Why did you fall off of your project?
Seriously. Think back to the last session on your current project. Replay the climb in your your mind. Now focus on the exact moment that you fell off of the climb. What was the reason you fell?
Be honest with yourself. Were you so pumped that you literally couldn’t keep yourself on the wall? Did you foot slip? Did you barn door? Did you miss a low percentage type-move? Was one of the holds just too small to use?
The easiest way for you not to fall off of the climb next time is for you to fix THAT problem. Get specific with it - don’t just try the whole thing again and hope that things work themselves out this time. If you fell off because you were pumped get in the gym and work on your endurance. Learn how to properly find and use rests. Learn to breath and shake out.
If you fell off because the crimps that you needed to use were too small get to work on strengthening up your fingers. Work on a hangboard. Isolate the issue.
If you barn-doored then find a better body position or foot hold to adjust your center of gravity.
If you just plain didn’t try hard enough - then before the next time you get on your project think about what it would feel like to try harder than you ever have before. Then while your climbing keep that idea in your mind and use 100% of your GRRR on the crux.
If you didn’t fall, but instead backed down because of the fear of falling - maybe above your last clip or pro then get in the gym and work on fall training!
It’s very easy to excuse your failures with excuses like “That climb is just too hard”, but if you eventually want to do the climb then the first step is realizing how you need to adapt to negotiate the moves.
I was recently given this advice and I was lucky enough to have video footage of myself of my latest project - Ride the Lightning, v6, in Pawtuckaway State Park. I have 10 or so takes of me falling off of the crux move, and one take of me actually sticking it. I pulled up my closest attempt that I still fell off on and watched it over and over again in rapid succession, trying to take in all of the nuances of my body position and movement. Then I pulled up the clip when I stuck the move.
It looked exactly the same to me. So what gives? I thought, Did I just get lucky on one burn, or try harder? It sure didn’t look like I was trying harder when I stuck the move. In fact it looked like I was trying a lot less. So I took screenshots of the frame right as I was about to touch the crux hold from both clips, lined them up in photoshop, and behold:
My hips! I sucked my hips into the wall just a little bit more on my best attempt, and flagged my right foot just slightly higher for a little more opposition against the barn door.
What I’m trying to convey is that even if you think you’ve heard this kind of advice before and don’t feel like it will help you - you still fell off of your hardest project, because it’s still a project. If you can find a way to correct that one issue it might be just enough to get you the rest of the way up the climb. If you have video of yourself climbing - watch it - you’ll be amazed how much you can learn from watching yourself climb. If you don’t - try setting up a camera or a cell phone to record next time you’re working your project if possible - if you don’t send that day it may help you in the future (and if you do send you can make sick videos from the footage!)
Unfortunately it is the middle of January and snowing wet snow outside right now - but with this knowledge in hand my chances of sending are going to be much higher the next time I get on this climb.
