Redpoint Anxiety in Climbing: Coping Strategies (III)

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 Versión en español

Luis Alfonso Félix. El calvario del sicario, 8c/+, Cuenca (Spain). Photo: JaviPec

Some authors have tried to define what the most frequently used coping strategies in sport are (have a look at the previous entry for a description of each technique). According to how often they are used, Xianming et al. (1999) compiled the following list:

1. Problem solving,
2. Self-blame,
3. Avoidance   

Park et al. (2000) proposed these:

•     psychological skills training,
•     training and strategies,
•     somatic relaxation,
•     hobby activities,
•     social support,
•     prayer,
•     substance abuse

Gould et al. (1993), found the following among elite skaters;

•     rational thinking and self-talk,
•     positive focus and orientation,
•     social support (from coach, friends and family),
•     time management and prioritization,
•     precompetitive mental preparation and anxiety management (relaxation, visualization),
•     training hard and smart,
•     isolation and deflection (not letting things get to me, screening media),
•     ignoring the stressors

Muriel Sarkany, IFSC Climbing World Cup Avilés, 2003 (Spain). Photo: Darío Rodríguez. Source:desnivel.com

Which stage of the competition of "stressing event" is each strategy best suited for?

Every athlete needs to have a plan for coping, that optimizes their resources and minimizes anxiety response. As there are as many reactions to stress as there are people, the plan should be personalized et. So, when preparing the plan, the individual characteristics must be accounted for, as well as the type of stressor that has a bigger influence in each occasion (the different types of stressors can be found in the previous entry); it is also necessary to know in what phase of the competition they are more likely to occur (Arruza, 1999). For example, Pensgaard et al. (1998) observed that olympic athletes used task-oriented coping during the competitive event, but they tended to resort to avoidance in the days preceding and following it.

A) In general active strategies are chosen when:

• There is time to spare,
• The situation is perceived as manageable,
• There is a high confidence in one's capacity to solve the situation (Roth & Cohen, 1986).

   
B) By the contrary, several authors agree that avoidance coping is preferred in occasions where:

• the situation is perceived as unmanageable (like spectators' behaviour or noise),
• time is short,
• the available resources are insufficient or the likelihood of getting on top of the situation is low (Anshel, 2008)

Andrea Cartas. Akelarre, 8b+, Orihuela (Murcia). Photo: Carlos Padilla. Source:andreacartas.blogspot.com

 Generally speaking, what is the most Effective strategy?

Task-oriented coping, more precisely, active coping, is linked to positive results and higher levels of self-confidence  (Krane, 1992; Eubank, 2000; Ntoumanis, 2000, Voight, 2000 and Xianming, 1999).

By contrast, strategies that rely on emotions seem to be related to elevated anxiety, depression and lack of adequate strategies (Eubank et al., 2000; Ntomaunis et al., 1998 and 2000; Pensgaard et al., 2000; Xianming et al., 1999). For Giacobbi et al., (2000), athletes suffering from high anxiety before competitive stress situations opt for negation, wishful thinking, self-blame and excessive self-criticism.

Coping Strategies and Sport Level

When Gal-Or et al. (1986) studied cognitive strategies in athletes of different level, they found that:

•  All of them made moderate use of visualization, and focused their attention in the present action rather than the past or the future;
•  The higher level ones had, in the moments before the competition, a higher perception of self-efficacy, and were more task-oriented than their lower level mates.

In addition, González (2001), looked at 46 elite Cuban athletes during national and international events and observed that:

• The athletes that showed the highest levels of anxiety were those who lacked effective coping strategies, resorted to magical thinking, ruminated more about past errors or failure, blamed external causes for their errors, and had a lower self-efficacy expectancy.
•  Those with lower anxiety were less likely to blame external factors and incur in magical thinking, looked more for support and, above all, developed coping strategies.

