Motivation is Such an Aggravation
This is a topic that hits home for me because I struggle to stay motivated over long periods of time. I LOVE to train for climbing. I love the concept of training, and always start a new training regimen unfazed about the amount of work ahead of me. However, like clockwork, after about 2 months into my training cycle I somehow become extremely unmotivated. I lose my drive. Energy. Enthusiasm. Gusto. The question is, how do you stay motivated?
There is no answer that is going to be correct for everyone since we are all individuals. You need to try different strategies to figure out what works best for you. Over the past two years I have gotten a lot better at staying motivated and sticking with my training. Here are some tips that worked for me, that you can try at home:
Make sure your rest days don’t become rest months - What sets high level climbers apart from the regular climbing population, is the fact that they stay consistent. It is really rare to hear of a pro climber that veges for a full month multiple times a year. You need to extinguish the non-training fire, STOP, DROP, and ROLL YOUR ASS INTO A CLIMBING GYM. Climbing is a great workout all in itself — swap out a week of training sessions for just-for-fun climbing sessions with friends. Afterwards, schedule a workout date with a friend the following week so that you are accountable to someone else, and then get back on the training horse.
Injuries are not the death of a training program - I once injured my shoulder and stopped climbing for 6 months while it healed. One of my friends called me out afterwards for being lazy, and I agreed with them. When you get an injury, large or small, you need to adjust your program so that you can heal as fast as possible. You can still get stronger at other aspects of climbing. Check out one of our past blogs Don’t Let Injury Beat You Down.
Keep track of your energy levels - Everyone has good days and bad days for their energy levels. It is great to power through and put in the effort, but focus on listening to your body. Last year I knew I was starting to get ill, but I stubbornly did a full training session anyway. Afterwards, I was out with a cold for a full week. I should have taken a day or two off of training/climbing or switched to a workout that was less intense. Remember if you get fully sick you will be unable to workout, so try your best to stay healthy.
Make sure to schedule yourself some free time - Make sure to leave yourself some free time to relax and let loose every once in a while. One common mistake that people make is that they train too much and end up burning themselves out. Training programs should be challenging, but they should not take over your social life. Make sure that you have a good work/climb balance and that will help to keep up your motivation levels.
Shorter less complex workouts - Workouts are hard, so by keeping them relatively short and decreasing the complexity, you can make them seem less daunting. I was doing three hour workouts previously, but now I just do an hour and a half and I am able to stay consistent.
Set goals and track progress - We all like to know that we are getting stronger by training, although with climbing it can be difficult to track our progress. Make sure every month to perform some benchmark exercises to track your progression. This could be seeing how long you can hang from a specified crimp, or what your max pull up weight is. Setting a goal to aim for in your benchmark exercises will also aid in keeping you motivated.
Overall, the key to getting stronger is consistency in our climbing and training. Try out some of these strategies in your next training cycle to see if it keeps you just a little more motivated to climb.
Happy Climbing :)
Kevin Allen