A mental training course for rock climbing indoors.
Jamie starts to move above the bolt, feeling sure she’s about to approach the crux of the route. The next bolt is only 4 feet up, but it feels further. She make a few tentative moves, her last bolt now just a bit below her figure-8, scared to go any higher. “Take!” she yells.
Most climbers experience this same feeling: move into the fall zone while leading indoors, become unsure/scared, and then yell for the belayer to take. But you can safely and easily learn to lead above the bolts with confidence and not worry about the fall.
This 4-hour gym clinic on climbing mental training teaches you how to become comfortable falling and making moves before reaching a rest stance with the goal of ‘sending more routes and having more fun climbing.
How it Works
You’ll do progressive falling practice, starting with falls on a top rope pushing in and out of the wall (what we call Catch & Release). Then your trainer teaches you how to take small lead falls, and then as you become comfortable, slightly larger lead falls (Fall Casting).
Hands-on practical sessions also include how to move efficiently and how to rest; drills to control your breathing; body/mind mental awareness exercises to keep control of fear and discomfort (using the Catch Your Devil drill).
Towards the end of the clinic you apply everything on a goal route, either on lead or on top rope. During the early part of the clinic you worked on individual pieces – on the goal route you assemble the puzzle pieces on a redpoint burn of a route that challenges you.
With a solid belay from a fellow Warrior’s Way student and personal guidance from her trainer, Jamie works up her goal route, resting where she “Block Scouted”, downclimbing after exploring holds (the MAP Check), and found herself committing to the 5.11 crux moves (or the fall) with greater confidence (using the BERP Method).
Like past students, you’ll finish the Fall & Commitment mental training gym clinic understanding how to relax while climbing, how to fall with appropriate posture, and how to think about your discomfort. All in the name of having the most fun climbing.
Learn How To:
- Fall safely
- Give a dynamic (cushioned) belay
- Break a climb into smaller risk events
- Assess risks effectively
- Distinguish between no- and yes-fall zones
- Engage no- and yes-fall zones appropriately
- Make appropriate risk decisions
- Improve body and mind awareness
- Rest effectively
- Improve breathing
- Create flow and momentum
- Deal with climbing stress
- Commit more deliberately
- Reduce fear
- Mental training resources
Pre-requisites:
- Able to toprope 5.8 in a gym with no falls
- Climb indoors/outdoors at least 1-2 times per week
- At least 6 months of continuous climbing experience within the last year
- Passed the gym’s top rope (and ideally) lead test
This course has a specific sequence of topics but allows for the type and grade of climbing you wish to be on. The ratio is 6 students to 1 trainer.
