Training Weaknesses

Q: Hey Timy, hope all is well. I was wondering something about my training and was hoping you might have some good advice.

What is the best way to isolate and train your weaknesses in climbing? It seems like an easy question but as the season is kicking in again around here I am finding certain movement harder than others duh… but can never really predict what those might be. Even though the movement is always different I think they may all be linked to the same root cause which I cannot quite identify. I want to learn how to be more cognisant of this and learn more from myself so I can have more productive system training etc…

Guess we can all agree that training your weaknesses are good but it can get fuzzy identifying what those weaknesses are and how to train for them. Does this make sense? So I am wondering if you have some sort of system inside your head that helps you to be more aware and to remember (after the day of climbing is over) what it was that held you back from doing a problem.

Regards,

Chris Carpenter (Albuquerque, NM)
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R: Great Question. This is one of the most difficult aspects of training to address especially if you are a self-coached athlete like most adult climbers. Coaches often experience difficulty identifying and isolating weaknesses. This is why I am an advocate of video review so that you can see yourself climbing and really study the minutia of your technique.

One of the best way to scrutinize yourself is through calling upon the observation of a 3rd party who is capable of giving constructive criticism. This could be a friend, training partner or private trainer. A qualitative analysis of your technique on different styles of climbing can be invaluable. Self-evaluation is alos great. You can list all of the types of climbing that you despise, make you uncomfortable or avoid at all costs and that will give you a great indication as to where to focus some of your energy.

Forcing yourself to climb in training formats and on routes/boulder problems selected or created by others is a great way to stimulate transformation in your climbing. Learning to prevail in an area of weakness has an amazing empowering effect on your confidence that transcend areas of strength. Being able to identify and confront your weaknesses is crucial to improving.

Working our weaknesses is not only one of the most difficult aspects of the improvement of our climbing but of our development as people. This is really what made my time training in Europe so valuable – I was forced to address my weaknesses to perform in competition. But more importantly, I was forced to adapt on a daily level with the people, culture and learning a new language. We have to adapt the personality trait of someone who is not afraid to see ourselves for who we are.

As I confronted and learned a tremendous amount (sometimes painfully) about myself my climbing blew up. All of my foreign friends, training partners and in particular my patient coach, Gilles Bernigolle, are to thank for allowing me the opportunity to transform myself under the guise of pushing my climbing. My coach’s knowledge of psychology and ability to read me as a person was more important than his knowledge of climbing training throughout the process of improving my climbing competition results. The more that we seek this process on a personal level in all areas of our lives the more we will be able to address it in athletics. This is the base upon which mastery is built.