Breathe!
“Breathe, dude! Breathe!”
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard that… I’ve been climbing for more than a decade and this is still something that I have trouble with. I don’t know what my problem is, but I often forget to breathe when I’m climbing hard stuff. I’m so caught up in just trying to hold on or make it to the next hold that I just forget about it. I think part of me subconsciously feels like if I breathe, I will lose my body tension and peel right off. Unfortunately, it’s kind of hard for your body to function at a high level without that precious oxygen. Before a hard climb, I usually ask my belayer to be watching me and remind me to breathe. Hence the “Breathe, dude! Breathe!” Make it a point to breathe audibly and get into a rhythm.
Does anyone else have difficulty remembering to breathe? How do you deal with it?
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Yes. I’m the same way. Sometimes I get so caught up in the physical aspect of climbing I lose focus of the mental aspects (and I feel like breathing is as much mental as it is physical, if that makes sense). When I do remember to maintain my breathing, it really does make a difference. The most amazing climbing I ever saw was this guy bouldering at the gym (I know) who was the most fluid, smooth climber I’ve ever seen. He looked like he was just so calm and relaxed. I call it zen climbing. That’s where I would like to be one day.
Ya, for sure I forget to breathe too although recently I’ve started focusing on finding rests in climbs and so i just power through to the rest and then milk it for all that i can i.e. catch my breath and shake out and then cruise on to the next rest.
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