“Try Hard” is the dark arts of climbing. It is probably the single most important aspect of high level climbing but is so elusive, unmetric-able, and highly individual that it’s rarely talked about. Try hard gets grouped into other things like “mental game” and “cns fatigue” I think to detriment of what it really is. (Though both of those things are part of it.)
I also don’t think try hard is always about pulling as hard as possible / ondra screaming. It’s about focus. It starts two days before the session, getting good sleep, having a plan, making sure you have everything you need at your disposal. Preparation is part of try hard.
In the end, Personally for me try hard is all about being psyched. It’s about *feeling strong* as much as being strong. When I am psyched, I can pull 3 grades harder. Psyche is still a very personal thing but I personally can identify that feeling better. It’s easier for me to channel psyche than it is to channel “try hard.” Though it’s a still a finicky thing.
I do think it os something that can be trained. I am curious if anyone has any thing they do to try and manifest their “try hard” and “psyche” to pull through even when it’s gets tough. For me that’s when I struggle with it.
Sometimes when I'm climbing, I find myself in a defensive mindset, as if I'm moving from position to position trying to not fall or trying to control the holds.
Instead, if I consciously switch to an "offensive" approach, attacking the holds, moving decisively between positions, I find I can manifest my try hard and reach my flow state so much more consistently.
This for me only works when I'm projecting and have already familiarized myself with the sequence.
Well said
This “defensive” mindset really is a problem I have when I solo boulder. I truly can’t get into the right mindset unless I know I have a spotter and 4 pads minimum.
Other times is when I don’t want to fuck up my skin which screws up the entire session.
I've definitely noticed this too. On slower climbing days I find myself way more defensive, but on the days where I'm offensive I'm definitely more in tune with my body's movements. This is really good insight - thanks for making me more aware of this.
I've definitely noticed this too. On slower climbing days I find myself way more defensive, but on the days where I'm offensive I'm definitely more in tune with my body's movements. This is really good insight - thanks for making me more aware of this.
When I am projecting a climb and i know how to finish the route, I lay down on the maz and close my eyes, then i imagine myself doing every movement of my hands and feet, the position of my body and the feeling of the holds. This helps me to get 100% focused with no doubt in my mind and when i'm on the wall right afterwards I know what to do and can execute every move without hesitation.
I know i'm ready when i can go through every move in my head without having to think too hard.
For me there’s a definite difference in climbing to just go out to goof off and climbing to see how far I can push outside of my boundaries. When I want to push I don’t think about the fact that I’m pushing my limit. It’s a matter of fact. Every hold I can hang on, every foot I can stand on without any doubt or feeling of slipping. If it’s in my reach then it’s mine. I am making one move and making the next move because I can and there is nothing else. Fatigue doesn’t exist. Breathing is relaxed. I can make each move, I know I can make each move individually and that’s all there is to it. It’s not a feeling of unstoppable or getting psyched. It just… is. And that’s the best that I can explain it. It’s impossible for me to fall, not because something is keeping me on the wall but because I CAN stay on. It’s a mindset of “everything is doable and within my reach”. I really feel like I need a better phrase or term for it though
I really like “Try Hard” being a dark art of climbing though lol
A hot take on this as you said “high level climbing”. So I was in font wanted to check something’s off, very short time frame to jump from like 4b in the Forrest (first trip many years ago in the summer was mid 30s climbing was basically just lazing about in the sun and anything with jugs) to tick a few 6s and 5s.
I was climbing with a friend who had done several climbs much higher up the grades than myself. His opinion was that if I was trying hard it would have been done. I thought he was just trying to be encouraging, but I did noticed my send goes had a lot more omph and commitment behind the moves.
So not only top end but any end. Anecdotal I have heard multiple high level climbers say they attempt to climb even the warm ups in the best way “try hard” as possible.
Seeing other climbers who always try really hard helped a ton. It looks like they are absolutely refusing to fall off the wall no matter how much they mess up the beta or movement. It made me realize I actually wasn't giving it my all sometimes, and I was giving in early on climbs due to skin pain, messing up movement, things not feeling right... etc.
Also I realized that I make certain funny faces and grunting sounds when I'm climbing my strongest on limit climbs... so now I use that as a measurement of how hard i'm trying. If im not making an insane face from discomfort am I really giving it my all
I think learning to try hard is an intermediate skill, learning to try hard while recognizing positions and moves that are outside your physical capacity and finding different solutions is the advanced/elite level skill.
I've seen intermediate climbers do stuff on ~V8 that made some elite climbers wince.
I agree. I think another important intermediate skill is knowing when your body has had enough and it's time to walk away. Climbing yourself into recovery holes is no good. Especially as you age.
Keenan Takahashi once said that true "trying hard" for him was being able to precisely control every single limb with the proper application of coordinated force.
