How to train mental skills for climbing
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- Опубліковано 17 лип 2024
- In episode #6 of my vlog I go through a handful of jumps in mental skills for climbing that I made in climbing. VS-E4 in one day for example! Most of them happened by accidental discovery. One of them happened by basically ignoring the advice of many standard sport psychology textbooks.
Training mental skills for climbing is a nuanced game, but often the successful interventions are remarkably simple in nature.
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I found your new channel last week and have been on a bit of a binge. It awesome to have someone with so much climbing knowledge openly sharing on this platform!
Keep up the great content! Feeling psyched for a getting back on a few highballs now!
Tom :)
Hello +Bouldering Bobat!
Dave, these are seriously some of the best climbing educational videos since those Neil Greshams Masterclass videos. Thanks so much for making these. The power is within!!
Just shot an interview with Neil for an episode coming shortly.
@@climbermacleod Hopefully you see this at some point. I just wanted to share a bit of my story with you since you are now a wonderfully hopeful part of it!
I am 33 and I started climbing last September. Over a period of about a month, I slowly aggravated my right rotator cuff that had previously degenerated over years of throwing a baseball with bad form. I felt had to get off the wall and figure myself out a bit. I attended physical therapy, learned about antagonist training of the rotator cuff, warming up properly, and I committed to getting a basic level of strength before setting foot on the wall again.
Two weeks ago I returned to climbing. In those two weeks I have jumped from V2 to V4 with absolutely no shoulder pain! I am on a real high about this. I am feeling what you have described many times about a sense of satisfaction, patience and perseverance surrounding overcoming an injury.
During this time however, two of my friends have suffered finger injuries. This humbled me to consider more than just my shoulder. I wanted to know all of the possible outcomes of poor training and how to avoid or at least diminish the possibility of those outcomes. How do I ensure that I develop good training habits so that I can make climbing a life long endeavor?
So I bought your book make or break. I’m 30 pages in and I am enthralled. Everything I’m reading is inspiring me to know that I am on a hopeful path towards an exciting, safe, healthy and rewarding life of climbing. Thank you. I am so happy to support such a humble and helpful teacher like yourself. Climb on, brother. You’re an inspiration to us all.
Love the video Dave. For me, as an indoor boulderer, transitioning to roped climbing (top rope/lead) was a big mental challenge. I was ok falling when bouldering because I knew I was in control, but with ropes my life was in the hands of someone else. The idea terrified me. I climbed way below my bouldering grade, over-gripped everything. After a couple of fall exercises, some where I would just let go randomly, I would get more confident with the idea of the rope and safety system.
I went to climb outdoors this year for the first time ever in not the best conditions, but found myself either flashing or redpointing within 2 or 3 tries problems harder than I would normally try in the gym. My normal indoor flash would be around French 6b and during my first time out I managed to flash 6B+ and 6C. One thing I noticed was that when I was climbing outdoors all I was focused on was using all of my technique, placing my feet correctly and moving my weight and hips around in the right manner. I didn't even realize I was 30m up until I either fell or topped out. I was basically climbing and using everything I'd learned so far and completely forgot that I was high up. That was such a weird epiphany. Sorry for the long wall of text
Thank you for sharing! I can relate very closely to how you describe your experiences with first starting to climb. Having my concentration on executing my most clean technique totally helped me.
Nice episode! Appreciate that someone pokes a hole in the positive thinking myth. It resonates with my work as a psychologist where i mostly train patients in being okey with negative thoughts without getting into a fight with them or letting them decide what you want to do. Not many realise i spendera a lot of time making my patients really scared.
There's a bit of a misunderstanding about what positive thinking is, but I found it very interesting that your realization that you didn't need positive thinking lead to self-compassion! Very nice video!
I totally love your videos! Great to learn from your huge experience Dave!
I just did my first ever trad lead today after a year of bouldering and bolted routes so it's absolutely fascinating to hear you talk about fear and mental game, the former of which I had plenty of and the latter a distinct lack of. Thanks for the vlogs, I've really been enjoying them!
