Episode 11: Fall Practice Mistakes

Author – Kevin Roet

Fall practice is necessary tool to use to get more comfortable with falling in climbing.  Although, not always appropriate for everyone, at one particular point in time.  It is definitely something everyone will need to work on at some point in their climbing career. As long as they have the motivation to work on it.  But when people practice falling in climbing, it is often done wrong.  And that causes people to associate negative feelings with falling and climbing. Climbing is meant to be fun! Right!

So here is a list the most 8 common fall practice mistakes.

The most 8 Common Fall Practice Mistakes

Not enough practice

Not often enough – a hand full of times is not enough.  Should be practiced every time you go climbing.  If you have a long period off climbing, start again, have no expectations

Not enough quantity – I have fallen 20,000-30,000 times maybe, and the fear of falling still affects me at times.  Doesn’t mean it’s impossible, just showing you that as someone who carries trauma in falling in climbing, I have to work harder at it, and more frequently

Too stressed

A lot of folks think that fall practice is stressful, and can’t be fun.  So, one of the biggest fall practice mistakes people make is taking falls when too stressed.  By repeating the process of being stressed, we start to associate stress with falling.  Climbing is meant to be fun.  So why not play around in the stress-free zone, where ever this may be for you.

 

Forcing through fear

As we are all individuals, we all behave and are affected differently in different situations.  You may be a personality that deals with higher levels of stress better.  Maybe you are an individual who performs well under stress.  Or you may be a personality who prefers a small amount of stress.  When you feel fear, your mind is telling you something.  When you start to force yourself through feelings of fear when doing fall practice in climbing, you are confirming to yourself that fall practice is stressful.  So learn to listen to your mind.

Compare to others

We live in a society where we compare ourselves to others all of the time Hence, invalidating our own progress.  See fall practice as an individual process.  Look at where you are today, and look to make small and incremental changes you can make, no matter how small these are.

The belayer

We often overlook the importance of the belayer.  I see belayers, encouraging the leader to take bigger falls.  Or giving more rope out, so the leader could fall a little further.  All done with great intention.  But in actual fact, this does not help you.  It just affirm negative emotions with fall practice.

There needs to be a high level of trust, and an open channel of communication.  Be open and honest with the belayer, tell them what you are comfortable with.  Tell them how they can help, and use feedback to one another to create a more productive environment.

Climb stressed or high adrenaline

After taking a fall, the levels of adrenaline have increased slightly.  Sit on the rope, take a moment, and relax.  Allow the adrenaline to wear off, take a few deep breaths, then go for the next fall.  Try to associate being relaxed with falling and fall practice.

Progressing too quickly

I see a lot of people, usually driven personalities, progressing from taking small falls to too big a falls in a small time frame.  The idea with fall practice is that you get accustomed to falls from a certain height first before progressing further.  By progressing too quickly, you will end up operating in the stress zone, and associate stress with falling.  But you may also feel frustrated with yourself, as you feel you are not moving forward in your fall practice.

How to fall

Learning how to fall is crucial to fall practice. Learning how to fall, will allow you to be more relaxed, but also lower the probability of injury.  I see a lot of people being very tense practicing falling in climbing.  By being tense, you are more likely to get injured.  Your body becomes stiff, you may slam into the wall harder.  Or even fall into the wall sideways.  Also, grabbing the rope is a big “No-no”.  There are only a few instances when this should be done.

These are some of the common fall practice mistakes people make.  If you would like to find out more about how to do fall practice, check out some of the videos we compiled on

YouTube

If you would like some help with your fall practice, and dealing with the fear of falling contact us through climb in flow!  Or get yourself booked onto one of our webinars or workshops.

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