Book Review: The Rock Warrior’s Way: Mental Training for Climbers by Arno Ilgner

I have been climbing outdoors for one and a half years, and understanding how and why you climb is important for performance. It is easy to get stuck chasing grade and forcing it just because of your ego, as Arno Ilgner states and as I have also experienced. It is not because I am vain or you are. It is because of how the system is created. Our performance is measured way of numbers and letters unobjectively, and it is so easy to get lost there, letting it obstruct your performance. We are all individuals with our shortcomings and strengths. And it is not only the grade that affects our performance. There is this big thing that makes things ever so difficult: FEAR. It is present on every climb we do. The risk of getting injured may and does hinder performance. And we do this for fun and to challenge ourselves.

I have been reading lately about the mental aspects of climbing because it is the one thing that hinders my performance. I want to do the hard climbs and the moves and feel the flow when everything fits perfectly together, but it is hard when my mind screams that I need to perform, I cannot fail (what will others think of me or will I get injured?). All the other noise inside my head will make me perform poorly rather than when I just concentrate on the movement, then often enough, everything will come together, and I will do the send. It is just not that easy. Arno Ilgner proposes in the book that you can overcome the noise inside your head by understanding how you organize your thoughts about performance, reasons for climbing, and risk assessment. It all boils down to the mindset of learning instead of performing. If I view the route as a learning possibility, it is easier for me to let go of the rigidity of the mind/body and ego. I get this every time on an intellectual level, but when you are out there on the rock, the thought is so easily overwritten by the situation and past habits. Arno Ilgner has added exercises to surpass habits at the end of the book, yay, but even after reading this book, they are hard to incorporate for my climbing as I go too much with the situation.

Last night, I let my spotter affect my performance, both making me try harder and also causing me to doubt my value as a climber and how able I am. I realized this then and now, yet, it was hard to let go of my mindset. So trying to ignore all the noises inside my head, I screamed as I made the hard moves. It helped a lot, but I still want to learn to concentrate on the move, even without the scream. I guess this thing should be seen as a process and taking baby steps, understanding that it has taken Arno Ilgner a long time to adapt the learning mindset to his climbing. It is just so easy to want everything to happen now.

Then there is the fear part. Arno Ilgner proposes a risk assessment habit for it, both understanding the rock and the route and your abilities and the movement. Every climb is always an interplay of those elements. It is never solely you, the maker of the movements, but also the rock face and the landing that might make the risk more catastrophic. Yesterday, I did the risk assessments from the book and fixed what I could fix, but fear was present. I realized it is because I don’t trust myself. I’m climbing harder than my mind permits, yet I devalue myself by comparing myself to others who have climbed longer than I have. The silly thing is that I actually climb better than they did when they started outdoor climbing. Again, my ego plays a role in seeing my performance as something to be viewed and compared to others instead of mine and my learning process. And again, with the fear thing, we come back to the initial point Arno Ilgner founded his book on: learning. Climbing will never get easier. As the grade goes up, you will always struggle as much as you do now. You just make harder moves and demand more from your body. The ego will always be one to suffer if you let it.

Reviewing this book is hard as it is highly personal to me. I would love to say it cured all my ailments. It didn’t. I need to put in hours and hours to change my habits, yet at least if I understand and view my climbing through Arno Ilgner’s rock warrior’s way, I have a lens to use to view my climbing and motivations and fix what I can, so I can play and love the route I am on. So, in summary, I highly recommend this book even if you don’t suffer from a frail ego like mine or fear the risk of injury as I do.

Thank you for reading! Have a beautiful day ❤