Mental Skills: Making a Champion

There has been much research into what not only makes a good athlete but what makes Champion’s stand out from the crowd. Often they have looked at the amount of physical practice and training, finding that despite equal amounts, natural champions still end up on top. What research points to is that to make a champion, you need various mental skills that enable equal physique to be used to a much greater effect. The argument being that in order to make a champion you need to concentrate as much energy on training those mental skills and you do the physical and technical.

Williams & Krane (1993) highlight several key mental ingredients for champions including self-regulation of arousal, high self confidence, appropriate focus and concentration, positive preoccupation with sport, determination, commitment and that the athlete is in control. They also suggest for an athlete to achieve peak performance they go onto suggest several commonly used mental training techniques which are imagery, goal setting, thought control strategies (self-talk, CBT, Hypnosis), arousal management techniques, well-developed competition plans, coping strategies and pre-competition mental readying plans.

Whilst in climbing the physical side of training has been looked at extensively, in climbing the mental training techniques have been overlooked. One of the aims of this blog is to highlight many of these mental training techniques.

Williams, J and Krane, V (1993) Chapter 11 Psychological Characteristics of peak performance in Applied Sport Psychology: Personal Growth to peak performance, Ed. William, J. CA, USA, Mayfield Publishing Company.

Imagery – A new Outlook for Climbing

Typically imagery and climbing has been basic at is very best, often it has been misleading and based assumption brought from other sports and disciplines. One thing my MSc has shown me is that imagery is not a simple thing, and that there are many variables involved one of the models that tries to encompass all of them is the PETTLEP model Holmes and Collins(2001)

Before we go into the PETTLEP model it is probably best that we look at what imagery can be used for. In the most part climbers use imagery or visualisation to imagine themselves climbing a route. It ‘function’ is to aid sequence memory and improve performance once on the route. There are many other functions that imagery can be used for, like anxiety reduction, increasing confidence, aiding recovery from injury and aiding other mental skills.

If you see what you are imagining as a stimulus, then the function is often a combination of the meaning you attach to that stimulus and the response you give to it. Given time it is possible to control the stimulus, meaning and response to imagery. The way that you can start control your imagery is through using it regularly, which has been shown to be around 15 minutes a day.

This model advises athlete to look at and consider the:

PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE ACTIVITY
ENVIRONMENT YOU ARE TRYING TO REPLICATE
TIMING OF THE ACTIVITY
TASK YOU ARE LOOK AT REPLICATING
LEARNING YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE
EMOTIONS THE ACTIVE EVOKES
PERSPECTIVE YOU IMAGE IN

Each one of these will have certain considerations based on the sport, person, aim of the imagery intervention. However for simply visualising boulder problems research into climbing, and specifically bouldering points towards several key things that will help aid imagery. The first thing was discovered by my MSc supervisor Nicky Callow and Lew Hardy (1999, 2005) from SSHES, University of Wales Bangor.

What they found was that in bouldering tasks an External Visual Imagery Perspective (that is as seen by a documentry crew filming you) was better than an Internal Visual Imagery Perspective (seen through your own eyes). However better still was EVI with Kinesthetic Imagery (imaginging how it feels) was most effective.

They also found that for people with a higher imagine ability had more positive effect, and that whilst climber with lower imagery abilities didn’t benefit from the performance effects of Kinesthetic imagery they did find it increased there confidence in the task.

It not just as simple as that though as Craig Hall (1997) another one of the oracles of modern imagery research, believes that whilst research does point to various sports like climbing have a perspective that best suits the physical nature and type of task. The individual athletes preferred perspective needs to be the first consideration.

Hall, C (1997) Lew Hardy’s third myth: A matter of perspective. JASP, 9.
Hardy & Callow (1999) Efficacy of External and Internal Visual Imagery Perspectives for the enhancement of performance on Tasks in which Form is Important, JSEP, 21.
Hardy & Callow (2005) An Critical Analysis of Applied Imagery Research, In Handbook of Research in Applied Sport and Exercise Psychology: Internation Perspectives, WV, USA, Eds. Hachfort, Duda & Lidor.
Holmes & Collins (2001) The PETTLEP Aproach to motor imagery: A Functional Equivalence Model for Sport Psychologists, JASP 13(1)

Video Killed the Radio Star

I’m my mind and in my car, we can’t rewind we’ve gone to far, the classic song by the Bungles (Here’s the a link to the track live at a princes trust gig). But in the modern idiom has the internet killed the fanzine, and more specifically has UKClimbing.com destroyed the climbing magazine or has commercialisation done it for us?