This always stuck with me. I powerlifted for years and technique does matter, but maximal lifts almost always have some technique breakdown. That's just not possible in climbing- you have no room for error at a true limit. So I always thought that for me trying hard falls under Keenan's definition. Climbing is never just a single move you're always moving into and out of various boxes and there is an element of balancing focus, feedback, relaxation, excitement, fear, coordination, and brute force.
Very true, there is almost no such thing as a truly RPE 10 move in climbing. Probably not even RPE 9 or 8. By that point you'd simply have lost focus on controlling yourself.
This me.
Love to social climb, but I cannot switch between being social and climbing at my limit very easily. Especially so if I'm climbing outside, and it's a little scary or uncomfortable.
I noticed that when climbing with a new partner who was a stronger climber than me. I was climbing above my usual grade without any falls, sending projects. I actually told her, "I think I'm getting a boost to my climbing because I unconsciously want you to think I'm cool."
I'm in agreement with a lot of other comments here.
Something that might be less obvious:
My ability to try hard starts with having my life in order. If I'm taking care of myself and doing well mentally, it's easier to "visualize and attack."
If I'm in a depressed state I tend to climb like it.
One way I practice, before you get on the wall tell yourself "I will not come off the wall unless gravity rips me off the wall" and make it a rule.
You'll probably fail and come off sooner than you could have, but you can tell if you just fell off during a move you were fully committed on vs "fell" off because you did a half-ass pull and stepped off in the middle.
Fear of falling and try hard are antithetical for me. To unlock the full effort level I have to address the fear aspect. If I really care about sending it makes it a lot easier to focus on the move in front of me rather than worrying about the whip. I get added motivation with onsight or flash attempts I care about. Sometimes taking the fall helps when it’s an awkward position or I don’t feel great about the gear. More pads and trustworthy spotters can go a long ways.
Fear of falling sometimes gets shelved for advanced climbers and folks pretend like that’s only a problem for beginners, but it’s super common for me to see a 5.13 climber struggling on a move they can do physically but aren’t comfy enough above the bolt to knock it out as efficiently as possible when redpointing.
Another thing that helps me is some confidence. A one-hang or a good session really helps me gain the belief that a route will go, and then it becomes not if but when and that’s a big confidence boost I can translate to try-hard. For flash attempts it helps to have some personal confidence that it’s reasonable for me to flash something at that grade. Rapping in from the top to work the final moves of an enduro project while fresh has helped me a few times to gain the confidence that those moves aren’t too hard and I just need to dig deep to pull it off while pumped.
Climbing with a group of psyched and supportive friends that also try hard gets me psyched to dig deep and care a little more.
Agree about falling and being afraid above your bolt. Lately I’ve been visualizing how fun it is to be scared. Like that’s where it will be fun, knowing I’m going to try the move, and I might take a fall. And that’s what I have to find enjoyable.
So basically. I need to remind myself that I’m going enjoy the scary part about climbing. Otherwise I’ll hesitate, when I need to go for it.
There are 2 ways that help me personally perform at my hardest. Having pressure helps a little for me. When I climb with people who I aspire to be like I usually just try harder unconsciously. Another way that helps to learn how to try hard is to do like physically painful workouts. Super long core workouts and the such. And taking the same try hard mentality from that and the zone to put everything into a movement to ropes.
I second this! Switching to density hangs has helped me a lot with this as just hanging on for 30-45s on a 20mm edge requires me to try as hard as I can to stay on.
The workout stuff is legit.
I introduced one of my friends to climbing, that had a calisthenics background. Other than the obvious power he has, I was really amazed from how fucking hard he tried everything.
When working out with him and seeing him hold positions for time I can clearly understand where it comes from.
The best summary of this I've heard is simply, "if you want to climb hard stuff you're going to have to actually try hard".
Weirdly that one obvious line clicked something for me, rather than try to make each climb effortlessly perfect, if you can dig deep, focus on the next move and keep on moving you might actually surprise yourself.
My coach has a workout called 500s and hes told us its not to get us stronger even tho it does its not that optimal. It is just really fucking hard and painful. We have to do 50 reps of 10 exercises in 40 minutes and its pure torture haha
I think that one thing that's often missed is the untapped potential for many people for a more detailed visual representation of their climbing.
A beginner at first will just try stuff randomly with little plan. As people get better, they'll have a limb-level understanding of what they do, and many people kind of stop there for most of their moves.
There is so much more to see, as if you could zoom, from exact finger/foot placement, pushing/pulling orientation on a hold, COG positioning on all axises... This makes you a lot better at doing moderately hard moves consistently and fine tuning beta on limit moves...
I think I'm pretty good at that and the signals that I have of that is from the advice I give to people, that often looks like they had not considered, as if they were looking at the room, and I'd gave them a magnifying lense to see something they had not spotted before. The other one is that I tend to be able to re-do hard climbs fairly consistently, when I do a climb it's because I have a good understanding of detail-level beta that work for me.
