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 start working on a possible fourth B. This is a funny one, as it doesn’t really cover the technique, it is however something that if you can master will help keep you cool in a crisis, as such it is more a mental technique for keeping calm.
It is of course breathing, whether it is bouldering or climbing hard trad, breathing is a key ingredient to success. First without breathing as we climb we are less likely to be able to recover, as we need Oxygen to do that, and breathing is the very process that does this. Written down it may sounds like I am talking total rubbish, but next time you are at a wall or out bouldering or trying something really hard, ask you climbing partner to see if you are taking regular breaths. As it is not uncommon for someone faced with a challenging problem or few moves to take a deep breath and go for it, only breathing when they reach the end or fall off.
Now is the time to start to develop an awareness of your breathing, so when you are bouldering or climbing hard routes, try using a mantra like, “and…..breathe”, where you imagine yourself saying ‘and’ on the inhalation, and ‘breathe’ on the exhalation. Maybe take some time to try some boulder problems that are at 80% of your max with this new technique, so that it becomes more natural for you to breathe when getting on harder stuff.
Breathing is also and excellent indicator of our response to fear, as the cascading of hormones through us that lead to the realease of adrenalin lead to a rapid reduction in tidal volume (amount of air per breathe) and increase breathing rate, as well as raising our heart rate. A further problem is this shot of adrenalin can also narrow our focus, breaking what we might call our flow. One trick to break this mind to body reaction is to use a body to mind response.
So don’t let the adrenalin take over automatically, instead use you knowledge of this to force yourself to fight those physical responses, and slow your breathing down, and increase the tidal volume, by taking long and deep breathes. Add a mantra like “Reeeeeee – Laaaaxxxxxx”, (‘Re’ on the inhalation and ‘Lax’ on the exhalation) can help you to not only slow your breathing down but send a direct message to your brain to slow down and relax. As the frantic nature of the mind during an attack of the ‘fear’ on a route, will stop you climbing anywhere near your maximum.
As you are slowing your breathing down, take time to focus on one thing, then slowly and deliberate widen your focus, until you can start to see things like foot holds, gear and a way out. Don’t expect this to work the first time you try it, it takes about 20 session of practice to master breathing exercise, it is an excellent way to combat anxiety on the cliff.
Exercises 1 – Music
If you have watched Inception there is a part in the film where they sync there bodies to music. It is possible to do this with relaxation. At first you need to find a peice of music that you find relaxing, then simiply spend 15 miniutes a day trying to relax to it. When you are climbing you will be able to imagine that song, and you will have associated through practice with a relaxed state.
Exercise 2 – Breathing Mantra
If you have access to a heart rate monitor you can try this whilst wearing it, and see if you can get your pulse rate down over the space of 5 minutes, then 3 minutes then 1 minute, and then three breaths. The alternative is to simply take the number of pulse beats over 10 seconds and times it by 6 prior to the relaxation session and then again at the end. You should notice that over time, usually around twenty sessions that you relax quicker and quicker.
If you use the Mantra ‘Reeee’ – ‘Laaaaax’ as you breath in and out you can control your breathing into nice slow, deep and cleansing breaths.