Only two weeks into climbing, but my two cents… I took a video of myself climbing and I could feel the fear as I watched the video back. I didn’t feel the fear during the climb but apparently it was there. I could literally see it in my body as I got higher. I got more and more anxious! Now I’ll be able to be more aware of it next time and be able to counter it with breathing and focus on the moves. With video I can also analyze my technique, thought processes, etc…Video helps with so many things!
Dave, a big thank you for putting in the work to make these vlogs, you've got a great gift for explaining complicated concepts. Can't wait for next trad season to put it into practice.
Absolutely love your stuff, appreciating your years of knowledge these videos are very helpful
Thanks so much for this vlog Dave, so really interesting points. Your excellent at breaking down problems and explaining them in an easy to understand fashion.
Fantastic. Please keep them coming Dave. Really appreciate your analytical approach to solving problems and your eloquent explanations for all of us.
Such high quality content week after week. Thank you very much for sharing your experience!
Thank you Dave MacLeod for sharing your insights and experiences on the ever so important mental aspect of climbing.
Hey Dave, absolutely fantastic work! Your 9 out of 10 book is a constant source of information and inspiration and your channel here is the perfect extension / companion!!!
So excited to see what‘s next!
Cheers
Bruno
Absolutely brilliant. Priceless. A lot of what you said, I have experienced myself, but I would have never been able to describe it.
Great video Dave! Super helpful, from experienced climber to new trad leader. This is awesome, keep them coming!!!
Excellent advice and analysis! Your book 10 mistakes was the first piece of climbing (and general performance) wisdom I've encountered and I've been passing it around to beginners ever since. Thanks for the videos and keep them coming!
Hi Dave, your videos are simply put brilliant. You cover difficult topics with logic, you cover both sides pros and cons. Keep up the good work!
This is the exact advice and perspective I’ve been needing! Saving to my favorites and will be rewatching frequently. Thank you!!!
Thanks for this video Dave, this subject is the one area where I find good solid advice is hard to come by. I especially appreciate your view on cause and effect regarding positive thinking, this is what if instinctively felt for years but I've always been taught otherwise.
Much appreciated, thanks again.
Thanks for all the great video, Dave! Much appreciated! Love from Canada 🍁
Some great concepts here, realy challenging my preconceptions, and the best part is i can see why. thanks for this, you've managed to help my find my climbing mojo after a year of not feeling any love for it. CHEERS DAVE!!
Brilliant. I absolutely love your channel and resonate with everything in this video. Competence = confidence in so many areas of life. Getting “psyched up” often rings hollow and leads to disappointment and unnecessary shame. Better to just train, have a realistic assessment of your abilities, and get out there and try- regardless of how brave you feel.
Thanks for this great video and for the whole high-quality vlog! Even though at first glance it seems only to focus on trad/ lead climbing, it even translates to bouldering. It clearly showed to me that I am stuck in a "comfort zone plateau" in my bouldering.
Dave you have teacher skills. Not only you know tons, but you know how to explain. I Feel like I learn so much in just 20 minutes. Thank you.
Wow, thanks Dave for the awesome advice! I'm psyched to accept my fear and doubt is OK and might even help me reach my goals!
Awesome stuff Dave. Keep this up!
Very insightful! It seems these videos are very well prepared, as you communicate with clarity - which makes it so much easier to sit and watch a 20 minute video of someone talk about climbing, which I rarely do.
I've long be a fan of Make or Break for a while, but picked up 9 out of 10 climbers the other month... after reading I set the goal to get in 100 sport falls from above the bolt before the end of the year to try and build up better tolerance to falling. 6 falls down already, but the irony is that setting falling from above the bolt, as a goal, has put me in a better frame of mind anyway - instead of viewing the fall as a failure, or being afraid of it, pushing myself above the bolt on climbs has become an opportunity to rack up another lead fall.
thank you so much for your content! Especially the part about positive thinking and performance was really helpful to hear and somehow takes a lot of pressure away, not only when it comes to climbing... :)
You rock!! Thanks for the videos!! Super useful info, and very generous from you! Cheers from cordoba, argentina
I'd love to see the pulley injury prevention video! Your authenticity is very clear and your perspective on how little frame of mind matter is going to be helpful for me in climbing and life in general. Cheers!