Variation of coping with Sport Modality

Regarding the relation between the type of physical activity and coping there seem to be some tendencies:

•  In sports or tasks requiring precision (Badminton, penalty kick in soccer), athletes get the best results through instructional self-talk.

•  When it is strength or endurance what matters (something likely to take place while redpointing), it is effective to use instructional along with motivational self-talk (Theodorakis et al., 2000).

•  In less deterministic activities where attention to external stimuli is important (like onsighting), several authors have shown that if time to make a decision is very short, avoidance is effective (Anshel & Anderson, 2002; Krohne & Hindel, 1988); this has also been proposed for confronting execution errors during competition (Roth & Cohen, 1986).

•  Where memory and automation of movement are crucial, like in gymnastics, synchronized swimming or sport climbing (when working a route), the effectiveness of visualization and relaxation has been verified (Feltz and Landers., 1983; Gray et al., 1984; Dubier et al., 1999).

Bruno Macías. Bouldering National Championship Avilés 2005 (Spain). Photo: Darío Rodríguez. Source: desnivel.com

Practical Applications to Climbing

From the conclusions reached in the reviewed documentation, we can suggest that the most effective strategies for reducing anxiety in our sport are those that focus on:

•  the climb itself: sort each movement, refine our execution;
•  thinking about now, one move at a time;
•  self-talk, visualization;
•  goal-setting, building a "competition plan", managing time (like warming-up, waiting between semifinals and finals...)
•  promoting a high self-efficacy perception.

Regarding the best technique during each phase of a climb, or when facing a stressor, each one needs to find their own... once you have some ideas (often after much practice and trial and error) about which works best for you.

Practical Examples of Strategies for Coping with Anxiety in Climbing

Let's see some examples, I'm sure you'll be able to add many of your own:

EXAMPLE #1: REPEATEDLY FALLING IN THE SAME HARD MOVE OF MY PROJECT

Coping technique proposal: First, analyze what the cause for that fall is (insufficient endurance or maximum strength, less than ideal method, lack of automation leading to sluggishness, getting distracted by your own negative thoughts...); then you have to look for a response: training your endurance or your ability to do hard moves under fatigue, optimizing the easier parts so that you will get less tired to the crux, devoting a full try just to finding an easier method for the crux, repeating it several times to build confidence...; you can also ask some friend to help you figure out the variables that have influence over that fall. Lastly, set goals.

Coping style used: active, problem-oriented (analysis, problem solving, memorization, automation, self-confidence development, systematic training, seek for instrumental social support), goal setting.

EXAMPLE #2: THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE AT THE CRAG, I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF I WILL BE ABLE TO WARM-UP PROPERLY AND GET A SLOT TO TRY MY PROJECT

Coping technique proposal: Schedule that day's activities (when to wake up, have breakfast, trip to the crag...) so that you get there early, know what routes are you go to warm-up on beforehand and ask other climbers if they are going to try your project to make sure you can have your turn. Meanwhile, try to keep distracted, enjoy the time with your friends until your time comes.

Coping style used: problem-oriented (planning) and avoidance (distraction)

EXAMPLE #3: THERE IS A LOT OF NOISE AT THE CRAG AND I LOSE MY CONCENTRATION

Coping technique proposal: Ignore the surroundings and focus on the climb before starting, visualize the route, begin to concentrate through self-instructions for every step that you have to take. "put the harness on", "now tie in", "put my foot on that blackened edge, and then go for the right hand pinch", "place my foot really high to clip"... and also self-encouraging phrases that help focusing: "go for it!", "let's climb!", "well done!"...

Coping style used: Avoidance, also active, task oriented (self-instructions, visualization, self-motivation)

Conclusions

In wrapping up this entry, I suggest you apply what Carver, Scheier & Weintraub (1989), and Scheier et al. (1986) concluded:

 Using active coping, building a plan for action and reinterpreting events in a positive way have a positive correlation with self-esteem, optimism and resilience, and are also effective against anxiety.

