Translating Confidence
I worked with a climbing team recently to help them improve their mental game. I assigned them the task of committing completely to stopping or moving; stopping to rest, or committing completely to climbing once they decided to go. Some of them committed more completely than others did. I mentioned this when we debriefed the drill. I asked them what they could do to commit more completely. One person said: “I need to climb more confidently.” Climbing confidently remains a concept that isn’t helpful unless we can translate it into actions. So, I asked the student: “What will you actually do to climb more confidently?”
We shift mental concepts into bodily actions by identifying specific ways we’ll engage the body. We can start by visualizing what climbing confidently looks like. Videos of elite climbers, who demonstrate climbing confidently, are helpful. Take, for instance, Margo Hayes’s success on La Rambla, a 5.15a in Spain in 2017. Take a moment to watch this one-minute video clip of her ascent. What do we see that she does that demonstrates climbing confidently?
Tangible Actions
If we dissect her effort we begin to see tangible actions that she’s doing, if we know what to look for. Taking action is a body task, which includes four elements for engaging it. We utilize the acronym BERP to remember them: Breathing, Eyes, Relaxation, and Posture, which also includes how we move the body.
B: An energizing breath, that’s deep and intentional, helps us climb confidently. We inhale deeply and force the air out when we exhale.
E: Our eyes help us direct and focus our attention. Maintaining eye contact on holds helps us do this. We can also “glare” at the holds if we need a bit more intention. We achieve this glare by contracting our forehead and eyebrows a bit. Doing this heightens the intensity; it demonstrates confidence about the actions we’re doing and directs our attention more completely to the holds.
R: Using energy efficiently requires relaxing muscles that aren’t needed and engaging ones that are needed. We can experiment with expanding our upper body to feel more engaged. We feel more confident by expanding our chest and shoulders.
P: Many women like doing the “Wonder Woman Power Pose” to feel confident. Elevating the head and rolling the shoulders back helps us maintain proper posture. Next, we engage the body deliberately, making precise movements, even dead-pointing to holds, to demonstrate complete engagement. We climb confidently by pressing our feet into holds and grabbing holds deliberately with our hands.
To climb confidently requires us to change what we do with these BERP elements. Exaggerating them helps us experience full engagement of the body. We see these elements when we look at how elite athletes climb. Watch Margo’s video again and notice what she does with each of these elements. Then, emulate them.
Practice Tip: BERP for Confidence
Don’t let mental concepts about climbing languish in your mind. Shift them into the body by taking action. Utilize the BERP acronym to do this. Build confidence by doing the BERP elements deliberately, even exaggerating them.
B (Breathing): Inhale deeply and exhale more forcefully.
E (Eyes): Glare at climbing holds by contracting your forehead and eyebrows. Put on a “serious” face while maintaining eye contact on holds.
R (Relaxation): Experiment with expanding your upper body to feel more engaged. Expand your chest and shoulders to gain an expanded sense of relaxed concentration.
P (Posture): Elevate your head and roll your shoulders back and down to maintain proper posture. Then, press your feet into holds and grab holds deliberately with your hands. Use a bit more energy than needed to exaggerate how you engage the holds.
This Post Has 4 Comments
I love the concept of translating confidence into the body. I’m curious about how one implements this when the body associates climbing with anxiety or a dysregulated nervous system. Does one then build confidence by creating positive neural pathways?
Great question Amanda. I think it’s the mind (or brain’s habituated neural pathways) that associates climbing with anxiety, not the body. And, we can use the body to diminish this anxiety, by intentionally using the breath, relaxation, and maintaining an expanded posture. Focusing our attention in our senses also helps, specifically the eyes, to direct attention out of the mind, into the body, and to the climbing itself. a
As an instructor, with clients, I always feel I climb more confident. I’m in charge = more confident. Going out to climb with friends (not clients), the roles can change, depends on the social relationship, the ability of each friend etc. I can’t tell what do I do that gives this kind of confidence with clients, though if I could use it in less “in charge” situations, I could definitely benefit more confident climbing.
Nice observations Omer. It can be complex. Some instructors may feel the opposite as you do. They may feel less confident due to expectations they create to look confident in front of clients. I’ve found I put expectations on myself when climbing with more elite climbers. I feel like I don’t measure up.
Some insight into all this complexity is how we get a sense of self worth. We tend to feel worthy (and probably feel confident or not as a result) based on external factors: how we’re performing compared to others.
For me, it’s been helpful to be aware of this tendency and move beyond it. I remove my sense of worth totally; making self worth a non-issue. I’m worthy as a human being, in other words, regardless of external performance. That gives me more stability for feeling confident.