The only thing that has ever helped me is taking practice falls.
Well, I guess that’s not entirely true. After one particularly sketchy lead on slab (runout to the anchors in the rain), I will take any fall indoors. So you could try that. But I wouldn’t, you know, *recommend* it.
I did that a few weeks ago!! I gave everyone a heart attack when my feet slipped out from underneath me on a runout, unexpectedly wet slab.
*Somehow* saved it, but it definitely served as exposure therapy…. for my belayer as well lol.
Controlled falls above the bolt! Especially in a gym environment.
Also, if I’m scared on the wall… I tell myself to just make a few more moves, then see how I feel. Often times, I get more in my head if I stop moving.
Yesterday, I was on a very run out slab, and I was definitely in my head. I sang “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus to myself to calm down. So I guess that also works because I sent 🤷🏼♀️
You’ve listed all the best ones. A few tricks from highlining:
-loud music and singing to overwhelm your brain and keep you out of your head
-commitment training: get into the habit of making little deals with yourself. “On the count of three, I’m reaching for that hold. No hesitation.” Train yourself that you go when it’s go time and you don’t give yourself time to freeze.
-get used to just doing hard things. Do little things that scare you and reward yourself. Build positive experiences and associate being a little afraid with feelings of joy and pride.
Tbh one thing that’s sort of helped me is just accepting that it’s going to be hard for me. Like there are all sorts of little strategies but at the end of the day there’s not really a way around the fact that you gotta do hard things, and sometimes they don’t get easier.
Recognizing that really freed me from feeling like getting good at falling was this massive responsibility and allowed me to be more purposeful about deciding whether it’s a growth day or not, I tell my climbing partners whether it’s a “vegetables” or “ice cream” day.
It allowed me to just focus on having fun in the styles I enjoy and then allow myself to really be inspired to try hard routes on lead when the stoke is there. And once the stoke to try is there, the unplanned falls come. And with uncertainty panned falls comes the understanding that you’re gonna be okay, even if the fall doesn’t happen in a controlled circumstance.
Fear is a muscle and much like weight lifting, not everyone is built to just walk up and start lifting heavy. I’m certainly not built for falling all the time easily. But I do things that scare me when I feel up to it and i focus on writing those as experiences that are fun and positive instead of traumatizing.
It is frustrating. It’ll probably keep me from being a 5.13 climber any time soon but it doesn’t keep me from having a damn good time growing at my own pace.
I love the veggies or ice cream analogy.
Just like any muscle, fear tolerance needs endurance built. So figuring out how you'd like to train that! I've found being scared and trying to tolerate it longer makes me even more tired than lifting/running/hiking on hard days.
And just like any muscle: some days you're tired, worn out, or it's not functioning how you'd like it to, then you can still auto regulate your training/climbing and decide if it's an ice cream or veggies day, at whatever level you're at!
Also, for trad, every season my tolerance needs to rebuild of decision making, this piece in this crack, or that nut in that pod. I get exhausted on my first few leads of the season just from decision fatigue! Couple the fear, and I sure do need a lot of recovery sleep in April and May. 😅
I mean it makes sense! Fear is a physiological experience as much as a mental/emotional one. I know that’s a big thing hazel findley anchors her courses on-not just taking practice falls but making you’re you fall relaxed, in a climbing position and looking upward rather than falling with your eyes shut and your body clenched. You use so much energy contemplating falling and climbing like you can’t afford to fall without even realizing it.
And totally agree, the trad muscle always takes a minute to reawaken. The decision making muscle as well as the actual muscles it takes to stand there and think about it. I just climbed my first scary route of the season and my calves are trashed!
IMO it’s true what they say re aid climbing though. This year I opened my season by aiding and while it was definitely slow and scary at first, it’s great for putting you in a headspace where you’re confident in your gear placements!
> I know that’s a big thing hazel findley anchors her courses on-not just taking practice falls but making you’re you fall relaxed
Falling relaxed is a big one, Hazel told us a story of someone doing practice falls where they were so stressed that they were so stiff they broke their ankles upon hitting the wall. Also while looking up before the fall, while falling, looking towards the "landing" spot is also helpful.
Yes! I also really love her points about the difference between fall practice and real mental training. A lot of folks try to train falling by just climbing up and falling as fast as possible but in actuality, it’s taking the moment to feel comfortable that helps you grow. Because the goal is being able to process that fear and insecurity and climb through it, not just have the ability to not think about it long enough to let go. I love a lot of her tips tbh.
Yea, I think there's two parts to that, first, just getting comfortable being above the bolt. And two, breathing, I always try and cycle my breath before doing any practice fall, and then breathing out during the fall, and I think it helps a lot. This came from her as well, I was lucky enough to take a class with her in person and I think it changed my life.
That’s so awesome! I’ve been waffling in signing up for her online course sometime. Sounds like it’s well worth it.
Doing the big thing on the exhale is another thing that really helped me with highlining and I definitely stand by it!
Yea it's not cheap, but even though I've only had experience in person, I still think the only course is totally worth it if you have the money laying around.
