MENTAL VS PHYSICAL PREPARATION

Having only explored a very small part of the bouldering Switzerland has to offer, I decided to plan a trip to Ticino and with the main focus being Brione. The 4-5 months leading up to the trip, I planned my training to the smallest detail with a high degree of focus, intensity and volume. Maybe a bit too much in hindsight.

I have been longing for a proper trip to this area for a long time, watching every video I could find from the area, and a lot of the boulders seemed to be something I would find interesting and motivating. Yet I know that it requires some testing and actually having an actual look and test of the boulder for myself before knowing if I want to invest myself in it, even if it’s only a single session of investment or a longer project. Anyway, a long list of boulders I wanted to try quickly accumulated and the psyche was high!

Unfortunately the weather didn’t allow me much testing out of this list as I arrived after two long days of driving. The entire trip was heavily influenced by rain, climbing basically every dry day I was there. I managed to squeeze in 13 climbing days out of 30, and quite a few of those were looking at wet projects and only climbing anything that was dry. This mixed with some lack of motivation, probably due to a bit of overtraining the previous 6 months, called for a change of plans. The long list of hard challenging boulders I had set my sights on trying to do, changed for a bit of an open approach so to say. I didn’t feel a great amount of focus, so instead of planning everything out and thinking I was going to try and do a bunch of hard boulders, I decided to just try a selected few I found the most inspiring for whatever reason. it’s surprisingly hard to force focus, and sometimes it takes a bit of trial and error to see what invokes it.

After a lot of reflecting about my desire to perform and my attachment to my own personal performance, I let off a bit of pressure I had put on myself and ended up having some incredible climbing days. I’ve never dealt with a lack of motivation or psyche for outdoor climbing, but this time as a result of maybe pushing myself physically and emotionally a bit too much in the past few years it became apparent that maybe a balance is needed. A balance of expectations of yourself. So maybe the bad weather and me maybe dragging out the confrontation i had to do with myself in terms of attachment to performance was a blessing in disguise, with that being said i think this is a very long and constantly changing process, so i’ll probably see many more mental challenges, although feel a bit more prepared for them. It all comes in the form of experience and trial and error!

Mental training and mindset changes are not easy and i am for sure not an expert, but i think that just being conscious and aware of what mindstate you’re in at different times and reflecting upon why and what drove you to that state of mind is a good start, and from there you can analyze a bit on what mindstates works the best for you for different situations. For example, I have found that I generally need to be very calm when I need to try my hardest, and amping myself up usually doesn’t work very well for me. And to put myself in a calm and focused state of mind I need to be around people I feel very comfortable with, or by myself. Knowing the area and surroundings also means alot for me. If it’s an area I know well and feel comfortable and “safe” in the surroundings I can relax and let go of some anxious thoughts that simply leads to a more relaxed mind. But some people on the other hand like to amp themselves up and get something out of the pressure from having an audience and want to perform in front of them. it’s all about figuring out what works for you.

About the author: Mikkel Normann Meinertsen

I’ve been climbing for about 8 years primarily bouldering. Climbing has become the main focus of my life and i strive to push myself and my skill abilities within the sport. I highly prioritize and incorporate my environmental impact in the way I travel and function in my climbing whether it be the products i use or the food I buy. I am also one of the headsetters at Beta Boulders CPH which I am also very passionate about and enjoy experimenting with movement and it is a very creative outlet for me as well.