 Have good luck and, above all, lots and lots of patience till you expose and master the strongest source of stress:: The "monster" within!

In the words of Mark Twain:

 "Some of the worst things in my life never even happened."

What are you waiting for?

LINKS RELATED

Precompetitive Anxiety in Climbing: "Redpoint Anxiety"
Precompetitive Anxiety in Climbing: Interpreting your "Redpoint Anxiety"

Redpoint Anxiety in Climbing: What stresses you out? (I)

Redpoint Anxiety in Climbing: What stresses you out? (II)

Redpoint Anxiety in Climbing: Coping Strategies (I)

Redpoint Anxiety in Climbing: Coping Strategies (II)

REFERENCES

• Anshel M, & Anderson D (2002). Coping with acute stress in sport: Linking athletes' coping style, coping strategies, affect, and motor performance. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 15(2), 193-209.
• Arruza JA; Telletxea S; Azurza A; Amenabar B; Balague G; Ugalde D (1999). Estado de ánimo, auto-confianza y rendimiento percibido en competidores de élite de Snowboard; unpublished.
• Carver CS., Scheier MF., & Weintraub JK (1989). Assessing Coping Strategies: A Theoretically Based Approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(2), 267-283.
• Dubier J; Inchauspe1 L; Tiberge M (1999).  Stress regulation test through mental images on the French National Women Synchronized Swimming team during the 1998 Perth (Australia) World Championships; 5th IOC World Congress on Sport Sciences with the Annual Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport ;Sydney 31 October -5 November
• Eubank M. ; Collins D (2000). Coping with pre- and in-event fluctuations in competitive state anxiety: a longitudinal approach; Journal of Sports Sciences (JSS), 18(2), 121 - 131. 
• Feltz DL,; Landers DM (1983). The effects of mental practice on motor skill learning and performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Sport Psychology, 5, 25-57.
• Gal-Or Y, Tenenbaum G, Shimrony S (1986). Cognitive behavioural strategies and anxiety in elite orienteers; Sports Sci. 1986 Spring;4(1):39-48.
• Giacobbi PR; Weinberg RS (2000). An examination of coping in sports: individual trait anxiety differences and situational consistency; The Sport Psychologist; 14(1):42-62
• González LG (2001). Enfrentamiento al stress competitivo en atletas de alto rendimiento; en www.efdeportes.com/ Revista Digital - Buenos Aires - Año 6 - N° 32 - Marzo
• Gould D; Finch LM; Jackson SA(1993). Coping strategies used by National  Champion Figure Skaters; Research Quaterly for Exercise and Sport, 64(4), 453-468
• Gray JJ.; Haring MJ; Banks NM (1984). Mental rehearsal for sport performance: exploring the relaxation-imagery paradigm; Journal of Sport Behavior (JSB), 7(2), 68 - 78.
• Krane V; Williams J; Feltz D (1992). Path analysis examining relationships among cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, state confidence, performance expectations, and golf performance;  Journal of Sport Behavior (JSB), 15(4), 279 - 295.
• Krohne HW, & Hindel C (1988). Trait anxiety, state anxiety, and coping behavior as predictors of athletic performance. Anxiety Research, 1(3), 225-234.
• Ntoumanis N. Biddle SJH (2000). Relationship of intensity and direction of competitive anxiety with coping strategies; The Sport Psychologist, 14(4), 360 - 371. 
• Ntoumanis N; Biddle JH (1998). The relationship of coping and its perceived effectiveness to positive and negative affect in sport; Personality and Individual Differences; 24(6 ): 773-788
• Park JK (2000). Coping strategies used by Korean national athletes; The Sport Psychologist, 14(1), 63-80.
• Pensgaard AM, Ursin H (1998). Stress, control, and coping in elite athletes.Scand J Med Sci Sports. Jun;8(3):183-9
• Roth S & Cohen LJ (1986). Approach, avoidance, and coping with stress. American Psychologist, 41(7), 813.
• Theodorakis Y; Weinberg R; Natsis P; Douma I;  Kazakas P (2000).  The effects of motivational versus instructional self-talk on improving motor performance; The Sport Psychologist, 14(3), 253 - 271.
• Valdés M; de Flores T (1990). Psicobiología del estrés. Barcelona. Martínez Roca
• Voight MR; Callaghan JL; Ryska TA (2000). Relationship between goal orientations, self-confidence and multidimensional trait anxiety among Mexican-American female youth athletes; Journal of Sport Behavior, 23(3), 271-288
• Xianming T (1999) Research on the Coping Strategies of Archers; Abstracts Congreso Asian South Pacific Association of Sport Psychology (ASPASP)

