Fellow Climber,
If you don’t learn to be comfortable with falling you’re much more likely to be scared that you’ll hurt yourself if you fall.
Moreover, if you're too scared you'll never be able to push your grade, or feel that awesome feeling of trying hard, in flow on the rock.
Fear of falling is totally normal. It’s one of the few innate fears that we have. But we're more likely to be scared of something we never do.
However, for most people it’s just not enough to take some falls and be done. It’s a process. You have to practice something that you might have a lot of ingrained fear of, without ingraining that fear further.
That’s hard to do and to do it successfully you really need to develop certain skills and have a deeper knowledge of how fear is learnt and unlearnt. Which is what this course is all about!
Let me ask you some questions:
Are you mostly thinking about getting to the next bolt when you climb?
Do you avoid falling and often say ‘take’ if you need to rest?
Do you avoid hard moves at the top of the bouldering wall?
Do you lower your grade to avoid falling and as a result fail to progress very quickly?
Does your body tension or anxiety increase as you get further away from the bolt, protection, or mat?
Do you breathe a sigh of relief every time you clip the bolt or get a piece in even though it's safe to fall?
What happens if you continue as you are and you carry your fear of falling up every climb?
What opportunities, dream climbs and amazing experiences are you missing out on because you avoid falling or feel tense when you climb?
How much quicker would you improve as a climber if you could relax on the wall?
"I was a climber who never fell, I was a climber who avoided falling and therefore routes I might fall off! I started the Strong Mind Course in winter and by spring was beginning fall practice outdoors. Fast forward 8 months and I am falling off much more and importantly, happily and now starting to try routes that I know I will fall off. I have also led my first 7a. I definitely could not have made this progress without this amazing course and incredible instructors."
Helen Burgess
Helen had been climbing for 20 years before she learnt to fall. After starting fall training she was able to climb her first 7a at age 50.
Grades aside, the main thing is that she is enjoying climbing more than ever and learning to fall has completely transformed her relationship with climbing. And she isn't alone.
We also can't be there to make sure you're safe, so you need to take responsibility for your own physical and psychological safety when carrying out any of the exercises that we discuss in this course. Not all the exercises in this course are appropriate for everyone.
We'll never ask you to do something you're not comfortable with. This course is about empowering you with the knowledge and teaching you the skills that will enable you to make better decisions around falling and fall practice in climbing whether you're a boulderer, sport climber, indoor top-rope climber or trad climber.
We'll put a lot of time into helping you build the necessary skills that make fall practice successful rather than just teach the fall practice on its own.
We'll never ask you to do anything you're not comfortable with. This course is about teaching you the skills and empowering you with knowledge so you can make better decisions around falling and fall practice for yourself.
We can't work with that many people individually so in response to these requests we created Flight School which focuses solely on fear of falling.
What is 'mindset' and what are different types of mindset
What your current mindset looks like
How you can shift your mindset to get better results from this course and fall practice
Homework tasks
The science of fear and stress
Why self-awareness is necessary for fall practice to be successful
How to build self-awareness
How to get the psychological challenge level right
The stretch zone model as a means to manage exposure therapy
Eustress and distress
Homework tasks
What is fear of falling – the nuances
A discussion on risk and how to better manage it
Detailed video fall practice instructions for top rope
Detailed video fall practice instructions for lead climbing (trad falling is in the next chapter)
Detailed video fall practice instructions for bouldering
Belaying – How to give soft catches
How to progress your practice
How to integrate your practice into the rest of your climbing
Example sample sessions for fall practice
Trad falling - detailed instructions (for experienced trad climbers only*)
Advanced falling practices
How to motivate for fall practice
Reappraising falling
Anchoring tools to manage stress and fear for when you can't (or don't want to) fall
Breathing tools to manage stress and fear
Troubleshooting weaknesses in your practice
Setting goals and intentions moving forward
Here are 3 bonuses worth $635 that we've added for you:
Ask our course instructors questions
Interact with other members of the community
Get plugged into a community of like-minded climbers who accept that falling is normal but that they want to do something about it
Community challenges to help you stay accountable and motivated
Send us videos of you falling for feedback
Find fall practice buddies with climbers who might in your local area
Attend a Q&A every week to ask questions, clarify learning and connect with fellow students
Accessible recordings if you can't make it
Held multiple times throughout the week, morning and evening European time to cover different time zones and schedules
An open live room you can use to chat to your fellow students at any time
Bonus Lesson: Meditation and mindfulness
Recorded downloadable meditations to help you explore your inner world
Bonus Lesson: How to recover from bad experiences, accidents and injury
Bonus Lesson: Climbing partners, teaching and supporting others with fear
At the end of the course we'll hold a live session on 'what's next in your mental training journey'
2 months after the end date of the course we'll hold a live session to check in and see how you're getting on