VS to E4 in a day 😂 I fully get your chuckle about that! Fair play man.
Awesome vlog. Thanks for your insights\experience with all of the videos and not just this one.
Really useful content. Thank you Dave!
this resonated with me a lot. Thank you for reassuring my thoughts around mental readiness
Thanks Dave. Upon reflection, my boldest stuff comes down to confidence of my skills. Much more actionable than the common woowoo.
Muchas gracias por tu conocimiento y ejemplo. Pará mí eres uno de los escaladores más completos y por supuesto te he aprendido bastante. Gracias por tu humildad. Eres increíble 🤯
Really enjoyed this video, thank you..I have always been into the "hard as nails but safe as houses" routes, but now I am trying to put myself out there more often!
Makes total sense. Coming from mountain biking, you're positive and confident after not crashing for a while. So then you ride harder faster and looser. Doesn't mean you won't crash when pushing
Thank you very much. Very stimulating and thought through.
Really nice video. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Amazing, some of the best advice out there!
Dave, I've been recommending your books and movies to everyone for years. Now I'll be recommending your blog as well.
Great episode! This has definitely helped!!!!
So good! Also glad that a episode about finger injuries is coming. I've now had 4-5 pulley injuries in 1,5 years (pretty much one after another) so I have high expectations on that episode! :)
what a beautiful experience of the real value of social media. brilliant insights well narrated. thanks coach :)
Wow this is absolutely brilliant !
Please keep more blogs like this coming ?
I remember a few choice words on Cima Ouest while you were raining down holy hell on my head 😉
Keep up the great work Dave, the vlogs are fascinating and full of extremely useful information and knowledge.
More gems, thanks Dave. Realism beats optimism. Looking forward to the horror story..
Love love your videos - age 38 - 2 kids ages 8 and 11 - started climbing 1 year ago outdoor bouldering at the start - hooked after 1 session - indoor bouldering and sport thereafter - just now getting outdoor top rope experience and transitioning now to learn lead and after Christmas gonna start learning trad (slowly and with someone experienced) - your videos convey wisdom, humility, and calm - just lovely! I’ll add that for me as a bearing middle age working professional and sad I’m “just happy” to constantly challenge myself yet focus on “play” - that said I’m having some desire to make goals at this point but for now I think they will be skill based and and not grade - it’s a big challenge to balance time/life as a working parent (my wife is too) and have fun, learn, grow ANd Shepard my kids who are also learning along with me - whew 😅
Very nice, humble & both reassuring & inspiring... I'm at a bit of a stop currently & I've got to make some changes to progress. There are a number of problems but the only physical one is finger strength bizarrely. It's been right in front of me for over a year & it's only in the last 4 weeks that I recognised there was a weakness & that it's ALWAYS my fingers that let me down. Simple to fix & I don't think I'll actually need to do much to just nudge my ability & then confidence up one grade... In fact I'd say that if a lion was chasing me I could do the routes now but this slight improvement will allow me to enjoy them, hopefully! Thanks Dave. His other videos have helped me to identify other weaknesses I have (in the mental side) but if takes a short while to accept stuff, annalise it, identify the specific issue & then plan a way forward.
Brilliant stuff - Thanks!
Had a very similar situation. Went from being scared on 5.8s and then I finally fell on a BD #4 on an 5.8. Within a month or so I had done my first 5.11 on gear.
That was excellent, thanks!
These are gold.
Thanks for the video. I wish I'd seen this a few years ago. It would have done much to make struggles up (easy) routes the enjoyment they should have been!