Essentially a few years ago magazines were portals for us mere mortals to see what the leaders in the field of climbing were up to. The two month lag time between getting the news in, laying out the magazine on the desktop, printing it and then the distribution did not seem to matter, as unless you had actually been there or knew the person it was still news.

Unfortunately for magazines web 2.0 (or is it 2.1 or 3.0 now?) means that often before the ascentionist has manage to settle themselves after a climb, their publicist has already uploaded a blog entry, contacted their sponsors, who have given the route a grade and the necessary spin and of course phoned Mick Ryan or Jack Geldard for a scoop on UKClimbing.

I for one have no problem with any of that, provided there is some honesty and integrity over the climbing. I also don’t want to debate the pro’s or con’s of that type of media or grade chasing now, instead I want to look at where does it leave the print media?

At present and particularly in recent months CLIMB magazine has been James Pearson quarterly, which is great for James I hope he has a nice fat photo incentive deal or retainer from TNF, there are too few climbers making a proper living from our sport. The problem is that UKC run the same picture and pretty much the same story online the day after it happens, so there is absolutely no chance a magazine beating that turn around time. However UKC don’t pay photographers, so I suspect that Dave Simmonite has some form of return from TNF, and he won’t be the only photographer to have that relationship with a manufacturer.

The type of photo space he then gets in a magazine is what can only describe as blanket coverage in TNF/James Pearson Quarterly. I appreciate that James ascents have been ‘ground break’, ‘last great problems’,’the cutting edge’, but there comes a point where one amazing photo might capture the ascent, maybe a couple of extras to make the point, but I lost counts at 8 photos of the route Walk of Life (link to this cheesy tune here).

Not to mention Dave Simmonite’s a photographer’s view of the ascent (including the make, model, size and catalogue number of the cams needed), James view, and some arbutary editorial. Surely we’ll be able to watch the edited video highlights online before too long!

My point is if all climbing print media offer is a rehash of the old news and old photos as the cover shot and main story why do people still by them. If you want to see a million shots of James on what looks like an awesome route, well an E8 he straighten up and taken all the pegs out of, then CLIMB magazine is for you.

The other problem print media faces is the dreaded hyperlink, one click and you taken striaght to where advertisers want you to be, looking at there gear, linked to more links, and as you keep clicking you get further and further into oblivion, until no number of clicks on the back button would bring you to where you started, quite literally lost in a web of advertising. Just what the marketeers want, and on top of that they can actually count how effect there advertising is. For a full lesson contact Mick at UKC, and tell your thinking of advertising with them but ask him what the benefits will be!

I am sure Neil and Gill at CLIMB magazine will put this down to me being bitter, unfortunately, I am not I just can’t see a way forward, for them with their current model, but I don’t see the sales figures, perhaps the TNF/JP editions of CLIMB sell more, in which case they are more than likely to be sat in CLIMB tower’s laughing at my rants deleting my photos from there hard drive. Unfortunately I believe all climbing magazine need to change away from providers of news, and into providers of decent information. Mini-guides to areas, and not just a list of route descriptions and photos. Articles that you could actually take to a crag and use as a guide.

Trail Magazine (I actually spit when I say those two words together) basically provide maps of an area so people can actually walk there recommended routes, and do you know what it works. I once got ask to guide a route that had been in the magazine on Cadar Idris. There was normally no one on the route but that weekend, a few weeks after trail had come out there were ten teams on the scramble.

Don’t get me wrong CLIMB has some great features, in particular Dave Binney’s coaching column. On the other hand Climber Magazine has some appalling columns in particular John Arrans Alps and Beyond, which basically has just become John and Ann’s Big Wall climbs in the Jungle pages. If you want news from the Alps and Beyond you need to read Lindsay Griffins pages in CLIMB, because at least he is passionate and knowledgable about the subject.

