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How to create and maintain healthy climbing habits

Creating new healthy habits for climbing – even when we know they enhance our perfomance, is a challenging self-given task. And sometimes maintaining those routines can be a challenge as well.

Lally‘s study says there is no fixed time frame required to create new healthy habits. According to scientists, this process can take between 18 days and 254 days as factors such as personal traits, time of day, or other individual aspects appear to contribute to that. The only two constants when it comes to maintaining routines are inner motivation and consistency.

Keep on reading to find out the importance of healthy habits, and how to maintain those routines that benefit your climbing in different circumstances such as changing jobs, travelling, getting sick, family obligations and so on.

​What is the science behind habits and routines?

Habits are behaviours, good or bad, that our nervous system learns consciously or automatically through a process called neuroplasticity.

This is what allows our brain to adapt to change, thus repeated actions or behaviours.

When this change becomes a lasting one, it becomes habitual and we call that a habit or a routine.

Habits can become a big part of who we are because they represent more than 70% of what we do daily.

Why are healthy habits important for your climbing?

  1. A training plan saves time and energy. Knowing how your climbing workout will look ahead of time brings better focus on your goals.
  2. Better life-work-climbing balance. Having a climbing routine weekly saves you time because it gives you structure for the whole week, therefore you can also organise other activities with friends and family.
  3. Increased self-esteem. Maintaining routines and healthy habits makes you feel good about yourself.

Quick start – find motivation for habits and routines that benefit your climbing

How to create and maintain healthy climbing habits

Some people see habits as a boring way to live their lives.

But as soon as they develop a passion for something such as climbing 😊they immediately understand how important having structure is – that is if they want to improve.

Here is a quick start to developing healthy habits and making it a meaningful journey.

Find your “why”

Behind a new conscious habit lies motivation.

The mind has to understand the purpose of integrating this new healthy habit, and its benefits.

Depending on how important your “why” is, your brain will use more or less energy to achieve this habit.

After a while, for various reasons, going to the climbing gym after work can become challenging.

And this is when you might hopelessly wonder how other people do it.

But before you get into the mental trap of feeling overwhelmed, ask yourself: What does climbing bring into my life?

A tool to change your mindset is trying to see the benefits of integrating habits that are related to climbing and imagining yourself taking the necessary steps to transform this into consistency.

Ultimately try and see the immediate rewards you get out of this action and ask yourself a question only you can answer: Is this reward linked to more social interaction and connection, or the personal fulfilment that you did something for yourself?

The importance of projecting for better climbing

Choose a boulder problem or a sports route that is harder than you can normally send to motivate yourself.

What does it take to send it? Stronger fingers, improved body tension, structured nutrition, etc.

Whatever it is that you need, start by having a main goal. Around this goal start forming habits that will lead you to this goal.

Ultimately break this goal into smaller goals so you can see immediate results that encourage you to move forward.

Having a project to dream of usually contributes to your motivation to do everything it takes to send it!

Here’s a fun perspective on how to project a climb by Anna Hazelnutt:

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“Show me who you’re with, and I’ll tell you who you are.”

If you are a person who’s interested in learning and self-improving, hanging out with stronger climbers can be beneficial to your climbing.

Motivated people and their stories are usually inspiring, and can be an example of “what’s possible”.

Moreover, through them, you can learn focusing techniques that will eventually get what you want.

Dealing with healthy habits and motivation when your schedule is limited

It’s not a secret that consistency in maintaining healthy habits is key to success. “Eat, sleep, climb, repeat.”

Simple, right?

This popular expression in the climbing community makes me think this is what it takes to be a successful climber.

But, let’s face it: most of us aren’t pro athletes. Most of us have family responsibilities and a full-time office job.

And if you’ve been climbing long enough you know by now climbing takes a lot of time if you want to improve and climb your way towards V6 and above.

Therefore, let’s see how we can make the grass greener on our side too.

Keep on reading and discover the secret to integrating healthy habits into a mortal lifestyle so they benefit your climbing.

Choose a habit at a time

When you love climbing as much as we do it’s tempting to want to improve fast. But getting too excited and overdoing it is not sustainable in the long run.

Therefore to avoid it becoming overwhelming and get easily discouraged as a result, learn to feed your motivation and start with baby steps.

Is it mobility, better balance, and focus you are looking for? Start with doing 20 minutes of yoga.

There are plenty of short videos online, it is just a matter of finding what works for you.

Watch Every Day Full Body Yoga For All with Jess Yoga lesson here:

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Good lesson of 20-Minute Morning Yoga Practice with Adrienne:

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Or watch Yoga for Climbers with Ieva Luna:

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Creating habits with long-term benefits

Regardless of what your life circumstances are, one secret to forming and keeping habits could lie in becoming aware of the good that comes with it.

And even when you are not fully aware, try staying curious about what change can bring to you.

This mindset can prevent you from looking for excuses to skip habits and help you adapt whenever life changes.

When it comes to new habits, it turns out visualisation is a pretty powerful weapon – and not just for improving your climbing.

In fact, in his podcast on the science of making and breaking habits, Huberman confirms this theory.

Actively thinking about your new habits, imagining the steps to doing the activity you wish to be doing, imagining how it makes you feel and so on sets the mood for the actual habit to happen.