Hey Dave, I loved your books and by reading them already learned quite a lot. This new channel of your's is great!
Actually I think you should write another book. or two ;-) be safe!
love the channel bro!
Dat prep talk is priceless! I need start to do it too, haha
Brilliant, I've just set my next target at my local crag and it's going to go down.
Genius! Humble man...
Love your vlogs, Dave! Just wondering if you have a podcast of these vlogs so I could listen to them on the way to class or walking about town😬
10:40 when I started thinking about sending instead of falling on a route that really helped
Dave, I really want to hear more about the day you sent your first HVS, E1-E4!! You mentioned it in a lot of videos so far.
Fantastic stuff
One main trad skill is to assess what is the likelihood of falling
when you are getting tired, and assessing if your gear will keep you safe.
Reading the rock quickly for the best sequence is a useful skill.
Bouldering can help with that.
Practicing gear placements at ground level is a game I never tire of.
Two words: optimal arousal.
Find this for long enough, and you will discover two more words: flow state.
Good stuff, Dave ;)
excellent vlog.
So...If a good performance causes positive thinking then it would make sense to really focus on a good warm up where one sends the routes and results in positive thinking during the project. Nice!
Thanks Dave
I have been climbing for over 25 years and I have lost my nerve over the last year. I have led every route I ever climbed up until about two or three years ago and I don’t know what happened. I used to free solo. I have taught dozens of people to climb. I used to travel all over to do sketchy climbing in sketch countries. And I loved it. In fact during a really bad personal period it’s all I had. Now I have a mental block that I am not good enough. Not strong enough. I am thinking of quitting climbing and that sucks but I cant seem to get over this. It is a complete loss of mental and physical control. I am lost but local climbers might jus benefit. I have piles of gear I might need to abandon. Thanks for your videos
Just wait it out…the tide will change again. “It’s ok if you fall down and lose your spark. Just make sure that when you get back up, you rise as the whole damn fire.”
@@MP-bx3uj I am trying. My body has been against me for the last few years but that’s life. I am just trying to get back to something. Thank you.
Thank you.
Great video 👍
What route was that HVS at 6.45 ?
Keep sending it dude 🤘
I love your strong pronunciation. At least when I can get what you say
Another great video! I would love to see one on diet as I have been struggling to keep my weight optimal for climbing, due to a slow metabolic rate and love for cake
In the pipeline. I can't help much on the cake front though. If you replace cake with protein, you'll be ahead.
I personally would agree that a positive mental attitude increases performance. I’ve noticed that if I have a positive attitude then mistakes don’t bother me and I am able to push past them. With a negative attitude I focus on the mistakes and get angry and that causes more mistakes. I wouldn’t confuse a positive attitude with mentally saying phrases like “I’m bold” however.
I've been climbing for 25 years and I'm still even scared on bolted sports routes. but I live in a flat city and climb 99% indoors which is completely different
I'm so glad I've found your channel it's so great!
After 12 years of climbing, I had a knee injury after which I was operated on four times (unfortunately my ACL broke twice - the second time it was not related to climbing).
Now I am 3 weeks after the last operation.
Do you have any advice on how to safely return to climbing?
2.5 months after the second operation I was amazed that 20 minutes of traverse on my home wall gave a larger range of knee bending than weekly rehabilitation...
Or not to be depressed by lack of climbing :)?
I'm very sorry to hear about your injury. I started climbing (well bouldering really) again in the last 5 months after roughly 4 years off with a ring finger full A2 pulley tear (I have been climbing since I was 8 and I'm 31 now).
you will notice better improvement from climbing as you will use a full range of motion from your legs. Also doctors underestimate the ammount your prepared to put into your rehab.
If I can give some advice do lots of volume at low levels I did 5 days a week for maximum of an hour and would only climb V1s I concentrated on building endurance and technique. I also payed super focused attention to my injury and if I could feel any difference between that finger and the others I would just leave the wall even if it's the first route I tried.