Redpoint Anxiety in Climbing: Coping Strategies (II)

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Versión en español


After reading the question that the previous entry raised, some of you may find it hard to pick just one of the suggested answers; perhaps you would opt for one or another depending on the circumstances, type of problem, etc.


Quite so, most authors agree that different strategies can complement each other, alternate or even interfere with each other for the same person at a particular moment, for certain stress sources (injuries, hard redpoint attempt, failures, fear of failure, competition..see this entry, and this one) (Anshel, 1997, 1999; Fornés, 2001; Gould, 1993; González, 2001; Lazarus, 2000; Pensgaard, 1998), or for the particular circumstances (Caruso, 1990).

Regarding the alternatives I put forward for last entry’s question, you probably will develop a clear idea of which strategy each one belongs to as you read this entry.

Starting from the transactional model for stress coping by Lazarus and Folkman (1986), most scholars in this field (Carver et al., 1989; Moos & Billing, 1982; Billings & Moos, 1984; Páez Rovira, 1993) agree that there are at least three big groups of coping strategies:

A) Problem- or task-focused coping
It's aimed to solving the problem or “doing something” to change the environmental events that cause the stress. It tends to be used when there is the perception that the stimulus can be modified. There are these possible strategies according to Carver et al. (1989), Gould et al. (1993), and Park (2000):

- Active Coping, performing direct actions aimed to altering the situation to remove the stressor or minimize its effects. This includes visualization, self-instructions and self-motivation, simulation of the competitive activity, psychological training, promotion of effort and task analysis;
- Planning the strategies for action, seeking the best way for managing stress, developing the Competition Plan, managing and organizing time;
- Seeking instrumental social support from people who can provide us with the information, advice, financial support, etc. necessary to solve the problem.

According to Bifulco & Brown (1996), and Heppner & Petersen (1982), in this group we could as well include:
- Problem solving,
- Cognitive restructuring and
- Self-criticism.

Burton (1989) proposes setting goals for improvement as an effective technique to increase athletes’ performance and reduce anxiety levels.

B) Emotion-focused coping
It tries to reduce or remove the negative feelings caused by the stressing situation. It can be of use when there are external variables that we can’t act upon. Inside this group, Carver et col. (1989) put forward the following:

- Looking for social emotional support to alleviate the effects of the stress (affection, empathy and understanding);
- Suppressing distractors to focus on the stressing event:
- Praying, resorting to religion, superstition/magical thinking, that are passive ways of accepting the situation;
- Reinterpreting positively the event, in terms of opportunities and personal growth;
- Postponing the moment of confrontation; delaying the time of the face-off can be seen also as active coping because there is a behaviour aimed to overcoming the stressor, but it is passive as it implies a lack of immediate action;
- Accepting the problem;
- Self-control;
- Letting off steam, exteriorize the feelings related to the situation that gives rise to those emotions. Carver et col. (1989) suggest that this response can sometimes be functional, but focusing on it for a long time can compromise the adjustment to reality of the individual, and distract them from active coping.

Lazarus and Folkman (1985), also include in this group:
- Fantasy coping,
- Self-blame and
- Self-isolation.