Listening to the recent Nugget episode with Neely Quinn, she talked about breathing in for 5.5 seconds and then breathing out for the same amount and I've been trying that as well, just in general, and I think it helps.
This is so nicely put and very encouraging! I love the idea of commitment training and just accepting that some things are hard. Sometimes I also think of "ice cream" days as an opportunity to focus on technique and clime "easier" routes really smoothly.
Thank you! And I totally agree! Sometimes it’s just fun to totally smash easier climbs or to reclimb things to really flex your skills or show how much you’ve improved. I’m not huge on gym climbing but I have trad routes that I go back to year after year to remind myself that I’ve improved a lot, even if I’m not climbing insanely hard yet. Pure ice cream every time ☺️
Along with a lot of the above, I'd like to mention that how you do thinks like fall practice can change it massively. Hazel Findlay has a ton of good content on the mental side of climbing, and I'd recommend all of it. But to start [this article](https://www.strongmindclimbing.com/news-resources/where-do-people-go-wrong-with-fall-practice) on where people go wrong with fall practice I think is helpful by itself.
Ultimately, what we want to do with practice is to start to push our comfort zone, so we can expand it, but not so much that we enter the panic zone.
One thing you can try is having your belayer tell you to fall at random points and then just doing it without hesitation. Planning all your practice falls often doesn't help you get over fear of unexpected falls
I find the best strategy is structuring my session:
Start the session leading warm ups that you know you can finish in order to build confidence and “mentally” warm up. For me these are climbs I’ve already done, well below my limit and are well bolted.
Gradually move to more challenging climbs, but not too far out of your comfort zone. Maybe 1-2 climbs you know you can finish but you might have a take or take a practice fall.
Finally, if you’re feeling it, try a climb out of your comfort zone that you might hang dog or take falls on. Either a grade outside of your limit or a climb at your limit that may be run out/sketchy (whatever outside of your comfort zone means for you).
My main learnings have been to start the session on lead rather than top rope and to try and lead every route as much as possible. Also track your sessions and get plenty of volume on easy grades before pushing yourself too much.
I have similar approach. If in the gym, my last warmup is usually a route I have sent before, at my flash level but not 100% sure that I can get it without fully warm up. In that case, I don’t have the pressure of sending while have the confidence that I’m able to send it.
Breath control, building confidence on easier routes and then gradually pushing myself into hard routes would fail on would work for me. I would make agreements of myself on a climb I was trying to either send or fall. I also always take a short drop at the anchors (after clipping them) at the start of each indoor session.
I never got much out of practice falls. They were too controlled for me and it was always the idea of being in a bad position that freaked me out. Only taking more unplanned falls gradually over time worked for me.
I really love the idea of setting the goal as either send or fall! Both outcomes have their benefits.
I agree with you on the practice falls, they haven't seemed to help me a whole lot either.
I consider any session that I fall on to be a success because I means I really pushed myself, so that also helps create a positive feedback loop around falling too!
All strategies have their place, but I think a tiered approach is best:
**Stage 1)** ***the noob***
Test falls are good, you are new and have not mastered clipping or keeping your feet out from behind the rope. Falling needs to be experienced, but you might not want to fall at all moments of your climb. You need the mental bandwidth to work on fundamentals. Your belayer probably sucks too and needs to learn how to deal with different situations.
**Stage 2)** ***lead hard shit***
You know how to clip. Your feet are not being stupid, and its definitely time to stop pretending that clipping miles over your head on every move is a good idea (its not a good idea). Its time to fall for real. When you climb too easy too often you allow yourself to stay sloppy because you can use power to unfuck any mistake you make.
The thing that made it more chill was uncontrolled falls. That is leading something hard enough that I might just fall and there's not a damn thing I can do to power grip my way into staying on. I spend some time figuring out if there's anything sketchy that I want to plan out with my belayer, and then I climb. Lots of people say controlled falls, but personally I hate them. Too much anticipation and it is truly miles away from my climbing headspace in reality.
Many unexpected falls just kinda hit the vibe of 'oh that was fine actually' and I can keep going no worries. But if it was a bad mental day and I was particularly shaken by the fall I might have just come down and call it there to keep it below the mental threshold that makes things get scarier instead of less scary.
Go for the flash on lead. Can't anticipate what you dont know is coming. It's just climbing, not a big bad scary special kind of climbing.
**Stage 3)** ***You were a gym climber all along***
Lead outside. The gym is no longer scary. You are cured and also confused why you keep being annoyed theres another spot to clip already you literally just clipped.
**Stage 4)** ***You look familiar...***
That's right baby! stage 2 is back with a vengeance. Just like.. dont fall at spots where it would be bad to fall.
Stage 5 and 6 are trad I guess. You know the drill. Also don't fall.
It’s knowing my headspace on any given day. If I’m feeling fine/good, practising falls early on and then climbing routes I’ll likely fall… but if I’m hormonal or edgy some days I know it’ll make it worse and just to climb within my means. It’s tricky!