I have probably said too much, bitten the hands that feed me, burned too many bridged and pissed on my own doorstep once too often for now. So I will stop, well at least for now.

10 years of Passing: Dan Osmond

I can’t believe it has been ten years, there are few things in my life that make me look back and question what I have done, where I have been and whom I have met. 10 years ago I was fresh face graduate from university, who had a big trip planned to Yosemite National Park, during that trip I climbed Lost Arrow Spire with Leo Houlding, Patch Hammond and Ben Bransby, all of which wanted to free climb the spire.

We were all young and Leo, Patch and Ben all still unknown stateside, so when an experienced valley rat rocked up in front of us, he naturally thinks well I’ll nip in front of these green horns. After Leo and Patch free the top free pitches, whilst Ben and I froze on the ledge below, he apologised for thinking we were young British punters

To make up for delaying us, as he had been guiding an American punter up the route, the late and great Dan Osmond left his ropes in situ for the tyrolean back across to the rim of the valley. Where he apologised further by forcing us to take a hit on his bong before we tried to keep up with him on the descent.

Dan was very much the man in the valley, a legend I had only seen in the Master’s of Stone videos, in the flesh he was only kind and generous to me. I am reminded of him because a friend join a Dan Osmond group on facebook, it was on the 23rd November 1998 that the climbing community lost one of its truly wild characters. If you like to join the group to remember a man who seemed to truly believe in the maxim that its better to burn out than fade away.

If you’d like to remember Dan in the modern way then here is a link to the face book page. For most of us now he will be that guy in speed climbing video to thrash metal that so many people have copied on Youtube

The Big G

Rumour has it on the streets on Llanberis that the new guidebook to Gogarth (North) is on its way or its on its way to the printers at the very least. This long awaited guide has caused many controversies along the way including a rift between the Climbers Club and Ground Up Production. The CC believing they had the moralistic high ground and exclusive rights to publish a guidebook to Gogarth, fortunately Ground Up brushed aside much of the criticism aimed at them from the CC, and threw themselves at the seemingly endless task of producing a defintive guidebook.

The whole CC, Ground Up Gogarth debarcle even spurred the conception of the first of the North Wales Wiki site, which then lead onto sites for the Slate Quarries, Tremadog and Ormes Limestone. Fortunately that seems to be behind us and now what we have to look forward to is Ground Up productions first guidebook since amazing North Wales Rock. If you’d like to see a preview of the guide you can here.

Future project for Simon Panton and his ground up team are Slate and Gogarth (South) which should be enough to keep you going.

How Confidence Can Improve Your Performance

Climbing is primarily a head game, admitting that you are in it for that moment of thrilling panic, as your breathe deepens and you face the only option, commit or fall. Crossing that line in the sand and facing life at its most primal, fight or flight! In that moment its not your strength or fitness that will get you through that dark alley, but you mind.

The thing is that today, you believe, you believe that you can do this, you’ve been climbing well all day. Each route a step up on the last one, you saw someone lead the route the last time you were at the crag, you know there’s gear above. A distant voice says ‘go for it’ as your stomach sinks. At that moment you move on and discover a new place, that ephemoral moment.

There are numerous theories, ideas, research and intervention that can at the very least make you aware of some of the components success or failure. This first situation could be numerous times in my climbing career that I have experience, be it when mine or someonelses confidence shines. This incident though occurred just after I heard of Bandurra, and his thoery of self efficacy.

….“Self efficacy refers to beliefs in ones capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations. Efficacy beliefs influence how people think, feel, motivate themselves and act” Bandurra (1995).

In laymens terms efficacy is self confidence within a given task and/or environment, that given how confident we feel at that precise moment of commitment is linked to the choice of activity we choose, do we commit or back off? The amount of effort and persisitence we give to an attempt under the threat of failure, even how we think about the climbing and our emotional reactions.

