NICROS - Training Center

The ability to narrow and maintain focus is a crucial sports skill, especially in an activity like climbing where elements of danger exert a constant pull diverting your focus from the move at hand. Widely used, but often misunderstood in the context of a climber’s lexicon, focus is a laserlike concentration of mental energy aimed at the most important task at any particular instant. Think of focus as a narrowing of your concentration, much like a zoom lens on a camera. At any given instant you must zoom in on the single task most critical to your performance—toeing down on a small pocket, pulling on a manky finger jam, or shifting your center of gravity to just the right balance point. Think about anything else and you may fail at this critical task and fall.

The most difficult part of focusing is learning to zoom in and out quickly from a pinpoint focus to a more wide-angle perspective. For example, you use a broad focus when scaning the rock above you to figure a sequence or spot the next hold, then zoom in tight as you reach toward the hold and latch on to it. Similarly, you must zoom in tight when high-stepping on a micro edge or floating dicey deadpoint, since it requires all of your psychic energy to stick the move. If you focus on anything else—your gear, your belayer, your pain, the chance of falling, or spectators on the ground—you may as well add a ten-pound weight to your back. Poor focus makes hard moves harder, maybe even impossible.

Next I’m going to detail a practice drill that will help you develop better focus, then I teach you a nifty preclimb strategy for gathering focus before you start up a boulder problem or route.

Singular Focus
This is a great gym climbing drill to execute during your warm-up climbing. Perform the drill on top rope climb at least 2 to 3 number grades below your maximum. The goal is to climb an entire route by focusing solely on one aspect of movement.

For example, climb a route with your complete focus on just hand placements. Focus on finding the best way to grab each hold, using the minimum amount of grip strength necessary to hang on, and feeling how your purchase changes as you pull on the hold. Place as little focus as is safely possible on other areas such as your feet, balance, belayer, and sort forth. For now, let these areas take care of themselves—allow your intuitive sense to determine where your feet go and how your balance should shift.

Chances are, you’ll find this exercise quite difficult. Your thoughts will naturally wander to other tasks or even be directed to distractions on the ground. If this occurs, simply redirect your focus to the predetermined task—in this case, optimal use of handholds. It is this process of becoming aware of your lost focus and returning it to the critical task that you are after. Sharpened awareness of lost focus is tantamount to gaining control of focus.

Repeat this exercise regularly but change the focus each time (onto, say, foot placements or positioning of your center of gravity). Work on increasing the length of time you can maintain a singular focus—this helps build mental endurance. With practice, you’ll discover that the process of directing and redirecting focus, as you ascent hard routes, will become largely subconscious. And on the rare occasions when your focus does wander away from the task of climbing, your well-trained mind will instantly recognize this loss and redirect the focus back to the climb.

Pinpointing Your Focus
Now I will teach you a technique for narrowing your focus and quieting your mind in the moments prior to starting up a climb. Stand at the base of the climb, assume an extended posture with your shoulders back, close your eyes, and place the fingertips of your dominant hand against the rock face. Your fingertips should be touching the wall lightly (not gripping a hold), and your hand and arm should be completely relaxed. Now take three deep belly breaths, inhaling through your nose to a count of five and exhaling through your mouth to a count of five to ten seconds. Let a wave of relaxation wash across your body, and then narrow your focus to the tips of your fingers touching the rock.

Concentrate singly on the sensation of your fingertips touching the rock—you should begin to feel the thermal energy moving from your fingers to the rock (on rare occasions when the rock is hotter than your body, you will feel thermal energy conducting to your fingertips). Maintain a relaxed, singular focus on the energy exchange between your fingertips and the rock for anywhere from thirty-seconds to a minute or two. If your focus ever wanders, simply redirect it to your fingertips. Soon your mind will become completely still, as all your focus is pinpointed on the tips of your fingers. Upon reaching this state, open your eyes and begin climbing.