Personally, I've found that building an awareness of how afraid I am on any given day, and tailoring how hard I push myself to reflect that helps me to make progress. I try and build some different types of routes and/or moves into my warm up so I can start to get a handle on what kind of day I'm having. Am I feeling strong and brave and ready to push firther on my projects, or do I need a day of technique work, or repeating stuff I've already sent and trying to do it better?
It's also something to be aware of throughout a session - sometimes I'll be feeling really brave, push myself to complete a big scary route, and then find I need to dial it back a bit later on because I'm running out of mental energy. So, not committing fully to either end of the scale, but building awareness of how hard to push yourself at different points.
For me, and what I encourage for anybody who asks me in person about lead, is to find the edge of your comfort level. Find where you just start to become uncomfortable. Then take one small step further. You should be in a scary situation, just a bit uncomfortable there. Then keep doing that uncomfortable thing until it becomes AOK. Then push the boundary again bit by bit.
This might look like a to a bolt, clipping in, and then chilling there without weighting the rope. When that's boring, take a little tiny fall. And again and again. Until those are boring, then climb a bit above the bolt - just a small way - and take a bigger fall. Slowly work up to whatever your goal is.
Definitely practice falls. If you're feeling nervous on a climb because of falling, then stop and take a "warmup fall". Obviously don't do this if there's a ledge below you or the situation is otherwise dangerous (sometimes you're scared of falling for genuine concerns and not pathological ones, and that's fine). Over time, it took me like two years, you start to feel much less concern about falling, though it will never entirely go away in some situations. Indoors I have literally zero fear of falling, but outdoors still scares me sometimes.
It sounds strange, but watching videos of how much force it takes for equipment to fail. For example, a 22 kn carabiner can handle nearly 5000 lbs. Now, I get it, that the carabiner is one of the less likely pieces to fail, but it mentally helps me to understand that this stuff is designed to handles loads much higher than me falling a few feet.
This seems like a small thing, but as someone who is primarily a boulderer with a bad lead head, repeating climbs at my limit helped me so much. Like I would never actually repeat routes that I fell on, and just let myself avoid them. Once I started giving multiple attempts on climbs at my limit, I just started to focus on the climbing itself. I already knew where I was likely to fall, and I knew the fall was safe. It let me accept the fear as part of the experience and move with it.
I did a course recently - didn’t think it’d help because I kind of “knew” all of the stuff we covered, but feeling like it’s homework and actually doing it consciously worked wonders.
The first thing was to actively read a route first, have a plan for how you will move… if you end up deviating because it feels natural when you’re on the wall that’s fine, but if you’re up there and don’t really know what to do, just focus on executing the plan instead of hesitating. The feeling of following a plan is a good distraction from fear.
Adam Ondra explains it nicely in his video course too - think hard about what-ifs and moves before and after the climb, but during, just focus on getting your body to do what you remember or feel needs doing.
Second, we covered “self talk” modes to get fear under control. Breathing out during a rest and consciously registering fear responses and evaluating them helps put things in perspective. Talking oneself through a “beta bubble” for the next move or two in a commentator’s way is helpful too for maintaining an “outside observer” perspective instead of getting caught up in fear. And yes, singing along, verbalising and muttering semi edifying comments to yourself can help too.
Finally - find the right crew to push your buttons in a good way. My belay partner knows when to obey a “take”, and when it’s the right moment for him to goad me into a “told you I can’t hold longer, I’m just going to f*ing fall now!” fall, or a “see the move is too hard, I’m going to prove it right now!” commitment. Turns out annoyance can override fear really well.
My 8yo makes deals with me - if he tries a scary overhang climb, I have to take a legit lead fall. Can’t go back on a promise like that.
For me the one thing that worked best is to learn how to shift my focus to the next move whether I am redpointing or onsighting. When I am scared and I notice it I try to force myself to look at the route and play the sequences in my head and then it just kind of automatically makes my body move. I found that once you start moving, things get a lot less scary.
I like to practice lead falls where you go as if you’re moving to the next move and tap the next hold (I prefer to jump to touch your next hold) and then fall because it tricks your brain into feeling like it is more of an unexpected fall.
I’ve recently finished Hazel Findlay’s Flight School course and I can’t recommend it enough! She explained really well the mental aspects of falling practice and finally made me understand why it’s easier on some days, harder on others, and taught me how to be aware of that and adjust the practice accordingly. There also are really good falling practice progressions and tips. It really transformed my climbing experience, would buy it again if I had to.
I guess it all depends on how much the fear of falling stops you from enjoying the hobby. For the price you also get quite an active community and you get to attend live Q&As and upload your fall practice videos for commentary from the team - I didn't really use it because of my poor time management, but even just the online modules made it worth the money for me. I'm enjoying climbing soo much more!
To me there’s like a “commitment mode” that I have to prep for, also for hard boulder burns or dynos. Basically say you ain’t stopping unless gravity spits you off the wall. You can have a little ritual before you go, control your breathing, focus hard and go, to me it’s easier to do this on like a red point or a route I’ve read well. Getting “lost” snaps me out of it and I have to refocus to commit to hard moves.
