Personal Climbing Renascence, must you be born again?

Post by **512OW** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:11 pm

anticlmber wrote:i forgot about that caribe, you do climb like youre about to crush every hold for something that happened in your youth. relax, breathe, have fun. take your shirt off and oil up.

Post by **rhunt** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:01 pm

Meadows - you are on to something there. I have decided to sack-up and climb this weekend(you can find me at any of the SUPER sunny cliffs this weekend), I will be mindful of the feet width thing and see how that is. I have a feeling it might come naturally for many people. Just when I think my technique in impecable after 15 years - I learn something new.

As for this idea of only getting on hard routes when you think you are ready. Who says you have no business being on a route...that's absurd. Remmeber the grades are very subjective -don't avoid a routes just because of its number - I regret not getting on a lot of routes when I was at my peak...I stayed way too much in my "comfort zone" and played that "gotta build my base" crap too much. There is no prerequisite for getting on higher harder grades...just do it!

Post by **Meadows** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:13 pm

The centered movement is a technique applied in so many "athletic" sorts: martial arts, yoga, especially dancing, etc.

Here's an article on physical and mental balance: http://www.olts-bt.com/pages/centered_climbing.asp.

Post by **512OW** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:19 pm

rhunt wrote:Meadows - you are on to something there. I have decided to sack-up and climb this weekend(you can find me at any of the SUPER sunny cliffs this weekend), I will be mindful of the feet width thing and see how that is. I have a feeling it might come naturally for many people. Just when I think my technique in impecable after 15 years - I learn something new.

As for this idea of only getting on hard routes when you think you are ready. Who says you have no business being on a route...that's absurd. Remmeber the grades are very subjective -don't avoid a routes just because of its number - I regret not getting on a lot of routes when I was at my peak...I stayed way too much in my "comfort zone" and played that "gotta build my base" crap too much. There is no prerequisite for getting on higher harder grades...just do it!

Its like I said... not when you think you are ready... when you actually are. Most humans just can't tell. "Comfort zone" is as subjective as route grading, as some people are in their "comfort zone" when pushing their physical and mental limits.

Major league baseball players don't take batting practice at 100 mph.
Lance Armstrong doesn't ride Tour De France's every day.
Tiger Woods doesn't mimic The Masters on a regular basis.
Champion boxers don't train by fighting... they spar.
Michael Phelps doesn't race everytime he gets in the pool.

Why should climbers spend an inordinate amount of time on routes they can't send? Thats what boulders are for...

Post by **Horatio Felacio** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:50 pm

i was scared of falling when i first started climbing. i didn't think gear would hold a fall. so i climbed up to .10+ for like 3 or 4 years, and was ok with that. then something clicked, and i just didn't really give a crap any more. all of a sudden, i was onsighting 5.11 trad routes. a year later, i discovered bouldering and really got into that. i then realized that i could just break routes up into sections, and that each of those sections were not going to be as hard as what i could boulder on the ground. about a year later, i was introduced to trying a route more than once. all of a sudden i could do .12's in a few tries. i kinda feel like i've plateaued for a long time after that. i've done harder routes, but i haven't found anything eye-opening that instantly makes me climb harder. or maybe i stopped caring about climbing harder? i'm not sure?

Post by **512OW** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:53 pm

Horatio Felacio wrote:i was scared of falling when i first started climbing. i didn't think gear would hold a fall. so i climbed up to .10+ for like 3 or 4 years, and was ok with that. then something clicked, and i just didn't really give a crap any more. all of a sudden, i was onsighting 5.11 trad routes. a year later, i discovered bouldering and really got into that. i then realized that i could just break routes up into sections, and that each of those sections were not going to be as hard as what i could boulder on the ground. about a year later, i was introduced to trying a route more than once. all of a sudden i could do .12's in a few tries. i kinda feel like i've plateaued for a long time after that. i've done harder routes, but i haven't found anything eye-opening that instantly makes me climb harder. or maybe i stopped caring about climbing harder? i'm not sure?

I'm pretty sure it has to do with starving yourself. You should really eat something.

Post by **Andrew** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:56 pm

Don't pick on my girlfriend.

Post by **Horatio Felacio** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 4:03 pm

i'd have to buy all new outfits. plus, i don't want to be a short, fat, balding pseudo-rap-star troll.

Post by **512OW** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 4:22 pm

Horatio Felacio wrote:i'd have to buy all new outfits. plus, i don't want to be a short, fat, balding pseudo-rap-star troll.

I just wear vertical stripes to seem taller and thinner, and shave my head like David Beckham does so people don't know I'm bald.

As far as pseudo-rap-star-troll goes, well, it gets me free shoes, ropes, and climbing trips, so I'll be a pseudo-rap-star-troll for as long as I can.

Oh, and chicks dig it. All of it.

Post by **tutugirl** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 4:49 pm

Oh yeah...we get to watch his a** as he goes up a climb...