C) Avoidance coping
It means going around the problem by not thinking about it, or relying on the opponent’s errors, or attributing one’s performance to external factors, or distracting oneself with other activities, or reacting aggressively to others (Le Scanff, 1999). Avoidance coping techniques include:

- Negation, in the sense of acting like “nothing happens”. Carver et col. (1989) claim that negating reality can make the event more severe than it already is and make coping more difficult;
- Behavioral disengagement, staying away from the situation. The individual even gives up trying to achieve goals where the stressor is at play;
- Mental disengagement, using alternative distractors to evade the event. Even though disconnecting is sometimes a highly adaptive response, it is often detrimental to coping adequately;
- Substance consumption, and lastly
- Humor as a way of distancing and distracting oneself while playing down the drama of the situation.

Bifulco & Brown (1996), Frydenberg & Lewis (1997) and Vitaliano et al. (1985) add to the avoidance strategies the wishful thinking (wanting the situation to not occur ot to play in a different way).
Frydenberg and Lewis (1997) add self-blame to this set.

Lastly, Covington (1992) still on the topic of avoidance, talks about excuses (self-handicapping behaviors) when the time comes to undergo a physical effort, attributing one’s performance to external and internal factors so to avoid error and protect self-esteem.

As for the most used techniques used in sports, and which of them are more efficient... that will be the topic for the next entry.

LINKS RELATED

Precompetitive Anxiety in Climbing: "Redpoint Anxiety"
Precompetitive Anxiety in Climbing: Interpreting your "Redpoint Anxiety"

Redpoint Anxiety in Climbing: What stresses you out? (I)

Redpoint Anxiety: What stresses you out? (II)

Redpoint Anxiety: Coping Strategies (I)

REFERENCES

• Anshel, M. H., & Kaissidis, A. N. (1997). Coping style and situational appraisals as predictors of coping strategies following stressful events in sport as a function of gender and skill level. British Journal of Psychology, 88(2), 263-276. 
• Anshel, M. H., & Weinberg, R. S. (1999). Re-examining coping among basketball referees following stressful events: implications for coping interventions. Journal of Sport Behavior, 22(2), 141-161.
• Bifulco, A., & Brown, G. W. (1996). Cognitive coping response to crises and onset of depression. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 31(3-4), 163-172.
• Billings, A. G., & Moos, R. H. (1984). Coping, stress, and social resources among adults with unipolar depression. Journal of personality and social psychology, 46(4), 877.
• Burton, D. (1989). The impact of goal specificity and task complexity on basketball skill development. Journal Article in The Sport Psychologist.
• Caruso, C. M. Gill, D. L; Dzewaltowski, D. A.; McElroy, M. A. (1990): Psychological and physiological changes in competitive state anxiety during noncompetition and competitive success and failure; Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology (JSEP), 12(1), 6 - 20. 
• Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of personality and social psychology, 56(2), 267-283.
• Covington, M. V. (1992). Making Grade: A Self-Worth Perspective on Motivation and School Reform, Cambridge University Press, New York.
• Folkman, S.; Lazarus, R. S. (1985). If it changes it must be a process: A study of emotion and coping during three stages of a college examination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48 (1), 150-170.
• Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1988). Coping as a mediator of emotion. Journal of personality and social psychology, 54(3), 466-475.
• Folkman, S., Lazarus, R. S., Dunkel-Schetter, C., DeLongis, A., & Gruen, R. J. (1986). Dynamics of a stressful encounter: Cognitive appraisal, coping, and encounter outcomes. Journal of personality and social psychology, 50(5), 992-1003.
• Fornés, J., Ponsell, E., & Guasp, E. (2001). Ansiedad y estrés en enfermería. Rol de Enfermería, 24, 1, 51-56.
• Frydenberg, E., & Lewis, R. (1997). Coping with Stresses and Concerns during Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study.
• González, L. G. (2001). Enfrentamiento al stress competitivo en atletas de alto rendimiento. http://www.efdeportes.com/efd32/stress.htm. Año 6, No. 32, marzo de 2001.
• Gould, D., Jackson, S., & Finch, L. (1993). Sources of stress in national champion figure skaters. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 15, 134-134.
• Heppner, P. P., & Petersen, C. H. (1982). The development and implications of a personal problem-solving inventory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 29(1), 66.
• Lazarus, R. S. (2000). Toward better research on stress and coping. American psychologist, 55(6), 665-673.
• Le Scanff, C., & Bertsch, J. (1999). Estrés y rendimiento (Vol. 17). Inde.
• Moos, R. H. & Billings, A. G. (1982) Conceptualizing and measuring coping resources and processes. In L. Goldberger & S. Breznitz (Eds.) Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects  (pp. 212-230). New York: Free Press.
• Páez Rovira, D. (1993). Salud, expresión y represión social de las emociones. Valencia: Promolibro.
• Park, J. K. (2000): Coping strategies used by Korean national athletes; The Sport Psychologist, 14(1), 63 - 80.
• Pensgaard AM, Ursin H.(1998): Stress, control, and coping in elite athletes.Scand J Med Sci Sports. Jun;8(3):183-9
• Vitaliano, P. P., Russo, J., Carr, J. E., Maiuro, R. D., & Becker, J. (1985). The ways of coping checklist: Revision and psychometric properties. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 20(1), 3-26.

