Projecting Blues

Projecting is an important part of most climbing journeys. Unlike climbing in competitions or in training, pure projecting is unpressured and usually becomes a personal goal for climbers. The endorphin rush of sending a tough project is something experienced when the climber is invested in their efforts and are rewarded for them. This investment – or lack thereof – can cause frustration in a climber when they don’t make progress on their project. This guide aims to help fight that frustration and pull you out of the projecting blues. 

Starting a New Project

A new set can give you a lot of motivation to climb and so can a new project! Make sure to pick a project that excites you, makes you nervous to try or challenges you! It’s important to be realistic about your own abilities to avoid disappointing yourself. If you’re a V3 climber and you decide to have a burn on the V6 monster of the week – that’s great! Just be sure to avoid injury and be prepared to walk away from it not being able to complete a move on it. 

Break an Iceberg Into Snowballs

Projecting to a difficult level can mean that after a full session of attempts, you may not even complete a new move. This, however, doesn’t mean that you haven’t made progress with your climb. Progress in climbing can be as simple as holding the swing on a dyno for 0.4 seconds longer than the last time before falling or reaching a few centimetres closer to the next handhold on a tension-based move. It’s important to recognise the small successes and understand your own improvements, what they mean in terms of your personal improvements and how the effort you’ve put into a climb has paid off.

A good way to ensure that you acknowledge your small progressions is to set goals for them before you start climbing. Maybe your goal is just to focus on climbing with more tension or with no foot bumping – succeeding at these means your climbing is more controlled, so even if you don’t progress to a new move, you’re making progress anyway. 

When Frustration Sets In

Frustration can kill a projecting session, and it can set in quickly. As stated before, it’s important to be optimistic yet realistic about your anticipated progress before you begin projecting a climb. If you feel yourself getting frustrated over a climb, take a break and attempt a climb you can flash to let off some steam and give your brain a break from obsessing over how frustrated you are with yourself. This can save your motivation!

With any climbing session, the first step to avoiding injury is to know thyself. Only you know how long it takes to warm up sufficiently, which muscles ache after a day of climbing, and which movements tend to exacerbate certain injuries. Some more common and generalised practises you can do to avoid injury include catching dynos with bent arms to avoid shoulder stress, not over-gripping out of desperation (friends can help with this), and not attempting moves out of desperation (don’t jump for a crimp with one hand if you already know there’s no way of holding that move). 

The Seven Attempts rule

I can’t take credit for this rule however I can attest to its effectiveness at encouraging progression and reducing the sense of helplessness associated with repeated failure. Break a move down into the most intricate adjustments of beta. For example, if my crux move is a double dyno to a new hold, my beta can be broken into a macroscopic level: I’m moving both of my hands to a new hold and releasing my feet. Then you can start to look at the move from a deeper perspective: am I using my hips or shoulders to start my momentum? Am I releasing my feet one at a time or simultaneously? Am I hitting the next handhold with one hand pulling most of my weight or are both hands working equally hard? 

Once you’ve established the exact beta for that move, you have seven attempts to stick exactly that variation of the moves. Each attempt should focus solely on your plan unless a fundamental flaw to the beta presents itself. Once seven attempts have been completed, you should reflect on any micro progressions you made, what helped you achieve them, and adjust any elements of the move that have been unhelpful.

A Trouble Shared…

Having a projecting pal can give you the competitive motivation to commit to and progress on a project. Holding yourself accountable is tough even when your goal is clear set and achievable, and there’s no shame in climbing harder to impress a buddy. Ultimately your motivation is self-perpetuated but climbing with company doesn’t hurt. Be sure to return the favour to your climbing pals and help them on their projects too! Moreover, unless you film it, you won’t see yourself climbing. A projecting buddy can suggest improvements to your beta and call you out if you’re forgetting the fundamentals of good, skilful climbing. 

Reflect, Reflect, Reflect!

Try to reflect on your session to better understand why you’re feeling blue. Could you improve the way you project by implementing one or more of the factors mentioned? 

Here’s a checklist:

• Were you psyched to project?

• Did you recognise your progressions?

• Did you curb your frustration?

  • Take Breaks

  • Try a different climb to reset your brain

  • Try different movements and techniques

• Did you climb with company?

• How did you feel at the start of the session? Were you fully recovered, sore, or grumpy?

Extras:

• How much sleep are you getting in the two nights before you come to the gym? Often fatigue will set in a day or two after a restless night.

• Did you eat enough food before you projected? Did you eat something too rich for you to squeeze your core?

• Did you stretch well and dynamically before climbing? For example, if you’re struggling particularly on balance-grounded moves, your hips might not have been stretched enough causing you to lean away from the wall and unbalance you.

Let me know your thoughts! Cheers Dan