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Fellow climbers, boulderers, and other goatlike people: how do you improve?
i've been climbing for a few years now, and am realising my mindset, patterns, etc need changing. on the other hand i want to continue to enjoy climbing as a hobby, and not treat it like a grueling workout/job/torture.
what do you do on the wall, off the wall, and outside of climbing itself (i.e. daily life) to help you improve?
Just like with a lot of different hobbies, if you feel like you're stuck or not enjoying yourself as much, I feel like there are a couple of options.
The first is to take a break for a little bit. I can't tell you how many times I've been in a rut and taken a break, only to come back a week or two later and being absolutely on fire after shaking the rust off. Taking a break gives your body the rest that it needs if you've been climbing non-stop for a while, and also helps your body commit some of the movements and actions you take into muscle memory, meaning that the next time you go climbing you feel fresh and the movements feel natural.
The second option is to continue to climb, but not in the same way you were before. Take a break from pushing your grades and finding any ounce of improvement from your normal climbing style and work on something that you're not necessarily good at. For example, if you boulder a lot, but feel stuck on a particularly grade, try top rope and with on your endurance, or if you really love crimpy problems, try working on a slab or slopers. The point is to work on something different and new, this gives you a renewed sense of wonder and possibility of learning that you're currently missing while also helping you work on areas that you might be weaker at, making you a better climber overall.
If you have any specific areas that you want to discuss, let me know and we can discuss them. I tried to keep this post pretty generic for anyone who is facing this issue with climbing or anywhere physically demanding hobby, as this has helped me with every physical hobby I've gotten into.
thank you, and thanks for keeping it generic!
i guess part of my issue is that i'm wary of past attempts to improve by pushing too hard (and subsequently not climbing for a month or two because of the mental block of needing to improve), but now feel like i'm swinging the other way: keeping it fun at the expense of improvement; i'm really only using slopey routes as warm-up, and won't try any that actually push me somewhere.
specifically my beta reading and slab skills are way above (core) strength. i don't particularly like doing strenuous exercises. i'll do some warm-up or post-climbing workout if i'm with friends who are doing them, but most of the time i'll do a stretch, and then just grab a coffee (or a beer) at the end of a session and not do any exercise outside of climbing (except physically relatively demanding job, plus biking to work etc). i suppose personally i want to be one of those people who does their morning pushups, yoga, meditation, etc.
i suspect undiagnosed adhd is playing a small role in this but somehow i keep forgetting to call my gp to get that diagnosis happening.
Oh man, I can't tell you how many times I've gone way too hard and have had to take a break from doing what I like, although I usually have to break due to injuries, not a mental block. I can totally relate to that though.
One thing that isn't clear to me yet is "why do you climb?" and second "what is it that you're trying to accomplish?".
You can use the answers to these two questions as a North star to guide you on your next moves in the future.
I'll give you two different examples from hobbies where asking myself these questions led to me optimizing my actions to cater to them.
First is disc golf, I got really into disc golf a few years ago. I played in tournaments, I practiced my throws in a field, I spent hours practicing my putts and I got pretty decent. But along the way I realized that I didn't really care about my rating or winning tournaments, and that the true joy that I got from disc golf was playing with my buddies on the weekend and after work, barely keeping score. So I stopped practicing, and just played. There was no need to ruin this beautiful game by sucking the joy out of it with a training regimen or playing it strictly competitively.
The second is running. A coworker introduced me to running and convinced me to train with him for a marathon (which was something that I always wanted to do as a bucket list item). I half assed the training and didn't really push myself, after all I didn't have a particular goal in mind, I just wanted to finish it. The day of the marathon came and even though I wasn't nearly as prepared for it as I should've been, I still got a pretty decent time. And I vowed to myself to find out what my best time could be if I poured everything I had into it. Fast forward a year and I have a new marathon to run and a new goal. The goal wasn't unreachable, but it was definitely going to be a challenge, but during that time I was all in for running. I would wake up at 5am to go for a run, I would eat well, and go to bed early [Quick side note: I injured myself from trying too hard and missed my first marathon, so make sure you listen to your body. Skipping workouts because you're in pain is taking it seriously]. I wasn't necessarily enjoying running (I found it pretty boring), but I knew that every run I went to represented seconds shaved off from the final time, and I wanted to go as low as possible. The day of the race came and I smashed my goal and felt incredible (I cried when crossing the finish line lol), and all the effort was worthwhile.