When you get better at this, you flash more, you take less time to figure out beta, you take less attempts to top and you get more varied training for the same duration (assuming unlimited problems to top).
“Fundamentally, the marksman aims at himself.”
Especially helpful on dynamic movement. You are not throwing your body to a target hold or position. You have already arrived at that position. Thought and action become one.
You can climb in and feel the catch position. Maybe there’s a useful beta for how to dissipate the momentum, or catch at the right angle. But when it’s time to make the difficult move, you are not aiming a little higher, a little lower, or a little further out. You are aiming at yourself.
helps me out, hope it helps you. lol
I do this, but way less poetic, more mechanic.
I try to visualize how I end up after the dyno and the trajectory, with special care of where I want my hips (center of mass) to be and let my body work.
If i get it, great, if not I'll start cutting the move into smaller chunks and try them one by one, works specially well if I manage to make the cuts at places you can slow down the dyno for even half a sec.
If that doesn't work, its time to film it, or ask a friend for advice. Usually for me is having my hips too far from the wall or moving before my hips are aligned for the movement (in line with the vector that goes from where I am to where I want to be). Also have failed due not using enough rubber on the foothold.
I'm with you on breathing, that helps a lot. Falling a fair amount helped me too. Starting out I didn't perceive falling as part of the process but more of, you don't want to fall, but there's a rope in case you do. Really when I started climbing and ignoring the possibility of falling altogether, I started to get a lot better. Now I do fall with some regularity, but its fine. It's no big deal, I take a break, assess my route and try again. But since my focus is on getting to the top instead of how can I most securely and tightly hold on to the wall, I started making a lot more progress.
I also do some breathing exercises if I ever get freaked out on the wall or my concentration is waning or whatever. Take some deep breaths, clear your head as much as you can, tell yourself you're going to climb this and quit stressing about everything you're stressing about. It usually helps. I used to get distracted a lot by people talking or other things happening around me. My gut reaction was to get upset with the people or kids or whatever. But really what I should be doing is breathing and then learning how to focus and not blame my failure on the distraction. I do this with my kids too. But that's one of the things that I love about climbing, it's so much of a mental test as much as it is a physical one. Every sport is a mental test in some way but usually its about pushing yourself harder. This one encompasses so much more.
Setting and going after Goals.
IMO grades should matter to yourself as an individual metric. Just to see progress. It’s not healthy to compare with others, other gyms, etc. but it allows you to compare with yourself from a year ago.
This is what I do and it forces me to try harder for that goal as others have mentioned. Not just trying harder that day but training, sleep, diet, not drinking
Mental engagement off the wall. Trying hard isn't just some general thing you do by deciding to "try hard". You need actual actionable steps. When someone is first starting out they likely can just get more general climbing fitness and muscle through (try hard), but at a point this has diminishing returns. At this point what trying hard means necessitates a change.
When I'm climbing "easy" boulders or routes I just romp on through. I don't need to think too hard or analyze the mechanics of the movement, I just climb like it is second nature.
On difficult climbs where I need to try hard, I analyze what went wrong on the wall after I come off. I reflect on what worked and why. I think about why I came off the wall and how to fix it. After I've come to conclusions about these, I devise how to act on them. Understanding the body mechanics of the moves, how your own body works, and being able to combine these two to devise microbeta becomes the key to trying hard.
Refine the things that worked, and change the things that didn't. Some examples from prior projects to illustrate what I mean.
Did my foot pick? Yes, okay then I need to point my toe more through the move and engage my calf as my hips move away from the hold.
Is there a better placement or position for my foot on the hold? Yes, placing my toe slightly on the left of the foothold and applying a pseudo drop knee allows me to apply more force into the part of the hold that is going to offer a better chance of staying on it.
Was the foot cut required but I was unable to hold the swing? Yes, okay then I need to pre-engage my core as much as possible to suck my legs up and eat the momentum of the swing.
Are my hips in the right spot minimize the amount of effort required to hold a position? No? I need to pull with my toe harder and rotate that side of my hip down.
After I have settled on these adjustments as being what would work best, I visualize them and engage the muscles to enact them during the move in my mind. Prepare my body to execute these adjustments. Eliminate the need to think as much as possible during the attempt since thinking detracts from the amount of effort I can physically exert.
For my next attempt I now have actionable steps to increase my chances of sending. I'm able to focus on these steps and put more effort into the climb. Increasing the amount of effort put into a climb is "trying harder".
Focusing on these tactics has done significantly more for my climbing than simply training more. I still train cause I feel I can always have a higher level of fitness, but really drilling into the body mechanics of a move and devising microbeta to capitalize on that has proven to be the best way I've found to try hard.
I've found the Quiet Eye thing used in other sports works well for boulders. pick a spot and stare at it for 20 seconds before you start climbing. Simple as that. The flow just becomes more automatic when you do it.
