Bouldering Tip: Use an “Effort Index” to climb harder
Was that attempt a 10? Or was it a 7?
“[Exerting yourself] a skill like anything else, so it’s important to practice and train [it]. And a nice way to do that is giving yourself a mark out of ten…and see if you can do a little bit more next time.”
- Hazel Findlay
Trying hard is such an obvious component of bouldering that suggesting it as a “tip” risks reducing bouldering to a simple binary: those who try hard and those who don’t try at all. So I won’t. Instead, I’ll tell you to try harder.
It’s different. There’s an -er at the end. And that -er forces a comparison between two states: 1) trying a specific amount and 2) trying a specific amount PLUS a little more.
The simple tip here is to assign a value between 1 and 10, which I’ll refer to as the Effort Index. Following each failed attempt at a troublesome move, take a breath and assign a value to your attempt. Did you give an effort of 9? Or are you lying to yourself; is the effort you put into that dyno closer to a 5 or 6?
My experience suggests that lying to yourself is easy; most attempts are not a 10. Honesty is key, here.
Lying to yourself is easy; most attempts are not a 10.
Assigning a number to your attempts does two important things.
1. The Effort Index forces you to admit that you can try harder
Before the Effort Index, when confronted by a fellow climber about the difficulty of a specific send attempt (and failure), I would generally default to loose, and arbitrary, conviction. That fellow climber sees me fall from a desperate reach and I, even without being asked, would offer up a quick “damn, that’s hard.”
This quick offering could simply be a means to wade past the awkward eye contact that introverts like me tend to fear; stating the obvious is my go-to move in such a situation. But even if this is true, it’s also true that stating the obvious, by its nature, erases nuance, leaving only generalities. Generalities are the enemy of progress. Assigning a number to the “damn hard” move applies the necessary specificity that progress demands.
If I give my attempt a 7, I have 3 levels of try-hard left. In turn, I admit to myself that I did not try my hardest.
Consider the class school quiz. A simple, 100-question quiz. You study. You take the test. You receive a grade of C+. Bummer. But just knowing the grade isn’t enough to help you increase it. The grade is the “damn, that’s hard” measure of the quiz. The grade is the small-talk-among-strangers measure of the quiz. The grade is the “what about this weather” measure of the quiz. It’s more helpful to know which specific questions you answered incorrectly. From there, you can study intentionally.
No activities, for which improvement is desirable, settle for generalities. Why should bouldering be any different?
No activities, for which improvement is desirable, settle for generalities. Why should bouldering be any different?
2. The Effort Index gives you a new metric for success
When you assign a numerical value to your attempts, the measure of success changes. A sent problem is no longer THE success, and an unsent problem is no longer THE failure. The success binary shifts away from the entire project and toward the level of effort you put into a specific move within that project. An increase in the Effort Index becomes a success.
Finding a problem and trying hard can be your session’s goal. You don’t need to be constrained by a need to send a specific problem fully.
The Effort Index in Practice
Picture this: you are a 5’ 6” middle-aged man, standing at the base of a purple dyno boulder problem, looking up to a hold 10 or 11 feet above you. This is by far the biggest dyno you’ve ever attempted. You take a breath. You take another. And then a few more for good measure. On that final breath, you picture the number 10 in your head. You then say it out loud. “Ten.” Then, you jump, you pull, and almost magically your hand is completely wrapped around that impossibly-high purple hold (and your butt isn’t squashed against the floor mat).
That was me. I had been putting in 7 and 8-index jumps for weeks. Then, after hearing Hazel Findlay preach the power of specificity’s role in progress, I decided to put in 10 effort. It worked. Proof:
Answer in the comments, will you try using the Effort Index during your next climbing session?
Do you have any bouldering tips to share? Leave links to articles or videos that you’ve found helpful.
The climber: Hazel Findlay
The source: Unlock Your Climbing Potential with Hazel Findlay