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Episode 04: Mental Capacity in Climbing

Author – Emma Twyford

Mental Capacity in climbing: learning when to optimise our performance

What is Mental Capacity?

Mental capacity in climbing, simply put it is the ability to make our own decisions that can be time specific. We all make decisions every day, and in climbing we have to make these decisions in the moment. Some of these decisions can have a life changing impact, in a good or bad way. When different life stresses are involved this can impact our ability to make decisions.

In the last year I found my mind took a bit of a hammering with some incredibly stressful life events. Now, if you’re like me climbing and performing well in a flow state is normally empowering and a way of escaping the day-to-day life stresses. Normally experiences of climbing should be filled mostly with joy and having fun, it’s about filling your cup with positivity.

 

Mistakes we make

We all compare ourselves in some way.  Whether it is to others or past versions of ourself really depends on the person. The reality is that this rarely helps and can lead down a negative path. In this way social media is a big hindrance and we need to set ourselves boundaries and be present. The only person who can truly help you improve is yourself.  With support from good friends and advisors when you need it to help boost you.

 

 

When we have the space in our brain to perform this is our moment to shine. Make the most of it and this can last a long time. Pick those moments wisely and be aware of them.  If you find it helpful for the future write down that experience to draw from it. In these moments we learn to try hard, we are relaxed yet focused. This is a moment where you may experience flow state or being in the zone and they are precious so never take them for granted.

The opposite side of this is to be rigid and scared, holding back a part of ourselves. It can be exacerbated when we don’t take a step back and accept what is happening. This can lead to a negative downward spiral or a traumatic experience. I call this a time when our mental capacity is full with other life stresses and we don’t have the space in our brain to try hard or push ourselves mentally.

Life stresses could include: buying a house, divorce, a close relative or friend dying or being in a serious accident, work, a pet dying, exams etc.

It is easy to ride a wave of success, much harder to pull through a difficult time which can be compounded by not having fun or achieving success in the sport we love and use to escape the daily life norms. Here it is important to be kind to ourselves and show some self-compassion. It’s ok to end up in a funk, but don’t stay there. Talk about it, write it down (do whatever you need to help pull yourself back up). In this time don’t try to push your limits, take yourself back to the reasons why you fell in love with climbing in the first place.

 

What can we do?

It may be as simple as not going climbing for a few weeks but trying a different sport or hanging out with friends, let your brain have a rest from the expectation. May be go and do an easy multipitch with a really good friend just to be in the mountains and admire the views. It may be getting some mileage at lower grade to build back confidence to remind yourself you can still climb.

When you feel you’re ready to push a little more then start going through some of the motions of what it feels like to try hard again. You may not be all the way there yet but it’s ok to test the waters in a safe situation. You’re beginning to dip a toe outside of the comfort zone to see if your brain is ready to cope with pushing its limits without traumatising yourself. This may be getting back on a project and climbing to a comfortable point and taking some falls you are happy with, or linking a sequence together that will help build your confidence.

It’s about the baby steps and looking at the small sequence of events to lead to the bigger picture. It’s important to remember you’ve been there before and you are capable of reaching success again, almost like a break up in that it gets easier each time and we remember the step on how to be kind and compassionate to ourselves. Being vulnerable and not being at our best all the time is ok. When we find a moment where everything aligns again and we can savor success it just becomes that little bit sweeter and the fight to get back there is worth it.

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