Redpoint Anxiety in Climbing: Coping Strategies (I)

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Versión en español

Just as we said in the previous entry, we are going to talk about some coping strategies that are used to face redpoint anxiety or adjust it.

The term coping strategies was defined by Lazarus and Folkman (1986) as “a broad range of cognitive and behavioral strategies that people use to manage the demands of specific stressful encounters”.

In the way of an introduction, let me ask you a question:

How do you react to problems?

1. I usually don’t face them. I run from them, avoid them, they don’t pique my interest and I do not talk about them.
2. I try to look at them in a different light
3. I try to control or shape my feelings.
4. I look for a way of solving the situation and try to act upon the aspects of reality that are causing it.

Do you react like this at the prospect of trying your hardest route, or when facing the stressing situations that life throws at us?

Redpoint Anxiety: What stresses you out? (II)

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Versión en español

Continuing from the previous entry, here there are some additional sources of stress:

 How imminent the event is
 As the challenging situation draws closer, anxiety tends to increase.

Reinterpretation proposal
I usually "procrastinate" the moment of heightened stress, because, what do I have to gain from getting too nervous too early?
So when I get up I think "well, I'll wait until I'm at the crag to see how I feel", and then, when I'm before the route I say "wait 'til you are at the big jug before the crux"; when I get there, "let's just climb, nail the moves as you have done in the past, A muerte!". It's a nice example of self-deception, isn't it?

Importance of the event/outcome
The more importance we assign to a route, style (onsight or worked), a crag, a grade or a competition... the more likely we are to be stressed out.

Fear/worry about failure
Any situation that feels like a test can be stressing if we think we can fail. And I'm referring to whatever situations where we interpret as failure any kind of error like falling, bad technique, or missing some piece of information.

Reinterpretation proposal
when facing these sources for stress, I realise that we attribute too much of a "tragic" meaning to failure and error, when we should see them as a tool for improvement. We have to think that errors are a way to better ourselves once we start working to remediate them.
Something that works for me is to realize that whatever route I'm facing, it's just climbing. This route, as every route, consists of a series of moves and is just one more along my career as a climber. I won't be a better climber if I send it, nor a worse one if I fall.
What shapes me as a climber is the succession of day after day of climbing and training. One route, one grade, one try are of little importance on their own. It's the process that counts. What if I fall? What if I err? It's not possible to go forward without failing, nobody is safe from committing errors!

