Connect the Dots

I've served a long sentence of climbing indoors. Each day becoming further removed from real rock climbing, sliding into a vacuum of colorful tape, strange holds, and proposed grades spattered wildly all over the spectrum. Struggling not to slip into the feel-good ethic of gym grades takes complete discipline, motivated by the fear of becoming lulled into complacency. This past week I found a way out.

A couple of my good friends and I have been spending an increasing amount of time creating our own problems in the gym. Using anything and everything within reach to come up with the hardest move we can attempt. Once said move goes down it's time to make an equally hard or harder move to something else. Stick that move and repeat until linking into a full problem at your limit. Breaking down a session into a singular hard moves strung together into a problem takes the pressure of numbers out of the equation. I feel the satisfaction of just completing individual moves, and take the progress as a successful session.

This may sound simplistic, but that is the beauty of it. It can be all too easy to see a taped sequence with a number and before even pulling on conjure up all of these expectations, excuses, doubts, or attitudes about your performance. With all of that mental noise quieted I can feel free to just try as hard as my body will allow.

-BLOCHEAD