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What do I mean by this?
Well firstly, ask yourself āwhat am I good at?ā āwhat do I enjoy?ā
Taking myself as the example here; Iām good at
- crack climbing
- big walling
- solo climbing
ā¦and I tend to enjoy them as Iām good at them (the two generally go hand in hand).
If I look back at my last 15 years of climbing, my main goals fit into 1 of these three genres.
Nowā¦if I look at the majority of my training over the last 10 years, it has actually been in bouldering and strength work (as these are the things which have stopped me on hard crack routes).
You may be surprised about this; 1 because that seems very contradicting to the goals (which are generally long and pumpy), and 2 you may have seen Wide Boyz Youtube videos and think Iām just training crack all the time. Itās really not the case.
Donāt take this as āI have to do the oppositeā, Think about it as āwhat are my goalsā and then āwhat are my weaknesses that will stop me achieving that goalā.
Next is where the hard part comes inā¦
Training a weakness can be hard on the ego, so generally youāll tend to like doing that thing less, and youāll always gravitate back to training your strengths.
However, focussing on weaknesses is what will help you make the biggest gains.
Now, last point hereā¦
make sure you donāt neglect training your strengths altogether, keep them topped up.
Remember they are your super power which is why youāre punching for your initial goal.
To summarise:
- Set a goal to your natural strengths as a climber
- Work your weaknesses which are related to the end goal
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2. Set only 1 (or max 2) goal
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Each year I have 1 goal, and If Iām feeling brave then 2. Thatās it. 1 year to complete 1 thing.
I do this so that:
- I donāt spread myself too thinly
- I can be really focussed on what I have to do
- I can aim slightly bigger with my goal, which is more satisfying if itās achieved
- Itās easier to achieve 1 thing and be happy with it, rather than be close on 3 things but not manage.
The 1 goal approach acts as a key focus point, but will enable you to relax about your other climbing (not always stressing that you āhave to be climbing well on this tripā)
By having 1 goal, it gives you time to breath, relax and keep focus. You wonāt always be coming from one goal and moving on to the next.
Multiple goals through the year can be stressful on both the mind and body.
My main goal this year was to complete a project on Mirror Wall (in August), I knew this would take a lot of mental energy, so I purposefully didnāt plan any climbing objectives for the autumn and winter.
Now writing this, Iām thankful of that. Itās given me time to decompress and build up again, and now iām itching for the 2025 goal.
To summarise:
- Set 1 goal
- Key your training and other trips towards the goal
- Stay focussed but relaxed.
- Use all the built up energy when the goal moves closer and the time is right
- Allow time to decompress after the goal is completed
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3. Be willing to sacrifice
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If you want to aim high, you have to be willing to sacrifice. And by this I donāt mean sacrifice your life to the end goalā¦
I mean you have to be able to let go of your climbing ability in other styles. Understand you canāt be good at everything at once.
If you have a crack trad project, you wonāt necessarily stay the same standard at blobby gym pulling; Donāt be alarmed or worried if other areas of your climbing suffer, as long as the style of climbing you are pushing towards improves.
To summarise:
- Donāt let your ego get in the way of your other climbing if it suffers. It will divert you from the plan.
- Be happy with the sacrifices you are making, as you know youāre improving in the areas that matter
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