UKC

I need to sort my head out! (No news there say the folk who know me).

I've had some great chats with peeps I respect and done some thinking. It's time to slay some demons, learn, grow, take the proverbial by the watchamawhozits!

Anyone know of a good idiot's guide to sports psychology? Something academically grounded but with a 'how to' element to it.

In reply to flopsicle:
Dave Macleod's book 9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes. It was written "for anyone ready to make challenge and change their climbing habits". Have a look at his blog first.

In reply to flopsicle:

The Rock Warrior's Way

In reply to Christheclimber:

I've had a good read of his articles and it's going on my xmas list!

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

And there's an hour long interview with the author, Arno Ilgner, on Training Beta...

https://www.trainingbeta.com/media/arno-ilgner/?portfolioID=3838

In reply to flopsicle:

If you'd prefer a more scientific approach (than Rock Warriors Way) to it try Vertical Mind, a very practical introduction for recreational climbers.

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

I had to really pick and choose what I took from RWW. The stuff about success and failure being an illusion of the ego was total guff IMO. Feeling good when I get a great onsight and disappointed when I fail is a very real and completely valuable part of climbing for me.

Still very much worth the read though, lots of very insightful and useful stuff in there (amongst the hippy dippy bullshit).

In reply to John Kettle:

Flippin' ada!! I might even be getting something right! Just watched this by Don McGrath:
youtube.com/watch?v=RODKQI_2Hqk&

This week I said I was going to start including the reading/watching in my fit club log. I've always valued running and staying generally fit and I've also decided to dedicate a session to technique rather than hit and miss warm up.

In reply to Jon Stewart:

Yep, agree about selecting what to take from the book. I found some of it a bit airy-fairy, but there was a lot I found useful and which helped me.

In reply to flopsicle:

Google The Chimp Paradox, buy it, read it.

In reply to Exile:

I googled, read a bit online (scholar has exerts), listened to a TED by the author and I'd pick it up cheap but it seems much in the same vain as the 'quieter' authors who have styles I might prefer slightly.

Generally, I think some really important starting points for me are:
*Give regular time to cerebal learning. Even if indoor climbing is only 10% 'head game', and I suspect 60% nearer the mark, but even 10% has not been reflected in carving up the time I give to trying to improve. I don't feel I've even got out of bed if I fail to rack up multiple hrs of climbing/exercise each week, yet I've only just started to think about the time spent just tending to understanding 'head game'.
*Try to foster a mastery approach with more belief that the limits are not physical ones, some may be but I KNOW I don't have perfect technique so theoretically there should always be some scope on a climb to improve with what I currently have physically.
*Keep at the physical side as a means to increase confidence and to reinforce a work ethic for what I want.

I start a thread for free resources in sports psych. It'd probably die as I think i'm the tightest bogger here!

In reply to flopsicle:
I've got a copy I can lend you it
H x

(from one tight bogger to another ;0)

In reply to hazeysunshine:

Yay!

In reply to flopsicle:

Hi Flop

It may sound odd but climbing always feels hard, this never really goes away despite how much you do.

Work on creating a mental library of movements with a variety of holds and you will naturally find yourself calmer and more confident. Rather than your body rebelling mid-climb (you expect me to do that?!!), its will be more of the case of seen it, done it and can repeat it. Start with easy holds and then work your way up using different types of varying degrees of positivity.

Routes at a climbing wall can be a curse as you will climb everything in your ability quickly and the rest will feel undoable for whatever reason. Each session you return you ingrain the moves on your dialled routes more and at the same time create a bigger mental crutch when your try something new ("this doesn't feel right ...... Take!!). Break the routine and mix up your dialled routes by swapping holds, changing route mid-way do anything to keep it fresh. Go bouldering as well.

A good idea would be to visit a different climbing wall every once in a while. Sure your ego takes a beating but your repertoire of moves increases quickly.

Good luck.

In reply to alx:

Cheers for the the reply. I'm not sure if it's around the same idea, but if I've kicked my way up a climb I'll redo it till I feel I've done it in better form. I like to try to make sure that I outnumber the kick climbs with decent ones but that doesn't always happen.

I boulder at some point each week alongside top ropes and leading. I also climb at 2 different walls - and they are very different, although the one I feel is home has the stiffer grades so it's more often the tourists than locals trying to find where they left their self esteem.

This has been a really good thread and I feel 'refreshed' in terms of shaking my training up a bit and broadening my outlook to include attitude, study etc.

There's only one downside... there is a certain consensus on the need for a sort of mindful calm, sadly I'm more Scrappy Doo than Dalai Lama!

In reply to flopsicle: Have a look into Carol Dweck's work on "Mindsets".

It is one of the tools/theories that one of my employers has me introduce to students to promote personal development.

I have found aspects of it very relevant to analysing myself and my approach to some challenges.