Like most things, climbing involves ups and downs. Last month I had a great trip to Joe’s Valley, and then a good session at RMNP where I sent Low Left Veritas (V12). Recently though I have been experiencing a lack of motivation. This normally happens to me when I start coming down off of a “peak” from my last training cycle. These lulls are just as much a part of my climbing as anything else, and how I treat these lulls has changed over the years. I used to just force myself to be psyched and kept pressing on. More often than not I would just end up getting injured somehow and I never really climbed that well. More recently however, I have learned to accept these lulls and take them as a message from my body that I need more rest and that maybe it is time to switch gears. While it is hard to accept, nobody can operate at their peak constantly. We all have peaks and lulls. The cool thing is that as our peaks get higher and higher, so do our lulls!
I’ve added more rest days into my schedule and am shifting from mostly finger strength training to strength endurance training. Maybe I’ll even sport climb for a few weeks! Crazy! Of course, I’d rather keep bouldering hard, but I know that giving it a rest for a while will allow my psych to return and give my body time to heal before my next training cycle.
Next time you start feeling weaker and unmotivated, instead of training harder, try resting a little more and switching up your routine. Your body probably needs it.
