Category Archives: mental skills

Posts that include some of the major mental skills for sporting performance that sport psychologist suggest should be focus on to improve performance. In the most part these mental skills are looked at from the perspective of a rock climber

Mental Skill Workshop for Climbing Instructors – 6th Nov – Beacon

This workshop covers a selection of mental skills and how to introduce them to climbers. Mental Skills are psychology techniques that can enhance performance, and reduce the negative effects of anxiety than plays a large role in the sport of … Continue reading

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10 Mental Skills of a Successful Cimber

Climbing in general isn’t a sport about winning over a competitor, it is more about setting your own goals and achieving them. Whatever the grade, the style of climbing or indeed the level of commitment, climbing is a great sport … Continue reading

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The Fourth B in the 3 B’s of Technique

Just as Douglas Adams had five books in his trilogy, I am going to suggest that after you have mastered those first 3 B’s of good technique – boot, body and balance and worked on you technique then you can … Continue reading

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What Areas are Blind, Hidden or Unknown to You?

When I was in south america working for the MTS. I had to teach some american teaching and outdoor education strategies one of them below was called the Johari Square. This isn’t some fancy foriegn name, but the first bits … Continue reading

Posted in Climbing, Coaching, Confidence, fear, mental skills, Rock Climbing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Failure: Is Not an Option?

I was once at the scene of a very distressing top out after a friend of mine was at the top of a really hard and difficult route. A route that still puts the fear of god into me even … Continue reading

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Coaching Workshops @ LLAMFF

After chatting to the organisers at LLAMFF, it looks like I am going to be delivering some coaching workshops through the Beacon Climbing Centre. As well as giving a slideshow of Rock Climbing in the Americas. If you are interested … Continue reading

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In the Blink of an Eye

I have just been reading the bellselling book BLINK, its about snap decision making, and whilst not about climbing it has some interesting concepts about intuition and sub-conscious thought. For me as a climbing instructor I thought it as an … Continue reading

Posted in anxiety, Book Review, Climbing, Confidence, mental skills, Skill Acquisition, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

New Coaching and Instructing Website

Well I have been busy trying to finish off a new website for my coaching and instructing website, Snowdonia Mountain Guides. Moving it to a joomla based website. Hopefully it is more user friendly than this blog and the previous … Continue reading

Posted in Big Wall Climbing, Bouldering, Climbing, Coaching, Coaching skills, Confidence, dream of white horses, dreams, Effective practice, Escaping the System, goal setting, Goals, How to Climb Harder, Instruction, learning, mental skills, online, Rock Climbing, Rope Rescue, Skill Acquisition, Technique, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

MSc in Applied Sport Science

I recently recieved the news that I have passed my MSc in Applied Sports Sciences. With so many coaches out there, what does this mean for any clients that I work with? Well, during my masters I studied Sport Psychology, … Continue reading

Posted in adventure, anxiety, Climbing, Coaching, Coaching skills, Confidence, Effective practice, goal setting, Goals, How to Climb Harder, imagery, learning, mental skills, MSc Applied Sport Science, Rock Climbing, Self talk, Self-belief, self-efficacy, Skill Acquisition, sports, Technique, Uncategorized, visualisation | Tagged | Leave a comment

Focusing on Success

Our ability to focus on the task of rock climbing, often means that we can utilise all of our technique and tactics to succeed on our chosen route. It is often a question of being able to focus on the … Continue reading

Posted in champion, Climbing, Coaching, Coaching skills, Focus, mental skills, Self-belief, self-efficacy, Uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment