climbing is 33% mental

the bouldering area at the spire climbing center, bozeman, montana

(image taken from their website)

in eric horst's training for climbing, climbing is described as equal parts technical, physical, and mental. (as opposed to his breakdowns of golf, as 50% technical, 40% mental, 10% physical, or the 100 meter dash, as 80% physical, 10% technical, 10% mental)

anyways, it would follow that if every part is just as important as the others, and one is falling short in one area, it's going to affect overall performance.

woah! cool huh? rant time!

so after that nice little intro, i have to admit that bozeman has been a motivational dud as far as my climbing is concerned. none of the current problems in the gym are very difficult move for move, but they're all really, really long compared to what i'm used to. the atmosphere is radically different than stonewalls, the music is too mellow, no one wants to work on stuff with ya, or even talk to each other. and strangely, i feel intimidated by the amount of strong climbers in this community, and it keeps me from trying stuff because i don't want to fail and get judged. every time i've been to the gym in the past few weeks i've left feeling like i didn't get anywhere in the hour i spent trying to climb, that i sucked at climbing, basically, not having fun...

i took a few days off from climbing, then came back today and for whatever reason, felt so much better. i was able to climb problems that stumped me before. but most importantly, i got over myself and decided to actually try stuff, and quit bitching about it. even though it was still just an hour and some change, i had fun today. hoping to build off that.

also, the weather is looking good for this weekend, and i really want to get out on the rock. (probably the main reason i've been going crazy)