Research has tracked down four main building blocks of self efficacy which in order of influence are prior performances, vicarious experience, verbal persausion and arousal level. What Bandurra theorises is that if you develop the building blocks of efficacy then it increases your own personal beliefs in your ability to achieve your goals, and then you can start to realise those goals.

Science aside I have witnessed many days when a series of progressively harder and harder routes have lead to the successful ascent of a new grade of a climbers, none more so compelling than just after I had seen the diagram of the building blocks of self-efficacy. I had arranged to meet up with two climbers Hazel and Sarah, I had never met them before, in the emails we exchanged I had come to know that they want to push themselves on Slate, and that they had previous lead E2.

Unlike teaching beginners these guys were climbers though, and at some point you need to accept the risk. As we warmed up on a few sports routes I started to climb and point out a few things they could do to save a bit of energy, but other than that there was minimal ‘traditional’ coaching.

Instead I used a progressive approach, making each route harder than the last. Eventually the girls decided that they both wanted to lead a burly E2 laybacking crack. I sat back and observed from a distance, Sarah the first person up looked a little shakey on the lead but managed it fine when she choose to commit. Hazel on the other hand climbed it smoothly and in control. Now I know there is an argument for having a visual beta, but under Banduraa’s theory this would be classed as vicarious experience, in that you saw someone achieve your goal, and an inner voice has turn round and said ‘I can do that’.

On its own that observation was nothing to write home about, however on the second route the order was reversed. So first up was hazel, this time she was the shakey one, and Sarah climbed with a lot more grace and style.

The second route was a bit more complex than that though, as well as looking at the vicarious experience, I was assuming that the previous routes would have also bolstered there confidence as a perforamnce accomplishments. On top of that I also started to turn the cogs of verbal persuasion The route was an E3 in the guidebook and the look on the two girl’s faces and body posture changed, E3 to them was a big thing. They undoubtably had the skills and ability to lead this route but the anxiety of breaking a new grade was undermining their confidence.

So I told them that as one of the authors of the fourthcoming guidebooks to the area we were downgrading the route to E2 5c, rather than E3 6a. After explaining why we downgraded the route, I climbed it and tried to make it look as easy as I could.

By now the colour had return to their faces, and after climbing the route successfully, I re-awarded them with the E3 tick, for which I receive two very big smiles, for a coach there is no bigger reward than the overt satisfaction of people you work with. My next stop was to see where exactly I could go with this, so we went on to another E3, this time I told them the grade, climbed the route, and them let them both lead it.

The next day one of them climbed Comes the Dervish, they both had “the best weekend climbing”. I did tell them a week later that I had observed and to a certain extent helped the process along by choose rotues to help develop there confidence in stages, both were fine with it, but the real question was it all because of self efficacy?

Whether it was or not, the main thing is that improving you self efficacy is so easy that you probably do it already, what this and the following articles want to highlight are ways that modern sports psychology can be used to increase our climbing performance. The lessons to take from this, and the lessons we are going to cover over the coming months are going to address ways that we can build the four building blocks of Bandurra’s Self-efficacy or your confidence in a climbing situation.

Prior Performance

The easiest way and by far the most powerful way to increase efficacy is by using your previous accomplishment to build up in a steady progression. It is a delicate line between make too rapider progression and failure or too slower progression and stagnation. Get it right and everything works for you, over step the line and the wheels will quick fall off the wagoon, and you will undoubtably have a negative effect on you confidence.

The trick is to know you ability, know the routes you want to climb and then create a step by step approach to your route. Be it routes of similar style, length, difficult. If you have a route as a goal then you will probably have done your homework and know the demands through reputation. Later in the series we will cover goal setting, but as a starter concerntrate on process goals, like feeling comfortable on route of certain grades, climbing efficiently or placing gear rather than success or failure on specific routes.

As well as recent performance expriences it is possible to recall through a process of imagery prior performance. Whilst we don’t cover this specifically when we address imagery, the ability to visualise prior performance experience can help reinforce confidence and even reduce anxiety.

