Reddit Reddit reviews The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training for Climbers

We found 26 Reddit comments about The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training for Climbers. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training for Climbers
Recommended Use: climbingPublisher: Desiderata InstituteISBN#: 0974011274Author: Arno IlgnerPublication Date: 2003
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26 Reddit comments about The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training for Climbers:

u/notaresponsibleadult · 90 pointsr/climbing

Lead climbing should be scary when you start out. The fear is just your lizard brain trying to keep you from killing yourself. Your lizard brain doesn't understand that the equipment will keep you safe, it just sees a rope going from your waist down instead of up, and it freaks out. Your lizard brain is just trying to look out for you, but your rational brain knows better. You have to train your lizard brain to shut up. Doing that takes work. The only way to make lead climbing not scary is to train in falling.

There are safe falls, and there are dangerous falls. You can't trust yourself in the moment to figure out which is which, so it's always a good idea to figure out where any dangerous falls are before you get on a route. As soon as you start climbing, you're going to decide that every fall is a dangerous fall, so make up your mind on the ground. Try to see positions that you'd clip from, and what would happen if you were to fall while clipping - the worst case scenario. From the ground you can imagine the fall and rope stretch, and it won't look that bad. Once you're on the wall, it'll probably seem like a guaranteed ground fall, because your lizard brain is losing it's marbles. Anyway, in a gym, all falls after the first bolt or two are almost always safe (assuming you have a good belayer!). Even so I find it useful to image the different falls I could take.

The point of that last bit is to separate rational fear from irrational fear. I'm only going to focus on training away irrational fear, where you're scared but you wouldn't actually get hurt by a fall. You're at the gym, you've looked at a climb and decided it would actually be safe to fall anywhere. Now it's time to get on and fall.

If you're anything like I was when I first started lead climbing, you'll probably make a clip, then pause since you now feel "safe". There's the idea that each bolt is an island of safety in dangerous waters. I'm going to keep assuming that you think like I did when I was starting out because it seems common based on talking to friends learning to lead. Could be wrong though.

At this point you're going to ask yourself "do I have enough strength to reach the next bolt?" This is a bad mental state. You should be focusing on the next few moves, not where the bolts are. If you're unsure, you'll want to ask your belayer to take. Don't do it! Either keep climbing, or if you're feeling too scared, just let go. It'll pretty much be a top rope fall at this point. Asking the belayer to take is forbidden when you're training in falling. Your only options are to climb or let go.

Once you realize that small top rope falls are no big deal, start making a few moves above the bolt. You may also freeze up here. You'll wonder if you can make the next bolt, and want to downclimb to the previous one. Don't do it! When you downclimb, you're training yourself that falling a few moves above the bolt is somehow dangerous. Downclimbing is a very common, but very bad habit. Instead, just pause. Hold on a bit. If you can hold on, you're proving that you're not that tired, and you probably could have made more moves. Then let go and take a small fall.

Once you get used to doing that, try pausing again. This time, instead of just letting go, throw for the next hold, but don't try to catch it. The goal is to fall while moving from hold to hold, rather than just letting go.

Not so bad is it? So the next thing is try for the next hold, and this time try to actually catch it. If you do, repeat that and try to get the next hold. Continue until you fall (clipping bolts along the way, obviously). Falling while trying really hard to climb means that you're no longer being blocked by fear. Congrats! You're focusing on the individual moves, rather than the bolts and the falls. Now you should be able to lead close to your top roping grade.

Now those rules are simple, but that doesn't mean they're easy. There is fear at each step that takes practice to overcome. The point is to avoid making habits that will hurt your lead climbing. Even when you nail things one day, the fear can come back the next. Training your lead head is like training a muscle. It needs to be regularly exercised. Given time and consistent practice, it'll get strong though.

One other thing I want to mention is that you should really avoid top roping once you start leading. By top roping you're training yourself that leading is somehow more dangerous. A common pattern I see is where people want to top rope a hard climb before leading it. If the falls are safe, what's the point? You're just reinforcing that lead climbing is scary. If you treat lead climbing like something to work your way up to, it'll stay scary. The point is to make it routine.

When I first started lead climbing, my friend lent me this book, which really helped https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Warriors-Way-Training-Climbers/dp/0974011215. It seemed a bit cheesy at first, but it contains a lot of wisdom.

