Mental Training

Your nervous system calls upon neuroplasticity and motor learning for all kinds of activities. Might as well include rock climbing.

Enjoy these three chapters—The Summit, Copyright on Enjoyment, and Erasing Art—from our former Editor-in-Chief's newest book, 'The Zen of Climbing'

Improving your mental-game can be easy. Seriously.

Heidi Wirtz, pro climber and yogi, shares 5 reasons climbers should take up yoga

Arousal regulation and mental toughness are crucial for success on climbs at your limit. Knowing when to activate your mind and how to control it takes practice, and here Justen Sjong shares his insight.

When your comfort zone is pushed, you become more curious, more adventurous, more dynamic—a better climber.

"Female climbers are often less confident than their male counterparts, but it’s nurture, not nature. And that’s something we can beat."

On October 20, Aidan Roberts made the second ascent of “Alphane,” a V17 established by Shawn Raboutou in Switzerland last spring. We caught up with Aidan to chat about it.

After climbing every bolted route below 5.9 in Boulder Canyon, Kevin Corrigan learns an essential truth about rock climbing.

Falling is as integral to climbing as climbing itself, yet it creates fear that you must address correctly—and you must learn proper falling technique in order to fall safely.

The science behind fear and how to overcome it to achieve your climbing goals.

"The bottom line is that climbing your best and pushing yourself are sometimes uncomfortable."

Want to climb harder? You'll probably need these mental tricks.

The tougher you are mentally, the easier tough things will feel and the quicker you can recalibrate in the face of adversity.

How do top climbers stay so relaxed, precise, and controlled in their movements, right up to the point where they fall? Here's where to start.

Send more routes first go with savvy planning and execution.

Climbing gyms are great. But you can also train for climbing by climbing outside. Here are eight tips from veteran crusher Chris Schulte.

Visualization techniques for improving recovery and pushing limits.

When we're in a flow state we not only climb our best but also feel our best—it doesn’t matter if we fail because we know we could not have done any better.

Falling is part of climbing. But so, occasionally, is not falling.

Check out Climbing Staff's author page.

Is it true that the most effective way to improve your climbing is to simply climb? Yes. At least up to a certain point.

Trying mini-projects, routes that will take you a few days instead of a few weeks, replicate the long-term project cycle in a compressed time period, simulating the mental and emotional components of limit redpointing.

Check out Carlo Traversi's author page.

Understand, manage, and channel your anger to climb your hardest

When we practice falling, we’re practicing a physical skill, but we’re also addressing fear and how the mind uses attention, which are mental-training issues.

Shout, shout, let it all out. Harness your bestial power scream for ultimate sending

Your mind is motivated by achievement, causing you to easily slip into practicing falling to get it over with.

Check out Arno Ilgner's author page.

This lesson builds on everything you've learned by outlining components for building your falling skill incrementally.

You may do everything right and still injure yourself. Climbing and falling are like that. But, you can mitigate this possibility by being skeptical of the mind—your mind.

Falling isn’t something you can decide not to do, it’s one consequence of your choice to climb. Embrace it responsibly.

I wanted the send as much as my son. Invested emotionally in his success and full of doubt about my own belaying ability, could I be the partner he needed on his hardest route?

Why “get ‘er done” doesn’t work

Check out Stefani Dawn's author page.

Check out Matt Samet's author page.

Check out Nina Williams's author page.

Check out Nina Williams's author page.

Check out Arno Ilgner's author page.

Develop a ritual to ground you in the moment

Get comfortable going airborne so you can let go and climb

Check out James Lucas's author page.

Check out Johanna Flashman's author page.

Pro climber Nina Williams talks about her mindset and training for taking on new challenges.

Pro climber Heather Weidner gives advice for expanding boundaries.

How to learn to enjoy the climbing process and not get discouraged by failing

Check out Climbing Staff's author page.

Check out Climbing Staff's author page.

Expert advice for climbing tall boulders

Check out Nina Williams's author page.