Vicarious Experience

Like your performance accomplishment, vicarious experience can be gained both directly from observation of both your friends and others, but also through visualisation. One of the mechanisms that it undoubtably works through is our natural behaviour to judge performances against our own ability, so whilst watching someone who you percieve as better than you will still help to increase your efficacy, you often gain more when you witness someone who you percieve as the same level or even worse than you at climbing. The reason being that in the latter situation you mindset will change to, ‘if they can do it, so can I’.

In terms of real observations and the ethics of watching someone climb route prior to climbing it, many of the elite climbers of today work to a strict on-sight ethic, where they try and insist that they have onsighted the route, only in the rarest of circumstances is this true. They will have undoubtably acculumlated some vicarious experience, be it through watching a friend, or having someone elses description of the route by which they judge their own potential to perform. The only thing that is inportant ethically is that you are true to yourself.

Verbal Persausion

For most of us verbal persuasion will come from those around us, be it belayers or friends you are climbing with. The right thing said at the right time can have really positive effects on your performance, verbal encouragement has been shown to improve performance in a variety of laboratory settings as well as in real life situations.

You can try this out yourself, next time your at the wall try traversing on a angle of wall that will result in failure, firstly traverse back and forth until you reach failure but have no one you know with you noting down the time you can hang on for, the next time you try, either after a substanial rest or on another visit, go with your friends and get them to call out lots of encouragement as see if you last longer? I tried this exercise on a few young climbers, two of climbers almost doubled the amount of time they manage to climb for.

This link to encouraging to success, can be equally linked to negative encourage whether that be through the direct communication of what you belays says to the more subtle language of their body or facial expression. As a belayer it is an import to remember that and remember that in giving someone the time to belay them, attentively, positively and with ethusiasm, should be repaid in kind by the climber. If it is not then consider climbing with someone that does. I have climbed a few times with people who seem to fill me with negativity, I think I only ever climbed with them twice.

An obscure voice that often persuade us to carry on or give up is our inner voice. This chatter of our consciousness is what the boffins call this self-talk, and the research is in its infancy by comparison to other sport psychological interventions, but we won’t hear anymore about this for a couple of months.

Arousal

Arousal is a well researched area in sport, anxiety being one of the biggest obstacle and sometimes boosts to performance, as such research into the optimum aurosal levels for optimal performance in mainstream sports has created a drive to push research to answer some of these questions. Some of this research has used outdoor pursuits and climbing as it is easier to manipulate the anxiety levels, by having people lead or top-rope.

We will seperate our somatic from cognitive arousal and how these can effect our processing efficiency, conscious processing and even how they can cause performance catastrophies. On top of the causes and effects of arousals we will also examine ways to manage our arousal levels through relaxation, visualisation and self talk.

The thing to remember is you are in it for that moment of thrilling panic, as your breathe deepens and you face the only option, commit or fall off.

Online Coaching?

For many people getting a good climbing coach is difficult, if you live too far away from the large urban areas and especially London, then a coach rather than an instructor can be hard to find. In order to help address this and keep the cost of coaching down, here at Climbing Coach we are starting to offer individualised online coaching solutions via email, skype and MSM

How does it work?

Well the first session, which is a thorough needs assessment, where we identify you weakness, help you set training goals, and develop a few training activities to address those needs. This takes around one hour and cost £10.

If you’d like to find out more about online coaching then email Mark Reeves via his main webpage.

Why are climber so miserable?

A growing body of evidence is pointing to climbers and any participants who engage in high risk sports to be statistically likely to have a greater level of depression or anxiety than those who don’t engage in risk based sports. So its official climbers are more miserable than your average joe bloggs.

One of the theory’s is that people who engage in risk taking sports do so to divert there own attention away from their anxiety and depression. In what has been describe a emotional self-regulation. So when you haven’t been climbing or risking life and limb in some other way for a while, you might find yourself getting more and more miserable.

For an overview of why people engage in risk taking activities try this article.

The Stretching vs Warming Up Debate

Recently someone posted this article on UKC, printed in the New York Times, now you should instantly question the scientific validity of a journalist perspective on what in all likelihood is a review of a review of stretching. Whilst I don’t doubt Gretchen Reynolds scientific credentials, I do question her academic integrity, after all her editor wants ‘good’ copy, rather than a in depth analysis of all the stretching literature.

