Warm-Up The Mind For Better Performance
When I first started climbing I used to rush on to the wall and mindlessly move up and down a couple of “easier” climbs before jumping on my “project.” Later, when I was managing a climbing gym I would notice many climbers new to climbing would do the exact same thing I just described above. Namely, they would put on their shoes, do one or two easier climbs, and then jump right in to the hardest climb they could manage.
This strategy worked well enough early on in my career, when the finger strength requirements of the routes I was attempting were less intense, and the limiting factor in my completion of them was often how much energy I had left in my muscles. As the difficulty of my projects (hard climbs that take multiple sessions to complete) increased, I found that I could not always perform at the same level every day. On certain days I had markedly better results and felt stronger than on others in the same week even.
Over time, I started to notice through trial and error, that I was more likely to feel strong and have a great climbing session if I followed a simple strategy during my warm-up. The key steps were roughly as follows:
Choose a complex skill that you feel you need to improve on that involves a high level of coordination, such that it becomes more difficult to perform well as the intensity of the climb and the resulting amount of stress you experience both increase.
Practice that skill (for example, shifting your weight over your high foot before making each move on a problem located on a slab or vertical wall) on the easiest climbs available in the gym. Keep practicing that same climb until you feel you cannot make any more meaningful improvements in your technique on that day.
Choose a slightly harder climb and repeat the same process again, but for only a few tries.
Keep increasing the difficulty of the climb until you can no longer complete the climb in a relaxed manner, because the difficulty level demands too much attention on upper body strength over your footwork.
Continue your warm-up, climbing gradually harder climbs until you are ready for your hardest climb of the day. You are not required to place extra attention on your technique at this time, since it is unlikely that you are able to use any of your mental energy for a task other than gripping on to or pulling down on a rock.
If this simple strategy is followed over the course of many weeks or even months, you will very likely find that the difficulty of the climbs you are able to complete while still focusing almost entirely on the technique you wish to improve will increase dramatically. With many years of this warm-up method, you may find that you can commit the majority of your focus to your lower body technique on almost any climb you do. It will be at this point that others will begin to comment on how climbing must come easy for you because “you’re a natural.”
If you are interested in seeing some more warm-up strategies, to help you become “a natural,” you may want to consider checking out this video below:
About The Author
David Murray has been coaching climbing for more than 17 years. He has helped over 5000 new and experienced climbers become more efficient and have more fun. David is currently a co-owner of The Hangout Climbing Centre in Duncan, Canada.