Intuitive vs. Analytical
We each have a specific tendency toward being intuitive or analytical in our climbing. Let me describe both and see if you can pick your tendency.
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Recently I taught a class at the New River Gorge in West Virginia. One student, Michael, climbed quite quickly. He climbed right past stances where he could have stopped to rest and assess. He seemed driven by an overall anxiousness to get the climbing over with. Another student, Ann, was the opposite. She lingered at rest stances and then climbed slowly between them. She seemed resistant to engage. Mike was rushing, while Ann was stalling. Both climbers were victims of their comfort-seeking minds, but in completely different ways. Mike’s path through the stress was intuitive whereas Ann’s was analytical.
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Intuitive climbers tend to under-think and do poor risk assessment. When they encounter stress, they seek to minimize it and just go. They feel uncomfortable at rest stances and tend to rush into cruxes without resting adequately or collecting the necessary information to create an effective plan. The “pro” for being an intuitive climber is that you tend to climb faster and more continuously, which can improve your flow through cruxes and minimize time spent in strenuous positions. The “con” is that you don’t gather enough information to climb efficiently or avoid inappropriate risks. Climbers of this type often are known for taking scary, out-of-control falls that may stifle their future ability to focus and improve.
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Conversely, analytical climbers tend to over-think. If you are this type, you utilize rest stances and gather information quite well. However, you get stuck in this mode and your over-thinking manifests itself in your climbing as stalling out. You stay at stances too long and then climb slowly once engaged. The “pro” is that you do take time to think through a situation, see your options, and avoid getting in dangerously over your head. The “con” is that you are still thinking when you should be focused on moving, causing second-guessing on challenging moves and hanging out too long in strenuous positions. Analytical climbers all too often find themselves pumping out and yelling, “Take!”
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Rushing and stalling are the downsides of intuitive and analytical tendencies, respectively, and both are manifestations of your mind using you to avoid stress. Intuitive climbers rush because their minds want to get to the next stance where they will be out of the stress and be comfortable again. Analytical climbers stall because their minds resist getting into the stress and linger in the comfort of the current stance. Whether rushing or stalling, your mind distracts your attention by thinking of where you’ll be comfortable.
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Whether you tend toward analytical or intuitive, you need to balance out your habitual mode with its opposite. If you find you are more intuitive and rush yourself, preparation will be particularly challenging for you. You must learn to deliberately stop at rest stances and thoroughly gather information. If you are a more analytical climber and habitually stall out, preparation will come easier. The greater challenge will be taking action, when you will need to adopt a new mode and find ways to engage quicker and stop over-thinking. No matter which type of climber you are, you will use rest stances more effectively by breaking out of habitual behavior and acting from the power base of focused attention.
Tags: analytical, intuitive, preparation
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