So why not give it a try?

Integrating new habits as a personal challenge

Some years ago I decided I would start running at least 3 times a week.

I hated running and that was mostly because I was the last one in school, as running felt tiring to me.

The reasoning behind my radical decision was backed up by 2 things:

  1. I wanted to see if I can do things I don’t enjoy but which are good for me. Just like broccoli is for some people. 😄
  2. I had recently quit smoking and I wanted to replace a bad habit with a healthy one. Moreover, I wanted to give my lungs an air boost for all those years of smoking.

The results of this personal challenge? Not only I started to love running and still run nowadays, but I also ended up competing in sky running competitions and training to improve my overall results.

Up to this day, I consider this a big empowering life achievement, and experiment.

Apart from that, I made new friends, met so many interesting people, and ran on so many mountain trails.

When it comes to climbing, what could be your next personal challenge habit-related?

Look for ways to motivate and educate yourself with post-it notes (encouragements, things you want to achieve, etc), posters with your favourite climbers, podcasts, or climbing movies.

Is there a best time of day to integrate routines?

Studies show that it is best to integrate routines and habits in the first part of the day. And there are several advantages to that.

  1. Starting your morning routine by doing healthy activities you enjoy sets the tone for your entire day.
  2. It gives you an extra boost to engage in activities you are not particularly fond of!
  3. Moreover, it is convenient because it eliminates the surprise element (such as uninvited guests, fatigue, or unplanned events) that can arise later in the day.

However, even if for whatever reason you don’t fall into this category there is a workaround!

Listen to Hubberman’s podcast on How to defeat jetlag, shiftwork, and sleeplessness to find out how you can enjoy the benefits of healthy habits if your lifestyle is slightly upside down.

And even when you are short on time, remember that as little as 10-20 minutes spent on a short yoga session, core and shoulder strengthening, mindfulness, and basically whatever it is that fills your cup (and is healthy) improves your mental and physical health, increases energy levels and relationships with others, boosts confidence and positivity, and improves sleep.

5 best habits to integrate that benefit your climbing

Keep in mind the key is to adapt them to your schedule and make them manageable, so they fit within the time constraints of a busy life.

There is also an interesting study I read (led by Katherine R. Arlinghaus, MS, RD and Craig A. Johnston, PhD) on the importance of creating healthy habits and routines from a healthy lifestyle point of view.

The study emphasises the importance and effectiveness of finding ways to fit and adapt new habits into someone’s lifestyle instead of radically trying to change it.

1. Consistent training and mobility work

How to create and maintain healthy climbing habits

No time? Focus on one climbing day/week and do short sessions instead of long, exhausting workouts (30–45 minutes, 2–3 times a week).

Depending on your lifestyle you can combine climbing gym sessions with home workouts that focus on core strength, finger strength, and mobility.

This can be early morning, during your lunch break, or after work. Here’s a guide on how to start strength and power  training for climbing.

Bonus, squeeze 10 minutes of yoga or stretching.

Until you try, you’ll never know how much it can help with flexibility.

2. Mindful nutrition and hydration

How to create and maintain healthy climbing habits

A healthy climber is a good climber. Simple but nutritious meals that focus on good protein, veggies, healthy fats, and whole grains can be simple to add to your diet.

You can meal prep ahead on weekends to save time during the week.

Make sure you always have veggies, nuts, fruits, yoghurt, and whole foods in your house – combined they require a minimum time to prepare a delicious meal, snack, or dinner.

For more ideas on nutrition for climbing and why is important, check our guide.

3. Rest and recovery

How to create and maintain healthy climbing habits

Rest and good sleep are important and contribute to better performance and a healthier lifestyle.

Therefore, always remember to fit rest into your busy schedule, even if that means one less climbing or training day.

A rest day can mean a longer walk, a longer yoga session, a recovery massage, or similar things.

4. Route reading and visualisation

How to create and maintain healthy climbing habits

Route reading is a technique that can help you improve your climbing performance, whether you’re climbing on sight (no knowledge of climb) or redpointing (prior knowledge of climb).

It involves observing and anticipating difficult sections of the route before you begin climbing.

At Boulderflash, we wrote a dedicated article on visualisation and how to improve route reading in climbing.

I highly recommend it as it’s full of essential information that boosts your climbing skills without having to train.

And the best part is that you can do visualisation on your way to work, in your bed, or on your work break.

You choose!

5. Focused breathing and mental control

How to create and maintain healthy climbing habits

Focused breathing not only improves climbing but also improves your overall health, sleep, and concentration.

Freedivers train focused breathing so they can keep their breath for a longer time while they’re underwater.

Climbers, on the other hand, need to know how to juggle with air when they do hard moves.

If you are keen to know more about it, check out the Nugget Podcast interview on how to climb harder by breathing better with Louis Parkinson – it is very interesting.

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Will you build new habits and improve your climbing?

Forming habits that benefit climbing performance and maintaining routines amidst life’s challenges is not an easy thing to do – it will always be challenging from time to time.

But the most important thing to remember is that everybody is challenged in their own way throughout their life.

Regardless of their lifestyle – whether it’s a pro athlete, a professional hobby climber, or a weekend warrior.

The final question is: Outside your life circumstances, who do you want to be?

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