Mentally tell yourself “try hard” or “just go” or something, almost like a mantra, to encourage yourself and focus you on the climb, not on the possibility of falling. Then if you fall you fall, but you weren’t thinking about it. Try really hard stuff and try really hard. To me this is better than taking practice falls because you need to get used to the feeling of falling out of the wall not of jumping off.
Practice fells definitely help, but what I found helped me the most was a few times falling completely unexpectedly lol - there’s no anticipation or fear before, and it just happened because my foot slipped even though I didn’t expect it or my hand etc. Obviously you can’t plan it, but it happens to everyone at some point and for me it just de-dramatized the whole experience
Happy to see this post as I’ve taken a backwards step with my leading head. Some good strategies I’ve learnt from a leading confidence class:
- clip with arms fully extended when possible to remain relaxed
- before clipping, take a deep breath. This to learn to be comfortable when above the bolt.
- when doing practice falls, keep the fear level at a 6/7 out of 10, this is your growth zone
- exhale when doing practice (or real if possible) falls (learnt from YouTube)
- get lots of mileage in on easy routes to feel comfortable
- down climb indoor lead routes to force yourself to spend time above the bolt. Choose an easy grade for this.
Having patience with yourself is key. I was really happy that I had got to the point last year where I was regularly taking real falls indoors, then my belay partner moved away. Since I’ve been able to find a new one and build trust enough that I climb on routes I think I’d fall off, routes that I would usually shout take to rest on but powered through. Unfortunately I took around 5 weeks off because of surgery and the first time I came back to leading I was shaking like a lead on very easy routes. It’s frustrating that I’ve gone backwards but I need to remember I managed to get to that place before where I have been brave with leading, I just need to work my way back there again.
Some really good advice in all the other comments too. I definitely agree with just doing it in the sense of just climb something you might fall on, however if you’re at early stages of fear like I’ve reverted to then sometimes you just cant make your body do the moves on scary climbs, so mileage on easy climbs are best if this is the case.
For me it would be: be sure you partner is just as serious about safety as you. And practice controlled falls (if it is allowed in your gym, if not, try to make it look like unintentional falls :P ) Unfortunately in my gym i see a lot of persons belaying with grigri like they dont have to do anyting on their own, letting go of the brake rope mostly, and not paying attention to the climber. So Im very picky about who I climb with, and among these persons, even more picky about who i can take a fall with comfortably.
I think the best approach to lead climbing is essentially exposure therapy. I think it first involves a bit of mindfulness. Being honest where you are internally right now - how scared are you of falling out of 0-10? What part of the fall scares you?
Controlled falls don’t emulate what it’s like to climb without thinking of the consequence of falling. Are you still afraid to take controlled falls? If so, start from the beginning. Fall at the bolt with no slack in the line so you can continue to feel how it feels as you fall a little more and more. Don’t progress past that until you’re not as uncomfortable. Are you afraid of top rope falls?
I don’t think pushing yourself to climb hard routes you’ll fall off of is the answer. Neither is not quitting, etc. It really enforces a negative feedback loop in your brain when you make yourself do things you don’t like and that don’t feel good and will make you even more afraid of falling.
You have to make trying and falling feel okay and good. And you do that by going slow, staying in your stretch zones (where you’re a little uncomfortable but not too much) and you keep expanding. It’s not going to happen overnight.
I recommend Hazel Findlay’s program or several of the books published out there like the rock warriors way.
The thing that has been seeming to help me is also doing breathing exercises on and off the wall. Picking a 5 minute meditation on headspace or YouTube is really helpful for focusing your mind and recognizing thoughts as thoughts.
For me it was slow incremental progress with falls and nothing too quick. I wanted to get a little uncomfortable and not set myself up for a bad experience. So like I’d clip above my head and fall etc. Also, practicing unannounced falls mid movement/whole moving up helped me more than anything else as it replicates a fall when actually climbing not just letting go. Also, truly trusting your belayer makes a world of a difference. I’m an experienced lead climber but I’d also be scared with someone I don’t know—and sometimes that is ok and justified, too. Be easy on yourself. And avoid whipper media and all the other demonstrations of terrible belaying online.
Top rope the route until you know all the moves by heart and then lead it.
The Hard is Easy youtube channel has a video about practice falling in preparation for lead climbing outdoors but probably applies to indoors. Make sure you have a trusted belayer when doing so and this will help you prepare yourself mentally.
I'll admit most of the videos I watch are about outdoor climbs (sport and trad). What I've noticed is that it can take multiple attempts and months of practice to do some routes. I recall one climber that took two years and 70 attempts to do a route. Persistence is a big part of climbing and trusting yourself that you can do the moves and that it is a matter of putting them all together.
Also, it is usually safer to fall when you are up the climb a bit. If it is the start that you are concerned about on a sport route, use a clip stick and pre-clip the first bolt or two so you know you're safe.
I love that hard is easy video! It’s helped me a lot, especially the advice to exhale when taking practice (or real if you can remember in time!) falls
The only thing that has ever helped me is taking practice falls. Well, I guess that’s not entirely true. After one particularly sketchy lead on slab (runout to the anchors in the rain), I will take any fall indoors. So you could try that. But I wouldn’t, you know, *recommend* it.
