Modern gyms are clean, tidy and there is an endless supply of new climbs, shiny new climbs that are at our flash grade or maybe just a little bit harder so we get the feeling of trying just hard enough, just long enough to make the sweet sweet taste of success from reaching the top irresistible.
Don’t get me wrong, its pretty awesome to walk into a nice clean gym with good coffee, endless climbs, new movements and the impending sense of immediate achievement of topping a climb has been the catalyst for the speed at which this sport grows.
It does raise a question though, Is real projecting becoming a forgotten art?
What is projecting at its essence?
For me it can be summed up pretty simply as - spending time to workout how to climb a climb.
This is broken into 2 major categories, short term and long term.
Short Term (new school) - The modern gym projecting, 10 climbs on the go at once, just enough attempts to almost feel frustrated, repetitive or make a few foot slips which are assigned to fatigue and onto the next, rinse and repeat, session in session out, sometimes rewarded with the sense of accomplishment when you reach the top of the 2 week project, that you whole heartily spent a small part of 10 sessions on.
Risks and rewards:
Always climbing the new wall first leaves us too tired to really put an effort into something actually hard for us.
Hell of a lot of fun always climbing the shiney new things.
A wide variety of movement skills is accrued because we try a lot of new moves on all different wall angles.
A glass ceiling for progress is created as we limit ourselves to climbs that are only just above our capabilities.
We never try to learn a new hard move that is truely at our limit.
Long Term Projects (old school) - I guess I associate more with outdoor climbing, something you have tried for a few years, fallen lot, given up on, tried other things, come back to and maybe sent. In the modern gym, this could be limited to as little as 4 weeks depending on the setting schedule, so why try the really hard climbs? you’re never going to get them anyway, right?
Don’t get me wrong, I have been climbing for a relatively short time in the grand scheme of things but recently I have noticed a trend, in my own climbing and in others around the gym. Approaching climbs in the gym with the Short Term mentality, the success mentality.
A Time And A Place?
In my opinion there is certainly a time and a place for both, climbing should be fun and what is more fun than short term projects! But in the chase of progress it cannot fill the bucket, if we want to progress, I mean really progress we need to FALL ALOT! We need long term projects, but how do we make this work in modern gyms?
How To Pick Your Projects
The 7 attempt rule (This ones from the Power Company Climbing playbook)
Pick a climb just above your limit, try a single move, make 7 attempts, if you make any progress in 7 attempts then the 7 attempts resets, if you stick the move then awesome!
So you stuck the move, repeat this move twice more, then move onto the next individual move and go back to step 1.
If you don’t make any progress on a single move then no stress, this one can be banked for next session. Move onto another move and go back to step 1.
Rest atleast 3 minutes between each attempt, even at a single move, you need to be fresh to try your hardest.
Done all the moves?
Awesome! now to start linking, a good tip for this is to start at the crux or hardest move for you and go to the top, once you are successful at this sequence then add a move or 2 before the crux and head to the top again, slowly layering in the repetitive movements and growing level of fatigue will help you solidify your skills at trying moves this close to your limit.
Didn’t Make Any Progress In 7 Attempts?
Maybe this climb or this move has too many factors for you to be able to process right now, its to scary, to stressful, too hard and you are hungry, you can reduce these factors to make the move more processable in a few ways:
Find a spotter, someone to catch you, reduce the stress of falling.
No spotter? Practice falling, this is one of the most under practiced climbing skills, become comfortable with fall from this position.
Use a better hold or footer so you can try the move with better attachment to the wall.
Pull on at the end of the move so you can feel what the next position you are climbing too feels like.
When you pull onto a move don’t even think of getting to the next hold, instead try and find a position between the holds you have to be able to move more controlled.
In 4 weeks you may never send but you learn’t a lot, this is the change from chasing Success to chasing Mastery.
Any questions comment below!