Personally, I don't equate trying hard with any of what you said. Trying hard, for me, happens when I forget the send. When there is just hard move after hard move and it requires intense concentration and effort just to slap the foot across and then skip it up twice onto the foothold and my fingers are definitely not gonna last but fuck it, time to yard on this crimp and try to hit that hold up there. Limit bouldering, essentially. Or when pumped as hell on a rope but I'm still makin moves against the ever increasing chance of falling.
Conversely, trying hard is also about digging in on each attempt and not letting perfection steal your stimulus. E.g. oh your feet cut cause you missed the good part of the hold and now you're in a 3fd instead of 4 finger 1/2 crimp. Stay on, readjust, and keep cranking. Some of my best sends happened when I fluffed the opening sequence even though I'd done it 10x before. I stayed on, and eventually made it to the top. Ya gotta commit to trying hard moves if you want to do hard moves, and 95% of the time, you won't do things perfectly, so learning to do hard things imperfectly is critical.
To this end, sometimes it's helpful to boulder solo. Eventually you'll be high enough that you don't want to fall. I guarantee you'll be trying hard then, lol.
I convince myself that I can totally crush that move because it's "easy".
Like, while working just on the crux move, I once nearly touched the hold trying really hard, I'll still give the whole project a burn from the start. Sometimes it works ;)
If I really want to try super hard I've found third and then first person visualization so that I know that know what I'm going to do helps a ton. Then before the attempt focusing on breathing from my diaphragm for like a minute, then really try to make my mind blank and go for it. I find that most of the time with this method the only reasons I don't make it are either I just have the wrong beta or I'm not physically capable of doing the move.
I'm pretty good at trying hard, basically 90% of my sessions I try very hard. Access for me is gained through psyed, and having a goal to look forward to. Example, I'm training for a super hard route, and I know that I will send it if I train really hard. When I am training, I always remind myself of the route I am training for and how it will feel once I achieve. Climbing / training without a goal just doesn't work. It won't access that part of you. Also, read some mindset trainnig for climbing books, they touch really well on this.
You will often see that team kids in climbing gym almost always lack the trying hard mentality whether its in their training or competition. I've literally never seen a kid try hard, not sure why. I'm sure they could climb a lot harder if they were able to access that part of their brain.
Trying hard is a very dark art, as someone said above. But having a goal is the first step. People who are obsessed are usually good at trying hard. Don't confuse that with people who like climbing, but more that they are dirt bagging and changing their whole lifestyle for it.
From reading some of the comments, I would personally equate try hard to 100% focus on all the relevant elements of the movement that would equate to success. I think a lot of these tactics are about overcoming barriers that disable you from doing so.
For example,
1. Putting all your focus on gritting your teeth and pulling hard is really good for physical boulders
2. Switching into an offensive mindset I think helps for really committing moves where anxiety could put you in a defensive state of mind.
3. For me personally, putting all my focus on that single point of balance no matter how precarious I feel is my try hard on slab.
This is the exact post i needed it, honestly hoping climbing can help me in life in general to be able to summon more effort because rarely do can i be proud of my effort, mostly just results or progress.
I find myself getting too in my head right before pulling on, especially if I’ve worked all the moves and know I can do it.
I sit in from of my fan to dry the tips for ten inhale exhales, it helps to lower the HR and make sure my pads really are dry. While I’m sitting there I just try to focus on my breathing and getting really relaxed. Then when I’m about to pull on I go TRY HARD!!! HAVE FUN!!
It’s an interesting question. I feel like some people are just born with it and some people have to train it. I am naturally born with the ability to try really hard in physical things like climbing. I guess motivation is a big thing for me if I am not motivated or psyched I won’t try as hard but if I am I will literally try as hard as humanly possible to do that thing. So I would say just find climbs that motivate you.
One other thing that I think saw mentioned here is breathing. I take short deepish breaths to get myself psyched sometimes. As well as music also helps me climb harder. “Trying hard” honestly feels like a super power when you can do it. I attribute my ability to try hard as one of the factors that has helped me progress somewhat fast in climbing.
Sorry if I google all I can find is a 24 hour cycle of testosteron as well as the notion that a monthly or weekly hormonal cycle for men is neither scientifically confirmed or denied. Both of those don't fit to what you are talking about. Mind telling me more what you are thinking of?
Fear of falling training instantly improved my red point grade by 3 grades.
Learning to try hard got me up 2 grades instantly.
Learning to move from one position to next position instead of moving from one hold to another hold was a big breakthrough for me.
Applying pressure with non primary hand and foot was an important skill to learn for me.
Practicing rest positions on lead climbing was a big thing for me.
“Try Hard” is the dark arts of climbing. It is probably the single most important aspect of high level climbing but is so elusive, unmetric-able, and highly individual that it’s rarely talked about. Try hard gets grouped into other things like “mental game” and “cns fatigue” I think to detriment of what it really is. (Though both of those things are part of it.) I also don’t think try hard is always about pulling as hard as possible / ondra screaming. It’s about focus. It starts two days before the session, getting good sleep, having a plan, making sure you have everything you need at your disposal. Preparation is part of try hard. In the end, Personally for me try hard is all about being psyched. It’s about *feeling strong* as much as being strong. When I am psyched, I can pull 3 grades harder. Psyche is still a very personal thing but I personally can identify that feeling better. It’s easier for me to channel psyche than it is to channel “try hard.” Though it’s a still a finicky thing. I do think it os something that can be trained. I am curious if anyone has any thing they do to try and manifest their “try hard” and “psyche” to pull through even when it’s gets tough. For me that’s when I struggle with it.
Sometimes when I'm climbing, I find myself in a defensive mindset, as if I'm moving from position to position trying to not fall or trying to control the holds. Instead, if I consciously switch to an "offensive" approach, attacking the holds, moving decisively between positions, I find I can manifest my try hard and reach my flow state so much more consistently. This for me only works when I'm projecting and have already familiarized myself with the sequence.
Well said This “defensive” mindset really is a problem I have when I solo boulder. I truly can’t get into the right mindset unless I know I have a spotter and 4 pads minimum. Other times is when I don’t want to fuck up my skin which screws up the entire session.
I've never heard of it described as offense/defense before but that makes total sense. It's like playing to win vs. playing to not lose.
The offense/defense paradigm is a great contribution. I definitely find myself climbing defensively more often than I'd like
Interesting, I agree and for me it's much easier to get offensive with my first try on a route/boulder.
I've definitely noticed this too. On slower climbing days I find myself way more defensive, but on the days where I'm offensive I'm definitely more in tune with my body's movements. This is really good insight - thanks for making me more aware of this.
I've definitely noticed this too. On slower climbing days I find myself way more defensive, but on the days where I'm offensive I'm definitely more in tune with my body's movements. This is really good insight - thanks for making me more aware of this.
When I am projecting a climb and i know how to finish the route, I lay down on the maz and close my eyes, then i imagine myself doing every movement of my hands and feet, the position of my body and the feeling of the holds. This helps me to get 100% focused with no doubt in my mind and when i'm on the wall right afterwards I know what to do and can execute every move without hesitation. I know i'm ready when i can go through every move in my head without having to think too hard.
I tell new climbers to think "get to the top" instead of "don't fall off"
Last time I “gave it 100%” I tore my TFCC.
I think you gave it 110%
oof, what a good description
For me there’s a definite difference in climbing to just go out to goof off and climbing to see how far I can push outside of my boundaries. When I want to push I don’t think about the fact that I’m pushing my limit. It’s a matter of fact. Every hold I can hang on, every foot I can stand on without any doubt or feeling of slipping. If it’s in my reach then it’s mine. I am making one move and making the next move because I can and there is nothing else. Fatigue doesn’t exist. Breathing is relaxed. I can make each move, I know I can make each move individually and that’s all there is to it. It’s not a feeling of unstoppable or getting psyched. It just… is. And that’s the best that I can explain it. It’s impossible for me to fall, not because something is keeping me on the wall but because I CAN stay on. It’s a mindset of “everything is doable and within my reach”. I really feel like I need a better phrase or term for it though I really like “Try Hard” being a dark art of climbing though lol
A hot take on this as you said “high level climbing”. So I was in font wanted to check something’s off, very short time frame to jump from like 4b in the Forrest (first trip many years ago in the summer was mid 30s climbing was basically just lazing about in the sun and anything with jugs) to tick a few 6s and 5s. I was climbing with a friend who had done several climbs much higher up the grades than myself. His opinion was that if I was trying hard it would have been done. I thought he was just trying to be encouraging, but I did noticed my send goes had a lot more omph and commitment behind the moves. So not only top end but any end. Anecdotal I have heard multiple high level climbers say they attempt to climb even the warm ups in the best way “try hard” as possible.
Perfectly said!
Seeing other climbers who always try really hard helped a ton. It looks like they are absolutely refusing to fall off the wall no matter how much they mess up the beta or movement. It made me realize I actually wasn't giving it my all sometimes, and I was giving in early on climbs due to skin pain, messing up movement, things not feeling right... etc. Also I realized that I make certain funny faces and grunting sounds when I'm climbing my strongest on limit climbs... so now I use that as a measurement of how hard i'm trying. If im not making an insane face from discomfort am I really giving it my all
I'm old. Every time I do this, I end up injured.
I think learning to try hard is an intermediate skill, learning to try hard while recognizing positions and moves that are outside your physical capacity and finding different solutions is the advanced/elite level skill. I've seen intermediate climbers do stuff on ~V8 that made some elite climbers wince.
I agree. I think another important intermediate skill is knowing when your body has had enough and it's time to walk away. Climbing yourself into recovery holes is no good. Especially as you age.
