Three Ways Improving your Mentality will Help You Climb Harder

Rock climbing is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one. Even the strongest climbers experience moments of mental fatigue, weakness, and stress that can lead to challenging climbing days. Developing mental strategies to combat these inevitable struggles can help you remain calm, focused, and resilient when trying to reach the limits of your abilities and push beyond. Here are three powerful mental techniques to help you climb harder, with more confidence, and with more consistent good days.

1. Establish a Pre-Climb Mantra or Routine

Creating a consistent routine or mantra before each climb can help you discover, develop, and repeat the right headspace for sending your hardest. It could be as simple as shaking out your arms, taking a deep breath, and telling yourself, "I am capable.", but specific and repeatable in number of breaths, phrases thought, or whatever other routine habits are established. Routines help you create a consistent, repetitive, and comfortable mental state by giving your brain something familiar and calming to focus on. A routine can be entirely mental or include a brief physical component, such as rolling the shoulders or lightly bouncing on the toes. These physical cues signal to your brain that it’s time to focus. By repeating and practicing your mantra or routine consistently during your training sessions,  you build a mental anchor that you can rely on, especially when facing intimidating problems or stressful competitive landscapes. Whether it's a short phrase, a visualization of yourself in a state of success, or a specific breathing pattern, a pre-climb ritual can help ground you and return you to a reliable state that brings clarity and focus.

2. Practice Positive Self-Talk

Climbing can be a frustrating experience, especially when you’re working on a project or attempting to sequence a crux move. Negative self-talk can often be a place where our mind immediately jumps to, after all, failing is emotionally and physically exhausting, and it is only natural to feel a sense of defeat. Still, the ability to coax yourself out of a place of disappointment and into a clearer, more positive mental space is as important a skill as any physical one, and deserves equal focus in training. Developing positive self-talk requires practice, and cultivating an empowering and encouraging mindset takes time. Being mindful of your internal dialogue can make a huge difference when pushing your limits. A way to reframe negative thoughts into positive ones is to create space between yourself and your ego. Hear your thoughts as though they are being spoken to another person or a friend. This simple reframe can be enough to let you see the deleterious impact of your words. Encourage yourself as though you are a friend. If you are having trouble letting go of negative thoughts, step away from the wall until you can regain neutral thoughts. If you are unable to reframe, consider ending your session for the day to avoid practicing negative self-talk.

3. Use Controlled Breathing Techniques

Your breath is one of the most powerful tools you have to manage stress and engage with your body while climbing. When you feel anxious or fatigued, your breathing becomes shallow and rapid, which can indicate to your nervous system that you are in a state of panic. When your brain is emotionally hijacked, your ability to call forth your strength, focus, and flow state is greatly diminished.

A popular technique among climbers is the 4-7-8 method: inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, and exhale for 8 seconds. This pattern helps slow your heart rate and signal your body to relax. This technique is most useful before beginning a climb or in a moment of achievable rest on the wall.

Planning your breath on the wall in the same way you plan your beta is also a high-level visualization technique that will strengthen your confidence and mentality on a climb. Knowing where you will take breaths on the wall and routinely planning these breaths increases the mind-body connection and develops your ability to execute a climb in the same way planning beta will.

Improving your climbing mentality takes practice and patience, just like building physical strength. With any new skill, you should start by integrating one of these techniques at a time into your climbing sessions, even while you are warming up. Don’t wait until you're in a high-stress state, trying to send as hard as you can, to try to implement a new tool. Practice the mental skills just like you would the physical ones! The mental side of climbing is easily overlooked, but it’s just as crucial as technique and physical preparation. By cultivating a positive mindset, establishing routines, and regulating your breathing, you’ll be better equipped to tackle challenging routes with resilience and determination. 

What other mental techniques do you employ? Let us know!