The point is that I started off doing both hobbies wrong from what I ultimately wanted out of them. With disc golf, I just wanted to have fun and hang out with my friends. And with running, I had a goal that I was working towards. I think you should ask yourself what it is that you want out of climbing and what actions are required of you to get there.
Finally, in regards to your last section about wanting to be the kind of person that does pushups and meditates in the morning, I'll give you a little secret about it. The kind of person that does pushups and meditates in the morning, is a person that does pushups and meditates in the morning. It doesn't take a particular mindset to start something, you start doing it and the mindset emerges naturally.
thanks for this. the two questions in particular. i've immediately got answers, but even after taking just ten seconds longer to think about it i realise it's clear there's more depth, and an immediate answer definitely won't do. something to think about. especially because my reflexive thoughts seem to contradict, haha.
I think we all hit this barrier at one point or another. For me, it was when I developed early onset Dupuytren's from climbing so much. I used to boulder exclusively and overly stressed my tendons so I had to slow down.
I think the first thing to remember is climbing really hard doesn't have to be the goal. It's a hard pill to swallow, but for me repeated injuries meant I'd have to take months off at a time and at that point am I really climbing any harder? Like u/Hooked shared, get some variety. If you have a community that climbs I suggest getting into sport or trad climbing. It really shifts the physical aspect for a mental one and has the added benefit of presenting fewer options for acute injury. It also opens up new areas to climb outside and build into a different community.
Another path forward is setting. Regardless of how hard you climb, getting into setting can really change your understanding of climbing and appreciation of routes. Likely you'll have to put in time on the wall in an unpaid or supportive way (I volunteered to remove holds for about 3 months before I was allowed to start setting as well) but it opens up opportunities wherever you end up once you have experience. I've set at 3 different gyms now, all part time around my main job, and the skills and insights you pick up from other setters is incredible. If you have the time I highly suggest it.
Otherwise, have other hobbies at the ready. Depending on the season I supplement climbing with mountain biking, surfing, snowboarding, or a bunch of other independent hobbies. Sometimes our brain just needs time and room to rewire. Our bodies need a rest from consistent stressors.
I don't know how hard you are climbing, so it's a bit hard to judge, but I guess I can try to suggest some things I might help. For context I've been bouldering almost exclusively for 4 years, and my highest grade is V7.
Climbing is a strength sport, plenty of people love to dance around this, but it's super evident looking at top level climbers that strength is very necessary, full body up to a point, and finger strength you can almost never have enough of. It's also a bodyweight sport, so being as light/lean as possible will pay huge dividends on the wall. With that in mind, if you feel like you have weak fingers, train them, if you can cut weight, do so.
Outside of that, one of the biggest things I notice of people who plateau often is they don't have the try hard or psyche to push their limits. For me, if I just climb on the set, I don't get any better or stronger, I'll climb what is in my range and then mostly be done, if I project something hard it's normally reset before I can send it. So the tension board (or moon/kilter also probably works) is my main training tool. I've gotten comfortable enough that I can really push myself and it's easy to set boulders or modify ones to adjust difficulty in very precise increments. I get a demonstrably better workout that way.
Beyond that though, I climb for fun, I like to get better, but I don't do other exercises and I haven't cut my weight down to a super competitive level, I love the physical aspect of bouldering so I just climb. I could probably progress more if I did more stuff off the wall but that would ruin it for me, I think. So find what is fun that allows you to get psyched and try super super hard, and then if you keep doing that you'll get stronger.