An often asked question to someone who enjoys the rewards of progression, someone who time and time again throws them self at a problem or problems hoping to reach the top or next move. But how many times do we find ourselves stuck, seems like we plateaued, frustrated with lack of progression. There are countless books on "how to improve your climbing"-"climb stronger now!" but is that the answer, or is that all it takes? of course reading a book on technique or getting pointers at the local crag or gym helps, but despite all the technique we learn we still seemed stumped. We can hit the weights and get stronger but still feel stuck, why? A question I ask myself is why am I climbing? why do I want to climb stronger? what is my real reason to climb at a higher grade? now to climb stronger doesn't always involve a soul searching quest, yet its hard to fight the fact that those who truly love the sport and try 110% not only in climbing but the sport that they enjoy climb harder and seem to achieve grades they set as reasonable goals. The mental side of climbing can often be over looked, a route that can really excite us can sometimes push us to get just a little stronger, the strength we needed to progress. There can be a number of factors to climbing harder but thinking about it can sometimes help find the area of weakness. Who knows.......... maybe we just need to stop climbing, watch football and play video games.