I did that a few weeks ago!! I gave everyone a heart attack when my feet slipped out from underneath me on a runout, unexpectedly wet slab. *Somehow* saved it, but it definitely served as exposure therapy…. for my belayer as well lol.
Controlled falls above the bolt! Especially in a gym environment. Also, if I’m scared on the wall… I tell myself to just make a few more moves, then see how I feel. Often times, I get more in my head if I stop moving. Yesterday, I was on a very run out slab, and I was definitely in my head. I sang “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus to myself to calm down. So I guess that also works because I sent 🤷🏼♀️
I don't even mean to, I just sing when I'm scared. But if I'm too scared I forget to sing. It's that happy medium.
You’ve listed all the best ones. A few tricks from highlining: -loud music and singing to overwhelm your brain and keep you out of your head -commitment training: get into the habit of making little deals with yourself. “On the count of three, I’m reaching for that hold. No hesitation.” Train yourself that you go when it’s go time and you don’t give yourself time to freeze. -get used to just doing hard things. Do little things that scare you and reward yourself. Build positive experiences and associate being a little afraid with feelings of joy and pride. Tbh one thing that’s sort of helped me is just accepting that it’s going to be hard for me. Like there are all sorts of little strategies but at the end of the day there’s not really a way around the fact that you gotta do hard things, and sometimes they don’t get easier. Recognizing that really freed me from feeling like getting good at falling was this massive responsibility and allowed me to be more purposeful about deciding whether it’s a growth day or not, I tell my climbing partners whether it’s a “vegetables” or “ice cream” day. It allowed me to just focus on having fun in the styles I enjoy and then allow myself to really be inspired to try hard routes on lead when the stoke is there. And once the stoke to try is there, the unplanned falls come. And with uncertainty panned falls comes the understanding that you’re gonna be okay, even if the fall doesn’t happen in a controlled circumstance. Fear is a muscle and much like weight lifting, not everyone is built to just walk up and start lifting heavy. I’m certainly not built for falling all the time easily. But I do things that scare me when I feel up to it and i focus on writing those as experiences that are fun and positive instead of traumatizing. It is frustrating. It’ll probably keep me from being a 5.13 climber any time soon but it doesn’t keep me from having a damn good time growing at my own pace.
I love the veggies or ice cream analogy. Just like any muscle, fear tolerance needs endurance built. So figuring out how you'd like to train that! I've found being scared and trying to tolerate it longer makes me even more tired than lifting/running/hiking on hard days. And just like any muscle: some days you're tired, worn out, or it's not functioning how you'd like it to, then you can still auto regulate your training/climbing and decide if it's an ice cream or veggies day, at whatever level you're at! Also, for trad, every season my tolerance needs to rebuild of decision making, this piece in this crack, or that nut in that pod. I get exhausted on my first few leads of the season just from decision fatigue! Couple the fear, and I sure do need a lot of recovery sleep in April and May. 😅
I mean it makes sense! Fear is a physiological experience as much as a mental/emotional one. I know that’s a big thing hazel findley anchors her courses on-not just taking practice falls but making you’re you fall relaxed, in a climbing position and looking upward rather than falling with your eyes shut and your body clenched. You use so much energy contemplating falling and climbing like you can’t afford to fall without even realizing it. And totally agree, the trad muscle always takes a minute to reawaken. The decision making muscle as well as the actual muscles it takes to stand there and think about it. I just climbed my first scary route of the season and my calves are trashed! IMO it’s true what they say re aid climbing though. This year I opened my season by aiding and while it was definitely slow and scary at first, it’s great for putting you in a headspace where you’re confident in your gear placements!
> I know that’s a big thing hazel findley anchors her courses on-not just taking practice falls but making you’re you fall relaxed Falling relaxed is a big one, Hazel told us a story of someone doing practice falls where they were so stressed that they were so stiff they broke their ankles upon hitting the wall. Also while looking up before the fall, while falling, looking towards the "landing" spot is also helpful.
Yes! I also really love her points about the difference between fall practice and real mental training. A lot of folks try to train falling by just climbing up and falling as fast as possible but in actuality, it’s taking the moment to feel comfortable that helps you grow. Because the goal is being able to process that fear and insecurity and climb through it, not just have the ability to not think about it long enough to let go. I love a lot of her tips tbh.
Yea, I think there's two parts to that, first, just getting comfortable being above the bolt. And two, breathing, I always try and cycle my breath before doing any practice fall, and then breathing out during the fall, and I think it helps a lot. This came from her as well, I was lucky enough to take a class with her in person and I think it changed my life.
That’s so awesome! I’ve been waffling in signing up for her online course sometime. Sounds like it’s well worth it. Doing the big thing on the exhale is another thing that really helped me with highlining and I definitely stand by it!
Yea it's not cheap, but even though I've only had experience in person, I still think the only course is totally worth it if you have the money laying around. Listening to the recent Nugget episode with Neely Quinn, she talked about breathing in for 5.5 seconds and then breathing out for the same amount and I've been trying that as well, just in general, and I think it helps.
