Desensitize Yourself To Impact

Note: This article is a more indepth look at topics discussed in a previous post entitled “Get Better Immediately With Three Simple Strategies.”

Desensitizing Yourself To Impact

My introduction to climbing was in my local climbing gym which was hundreds of kilometres away from any decent or accessible rock climbing. For more than a decade, I was not able to climb outside more than twice a year. Additionally, because I usually bouldered by myself at the gym or climbed on easier top-rope routes, I was not nearly as comfortable with the process of falling on a rope, above my last quickdraw (safety point attaching my rope to the wall), as I was simply landing on a large crash mat), as I was onto a crash pad.

In theory, landing on a stretchy rope, should feel safer than landing on the ground. However, the thought that runs through my head most often when lead climbing is, “what if I fall into a sharp spikey rock and it cuts through my leg or jabs right through me?” To say that the anxiety this produces when I’m not standing on a large ledge or holding onto a positive “‘jug hold” is debilitating would be a massive understatement. It effectively kept me from making any meaningful advances in my outdoor climbing performance for nearly a decade.

At some point a few years ago, I finally forced myself to address my fear head on and figure out a way to become more comfortable being uncomfortable. My first attempts at overcoming my fear of falling involved climbing up to just below my anchor and taking a small top-rope fall with some slack in the rope. I would then climb up to the bolt and fall again. Next I would climb a bit above the bolt and fall, etc. While it did help a bit, it was emotionally and physically exhausting on myself and the belayer. Additionally, I didn’t seem to make enough meaningful or long lasting improvement to warrant all of the work involved.

More recently, after listening to the interview with Lor Sabourin I mentioned in the post “Get Better Immediately With Three Simple Strategies,” I learned about the tactic of becoming comfortable bouncing off of the wall. This trick worked immediately to reduce my anxiety about slamming into the wall, and also had the added mental benefit of leaving me entirely in control of how far away from the wall I would travel.

To sum up the strategy, Lor suggests to hang on a top rope (dangle on the rope below a quick draw) and push off the wall with your feet so that you feel like you’re bouncing on the moon. Later, increase the amplitude of your “jumps” until you are performing “massive” whipper-like impacts into the wall. Since you’re in control of the rate of progression, the entire experience is actually very fun and beneficial. It also saves your belayer from having to perform multiple unnecessary lead falls, and the entire process can be completed in half the time.

Does It Work For Bouldering?

After using the above strategy to great affect in my lead climbing, I decided to find a way to overcome my fear of committing to big scary moves up high on a bouldering wall (even with a soft mat). In my case I had no problem dropping down from the top of the wall in control, but couldn’t force myself to commit to a dynamic move high up above the mat.

I gave the problem a lot of consideration and realized that my issue was not the height, but rather the uncertainty of the landing (just like in my lead fall example above). I developed a strategy to help me prepare for competitions in new gyms where I know there is likely to be a scary move high up in the air. After testing it successfully on myself, with great results, I now teach the trick to all of my students, athletes, and anyone who asks me for advice.

Step 1: Find a place in the gym where you can jump laterally to a hold, but not hit any rocks if your hips and legs swing out to the side. This could be a low arch, or a moderately overhung wall. The key is to find a stable place to jump from, and a solid hold to jump towards, without any objects below to hit you in the belly/thighs, etc.

Step 2: Set up at a comfortable height and find a good hold out to the side that you are likely, but not guaranteed to catch. Reduce the distance required to jump to reduce your anxiety.

Step 3: “Leap” towards the hold with both hands. Even if you can reach the hold without letting go with the other hand, you should still force yourself to move both hands at the same time so that you can practice overcoming the fear of being out of control.

Step 4: Repeat Step 3 until you can successfully grab the target hold and control the swing that results.

Step 5: Repeat Step 4 until you are very comfortable with this movement, and then either find a different hold further out to the side, or move the entire process higher up the wall to increase the anxiety slightly.

If you practice the above steps often enough, you will eventually gain a whole new level of awareness of your body in space, as well as an increased level of comfort with falling in an uncontrollable manner. Again, because you can largely control the rate of progression you can eventually become comfortable with falling if you practice this often enough.

One last note: With either the lead fall or the dynamic bouldering scenarios, if you find yourself hesitant to make the next leap it simply means you increased the intensity too soon. If you’re committed to overcoming your fear don’t beat yourself up, simply take a few steps backwards and score some “wins” again to improve your confidence before even more gradually moving back up the ladder of anxiety towards ultimate success.

If you’d like to see this concept in real time watch the 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. He is currently a co-owner of The Hangout Climbing Centre in Duncan, Canada.