*We are happy to present our first guest blogger, Lauren Abernathy*

*Lauren, Also known as @senderellaclimbs, started* *Senderellastory.com* *in 2018 to share her wealth of information on how to effectively and intelligently train for rock climbing. She also writes blog entries for* *PowerCompanyClimbing.com. We are honored to have you write for us!*
*photo credit: teagan MaddUx*

Though a good training plan is critical to becoming a better climber, if you do not actually complete the training, it does not do you any good. The crux of a good training plan is often consistency and dedication – two attributes that are a lot easier to muster when you have the motivation to stick to it. With that, here are a few tips for staying motivated throughout your climbing career – pandemic or not.

Have Process Goals

Goals can be categorized into two different buckets: product and process. A product goal might be, “send X boulder by September 2021”. To accomplish this, your process goal might be to go bouldering three times per week. Both process and product goals are important. However, making product goals can be a little tenuous right now, so I recommend a focus on process goals if your future climbing plans are up in the air. Process goals are measurable which helps keep you accountable for consistently training. Even if your setup is not ideal, right now you can learn to be consistent, which is the key to improvement over time.

The Value of a Progressive Training Plan

Though it might take time or perhaps some monetary investment, having an progressive training plan will help with motivation. Doing random workouts is a road to nowhere. Motivation will come when you know why you are doing something and you have a roadmap to follow. Additionally, if you have invested time, energy, or money into a having a training plan, you will probably be less likely to ditch the thing altogether.

Related: self-coaching during COVID-19

Get visual

I have a poster that sits on my desk. Whenever I do not want to train, I stare at it. I think viscerally about how disappointed I will be if I do not progress my climbing. I look at the ticks recall how happy I was when I sent some of my hardest routes. It gives me just the ounce of motivation I need to put my workout clothes on and get cranking.

To make your own, see here.

Training is Type II Fun

If you are not familiar with the term, type II fun is enjoyable to plan and remember, but it sucks in the moment. I consider this thought this when I am not psyched to train. I remind myself how good I feel after I get it done (and how crappy I feel if I skip a workout that I was physically ready to do). Training is not always fun in the moment, but it is satisfying when completed.

Use an Implementation Intention

In James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, he describes a method of habit forming called “implementation intentions”.

Hundreds of studies have shown that implementation intentions… increase the odds that people will stick with habits like recycling, studying, going to sleep early, and stopping smoking.

How does one create an implementation intention in the context of climbing easy? You write down this sentence, “I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]”. (Another great way to leverage a training notebook.)

I regularly deploy implementation intentions. At the beginning of the week, I write the general plan for training sessions in my notebook. Then the night before a day of training, I make the tables, etc. in my notebook that I use to track my workouts. I am much more likely to get out of bed and get the training done if I have written it down ahead of time. Bonus points if you lay out your workout clothes the night before!

More details on this here if you want to learn more.

Remember that Progress is not Linear

Something that can really get us down when we are training is the feeling of a bad session. The other day, someone reached out to me on Instagram to ask if they need to change their training completely because in their last hangboard session, they felt really awful. I asked if this had been consistent over many sessions – it hadn’t. They were considering overhauling the whole thing because of one bad session. A few days later, a new message popped up. “I realized I was really dehydrated. My session today was amazing and I felt way better.” All the panic for nothing.

You are going to have bad days. Do not waste energy trying to change your whole plan because one day did not go well. Train with the expectation that bad days will occur, then they will not impact your motivation as much when they do take place.

Time to Build Habits

Another thought that I keep having is that discipline seems to be more critical than motivation. I have been tracking my own motivation to train throughout this time of isolation. (60 days and counting). So far, I have found that I am rarely excited to train, but I get it done any way because I have built a habit of doing it. For me, motivation has not been a key ingredient in my training at all, but discipline has. I know that most of the results of training come from showing up consistently. So that is what I do, even when I do not really feel like it.

I hope this helps all you stay on top of your training even when you are not feeling motivated. For many of us, climbing is a critical outlet for stress relief and having this outlet shut off has been painful for all of us – especially since now is probably the most stressful season many of us have experienced in years, or our entire lives. Continuing to train how I can in my apartment has given me something to hold onto in this crazy time, and I hope these tips help you to do the same.

For more training tips:

Senderellastory.com

7 Tips for Training Motivation