I suspect that whilst much of her advice is true, a look back at the research, and the actual findings bring much of the context into when that advice is actually applicable. Like most thing in life there are several caveats that can and should be applied to general laws or rules that are often applied to stretching.

In the NYT Article there are several points made that can be argued reasonably easily with a brief overview of research literature, however many of these are perhaps taken out of context, and may only apply to the Olympic athlete.

Stretching Reduces Muscle Strength
Now whilst this is true, we are only talking about a 2% to 5% reduction, these studies have only look at weakening directly after stretching. So unless you are an Olympic athlete about to go for gold then does such a small drop in performance really make than much difference to you.

Stretching Increases Muscle Strength
In direct opposition to this stretching reducing muscle strength, is that if stretching is performed regularly, but not immediately before activity. Has been shown to lead to a 2% to 5% increase if strength if carried out regularly.

Stretching Helps Prevent Injury
There is a great quote from the NYT article about stretching and injury prevention.

The largest study has been done on military recruits; results showed that an almost equal number of subjects developed lower-limb injuries (Shin Splints, stress fractures, etc.)”

This highlights one of the problem when it comes to interpreting scientific research. This statement however true is questionable because how do you expect stretching to prevent stress fractures, the only type of injury stretch might be expected to prevent can surely only be a skeletal muscle or soft tissue injury. Interesting the same military study did conclude that soft tissue type injuries were significantly reduce.

Again research points towards different effects regards when you stretch. So stretch immediately before activity has little to no effect with injury prevention, however regular stretching not prior to exercise has been shown to reduce soft tissue type injuries.

Warming up reduces injury
At present it would appear that warming up prior to activity is key, in that its purpose is to help increase heart rate, dilate the capillaries, warm up the muscles and speed up nerve transmissions. Current research suggest that prior to a main activity then stretching might not be of benefit for injury prevention and may reduce muscle strength.

However a small increase in muscle temperature has been shown to reduce the likelihood of a muscle tear in isolated rabbit muscles.

In terms of warm ups the current thinking is working between 40-60% of you maximum for as long as it take you to develop a light sweat. It will take a fitter person longer to achieve a warmed up state than a less fit person. An alternative to jogging or light exercise is a passive warm up that might take the shape of a hot bath or shower.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE

  • It may not be advantageous to stretch immediately prior to activity, as it doesn’t help prevent injury and reduces muscle strength.
  • Using stretching as a general activity, when not training can increase you range of motion and help reduce injury.
  • Warm up before any activity session.
  • Warm up passively or activity prior to stretch session

For more information on warming up and stretching try visiting how to climb harder.

 

The Great British Grade Debate

Watching paint dry, not the most exciting of activities, now climbers have come up with the mountaineering equivalent a LIVE Great British Grade Debate. Now as far as I am concerned for the vast majority of climbers the Great British E Grade is alive, well and totally functional. Now Shaff are proposing a debate with Nick Colton as chair and several of the UK’s leading climbers (John Arran, Dave Birkett, James Pearson, Steve McClure, Lucy Creamer, Dave Macloed) . Why on earth anyone would actualy want to waist a Sunday to listen to this drivel is beyond me, even if its raining sulphuric acid I think I’d prefer to be pegged out naked on the summit of the wettest peak in the known world.

It seems to me that the grading system is only in turmoil at the end of the spectrum where grades mean money, sponsorship and glory. Looking at the UKC log books me and 99% of climber would be unaffected by anything they choose to debate. I say we lock all the panel in a room and see how long it takes them to realise that no one is interested in whether the personal experience changes the grade (based on this notion, I have seen VS climbers ascend E13), even if the moon being in the vicinity of Uranus was to make a significant difference all I’d want to here is the astral prediction of when its next passing so I can get out the way.

What is total blowing me away, and has the potential to make my blood boil is the BMC is supporting this event, so just how much of our subscription have they put into this event? So we can witness some ‘celebrity’ climbers create a load of hot air. I say bring on “Celebrity Climber Death Match”, we can all debate a scoring system!