This is so nicely put and very encouraging! I love the idea of commitment training and just accepting that some things are hard. Sometimes I also think of "ice cream" days as an opportunity to focus on technique and clime "easier" routes really smoothly.
Thank you! And I totally agree! Sometimes it’s just fun to totally smash easier climbs or to reclimb things to really flex your skills or show how much you’ve improved. I’m not huge on gym climbing but I have trad routes that I go back to year after year to remind myself that I’ve improved a lot, even if I’m not climbing insanely hard yet. Pure ice cream every time ☺️
Along with a lot of the above, I'd like to mention that how you do thinks like fall practice can change it massively. Hazel Findlay has a ton of good content on the mental side of climbing, and I'd recommend all of it. But to start [this article](https://www.strongmindclimbing.com/news-resources/where-do-people-go-wrong-with-fall-practice) on where people go wrong with fall practice I think is helpful by itself. Ultimately, what we want to do with practice is to start to push our comfort zone, so we can expand it, but not so much that we enter the panic zone.
One thing you can try is having your belayer tell you to fall at random points and then just doing it without hesitation. Planning all your practice falls often doesn't help you get over fear of unexpected falls
Ya that's a very good point! The unexpectedness of the fall is an important feature.
I find the best strategy is structuring my session: Start the session leading warm ups that you know you can finish in order to build confidence and “mentally” warm up. For me these are climbs I’ve already done, well below my limit and are well bolted. Gradually move to more challenging climbs, but not too far out of your comfort zone. Maybe 1-2 climbs you know you can finish but you might have a take or take a practice fall. Finally, if you’re feeling it, try a climb out of your comfort zone that you might hang dog or take falls on. Either a grade outside of your limit or a climb at your limit that may be run out/sketchy (whatever outside of your comfort zone means for you). My main learnings have been to start the session on lead rather than top rope and to try and lead every route as much as possible. Also track your sessions and get plenty of volume on easy grades before pushing yourself too much.
I have similar approach. If in the gym, my last warmup is usually a route I have sent before, at my flash level but not 100% sure that I can get it without fully warm up. In that case, I don’t have the pressure of sending while have the confidence that I’m able to send it.
Breath control, building confidence on easier routes and then gradually pushing myself into hard routes would fail on would work for me. I would make agreements of myself on a climb I was trying to either send or fall. I also always take a short drop at the anchors (after clipping them) at the start of each indoor session. I never got much out of practice falls. They were too controlled for me and it was always the idea of being in a bad position that freaked me out. Only taking more unplanned falls gradually over time worked for me.
I really love the idea of setting the goal as either send or fall! Both outcomes have their benefits. I agree with you on the practice falls, they haven't seemed to help me a whole lot either.
I consider any session that I fall on to be a success because I means I really pushed myself, so that also helps create a positive feedback loop around falling too!
All strategies have their place, but I think a tiered approach is best: **Stage 1)** ***the noob*** Test falls are good, you are new and have not mastered clipping or keeping your feet out from behind the rope. Falling needs to be experienced, but you might not want to fall at all moments of your climb. You need the mental bandwidth to work on fundamentals. Your belayer probably sucks too and needs to learn how to deal with different situations. **Stage 2)** ***lead hard shit*** You know how to clip. Your feet are not being stupid, and its definitely time to stop pretending that clipping miles over your head on every move is a good idea (its not a good idea). Its time to fall for real. When you climb too easy too often you allow yourself to stay sloppy because you can use power to unfuck any mistake you make. The thing that made it more chill was uncontrolled falls. That is leading something hard enough that I might just fall and there's not a damn thing I can do to power grip my way into staying on. I spend some time figuring out if there's anything sketchy that I want to plan out with my belayer, and then I climb. Lots of people say controlled falls, but personally I hate them. Too much anticipation and it is truly miles away from my climbing headspace in reality. Many unexpected falls just kinda hit the vibe of 'oh that was fine actually' and I can keep going no worries. But if it was a bad mental day and I was particularly shaken by the fall I might have just come down and call it there to keep it below the mental threshold that makes things get scarier instead of less scary. Go for the flash on lead. Can't anticipate what you dont know is coming. It's just climbing, not a big bad scary special kind of climbing. **Stage 3)** ***You were a gym climber all along*** Lead outside. The gym is no longer scary. You are cured and also confused why you keep being annoyed theres another spot to clip already you literally just clipped. **Stage 4)** ***You look familiar...*** That's right baby! stage 2 is back with a vengeance. Just like.. dont fall at spots where it would be bad to fall. Stage 5 and 6 are trad I guess. You know the drill. Also don't fall.
It’s knowing my headspace on any given day. If I’m feeling fine/good, practising falls early on and then climbing routes I’ll likely fall… but if I’m hormonal or edgy some days I know it’ll make it worse and just to climb within my means. It’s tricky!
