Good habits

After reading Jame's post the other day I decided to change some things I do when I go for a climb. I really hope these things become good habits.

My first change for the afternoon was that I actually had a decent warm up. This included a few rounds of traversing and pulling all kinds of moves to warm up all my muscles not just the same stuff as usual. Yeah I know it sounds like the obvious things a rock climber should do for a warm up, but somewhere down the road I forgot about all this handy warm up stuff.

The second thing I'm turning into a habit will have to be including some stretching into this warm up. Even though it's normally unlikely for me to get injured without warming up and doing a proper stretch, it is in my best interest to keep my history of injuries low. I don't want to have the excuse of not being able to climb because I didn't warm up correctly.

During the time I am on the wall and climbing I have given myself a new rule to work by. If I'm in the middle of a climb or boulder problem and happen to cut loose when I know I could have kept my feet on, I will redo it or keep re-climbing it until it is perfect. It's always good for me to remind myself that I do have technique and it's here to be used. A lot of people say I have none and that's because I'm very lazy at using it, time to show them!

Lastly I'm getting back to more stretching before I head home, to leave feeling a tad more loose after my session and to reduce recovery time of those muscles that were getting used.

I'm going to make these habits stick for once, then I may actually be able to stick to a small training plan without stopping after a week or two. I'm very keen on opening up a new level of climbing for myself and to strive for better results on real rock, seeing improvements is always a great way to psyched for harder climbing.

- Aden