The quickest ways to reduce the enjoyment of anything you do is to compare yourself to others. Think about it like driving down the freeway: everyone is heading in the same direction, they are each in their own portion of their own lane and everyone travels at different speeds at different times, but we are all moving forward. One method isn't better than the others, just different. You could even start to compare your vehicle to others, but if each arrives safely at your destination, does it matter? How broad or focussed does your perspective really need to be?
Ego
There is a time for friendly competition but if it's something that is driven by your own self worth then there is going to be some challenging times ahead. Competition is most useful when all parties are pushing to perform their best, and improve at their own pace. By including ego or self-worth in the picture, you can lose sight of the goal. Perform your best, don't just look to win.
Different needs
One of the biggest strengths but also the biggest risk with training or climbing with a group of friends is that everyone is different. everyone has different levels of strengths, weaknesses, conditioning, recovery rates and skills that any given day will challenge differently. A day could be too challenging for person X and not challenging enough for person Y, person Z might get lucky and have the perfect workout for them. here’s what will happen in this scenario:
Person X
Over the course of time will not recover well enough, they will get too worn down over time and progress slower or get injured.
Person Y
Is not being challenged enough by the sessions so they will not progress as quickly as they could.
Person Z
Is getting the right amount of stimulus and therefore they will progress the fastest providing their out of the gym recovery is on point.
Effective group training
How can you change your focus at sessions? Training as a group is social, it's fun. It's amazing when a group of people can come together, train together and support and push each other to grow as individuals. We each need to train for where we are, everyone doing the same thing might not work out the best. i.e. for drill x someone may need more rest, an easier grade or a different wall and or hold type. Don’t be afraid of putting yourself first, training together but as individuals, each person supporting the others but working their own skills at their own pace.
Fall in love with the process, find your strengths and weaknesses and work through them as You need to. Find enjoyment in the learning, unlocking the secrets of climbing for yourself is the biggest key to success.
If you find yourself comparing yourself to others, spend some time reflecting on why you do this, and on finding all the things that you do really well. Compare your positive view of what others are doing well and view your own performance in a positive light. What have you done just as well?