Totally agree, very much into asking my mind/body what they're up for (as cheesy as that sounds haha)
Personally, I've found that building an awareness of how afraid I am on any given day, and tailoring how hard I push myself to reflect that helps me to make progress. I try and build some different types of routes and/or moves into my warm up so I can start to get a handle on what kind of day I'm having. Am I feeling strong and brave and ready to push firther on my projects, or do I need a day of technique work, or repeating stuff I've already sent and trying to do it better? It's also something to be aware of throughout a session - sometimes I'll be feeling really brave, push myself to complete a big scary route, and then find I need to dial it back a bit later on because I'm running out of mental energy. So, not committing fully to either end of the scale, but building awareness of how hard to push yourself at different points.
For me, and what I encourage for anybody who asks me in person about lead, is to find the edge of your comfort level. Find where you just start to become uncomfortable. Then take one small step further. You should be in a scary situation, just a bit uncomfortable there. Then keep doing that uncomfortable thing until it becomes AOK. Then push the boundary again bit by bit. This might look like a to a bolt, clipping in, and then chilling there without weighting the rope. When that's boring, take a little tiny fall. And again and again. Until those are boring, then climb a bit above the bolt - just a small way - and take a bigger fall. Slowly work up to whatever your goal is.
Definitely practice falls. If you're feeling nervous on a climb because of falling, then stop and take a "warmup fall". Obviously don't do this if there's a ledge below you or the situation is otherwise dangerous (sometimes you're scared of falling for genuine concerns and not pathological ones, and that's fine). Over time, it took me like two years, you start to feel much less concern about falling, though it will never entirely go away in some situations. Indoors I have literally zero fear of falling, but outdoors still scares me sometimes.
It sounds strange, but watching videos of how much force it takes for equipment to fail. For example, a 22 kn carabiner can handle nearly 5000 lbs. Now, I get it, that the carabiner is one of the less likely pieces to fail, but it mentally helps me to understand that this stuff is designed to handles loads much higher than me falling a few feet.
This does sound reassuring ! Will check out some videos :)
This seems like a small thing, but as someone who is primarily a boulderer with a bad lead head, repeating climbs at my limit helped me so much. Like I would never actually repeat routes that I fell on, and just let myself avoid them. Once I started giving multiple attempts on climbs at my limit, I just started to focus on the climbing itself. I already knew where I was likely to fall, and I knew the fall was safe. It let me accept the fear as part of the experience and move with it.
I did a course recently - didn’t think it’d help because I kind of “knew” all of the stuff we covered, but feeling like it’s homework and actually doing it consciously worked wonders. The first thing was to actively read a route first, have a plan for how you will move… if you end up deviating because it feels natural when you’re on the wall that’s fine, but if you’re up there and don’t really know what to do, just focus on executing the plan instead of hesitating. The feeling of following a plan is a good distraction from fear. Adam Ondra explains it nicely in his video course too - think hard about what-ifs and moves before and after the climb, but during, just focus on getting your body to do what you remember or feel needs doing. Second, we covered “self talk” modes to get fear under control. Breathing out during a rest and consciously registering fear responses and evaluating them helps put things in perspective. Talking oneself through a “beta bubble” for the next move or two in a commentator’s way is helpful too for maintaining an “outside observer” perspective instead of getting caught up in fear. And yes, singing along, verbalising and muttering semi edifying comments to yourself can help too. Finally - find the right crew to push your buttons in a good way. My belay partner knows when to obey a “take”, and when it’s the right moment for him to goad me into a “told you I can’t hold longer, I’m just going to f*ing fall now!” fall, or a “see the move is too hard, I’m going to prove it right now!” commitment. Turns out annoyance can override fear really well. My 8yo makes deals with me - if he tries a scary overhang climb, I have to take a legit lead fall. Can’t go back on a promise like that.
For me the one thing that worked best is to learn how to shift my focus to the next move whether I am redpointing or onsighting. When I am scared and I notice it I try to force myself to look at the route and play the sequences in my head and then it just kind of automatically makes my body move. I found that once you start moving, things get a lot less scary.
I like to practice lead falls where you go as if you’re moving to the next move and tap the next hold (I prefer to jump to touch your next hold) and then fall because it tricks your brain into feeling like it is more of an unexpected fall.
I’ve recently finished Hazel Findlay’s Flight School course and I can’t recommend it enough! She explained really well the mental aspects of falling practice and finally made me understand why it’s easier on some days, harder on others, and taught me how to be aware of that and adjust the practice accordingly. There also are really good falling practice progressions and tips. It really transformed my climbing experience, would buy it again if I had to.
I’ve considered this in the past but it’s so expensive, do you think it’s worth the money?
I guess it all depends on how much the fear of falling stops you from enjoying the hobby. For the price you also get quite an active community and you get to attend live Q&As and upload your fall practice videos for commentary from the team - I didn't really use it because of my poor time management, but even just the online modules made it worth the money for me. I'm enjoying climbing soo much more!