Good luck!

u/squishy_boots · 13 pointsr/climbing

Rather than claiming to know the answers to your personal problems, I'll point you to two resources that have helped me greatly:

  • The Rock Warriors Way: This book deems it self as "Mental training for climbers", but it is so much more than that. As you mention, "climbing forces these sorts of lessons upon us all" and this book acknowledges that, walking you through the borderline spiritual journey of the author and providing great lessons for the reader
  • 9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes: This is a training book that avoids quantitive goals (like, 3 sets of X followed by a 4 minute break) and talks instead of a number of the physical/technique/psychological problems we all commonly face in improving as climbers. It opened my mind to new approaches to escaping self-carved ruts in my training.

    Hope these help.
u/TundraWolf_ · 10 pointsr/climbing

I'd highly recommend this: https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Warriors-Way-Training-Climbers/dp/0974011215

It talks at length about rational fear vs irrational fear.

You shouldn't be thinking about falling in a way that keeps you from climbing hard. You should worry about it enough to know that your leg isn't behind the rope, etc.

Trust the system, trust your belayer. Read the book.

u/krovek42 · 8 pointsr/climbing

read The Rock Warrior's Way. It's really important to work on your internal dialogue that runs in your head while you climb. Instead of think things like "don't fall," you need to be thinking only of your next move. The thing that has helped me a lot is warming up a lot on easier leads and focusing on doing every move really efficiently. This has helped me plan and execute moves on harder climbs without wasting movement and energy.

with that being said, getting over the fear of falling also requires that you do it. Keep at it and keep going!

u/MastadonInfantry · 6 pointsr/bouldering

Good job. Check out this book if you want to work on your mental game
https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Warriors-Way-Training-Climbers/dp/0974011215

u/lostlogic · 5 pointsr/relationship_advice

Focus on yourself. If she doesn't want to be with you, it's probably (whether she can see it or not) something about you. Most likely it's your own insecurity that she can sense; women don't want to be with someone who isn't OK without them. You need to learn to stop thinking about whether you are good enough for her or not and learn to think about your own value and about what skills you have in your skillset that will help you be a better, stronger, happier lover in the future. If you do that, something amazing will happen; you will stop needing her to come back in order to be OK. Then she will either come back or she won't and you'll be able to step forward in your life regardless of what she does. Remember: the only thing you can control is yourself.

I highly recommend the book "The Rock Warriors Way" by Arno Ilgner ( http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Warriors-Way-Training-Climbers/dp/0974011215/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262293194&sr=8-1 ) --
it's somewhat oriented toward those who climb rocks, but I think that the philosophical principles within apply universally.

u/WorldClassCactus · 5 pointsr/climbing

I've observed these self-defeating behaviors from all kinds of people who climb a very wide variety of grades... notably an almost-5.12-climbing friend of mine. The frustration threshold at which a negative attitude emerges varies for different people, and can totally shut down anyone's progress.

Unfortunately, my experience has been that you can't help these people much. I don't know if there is a way to convince someone to keep climbing, improve and overcome... they have to want it for themselves. I think part of the motivation comes from confidence - a conviction that they could become really good if they kept trying, but a genuine form of that only comes from within.

If you push her to do specific exercises, she will likely have a negative reaction to it. So I'd say only be her coach if she specifically seeks out coaching. Maybe the best thing for you to do is have fun with this person and try to make climbing enjoyable to her. Sadly, no shortcuts. Essentially she will take steps to improve on her own when she wants to.

Check out arno ilgner's rock warrior's way, though it might not be that useful to an early beginner.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Rock-Warriors-Way-Training/dp/0974011215

u/Ronadon · 5 pointsr/climbing

I don't climb nearly as hard as you do but when I went through a similar thing I went to the gym a few times and made it a point not to TR anything. I only lead so as I warmed up and then climbed harder I was inevitably falling. After a few trips I felt really confident on my leads. I've never read this book but maybe it would help you if you haven't read it either http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Warriors-Way-Training-Climbers/dp/0974011215/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323089648&sr=1-1

u/AnderperCooson · 4 pointsr/climbing

I don't know if you're going to find much on training mental aspects of climbing in a bouldering setting. For most people, fear of falling and trusting gear are the largest mental barriers. The gear side we can completely ignore, because there's essentially no gear you need to trust. The falling side is the same as falling with ropes--take falls to train falls. Start small, gradually get bigger. On the other hand, it seems like most people are far more comfortable taking falls bouldering than they are leading, so if mentality on the sharp end is your ultimate goal, you just need to tie in and take falls.