Just climb, climb and think about the holds, the sequence of moves, that climb, that precise moment and... we'll see. Focus on every little goal, every section, and not so much on the top, on the black or white answers, on doing the route...
Who knows? perhaps this way, step by little step, we will make it to the top.

Once again, you can see that I tend to focus on the present and the actionI'm performing: to climb.

Spectators/Peer scrutiny
Some people get anxious because of the people who are watching them climb. Others only get nervous if among their public there are people they care about. Deep inside, they worry about not being up to the expectations the others -alledgedly- have about them. They fear a negative evaluation, and even loosing their affection, admiration or aprobation just because of the outcome of their performance. They are confusing "Being" with "Doing".

Proposal for reinterpretation
"I climb for myself, not to prove anything to the world or show my superiority. I do it because it's fun and I love it... because no matter what happens when I climb and outdo myself, it fulfills me". And if I struggle and try hard routes it's because it makes me happy to get better at what I do. I'm not held responsible before anyone.

Besides, people like me for what I am, not for what I sent today or who I won against. My self-esteem and my happiness come from inside me, not from praise or approval. Climb and be oblivious!

 Perception of competence or excessive self-evaluation
If we have doubts about our fitness or we deem it insufficient to what would be needed for linking the route; if, by the contrary, we are training so well and feel so strong that we feel obliged to succeed; or if we insist on checking at every moment if we are more or less tired than the last try, we can get stressed.

Reinterpretation proposal:
Once again, my strategy is to think about the present. We can't do anything to improve our physical state, and the constant self-assessment will make us distracted and anxious, so I focus on what I'm climbing at this moment. I know that in the past I have climbed hard routes on days I felt tired or undertrained; and I have failed on days I felt strong. So I say to myself "well, you never know until you try. Go for it!". We may surprise ourseves in a good way. Also, climbing is not about your forearms only. Don't overrate physical fitness. Sometimes it's the heat or the mind what impairs us, or getting a sequence wrong, or missing a hold... This has already happened to you, hasn't it?

Eva López, Nuria, 8c. Cuenca (Spain). Photo: José Yáñez

These are my suggestions and some personal tricks, but you can share yours, and perhaps this way we can collect a good repertory of "weapons" against those pesky nerves.

So tell us: What is your favorite phrase to minimise your anxiety? What are your tricks?

In the following, we will talk about coping strategies

Redpoint Anxiety in Climbing: What stresses you out? (I)

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Versión en español (Original Spanish published in 18 June 2009)


A high and consistent execution level begins with the discovery of those factors and conditions that allow for a higher performance, or that, conversely, lead to an efficacy below our expectations (Harris, D. in Williams, 1991).

Luckily, every problem carries its own solution within.

Then, it’s the case that when we recognize what stimuli and circumstances are more stressing to us, and which emotional states and physical sensations are associated to them; and that if we learn how to reinterpret, get used or even ignore all of them, we’ll be able to tune our anxiety level and reach optimum concentration.

Don’t forget that one of the undesired effects of anxiety is a reduced ability to focus on the task (Nideffer, 1996), because it narrows our attention field (Landers, Wang & Courtet, 1985).
Concentration is in limited supply, and we can’t see the whole picture if we are devoting our attention to a reduced set of aspects.

- If we just think: “oops, almost at the crux… and I’m already pumped…”, while just looking to that dreaded hold, we won’t be preparing ourselves for the movements that precede it, or we’ll fail to give ourselves the proper self-instructions that allow us to recall the correct hand or foot positions and the order of execution, for example. 