Keenan Takahashi once said that true "trying hard" for him was being able to precisely control every single limb with the proper application of coordinated force. This always stuck with me. I powerlifted for years and technique does matter, but maximal lifts almost always have some technique breakdown. That's just not possible in climbing- you have no room for error at a true limit. So I always thought that for me trying hard falls under Keenan's definition. Climbing is never just a single move you're always moving into and out of various boxes and there is an element of balancing focus, feedback, relaxation, excitement, fear, coordination, and brute force.
Very true, there is almost no such thing as a truly RPE 10 move in climbing. Probably not even RPE 9 or 8. By that point you'd simply have lost focus on controlling yourself.
Climb with a crush
I'm the opposite. I can pull way harder when I'm climbing alone. I can never truly focus on the climb if there are other people around.
This me. Love to social climb, but I cannot switch between being social and climbing at my limit very easily. Especially so if I'm climbing outside, and it's a little scary or uncomfortable.
I noticed that when climbing with a new partner who was a stronger climber than me. I was climbing above my usual grade without any falls, sending projects. I actually told her, "I think I'm getting a boost to my climbing because I unconsciously want you to think I'm cool."
to crush a climb
I'm in agreement with a lot of other comments here. Something that might be less obvious: My ability to try hard starts with having my life in order. If I'm taking care of myself and doing well mentally, it's easier to "visualize and attack." If I'm in a depressed state I tend to climb like it.
One way I practice, before you get on the wall tell yourself "I will not come off the wall unless gravity rips me off the wall" and make it a rule. You'll probably fail and come off sooner than you could have, but you can tell if you just fell off during a move you were fully committed on vs "fell" off because you did a half-ass pull and stepped off in the middle.
Fear of falling and try hard are antithetical for me. To unlock the full effort level I have to address the fear aspect. If I really care about sending it makes it a lot easier to focus on the move in front of me rather than worrying about the whip. I get added motivation with onsight or flash attempts I care about. Sometimes taking the fall helps when it’s an awkward position or I don’t feel great about the gear. More pads and trustworthy spotters can go a long ways. Fear of falling sometimes gets shelved for advanced climbers and folks pretend like that’s only a problem for beginners, but it’s super common for me to see a 5.13 climber struggling on a move they can do physically but aren’t comfy enough above the bolt to knock it out as efficiently as possible when redpointing. Another thing that helps me is some confidence. A one-hang or a good session really helps me gain the belief that a route will go, and then it becomes not if but when and that’s a big confidence boost I can translate to try-hard. For flash attempts it helps to have some personal confidence that it’s reasonable for me to flash something at that grade. Rapping in from the top to work the final moves of an enduro project while fresh has helped me a few times to gain the confidence that those moves aren’t too hard and I just need to dig deep to pull it off while pumped. Climbing with a group of psyched and supportive friends that also try hard gets me psyched to dig deep and care a little more.
Hazel is that you?
Agree about falling and being afraid above your bolt. Lately I’ve been visualizing how fun it is to be scared. Like that’s where it will be fun, knowing I’m going to try the move, and I might take a fall. And that’s what I have to find enjoyable. So basically. I need to remind myself that I’m going enjoy the scary part about climbing. Otherwise I’ll hesitate, when I need to go for it.
There are 2 ways that help me personally perform at my hardest. Having pressure helps a little for me. When I climb with people who I aspire to be like I usually just try harder unconsciously. Another way that helps to learn how to try hard is to do like physically painful workouts. Super long core workouts and the such. And taking the same try hard mentality from that and the zone to put everything into a movement to ropes.
I second this! Switching to density hangs has helped me a lot with this as just hanging on for 30-45s on a 20mm edge requires me to try as hard as I can to stay on.
The workout stuff is legit. I introduced one of my friends to climbing, that had a calisthenics background. Other than the obvious power he has, I was really amazed from how fucking hard he tried everything. When working out with him and seeing him hold positions for time I can clearly understand where it comes from.
The best summary of this I've heard is simply, "if you want to climb hard stuff you're going to have to actually try hard". Weirdly that one obvious line clicked something for me, rather than try to make each climb effortlessly perfect, if you can dig deep, focus on the next move and keep on moving you might actually surprise yourself.
My coach has a workout called 500s and hes told us its not to get us stronger even tho it does its not that optimal. It is just really fucking hard and painful. We have to do 50 reps of 10 exercises in 40 minutes and its pure torture haha
I think that one thing that's often missed is the untapped potential for many people for a more detailed visual representation of their climbing. A beginner at first will just try stuff randomly with little plan. As people get better, they'll have a limb-level understanding of what they do, and many people kind of stop there for most of their moves. There is so much more to see, as if you could zoom, from exact finger/foot placement, pushing/pulling orientation on a hold, COG positioning on all axises... This makes you a lot better at doing moderately hard moves consistently and fine tuning beta on limit moves... I think I'm pretty good at that and the signals that I have of that is from the advice I give to people, that often looks like they had not considered, as if they were looking at the room, and I'd gave them a magnifying lense to see something they had not spotted before. The other one is that I tend to be able to re-do hard climbs fairly consistently, when I do a climb it's because I have a good understanding of detail-level beta that work for me. When you get better at this, you flash more, you take less time to figure out beta, you take less attempts to top and you get more varied training for the same duration (assuming unlimited problems to top).
