport. At the beginning of my climbing career, I used a technique called "clip-drop": taking progressive falls until you are taking whips at the top. Alongside this, I used a positive association method: go with me here, it's a little crazy. We call it animals: while you climb your belayer asks you, "what sound does a “name an animal” make?". It could be anything: the dog, cat or something really strange (I once got SQUID!) And then whilst climbing, you have to make the noise of that animal. It's a really fun method and it makes you laugh, loosening you up a little whilst climbing. What noise do you think a squid makes? 


Stage 5: Progressive dynamic movement 


This is a funny one: When I became more confident with my falling, and was taking HUGE whippers bellowing "Whooo-hooo" I began to jump up the grades in my sport climbing. As I worked up the grades I came across something much worse: the inability to do dynamic movements! I tried my best to always find the 'static way' using feet holds that didn't exist or grasping on to crimps that were, well, disgusting. Instead of taking the leap to the big jug, that was only a little further out of my reach. 


Thanks to the advice of a friend, I use a similar method to clip-drop that I mentioned above, but applying it for progressive dynamic movement. In the climbing gym on a mix hold wall, I’ll select two holds a distance apart and start by attempting this one move. When I succeed, I simply increase the distance by selecting the next hold. If you keep increasing you will eventually do dynos! Translating this to the outside was funny, and is something I am still mastering. For me, the indoor training taught me how to be less anxious of making the longer moves. And when I hesitate now outside, I try to take a deep breath and tell myself to 'just try!'. This usually ends with me making rather horrifyingly loud noise ranging from a 'Whoo-hooo', to screaming or even the occasional grunt! But believe it or not, I would say 80-90% of the times I try this - I get the hold! 


Stage 6: Skipping the clip 

If you told me in stage 4 or even 5 to skip a clip, I would have laughed at you. Skipping clips is a strange one. However, sometimes when you climb harder grades outdoors, it can become necessary to do so in order to send. I learned this the hard way. When the final quickdraw before the anchor was so tricky to get, and my belayer said 'skip it, it's awful', but I was adamant I was going to clip it, I got so pumped in my arms that eventually when I did clip it, I fell.


Don't take this the wrong way, clips are your safety protection, don't be reckless, but also be confident in yourself and in your climbing when you can do this safely. 


Stage 7: Jumping from the top with confidence 


Don't clip the anchor and take the whip! Feel the wind beneath you. Strangely as scary as this sounds, I love doing this. Especially with people egging you on! 


Recommended to all climbers, but please do so safely and make sure you tell your belayer of your intentions first! 


Stage 8: Patience! 


This is the most important stage of them all. It's vital to remember that your mind is a muscle and needs training. Just like a muscle, it will forget too and have stronger and weaker days. So if you're having a bad day, don't be too hard on yourself, take a step back. When you're having a good day, rejoice in it and don't harness that feeling. 


These 8 stages are personal experiences to me, and by no means will work for everyone. Or maybe you might only need one of them: as I suggested earlier, everyone is different. 


I hope you feel a little more assured by reading this: you're not alone in your battle. Head game strength is just as important as physical strength in climbing. 


Feel free to comment about your head game journeys in climbing, I’d love to hear about them or if you would like to learn more about mine! 


Thanks, @climbs_for_pennys



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2 Comments


Luken Hernandez
Luken Hernandez
Nov 08, 2020

I think all climbers of every level have experienced fear of falling at some point in ther climbing career. For some even the smallest distance between draws might trigger a panic attack, whereas for others, runouts give us shiverings in our legs while we are climbing through them. I think it´s a mistake to think that not all climbers experience fear. The difference between those two typs of climbers is that the ones that have a small shivering whilst going through the runnout have harnessed that fear. It doesn´t mean it´s not in there, it's just covered by a layer.

I think the steps suggested are good as they follow a progress but I'd suggest to use step 8 as…

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Prudence M-W
Prudence M-W
Oct 26, 2020

I’m not one to have a huge fear of falling - probably because I started so young I have always been a bit of a whipper junkie but the bit about breathing whilst climbing I have definitely experienced. It seems silly like you say but sometimes if there’s a boulder problem and especially if it’s at the start of the route you’ll do it entirely without breathing!! (This obviously means you get a lot more pumped a lot quicker). So yeah I try to avoid that! Personally I also like to try and take some deep breaths whilst on the rests, and look at the route ahead and go over the steps in my mind or try and figure ou…


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