Goal Setting: The Most Important Training Tool
With all of us being stuck inside for the time being, many are lamenting not being able to throw themselves back at the wall (myself included!). It’s allowed for a lot of forced introspection on where we are in rock climbing, and how we want to improve when we are free to do so. What better time than to do some performance analysis and set some training goals?
Goal setting allows us to hone in on what we’re doing well and what we’re doing poorly, how we are spending our time at the gym and out of the gym, provides direction for the training plan, and also helps motivate us to keep going when the inevitable wall hits us. Seeing what we have accomplished and what we have not allows us to recognize our achievements and appreciate the process - one of the most important mindsets to keep working toward that end objective!
We’ll cover how to pick goals for a seasonal training plan, how to break them up into short, mid and long-term goals, and how to use these goals in your training sessions.
Establishing a Starting-Point and an Ending-Point
In order to know how far we’ve got to go, we first have to establish where we are. The Starting-Point in your training plan is just as important as the End Goal; it informs every step you take each day to achieve it. Conduct a thorough and honest evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses. This can be humbling, but it gives us essential knowledge that we use to build our plan.
Try to consider things like these to first get a general overview of yourself as a climber:
What angle of terrain am I best at?
What kind of holds do I prefer, and which am I averse to?
Am I better at short and sweet problems, or long and sustained climbing?
Am I more static or dynamic as a climber? Do I prefer powerful or technical climbs?
Also consider specific physical, technical, and mental attributes such as:
Core / Finger Strength
Efficiency of Movement
Breath Control
Precision with Feet and Hands
Confidence and Hesitation When Making Moves
Dynamic Movements
Directional Movement and Body Positioning
The more analysis you do on where you are, the more information you have to create a realistic and productive end goal. You might already have one in mind while making this starting point, in which case you can prioritize your weaknesses in relation to your objective and work on what is needed most to achieve it. If not, we can do that later once we have one!
The End Goal should be well defined and specific. It is your Long-Term Goal, one that can be accomplished within a climbing season (roughly half a year) or a full year of effort. For this reason, something like “I want to climb a 5.12” or “I want to climb a V6” can present some problems. They aren’t specific enough, and it will be difficult to develop steps to achieve them. What kind of strength and skill will that 5.12 or V6 require? The end-goal should be well established enough to give us a clear idea of exactly what we will have to work on to get there.
Numbers often aren’t as inspiring as a specific line that you’re enthralled by, and changing “I want to climb a V6” to something like “I want to climb The Wave (V6) at Stone Fort” gives us a lot more information to create a plan. The Wave requires a lot of body tension and contact strength, and is an objectively beautiful boulder that screams “come climb me”. We can use that knowledge to time out our training to build the specific strength we need for our specific goal. One might also post a picture of our goal in their training area to keep them inspired and motivated, and can even plan trips and training around knowing when the best time to attempt that route may be! All of this creates a more concrete idea of what we are working towards and helps to build steps to get there.
Connecting Point A to Point B: Short and Mid-Term Goals
Once we have a clear Starting and End Point, we can start to build steps to bridge the gap between them. A Long-Term goal by itself can often feel like it’s impossible, and ultimately, a goal without a plan is nothing but a pipe dream. Our handy-dandy list of weaknesses can be used to create Mid-Term goals (things that can be done in a few weeks or a month, lets say) which, once completed, bring us to that final objective! Looking back to our example of the Wave, we might set goals like these:
Complete 3 sets of 6 reps (10 seconds on, 5 seconds off) deadhanging on slopers
Body Tension benchmarks, i.e. 60 Second L-Sit Hold
Complete 5 Slopey V5s in a Day
Here we have a specific contact-strength goal, a body tension goal and an applicable endurance goal for our ultimate mission to climb the Wave. We may not be close to doing these at the moment, but with dedicated work they can be accomplished within a reasonable amount of time. Furthermore, these should be updated if they feel too far away and more like long-term goals. There is no shame in recognizing that a goal is unproductive, and refocusing helps to keep us on the right track.
Short-Term goals are mostly daily or weekly goals - they should be things to direct a day’s workout or a benchmark you hope to reach by the end of the week. Every day can have a short-term goal - if it’s not a climbing day, a short-term goal can be as simple as “engage in an hour of stretching” or other supplemental recovery or exercises to be done that day. Break down the Mid-Term goals much like you did the Long-Term, prioritize which goals should be met first, and create daily or weekly plans on what you are doing to achieve the Mid-Terms. These all allow us to appreciate the little steps we are taking in our plans, and evaluate if these goals are moving us in the right direction. Once we have our goals, the rest is following through.
It is important to realize that none of these goals should be treated as “written in stone”! Make adjustments where needed using the information you gather along the way in the form of completed Short and Mid-Term goals. If you find yourself ignoring a goal and not working toward it, change it! A goal we don’t work toward is just an aspiration.
There are many formats for training plans, and each of them have their benefits for different climbers. Examples include Periodization (Linear and Non-Linear), where training is broken up into “phases'' such as “Fitness”, “Strength”, or “Power”, Annual Plans, and Seasonal Plans. Ask yourself questions such as “Do I prefer to train each category once a week, or dedicate an entire month to each?” “Do I prefer a number of shorter training phases, or one long annual grind?” I encourage you to research each and work with whichever format your body responds best to.
With all of this direction and information, we can identify what kind of climber we are, where we want to be, and create a plan of attack to become the image we all have of ourselves in our head. I hope this has been informative, and look forward to improving with all of you again soon!
-Wil