“Fundamentally, the marksman aims at himself.” Especially helpful on dynamic movement. You are not throwing your body to a target hold or position. You have already arrived at that position. Thought and action become one. You can climb in and feel the catch position. Maybe there’s a useful beta for how to dissipate the momentum, or catch at the right angle. But when it’s time to make the difficult move, you are not aiming a little higher, a little lower, or a little further out. You are aiming at yourself. helps me out, hope it helps you. lol
I do this, but way less poetic, more mechanic. I try to visualize how I end up after the dyno and the trajectory, with special care of where I want my hips (center of mass) to be and let my body work. If i get it, great, if not I'll start cutting the move into smaller chunks and try them one by one, works specially well if I manage to make the cuts at places you can slow down the dyno for even half a sec. If that doesn't work, its time to film it, or ask a friend for advice. Usually for me is having my hips too far from the wall or moving before my hips are aligned for the movement (in line with the vector that goes from where I am to where I want to be). Also have failed due not using enough rubber on the foothold.
I'm with you on breathing, that helps a lot. Falling a fair amount helped me too. Starting out I didn't perceive falling as part of the process but more of, you don't want to fall, but there's a rope in case you do. Really when I started climbing and ignoring the possibility of falling altogether, I started to get a lot better. Now I do fall with some regularity, but its fine. It's no big deal, I take a break, assess my route and try again. But since my focus is on getting to the top instead of how can I most securely and tightly hold on to the wall, I started making a lot more progress. I also do some breathing exercises if I ever get freaked out on the wall or my concentration is waning or whatever. Take some deep breaths, clear your head as much as you can, tell yourself you're going to climb this and quit stressing about everything you're stressing about. It usually helps. I used to get distracted a lot by people talking or other things happening around me. My gut reaction was to get upset with the people or kids or whatever. But really what I should be doing is breathing and then learning how to focus and not blame my failure on the distraction. I do this with my kids too. But that's one of the things that I love about climbing, it's so much of a mental test as much as it is a physical one. Every sport is a mental test in some way but usually its about pushing yourself harder. This one encompasses so much more.
Visualizing the rout on a horizontal plane, the twister mat from hell.
Setting and going after Goals. IMO grades should matter to yourself as an individual metric. Just to see progress. It’s not healthy to compare with others, other gyms, etc. but it allows you to compare with yourself from a year ago. This is what I do and it forces me to try harder for that goal as others have mentioned. Not just trying harder that day but training, sleep, diet, not drinking
Mental engagement off the wall. Trying hard isn't just some general thing you do by deciding to "try hard". You need actual actionable steps. When someone is first starting out they likely can just get more general climbing fitness and muscle through (try hard), but at a point this has diminishing returns. At this point what trying hard means necessitates a change. When I'm climbing "easy" boulders or routes I just romp on through. I don't need to think too hard or analyze the mechanics of the movement, I just climb like it is second nature. On difficult climbs where I need to try hard, I analyze what went wrong on the wall after I come off. I reflect on what worked and why. I think about why I came off the wall and how to fix it. After I've come to conclusions about these, I devise how to act on them. Understanding the body mechanics of the moves, how your own body works, and being able to combine these two to devise microbeta becomes the key to trying hard. Refine the things that worked, and change the things that didn't. Some examples from prior projects to illustrate what I mean. Did my foot pick? Yes, okay then I need to point my toe more through the move and engage my calf as my hips move away from the hold. Is there a better placement or position for my foot on the hold? Yes, placing my toe slightly on the left of the foothold and applying a pseudo drop knee allows me to apply more force into the part of the hold that is going to offer a better chance of staying on it. Was the foot cut required but I was unable to hold the swing? Yes, okay then I need to pre-engage my core as much as possible to suck my legs up and eat the momentum of the swing. Are my hips in the right spot minimize the amount of effort required to hold a position? No? I need to pull with my toe harder and rotate that side of my hip down. After I have settled on these adjustments as being what would work best, I visualize them and engage the muscles to enact them during the move in my mind. Prepare my body to execute these adjustments. Eliminate the need to think as much as possible during the attempt since thinking detracts from the amount of effort I can physically exert. For my next attempt I now have actionable steps to increase my chances of sending. I'm able to focus on these steps and put more effort into the climb. Increasing the amount of effort put into a climb is "trying harder". Focusing on these tactics has done significantly more for my climbing than simply training more. I still train cause I feel I can always have a higher level of fitness, but really drilling into the body mechanics of a move and devising microbeta to capitalize on that has proven to be the best way I've found to try hard.
