PUSH YOURSELF: Stop Training on Autopilot for Climbers
Coach Henning reminds you how to push yourself by focusing on your intention!
You’re on autopilot… You’ve been training for a while now… You walk into the gym with a list of exercises you’ve done before. *yawn*
You’ve forgotten that to get the most out of your training, you need to PUSH YOURSELF!
What is the intention of this session?
With any exercise or session, you need to remind yourself of its intention, its purpose. What is this training designed to do?!
What is my intention for this session?
Furthermore, before you start that day’s training, remind yourself of your intention for the session. Is it to build strength? Improve flexibility? Develop aerobic capacity?
Focus on your intention to motivate you to push!
Strength gains…
Let’s say we’re targeting strength gains in our pulling muscles: we could simply go through the motion, doing the number of pull-ups, or low rows, etc. at the prescribed intensity… or we could try REALLY flippin’ hard on every rep!
Aerobic power…
If you are doing aerobic power training, then go into the session with the intention of digging deep and trying ‘one more move’, and ‘one more move’, despite being pumped out of your mind!
Long duration…
Another good example is doing low intensity, long duration regen or aerocap work. Going into a session like this with the intention of climbing well, focusing on good footwork, technique and movement, your climbing will benefit hugely over time.
Conclusion:
It’s very easy going into a training session and completing the items you have on your list; you will make gains and get better.
But by introducing a bit of intention and pushing yourself in each climbing or training session, you’ll get so much more out of it!
