Party Goblin

 

It’s a new year obviously so I thought I would start off this year with a post about my trials and tribulations when it comes to getting stronger, training for climbing, and the gym culture as seen through my eyes.  I know this is a topic that is on everyone’s mind seeing as how we have things such as the Rock Climber’s Training Manual, Training Beta Pod Cast, Gimme Kraft, the Sensei, online couching, countless new climbing gyms opening country-wide, 8a.nu, and an ever increasing interest in climbing competitions and climbing teams, not to mention a virtual plethora of training tools from simplistic wood-based hangboards to the ultra-futurisitc and all-inclusive rock prodigy hang board, to the Zlag board, the beastmaker, the moon board, circuit boards, to TRX, forearm massagers, finger massagers, thera-bands, thera-canes, and all matter of recovery tools and training implements.  Training for climbing has turned into an industry.  You can now download (for a hefty price) specific training plans tailored just for your skill level and time commitment, you can talk to professional climbing coaches online, you can buy books with endless amounts of information and numbers to back up their claims that ‘their’ way will get you to that ‘next level’, there is a seemingly endless parade of climbing media online from exposes on how other professional athletes train to basic climbing porn and streaming competitions and exhibitions.  But…

Does any of it work??  Of course it does, it’s been proven!  But don’t fool yourself into thinking that by doing any of these suggested methods for improvement that you will simply become a rock god overnight.  My personal experience has been, even with a good base of fitness, it takes at least 2-3 months of consistent training (that means doing the same boring exercises over and over again week in and week out) before you see and feel an actual improvement in your climbing performance.  And the change can be as subtle as feeling just a little less tired going into the crux on your 5.13+ project, or making it two moves farther on that V.hard boulder you’ve been working in the cave; my point is that progress comes in many forms and does not always facilitate or necessitate a send or a drastic improvement in your climbing.  Training is also sometimes a misnomer.  When we think of training we think of getting into the gym and wailing on our muscles until they get stronger, but we seldom associate training with our attitude and our mental approach to the activity in question.  The kinds of things we think when we are training or after we have trained can have a sometimes dramatic effect on our physiological progression.  The Harvard milkshake study is a great example of this. 

 

So here is where my experience comes into play.  I’m a total head case when it comes to climbing and while I’ve gotten better I’ve also gotten worse in some instances.  The major obstacle for me to overcome in my climbing is not just a physical one, but has to do with self-perceived social pressures that in my mind generate thoughts of fear, inadequacy, jealousy, and last but not least rage.  I’m always putting pressure on myself to be better than the other guy/gal.  When I find out this isn’t possible or maybe even that someone that I had previously thought was not as strong as me in fact is as strong as me or even stronger I feel inadequate, jealous, and eventually this turns into rage and sometimes depression.  I’m terrible at practicing humility and selflessness because I’m impatient, vane, and sometimes vapid.  I suffer from what David Foster Wallace sums up quite well in this phrase, “Everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe, the realest, most vivid and important person in existence.” Now, while this may be true inside of my head it doesn’t exactly benefit me to live it as a reality.  Which is why climbing (and other competitive sports for that matter, or competition by itself) can be such an eye opening activity.  It pulls the curtain back on this ideal of ourselves and reveals what we are most afraid of, that indeed we are not the center of the universe, the most important person in existence, nor am I the best at whatever it is I’m trying to be the best at.  I know what you’re thinking at this moment, “wow, this is daunting”, so let me un-daunt you.  Being the best is relative and in something as subjective as climbing you should unburden yourself of comparison as frequently as you can.  It’s no coincidence that this advice will help you in a myriad of ways throughout your life. 