The Rock Warrior's Way and 9 Out of 10 Climbers Make the Same Mistakes are both great books for climbing mentality, but again, the focus will be on ropes, not bouldering.

u/Calculated_Risk · 3 pointsr/climbing
u/totesmadoge · 3 pointsr/climbergirls

I don't know of any training programs geared toward just women. If you're really into a detailed training program, the Rock Climber's Training Manual is about as detailed as it could be. I've also used training techniques from How to Climb 5.12 and Rock Warrior's Way, which is more mental training than physical.

Slopers also tend to be hard for me. The key is really to pull directionally, so use your core to get your body close to the wall, then pull on the sloper toward your center of gravity. Don't try to grab it or crimp it with your fingers--you want as much skin on the hold as you can get.

As far as the shoes go, if you have a good amount of rubber left on the toes, keep using them! New shoes can give you a real mental boost if you want to get a new pair--maybe don't go too aggressive--maybe something like 5.10 anasazis or la sportiva miura lace ups.

u/yea-bruh · 3 pointsr/climbing

If you haven't heard of it yet, I think you'd really enjoy the rock warrior's way. It's a wonderful book about how to focus and engage with fear in a methodical way. There's a follow-up of practical exercises in Espresso Lessons. Both these books put the whole thought process into the clearest words I've ever read or heard.

u/pineapple_wolf · 3 pointsr/climbergirls

Check out [The Rock Warrior’s Way](The Rock Warrior’s Way: Mental Training for Climbers https://www.amazon.com/dp/0974011215/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_7wPADbGRK5CAN). It’s a great book that trains your mental game for climbing and it’s helped me a lot with that inner voice.

Also, for bouldering try and do some falls from certain sections of the wall that are in your control.

u/Nicker05 · 2 pointsr/climbing

You can try The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training for Climbers by Arno Ilgner. (Here's the Amazon page). The instructors at my gym recommended it and my wife and I found it to be a helpful read to face these situations.

u/fourdoorshack · 2 pointsr/climbing

They are unproven. Try this instead.

u/jbnj451 · 2 pointsr/climbing

This. I love The Rock Warrior's Way. And I practice falls like its a religion. I'm not really a very good climber, but damn, I can tie a knot and I can take a fall.

u/slopers · 2 pointsr/climbing

The Rock Warrior's Way was pretty mind blowing. It's not a book about a climbing adventure, it's more of a tool to conquer the mental side of climbing.

u/azdak · 1 pointr/climbing

The Rock Warrior's Way describes a great technique for getting over a fear of lead falls that you can apply to this.

Basically, clip into an autobelay, Climb 5 feet up, and fall. Then climb 7 feet up and fall. Then climb 10 feet up and fall. etc etc.

It's all about building trust in the mechanical system. You don't trust it now because you're not used to it. Once you build up familiarity with the feeling of the system working perfectly as intended, you won't have that feat of the unknown when you're high up and feeling like you're gonna fall.

u/ctb3 · 1 pointr/climbing

Read The Rock Warrior's Way This book changed my climbing overnight.

u/JawjeenerBrooke · 1 pointr/climbergirls

I once got told that the thing holding me back from climbing was that I didn't want it enough. Which pissed me off but I listened. I read 'The Rock Warrior's Way' (http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Rock-Warriors-Way-Training/dp/0974011215) which was amazing, it literally gave me no fear. The downside was that in my no fear state I attempted a 5b trad grit route and fell way above my gear, twice, the second time my gear popped and I was inches from decking. Now I think a small amount of fear of heights is quite useful and I stopped reading the book....

u/BaphodZeeblebrox · 1 pointr/climbharder

Obligatory - Read "The Rock Warrior's Way" comment. (Seriously though, this is definitely addressed, and should pretty much be required reading for all climbers.)

http://warriorsway.com/products/

or via Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Warriors-Way-Training-Climbers/dp/0974011215

u/rindin · 1 pointr/climbing
u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/climbing

Every single climber should read the Rock Warrior's Way. It will change how you view not only climbing but your whole life.

I mention this because it is relevant to this "my arms are too short" topic and similar things that come up in the climbing community ("I can't crimp hard enough. This hold is too small. If only my shoes fit better. I wish I could train more. I wish I wasn't pumped. Etc etc..."). This book teaches you how to overcome these types of mental obstacles. It's a fantastic read. Good luck, climb hard.

Find it here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Rock-Warriors-Way-Training/dp/0974011215/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332230261&sr=8-1

u/middleclasshomeless · 1 pointr/Fitness

To improve in climbing you need sport specific training and weight loss.

The loss of ten pounds even when I am out of shape can drastically improve my climbing.

I highly recommend:
Training for Climbing

How to Climb 5.12
The Rock Warriors Way

I have heard that Dave Macleod's book
and Self Coached Climber
are also really good.