Two significant growts in my mental performance came from top climbers. One was talking to Marc LeMenestrel the time he came and did the second ascent of Brad Pit in three tries or something right off the plane (Then UK's highest-graded boulder problem I think - what is it with those LeMenestrels?), the first flash - i think - of Deliverance and Jerry's Traverse. He talked about enjoying the process in a way that really sank in. Of enjoying every move on every attempt, and learning from every experience of it. It really sank home, turning every experience into a success.The other was writing the Jerry Moffatt book (available for 9.99 from all good bookshops), and what I took from that was how much he enjoyed giving 100%. I took this in. I sometimes find myself sessioning a problem with some friends and then going, Right, watch this, and firing off the problem, Jerry style. So it was about not seeing trying your hardest as some sort of chore, but as having the best time of your life.So the core of both these is enjoyment.
Incremental progress is enjoyable, I do like the process of projecting. It just seems that where some people consider 10 sessions on a problem a seige, that seems pretty normal to me in fact pretty short.
He talked about enjoying the process in a way that really sank in. Of enjoying every move on every attempt, and learning from every experience of it. It really sank home, turning every experience into a success.
Like Nic Sellars said - stop counting when it gets into double figures.
Quote from: grimer on May 22, 2019, 10:13:09 amHe talked about enjoying the process in a way that really sank in. Of enjoying every move on every attempt, and learning from every experience of it. It really sank home, turning every experience into a success.Very hard to keep that mindset going on a 25+ dayer.
Mastermind's brilliant, particularly if you read it all in Jerry's voice in your head.The best advice in that book is along the "mental deceit" lines mentioned in this thread- when you have a good day, get your route done, climb better than expected etc. tell yourself something along the lines of "that was just like me, I'm a great climber who always succeeds with what I want to do" (I hope you read that in Jerry's voice) and if you have a bad day, or even a bad attempt on your route, just dimiss it as a blip and literally never think of it again apart from in a detached "what could I have done differently to succeed" way. It's classic psychopathic behaviour but, as climbing doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things you only have to gain from thinking like that as long as it's just about your climbing. I didn't realise it but my mental approach was the opposite of that and it was a total-eye-opener. I'm hardly a control subject so won't comment on whether or not it's made me any better but it really helped me enjoy climbing and training again.
Getting back to the OP, who I'm pretty sure is talking about bouldering not redpointing, an approach I've used a few times effectively is to go and solo something fairly hard/ bold (for you) to reset your brain a bit, from the try-hard-but-fail state to smoth-flow-failure-not-an-option. For example, I remember in '97 (I think) almost doing Brad Pit and then having several poor goes shaking with over-excitement. I took some deep breaths, went and soloed White Wand, then came back in an amped-but-calm state and dispatched. Similarly when I did my hardest redpoint (admittedly not very hard), my preparation mainly revolved around being very well rested, along with some gentle soloing to ensure I was moving well without being tired. It can be very tempting to just have one more go because you nearly did it. After five or six nearly goes it's probably time to try do something else, at least for a short time, lest you do a Jim and rip your bicep off.
Two biggies for me:1 - Sit down on mats under problem, chalk up, clean shoes, general faff prep. Close eyes and visualize every hand and foot move with intensity and detail including body movements and changes. Then shut down the brain. Try to eliminate everything from the mind and be still and mentally silent for 5-10 seconds. Re-chalk pull on and climb. If i can stay in the mentally still state, I generally can send... easier said than done. 2 - After doing that 30-100 times over multiple sessions, and punting on moves that should never be punted from, throw a massive wobbler including throwing of shoes, mat, chalk bag, (and if possible - your mates shoes and gear). Spend an hour trying to find all of the shit that you threw. Have a good laugh a yourself! Then pull on and send.
Quote from: shark on May 22, 2019, 04:29:56 pmIts helped me climb faster if nothing elseYou mean it wasnt my persistent bullying?
Its helped me climb faster if nothing else