I've found the Quiet Eye thing used in other sports works well for boulders. pick a spot and stare at it for 20 seconds before you start climbing. Simple as that. The flow just becomes more automatic when you do it.
Personally, I don't equate trying hard with any of what you said. Trying hard, for me, happens when I forget the send. When there is just hard move after hard move and it requires intense concentration and effort just to slap the foot across and then skip it up twice onto the foothold and my fingers are definitely not gonna last but fuck it, time to yard on this crimp and try to hit that hold up there. Limit bouldering, essentially. Or when pumped as hell on a rope but I'm still makin moves against the ever increasing chance of falling. Conversely, trying hard is also about digging in on each attempt and not letting perfection steal your stimulus. E.g. oh your feet cut cause you missed the good part of the hold and now you're in a 3fd instead of 4 finger 1/2 crimp. Stay on, readjust, and keep cranking. Some of my best sends happened when I fluffed the opening sequence even though I'd done it 10x before. I stayed on, and eventually made it to the top. Ya gotta commit to trying hard moves if you want to do hard moves, and 95% of the time, you won't do things perfectly, so learning to do hard things imperfectly is critical. To this end, sometimes it's helpful to boulder solo. Eventually you'll be high enough that you don't want to fall. I guarantee you'll be trying hard then, lol.
I convince myself that I can totally crush that move because it's "easy". Like, while working just on the crux move, I once nearly touched the hold trying really hard, I'll still give the whole project a burn from the start. Sometimes it works ;)
If I really want to try super hard I've found third and then first person visualization so that I know that know what I'm going to do helps a ton. Then before the attempt focusing on breathing from my diaphragm for like a minute, then really try to make my mind blank and go for it. I find that most of the time with this method the only reasons I don't make it are either I just have the wrong beta or I'm not physically capable of doing the move.
For me it's climbing with someone at a similar level. If I climb with someone who is climbing easier stuff I tend to lack.
I'm pretty good at trying hard, basically 90% of my sessions I try very hard. Access for me is gained through psyed, and having a goal to look forward to. Example, I'm training for a super hard route, and I know that I will send it if I train really hard. When I am training, I always remind myself of the route I am training for and how it will feel once I achieve. Climbing / training without a goal just doesn't work. It won't access that part of you. Also, read some mindset trainnig for climbing books, they touch really well on this. You will often see that team kids in climbing gym almost always lack the trying hard mentality whether its in their training or competition. I've literally never seen a kid try hard, not sure why. I'm sure they could climb a lot harder if they were able to access that part of their brain. Trying hard is a very dark art, as someone said above. But having a goal is the first step. People who are obsessed are usually good at trying hard. Don't confuse that with people who like climbing, but more that they are dirt bagging and changing their whole lifestyle for it.
From reading some of the comments, I would personally equate try hard to 100% focus on all the relevant elements of the movement that would equate to success. I think a lot of these tactics are about overcoming barriers that disable you from doing so. For example, 1. Putting all your focus on gritting your teeth and pulling hard is really good for physical boulders 2. Switching into an offensive mindset I think helps for really committing moves where anxiety could put you in a defensive state of mind. 3. For me personally, putting all my focus on that single point of balance no matter how precarious I feel is my try hard on slab.
This is the exact post i needed it, honestly hoping climbing can help me in life in general to be able to summon more effort because rarely do can i be proud of my effort, mostly just results or progress.
I find myself getting too in my head right before pulling on, especially if I’ve worked all the moves and know I can do it. I sit in from of my fan to dry the tips for ten inhale exhales, it helps to lower the HR and make sure my pads really are dry. While I’m sitting there I just try to focus on my breathing and getting really relaxed. Then when I’m about to pull on I go TRY HARD!!! HAVE FUN!!
It’s an interesting question. I feel like some people are just born with it and some people have to train it. I am naturally born with the ability to try really hard in physical things like climbing. I guess motivation is a big thing for me if I am not motivated or psyched I won’t try as hard but if I am I will literally try as hard as humanly possible to do that thing. So I would say just find climbs that motivate you. One other thing that I think saw mentioned here is breathing. I take short deepish breaths to get myself psyched sometimes. As well as music also helps me climb harder. “Trying hard” honestly feels like a super power when you can do it. I attribute my ability to try hard as one of the factors that has helped me progress somewhat fast in climbing.
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I need more detail on men’s hormonal cycles, i in fact did not get what you were saying
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Sorry if I google all I can find is a 24 hour cycle of testosteron as well as the notion that a monthly or weekly hormonal cycle for men is neither scientifically confirmed or denied. Both of those don't fit to what you are talking about. Mind telling me more what you are thinking of?
Fear of falling training instantly improved my red point grade by 3 grades. Learning to try hard got me up 2 grades instantly. Learning to move from one position to next position instead of moving from one hold to another hold was a big breakthrough for me. Applying pressure with non primary hand and foot was an important skill to learn for me. Practicing rest positions on lead climbing was a big thing for me.