Climbing Blocks

Greetings, Steph-
I have long been a visitor of your site, and your book is well-loved and dog-earred on my shelf. I am writing to you at what feels something like my “darkest hour” of climbing–I am at a point so low that I now fear my relationship with the sport is permanently damaged.

I began climbing approximately 10 years ago. In the last several years, I started bonding with some incredible friends who are equally interested in making climbing fun and training to reach our limits. At first, this was fantastic. It was always a pleasure to go, to improve, and to watch the people I care about excel. When I started graduate school three years ago, it was with the goal of climbing V7 by my graduation–a goal that felt very attainable. And yet, in that time, my body has failed to go any further. My friends continue to thrive month by month, while I fall further and further behind, to the point where I can really no longer participate with them–I can’t keep up. I’d even go so far as to say I’ve gotten worse. The only thing I can contribute anymore are the vegan baked goods I whip up once a week.

In desperation I have tried everything to step up–climbing more, climbing less, training, not training, climbing alone, climbing with friends…And last night I finally cracked. For most of our regular Friday night session I sat alone on the floor, no longer even able to make myself try. And it’s heart-breaking, because for most of the last decade this has been the greatest source of my happiness.

I suppose I have simply run out of people to turn to, as no one I climb with has gone three years giving this amount of effort without seeing any improvement. And I don’t know that you will have any advice, either. But it feels good to cling to the idea that maybe, just maybe, I don’t have to give up yet.
Best,
Jenny

Hi Jenny,
Climbing progression is never linear, and the longer you climb the smaller the gains will be. The other day I was talking with a friend who has been out with elbow injuries for 9 months, and he is just starting to climb again. He said it was so much fun, because he’s starting from rock bottom all over again and the progression is so exciting, kind of like when he first started climbing.

There can be countless reasons why you find your improvement curve to have flattened out, and perhaps the worst thing you can do is to compare yourself to others. This is actually like everything else in life. We know that climbing is very much physical and it’s very much mental. People are very different too. For example, I know people who thrive on angst and stress for their climbing, because climbing is the only way they can “tune everything else out,” and they can channel their aggressive energy into sports when life is a struggle. For me, if life is too hectic, complicated or hard, I can barely climb a ladder–I need things to feel good and peaceful in my life in order to be able to feel good energy in my sports. What I’ve seen in myself over the years and in countless others is that the minute you get overly focused on achievement, performance, and most of all climbing grades, the simple beauty disappears. If competitiveness and winning are your goals in climbing, then you will be fulfilled and motivated by this approach–as long as it goes in the direction you hope. If other things are your goals in climbing, this approach will kill the joy and you will lose your energy, and eventually climbing will not be fulfilling for you.

I know a lot of people who take 1-2 months a year off from climbing. This has a lot of benefits–first it allows your tendons and ligaments to heal and rebuild, second it allows you to focus on other things (yoga, art, studying, running, skiing, swimming, cooking) and third it allows your mind to refresh and to regenerate the fun and excitement of climbing when you’re ready to come back to it. It also gives you perspective: complete focus on climbing can give you tunnel vision and make you forget why you’re doing it to begin with. It helps to remember that climbing is one small part of a very big universe and of the beautiful natural world that we get to live in.

I’m also adding another thought, based on the comment that Kate C made below: it’s a good idea to check up on things like low iron or B vitamin deficiencies. These are pretty common in female athletes, whether vegan or not, and can have an affect on your energy levels–and pretty simple to correct by taking supplements.

Next time you go climbing, focus on feeling good. Focus on breathing, stretching and moving and on the beauty of placing the tip of your shoe on a hold and the feeling of carefully grasping a hold with your hand. You’ll want to use the grades to select routes that will feel beautiful to you–so probably routes that are easier than the last time you went climbing. Take a break from the need to achieve, and take some time to feel and to enjoy. Life is short, and climbing itself is very ephemeral. Remember to be thankful every time you get to touch the rock and feel the air move in and out 🙂
Steph


8 responses to “Climbing Blocks”

  1. rachel says:

    This is why I read your blog. Beautiful response.

  2. Iryna says:

    It’s so easy to get frustrated when you spend so much time and energy on something and you feel like you are still stuck at the same spot. I have definitely experienced similar feeling and had to quit my climbing plan to do other things for fun, and to remind myself that it should always, always be enjoyable. We only get better at things we enjoy doing. If your climbing friends are your friends they will be happy to climb with you no matter what grade you are climbing. They should never make you feel isolated and left out. No matter how hard you climb, there will always be someone who climbs harder. So what’s the point of comparison?

  3. Frank says:

    I went through a similar situation a few years ago, I wasn’t enjoying climbing as much because I couldn’t make “progress”. That is I was stuck on a grade. The I realized I just didn’t have the time to train enough to make progress, but I still wanted to climb, so instead of focussing on climbing the next grade I focused on learning new ways of enjoying climbing, I started to learn trad (I was a sport climber at the time) and focus on climbing beautiful long routes. Suddenly 5.8 was fun again, and to this day a enjoy moderate climbs that take me up beautiful places, and there are so many of them that I doubt I’d ever run out.

  4. Marylee Harrer says:

    Such beautiful advise. What more can be said? Thank you.

  5. Kate C says:

    Absolutely beautiful response. I totally agree, but I thought I would add one more idea. I had a very frustrating year just last year with my climbing and overall fitness. So many of my friends were making exciting gains every day and I just felt more tired and weaker. I was pretty sure that I was loosing fitness through the year. Eventually, I went to the doctor and found out that I was really, terribly anemic. It took 9 months to heal from that, but I’m finally back to making good strength gains and feeling energetic. Anemia is so common in women, and awful because we think that we’re just not *doing everything right*. It might not be in her head, and it might not be anything she’s done. She might actually be sick.

  6. steph davis says:

    Kate, thanks a lot for your point–I’m going to amend the original post to add your thoughts because I think you’re absolutely right about possible deficiencies contributing to not feeling right.

  7. Jenny says:

    Steph, thank you so much for this thoughtful response!

    I became so busy with traveling and schoolwork that I stopped checking for an answer to my email. The “feeling good and peaceful” in life is where I think you really hit on it. I had the opportunity to travel abroad and climb with my favorite partner (my brother) this month, and in the ten days that I was away from school, my masters thesis, and my work–out touching real rock–I remembered why I roped up 10 years ago. It was such a release.

    I spend so much of my week attempting to meet the expectations of advisors, classmates, and colleagues. With only a gym to climb in within a 6 hour radius, it’s so easy to forget that I started doing this because of how it felt to be 70+ feet up on a memorable line. With trips few and far between the plastic, everything starts to feel high stakes.

    Thank you for the perspective check. I’m looking forward to tying in these last months before graduation.

  8. steph davis says:

    thanks for writing back! 🙂

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