We crawl before we walk, we take baby steps to start walking and only then do we run. Same goes for swimming where we flail and splash before relaxing and moving the body in a coordinated manner through the water.
Climbing is no different. Perfect footwork and body control do not come over night. Even those of us who have been climbing for years and years will do well to remind ourselves of a few basic techniques.
I remember trying to muscle-up every 5.7 only to get gassed and not be able to climb any 5.8’s. Picturing the well-developed arms of professional climbers made me think that climbing was all upper-body strength. As a result, I found myself helplessly clutching holds with my arms in severe angles. I call this the T-Rex position, which locks your body on the wall until your only choice is to let go with little arm strength left. It took me a while to figure out that climbing – like life – is a journey, not a race.
Over time, I learned to relax and use my entire body – not just my arms – and that seasoned climbers rarely rely on his brute strength alone. There’s as much of a mental game as there is a physical one, and just as the physical aspect of climbing is nuanced – whether it’s balance, power, body positioning, endurance, etc. – the mental aspect manifests multiple hurdles to overcome that usually stem from fear and doubt. Yogi Berra’s famous and intentionally quirky quote about the game of baseball being 90% mental while the other 50% is physical, can be readily applied to climbing.
Being around climbers, you see how others progress; watching more experienced climbers is also a great teacher. Much of the evolution of a climber comes via osmosis and soaking in all the information that surrounds a person during their first visits to the climbing gym. In time, those mental centers that involuntarily produce fear and doubt are quieted, but not after passing through a crucible – of sorts – into the climbing culture.
It can be intimidating. All of the lingo (so what the hell is a “redpoint” or “sidepulling into a Gaston” or “whipping at the crux” anyways???), tying knots, getting the belay technique down, or something as simple as properly putting on a harness is anxiety provoking. We all want to look and be cool AND stay safe at the same time. Don’t worry, rock climbers are cool by default and sticking with it nets not only that distinction, but also a sense of accomplishment.
Once a seemingly impossible route is completed (aka “sent”) there’s a tangible feeling that progress is being made. In climbing, that progress is easy to track. One day you’re climbing 5.8’s or V1’s and the next day something could click and you’re climbing harder 5.9’s and/or V2’s and so on.
Every time you push farther, gains are made. Even if those gains are barely noticeable, they accumulate. Sometimes the accumulation creates a watershed moment and it’s hard to imagine your climbing life those accomplishments.
With climbing the motivations are more or less extrinsic (looking cool, being part of a social gathering) and intrinsic (participating out of sheer enjoyment) and as we all progress – no matter our skill levels – the volume to life’s distractions and daily annoyances seem to get turned down: “If I just climbed that route, I can easily handle X,Y and Z at my job or at home if I put in the same amount of work.”
No matter how advanced or green a climber is, there is always a new threshold to cross and new goals to set and then reset. Climbing can open new doors like going from auto-belays to top-roping to lead climbing to crack climbing on natural rock. It’s up to the climber to set his/her expectations, goals and how finite or infinite they’d like to imagine their potential for progression.
All along that timeline – from that first pull up one of our walls to that trip in the future you’ll take to multi-pitch climb in some exotic destination – there’s a vibrant community of climbers in Chicago nurturing your love for climbing every “send” of the way.
xoxo #LetsClimbChicago
PS Namaste…