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Episode 05: Climbing Relaxed

Author – Kevin Roet

We all know that when we climb we need to stay as relaxed as possible.  Sometimes for whatever reason we start our session, get pumped almost immediately, or have a play on our project and seem to struggle on moves which we haven’t struggled on before, or just pull so hard and nothing is flowing.  This can be for so many reasons, but mainly because we are climbing tense and not climbing relaxed.

So, why are we tense when we climb?

It could be for some of the following reasons:

  • Social pressure – we feel we need to climb at a certain grade in front of an audience (friends, competitors, coach, parent, other group of climbers, etc…)
  • Personal pressure of goal orientated – we put pressure on ourselves to climb a certain grade
  • Goal focused – getting to the top
  • Fear and anxiety will cause us to squeeze muscles harder, and hold our breath; none of which are helpful in climbing smoothly and energy efficient
  • Too much pressure to achieve (goal orientated)
  • Stressed from external factors – life can be stressful, and stress in other parts of life will affect our climbing performance.

As we climb, obviously we need to use our muscles to stay on the wall.  So we will be tensing them.  The trick is to tense them just enough to stay on the wall, tense them the right amount for each movement, so as not to use more energy than required.  And of course the mind needs to stay as relaxed as possible to be climbing relaxed.

 Here is the science bit.

  • When we squeeze 20% of our max strength in our muscles, the muscle fibres start to occlude some of the blood flow to that muscle.

  • When we squeeze 50% of our max strength in our forearm muscles we stop all blood flow.

  • Muscles need fresh, oxygenated blood to get rid of the waste product, but also to create more energy.

  • If that doesn’t happen, we rely on an energy system (called ATP), of which we only have a limited amount of.

  • When we are stressed, scared, feel anxious, or feel overwhelmed with pressure, we are likely to not be breathing efficiently.  We may sometimes even hold our breath when climbing or doing certain moves.

  • Also, the premature release of adrenaline (in regards to fear and anxiety) can increase our blood lactate, causing us to feel pumped and fatigued sooner.

None of the above are helpful.

 

So, how do we climb relaxed?

A good start would be to use a relaxation process before attempting a climb.  Also, a good process focused mindset, instead of a result focused mindset which we are indoctrinated to believe in in our western society.  Trying to focus on being as relaxed as possible on the route.  And making sure the level of challenge is right for you, psychologically and physically. If you struggle with any of this, contact us, and we would be happy to help.

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