Proper rehab takes time but when your done it will all be worth it. I have now dropped from 5 days a week to 3 (2 * 1 hour sessions and 1 * 2-3 hour session) so I can have more time to recover as I get back to climbing hard. But because I did all the low stress/difficulty in high volume I feel super fit now (still have some weight to loose). Just keep at it and remember to constantly monitor your injury, don't overstretch yourself too quickly and keep going (this is the hard one when you get there and can't manage one route)
Sorry if that's a bit long, hopefully you will get a direct answer soon and I super suggest buying Dave's new book on injurys
Sorry me again, most important of all remember this is a marathon not a sprint
Thank you very much for your comprehensive answer.
Nice to hear that you managed to get out of your injury.
New book is expensive in my country but I think it will be worth it. (I've 9 of 10 climbers ... and it's great)
And about marathon - it's true but ... it's so hard in practice :D
Fucking love daves laugh
Briliant.
That’s a great idea that seems obvious in retrospect but never occurred to me - push your “gear” on easy grades.
So informative, would love a wrap up at the end though, reiterating the top three points, maybe on screen visual
Y’all should look up the yerkes-Dodson law
Dave, Your content so far has been phenomenal! Please keep it coming!
Question: have you thought about starting a patreon account? I would support you if it meant having content like this on a weekly basis!
Thanks for the vote of confidence David. Yes I will think about that. So far the climbing world have been super supportive by buying my books and training equipment etc from www.davemacleod.com
epic!!
Amazing video. Is there any chance you could share your list of scary vs routes ?
Thanks. Too long to list but basically a good chunk of the SMC Lowland Outcrops guidebook.
@@climbermacleodcheers, I will start scouring local guidebooks too for some challenging routes. I love the idea of building up mental resilience. I watched your other video talking about resilience and it has completely changed the way I see easy soloing and climbing in general. Keep making amazing videos ☺️
I've been regressing due to getting pure panic on the wall, so I've lead E1 but now I can't even lead VS or S. No idea how to solve it as this point. I trust my gear and I've fallen on it too, but no fucking way I'm climbing easier scary things. Just being high up and the possibility of falling even on toprope makes me so scared I get dizzy sometimes. I've been climbing every week for 2 years, ice, trad, sport, bouldering and alpine. But trad and sport scare the shit out of me. So I don't even know what to do now.
When you are born you only have 2 fears, one is loud noises and the other is falling all other fears are self made.
Really thought provoking Dave. I have always had a nagging doubt about this blinkered positive approach which will allow you to overcome difficulties in what ever field. Colin Mortlock's "four stages of an outdoor journey" thinking would tie in well here. I wonder how many people have ended up with negative experiences because they have been overly positive at the outset of a climb or other situation, which is a way of masking their lack of a solid, broad foundation of experience. Your personal example of the VS and HVS recovery would seem to support this.
The negative thoughts/feelings you have before hand are a natural response to stepping into the unknown, where you know that there is a potential for a serious consequence to your actions. The routes or work you put in before hand help to mitigate those thought and make things manageable rather than blindly stumble on, getting ourselves into a cup de sac.
Perhaps those smaller negative thoughts are important in ensuring we place our feet more carefully and keep us in the present?
To really get deep into the subject you might check out the Jam Crack Podcast Mental Training Series by Niall Grimes as featured in the following episode: www.niallgrimes.com/jam-crack-climbing-podcast/jcpc-015-martin-boysen
Certain to up your grade.
Thinking that you can perform well even if you are not thinking positive is... another way to think positively.
It's just English way. ☺
Perhaps English learnt this style from the Scots?
I don't need discipline to three finger drag.. my pinkie is an inch shorter than my middle three fingers
I feel my fear is because I played extreme sports for two decades and been seriously injured I’m always nervous in falls cause I may hurt something else. But then I take some falls and it goes away need to just whip more
🤍
Cheers for these videos! very insightful and interesting.