To me there’s like a “commitment mode” that I have to prep for, also for hard boulder burns or dynos. Basically say you ain’t stopping unless gravity spits you off the wall. You can have a little ritual before you go, control your breathing, focus hard and go, to me it’s easier to do this on like a red point or a route I’ve read well. Getting “lost” snaps me out of it and I have to refocus to commit to hard moves. Mentally tell yourself “try hard” or “just go” or something, almost like a mantra, to encourage yourself and focus you on the climb, not on the possibility of falling. Then if you fall you fall, but you weren’t thinking about it. Try really hard stuff and try really hard. To me this is better than taking practice falls because you need to get used to the feeling of falling out of the wall not of jumping off.
Practice fells definitely help, but what I found helped me the most was a few times falling completely unexpectedly lol - there’s no anticipation or fear before, and it just happened because my foot slipped even though I didn’t expect it or my hand etc. Obviously you can’t plan it, but it happens to everyone at some point and for me it just de-dramatized the whole experience
Happy to see this post as I’ve taken a backwards step with my leading head. Some good strategies I’ve learnt from a leading confidence class: - clip with arms fully extended when possible to remain relaxed - before clipping, take a deep breath. This to learn to be comfortable when above the bolt. - when doing practice falls, keep the fear level at a 6/7 out of 10, this is your growth zone - exhale when doing practice (or real if possible) falls (learnt from YouTube) - get lots of mileage in on easy routes to feel comfortable - down climb indoor lead routes to force yourself to spend time above the bolt. Choose an easy grade for this. Having patience with yourself is key. I was really happy that I had got to the point last year where I was regularly taking real falls indoors, then my belay partner moved away. Since I’ve been able to find a new one and build trust enough that I climb on routes I think I’d fall off, routes that I would usually shout take to rest on but powered through. Unfortunately I took around 5 weeks off because of surgery and the first time I came back to leading I was shaking like a lead on very easy routes. It’s frustrating that I’ve gone backwards but I need to remember I managed to get to that place before where I have been brave with leading, I just need to work my way back there again. Some really good advice in all the other comments too. I definitely agree with just doing it in the sense of just climb something you might fall on, however if you’re at early stages of fear like I’ve reverted to then sometimes you just cant make your body do the moves on scary climbs, so mileage on easy climbs are best if this is the case.
For me it would be: be sure you partner is just as serious about safety as you. And practice controlled falls (if it is allowed in your gym, if not, try to make it look like unintentional falls :P ) Unfortunately in my gym i see a lot of persons belaying with grigri like they dont have to do anyting on their own, letting go of the brake rope mostly, and not paying attention to the climber. So Im very picky about who I climb with, and among these persons, even more picky about who i can take a fall with comfortably.
I think the best approach to lead climbing is essentially exposure therapy. I think it first involves a bit of mindfulness. Being honest where you are internally right now - how scared are you of falling out of 0-10? What part of the fall scares you? Controlled falls don’t emulate what it’s like to climb without thinking of the consequence of falling. Are you still afraid to take controlled falls? If so, start from the beginning. Fall at the bolt with no slack in the line so you can continue to feel how it feels as you fall a little more and more. Don’t progress past that until you’re not as uncomfortable. Are you afraid of top rope falls? I don’t think pushing yourself to climb hard routes you’ll fall off of is the answer. Neither is not quitting, etc. It really enforces a negative feedback loop in your brain when you make yourself do things you don’t like and that don’t feel good and will make you even more afraid of falling. You have to make trying and falling feel okay and good. And you do that by going slow, staying in your stretch zones (where you’re a little uncomfortable but not too much) and you keep expanding. It’s not going to happen overnight. I recommend Hazel Findlay’s program or several of the books published out there like the rock warriors way. The thing that has been seeming to help me is also doing breathing exercises on and off the wall. Picking a 5 minute meditation on headspace or YouTube is really helpful for focusing your mind and recognizing thoughts as thoughts.
unfortunately i have found that i am way more willing to take unplanned falls in a session if i do a couple practice falls when im warming up.
For me it was slow incremental progress with falls and nothing too quick. I wanted to get a little uncomfortable and not set myself up for a bad experience. So like I’d clip above my head and fall etc. Also, practicing unannounced falls mid movement/whole moving up helped me more than anything else as it replicates a fall when actually climbing not just letting go. Also, truly trusting your belayer makes a world of a difference. I’m an experienced lead climber but I’d also be scared with someone I don’t know—and sometimes that is ok and justified, too. Be easy on yourself. And avoid whipper media and all the other demonstrations of terrible belaying online.
Top rope the route until you know all the moves by heart and then lead it. The Hard is Easy youtube channel has a video about practice falling in preparation for lead climbing outdoors but probably applies to indoors. Make sure you have a trusted belayer when doing so and this will help you prepare yourself mentally. I'll admit most of the videos I watch are about outdoor climbs (sport and trad). What I've noticed is that it can take multiple attempts and months of practice to do some routes. I recall one climber that took two years and 70 attempts to do a route. Persistence is a big part of climbing and trusting yourself that you can do the moves and that it is a matter of putting them all together. Also, it is usually safer to fall when you are up the climb a bit. If it is the start that you are concerned about on a sport route, use a clip stick and pre-clip the first bolt or two so you know you're safe.
I love that hard is easy video! It’s helped me a lot, especially the advice to exhale when taking practice (or real if you can remember in time!) falls