Warriors Way » intuitive

Redpointing Tendencies

Arno — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 00:00:15 +0000

In the last lesson I outlined how we can be analytical or intuitive and how that can limit or help us while redpointing. We need to diminish the limiting tendency so we can improve our redpointing.

Recall that analytical climbers tend to make accurate, detailed plans, and rehearse thoroughly. Their challenge is to stop over-thinking, modifying their plan, during the redpoint effort.

Intuitive climbers tend not to work the route enough to make detailed plans. Then, they use a lot of energy refining it during redpoint efforts. They don’t think enough.

In redpointing, we need to work a route enough to create an accurate plan, and then stick to it. Thinking about what to do becomes less important than thinking about when to act. If you are more analytical, then you will tend to stall out, get stuck at stances and over-think. You may think about alternative plans or stay at stances too long. Doing this will delay when it’s best to commit to the next section.

If you are more intuitive, then you will tend to rush and under-think. You won’t rest enough at stances and rush into climbing too quickly. Doing this will hurry your decision about when it’s best to commit to the next section.

Either way, you need to utilize stances long enough to rest and decide when is best to continue climbing.

Jeff Noffsinger training on Arno's "machine"

In the last lesson I outlined how we can be analytical or intuitive and how that can limit or help us while redpointing. We need to diminish the limiting tendency so we can improve our redpointing.

Recall that analytical climbers tend to make accurate, detailed plans, and rehearse thoroughly. Their challenge is to stop over-thinking, modifying their plan, during the redpoint effort.

Intuitive climbers tend not to work the route enough to make detailed plans. Then, they use a lot of energy refining it during redpoint efforts. They don’t think enough.

In redpointing, we need to work a route enough to create an accurate plan, and then stick to it. Thinking about what to do becomes less important than thinking about when to act. If you are more analytical, then you will tend to stall out, get stuck at stances and over-think. You may think about alternative plans or stay at stances too long. Doing this will delay when it’s best to commit to the next section.

Either way, you need to utilize stances long enough to rest and decide when is best to continue climbing.

Intuitive Intelligence

Arno — Sun, 23 May 2010 20:00:19 +0000

Whether or not you are willing to fall off a route, and whether or not you actually will fall, are perhaps the most ongoing fundamental questions in rock climbing. The more clearly you understand and address these questions, the less confusion and fear will affect you while climbing. This process requires both analytical and intuitive intelligence. Assessing the falls you’ve experienced in the past utilizes your mind’s analytical intelligence. You can quantitatively determine what type of routes you’ve fallen on, the distance of those falls, the angle of the rock, what obstacles were there, and how often you’ve fallen. You also know the type and grade of routes you’ve climbed without falling. This information results from your mind’s analytical intelligence applied in preparation. In contrast, weighing that information against the particular route you now face with the level of strength you now have is totally intuitive.

Intuitive intelligence isn’t a thinking process but rather a feeling process. No amount of justifying with your thinking mind to commit or retreat will help you determine whether or not you’re taking an appropriate risk. You can only rely on an intuitive feeling for determining appropriateness.

Analytical thinking alone will never tell you for sure if the decision to commit is appropriate. Millions of complex aspects must come together within your body and mind for each particular effort, that are too complex to analyze and think about to make a decision. You must take in all those aspects, meld them, weigh them, and then make a decision. This can only be done effectively by utilizing your mind’s intuitive intelligence.

Intuitive vs. Analytical

Arno — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:00:22 +0000

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.

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.

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.

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!”

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.

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, this chapter’s lessons 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, the lessons in this chapter will come easier. The greater challenge will come later, in the Action chapter, 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.

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.

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.