The Send is a Necessary Piece of the Process
“It's all about the journey.”
After carefully curating my Instagram feed to get rid of most of the Moonboarding videos, I've been left with hundreds of posts every day that are trying to sell me the same message.
It's the process that's important."
"It's not about success and failure, it's only about days out with friends."
"Sending doesn't matter because I do it all for the journey."
Their journey is missing a valuable piece. The send.
We talk a lot around here about how important it is to place value on the process - on the podcast, with our clients, and during our workshops with other coaches, climbers, and parents. We believe that. Hell, we sell a journal we call the Process Journal. But we also want to send. Denying that is making an excuse for never actually putting yourself on the line.
Why is that we try to assign value to the goal setting, the training, the work put in to learn the moves and subtleties of each sequence, the scheduling to get to the project, the communication with our partners, battling the jitters we get while tying in - but when we fail, we try to pretend it doesn't matter?
Be honest with yourself. Of course it fucking matters…
WANT MORE? READ THE REST IN: The Hard Truth: Simple Ways to Become a Better Climber
Skaters do one important thing much better than climbers: they chase mastery instead of success.
It's exactly the same amount of challenging for you no matter what number anyone attaches to it.
How often do you give 100%? REALLY give 100%? I make my living coaching climbers, and I seldom see a climber try their hardest. Myself included.
While in the gym, for the most part, boulderers are closer than sport climbers to training the correct way.
It's easy to get discouraged by how quickly the pros seem to put down the hardest projects.
I get it. Talking is easier than doing. What it isn't, however, is nearly as satisfying.
Nate snapped the banana in half. Clean break, right through the middle. Like a ninja.
You can almost always find a reason to continue training the short-sighted way.
There is NO single workout that any group of people can follow to get the optimum results for each of them.
Newbs, rejoice! You get a whole post. A short one, but your very own set of training wheels.
So how do you get better faster? There's a simple answer. You don't.
After much deliberation over a list of about 25, I've decided on the 5 ways I see experienced climbers derail their progression.
I hear them coming from every corner of the gym… excuses.
The fact is, you WILL NEVER get to within earshot of your potential if you don't have a complete skill set.
Our egos are ruthless. I've seen climbers stop a workout early because they didn't want to "look bad".
Fact is, seeing the "chains" as the sole representation of success is holding you back.
A climber since 1994, Kris was a traddie for 12 years before he discovered the gymnastic movement inherent in sport climbing and bouldering. Through dedicated training and practice, he eventually built to ascents of 5.14 and V11.
Kris started Power Company Climbing in 2006 as a place to share training info with his friends, and still specializes in working with full time "regular" folks. He's always available for coaching sessions and training workshops.
Redpointing is an ultimate success built on the backs of many failures.