I’m aware of my mental setbacks when it comes to climbing and allowing me to step out of the social straight jacket I as well as the members of my culture have been more than happy to help me wear.  So now when I climb and I start to feel this way I acknowledge it, and climb through it.  And yes, it’s been a painful process.  I’ve forced myself to fail over and over again in front of my peers,  and even in front of people who I don’t consider my peers.  My ego has taken quite a bashing but, there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Just the other day, I wasn’t feeling necessarily strong or motivated, but I pushed through it (like I had been training myself to do) and came out the other side having completed several boulder problems I had failed on numerous times in the previous month.  They weren’t the hardest problems I’ve ever done but they signaled a nice change in an otherwise stagnant pattern.  It bolstered my faith in the new routine I’ve adopted lately and it granted me the courage to admit that failing in situations where the outcome makes me look 'weak' will dull this sense of grandiosity I feel so entitled to have. 

The Gym Life

Climbing in the gym is an oddity.  The gym itself is a static environment but it fosters its own glowing microcosm populated with all the villains and heroes of the dynamic real time world.  There is no place in the climbing environment where number grades are so magnified.  Where egos are shattered and legacies are built!  And yet none of these indoor accomplishments really matter (media-wise).  When was the last time you heard of someone getting a sponsorship based off of their ascent of the ‘black project’ on the 45??  And yet, we glorify competition climbers, so in a weird roundabout way competitions are our way of validating hard indoor ascents.    

Grades are an important measuring stick.  The gym uses this measuring stick ruthlessly to punish anyone who attempts to solidify themselves at a certain grade (unless you’re Sean McColl).  It’s certainly been the case for me.  As soon as I get comfortable climbing at a V.6 level a problem is set that zeroes in perfectly on my weaknesses and I’m left with that bitter beer face complaining about how this problem is too reachy, or too scrunchy, or too crimpy, or too technical.  Ha!  Gym climbing is meant to challenge you and expose your weaknesses, so when you criticize the problems in the gym for being too hard or too whatever you’re complaining about the point of gym climbing.  True, there are poorly set problems but that’s not my point here.  I complain about problems in the gym until I realize it’s not the problem or the setter that I have a problem with it’s a particular move or hold that is giving me trouble and letting me know that I need to work on becoming better at a certain move or hold type.  With this approach to climbing in the gym boulder problems become unique challenges that can help me to become a better more well-rounded climber.  I bring this up to highlight a problem I see pop up from time to time with climbers in the gym who feel entitled to climb at a certain level.  When failure rears its ugly head these climbers (myself included) are content to complain and point fingers instead of looking at it the way I’ve highlighted above: as a unique challenge, an opportunity to learn, and grow. 

Patience

My new training regimen has actually been going quite well and like I said earlier I have seen bits of progress here and there.  But the struggle continues and it’s always an uphill battle.  Sometimes I feel energized to get after my routine and work it to the end.  Other times I want to just go home and lay in bed and think myself to a level I’ll be happy with, but we all know this doesn’t really work.  The most important thing to have during a training cycle is patience.  And goddamn it’s hard to cultivate.  I think what motivates me the most in these cases is going into the gym and seeing stronger climbers put the tools they’ve collected to the test.  It reassures me that I can get there too, but I have to maintain some kind of consistency or else I will always be stuck at the same level.  In order to progress from where I am some things have to change and this new year is a good excuse to set some new things in motion.  I’m training POWER right now, and I’m really enjoying it.  It’s not nearly as boring as training endurance, and I’m finally healthy enough to start campus boarding.  I’ve had three power work outs so far and I have already noticed a difference in my climbing.  Just a month or so ago I struggled with this one problem on the 45 that involved going from a scrunched up position with the two good holds next to each other to extending out to a sloper that you had to grab in control.  I did this move one time but didn’t complete the problem, falling on the move at least 10 more times and never sticking the sloper again.  Just the other day I walked up to this problem after not having been on it for weeks and day flashed it, the best part was how I felt doing the move that had shut me down weeks before.  It’s that moment we train for and not necessarily the send sometimes.  That moment when you realize that you now have a new tool in your tool box.  It can be more rewarding than struggling to the top of a climb and then never getting back on it again.  The mastery of a move or a hold type, it’s something Ondra displays constantly when he climbs.  But it takes a lot of patience; patience to approach the climb with the right mindset, patience to let progress build and ultimately become a part of you, and patience to understand how to train in a productive way.