- If all that you worry about is in the lines of: “this is my last try of the season…”, you will leave little room to deciding what your strategy will be during the actual climb… 

- During a competition your obsession is “I must send it or I won’t make the cut to the finals”: then your attention will be towards your own thoughts (internal attention) and your visual field (external attention) will be impaired, causing you to miss that hold round the arête… 

- Before starting the actual climb, we can be so nervous that we even forget to refill our chalk bag, or to carry enough quickdraws…

Following the works of Anshel & Weinberg (1995), Buceta (1985), Davis & Cox (2002), Dosil & Caracuel (2003) and Weinberg & Gould (1996), and with the help of my own personal and sports experience, we are going to describe the main sources of stress (stressor stimuli) in our sport, while advancing some reinterpretation strategies for them

Main Sources of Stress

PAST EXPERIENCES
Events that in previous occasions ended in success, or that, alternatively, were unpleasant due to a low self-efficacy or a bad result, can remain in our memory and promote anxiety later, while competing or working a project.

I’m talking here about a situation like this: we have just fallen higher than ever in our last try, and now we want to do it better yet; or we fear that our second try won’t be as good as our nearly successful onsight attempt. Or we have to face that crimp where we got injured last time, or the fear of falling almost at the top… again. It also can happen that we just don’t want to relive the trauma of falling at the crux, or to endure the long lasting agony of an ultra-long endurance route. In these cases we either feel the obligation of doing better, or we anticipate a negative outcome, making ourselves tense before the fact.

In these cases I always say that it would be ideal to ‘reset’ ourselves, because that is precisely what we should do: try to avoid comparing with our past self and start anew, like it was the first time we were doing it.

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE FUTURE/EXPECTATIONS
This is when we think we must succeed, or we elaborate about the consequences of failing to, or that it is very difficult for us to send a route because of its grade or its style; in general, things that haven’t happened yet and we believe or fear are going to happen…

Usually, too high or too low expectations can result in anxiety. So beware what you think: “I must do it, I have to link it”, “If I fall now, it’s three months until I can come back”, or “If I don’t make the top three, I won’t be chosen for the national team”…

UNCERTAINTY
Fear of the unknown is likely to cause stress. That’s why some people don’t like to try onsight, and when they do, they are tense because they don’t know the holds and the methods for each sequence. In this situation, they should try to change their approach to uncertainty, and look at it as an enjoyable challenge; perhaps they should start practicing this style with easier routes at first, and progress to harder ones as they develop their tolerance to risky decisions and their ability to improvise.

Yuji Hirayama onsighting White Zombie. Photo: desnivelpress.com. Source: www.top30climbingwalls.com

UNCERTAINTY ABOUT THE OUTCOME
Uncertainty is linked to the subjective likelihood of success, as a result of the confrontation between perceived difficulty and perceived ability (Martens, Vealey & Burton, 1990). In this context, the most anxiety is felt when success and failure are equally probable. And, by the contrary, there’s less stress if one of the possible outcomes is perceived as much more probable. That’s how we can now understand that the least nervous ones are the ones who know they’re going to do well (hence the importance of building self-confidence as a tool to curb anxiety), or the ones who are sure they are going to fall. This also explains some instances of people who are very nervous while trying a route, and then unexpectedly send it while climbing “just to clean it”, or “just for training, because I’m already tired”…

Reinterpretation proposals

When confronted by these four sources of stress, we have to realize that there are no psychics; we can’t be sure of what’s going to happen tomorrow, so let’s not make predictions. The past is already fixed, so we just have the present. We do have control over the here and now. Focus on it! Let’s center our attention on the present.

We have to think just about the climb we are performing or about to perform, one movement at a time; look at the next hold, place the foot on the selected spot, clip, chalk… fill with positive or instructional thoughts the space that otherwise would be occupied by negative ones.
Everything that keeps us from thinking about climbing in this precise moment will be detrimental to our self-confidence.

In those moments I always think: “Who knows? You never know… I’ll stick to my climb, my holds and see what happens.”

Do these sources of anxiety ring a bell? If not, wait for the next post where I will describe some more, I don’t want to tire you more for now…

REFERENCES

• Anshel, M.H. & Weinberg, R.S. (1995). Sources of acute stress in American and Australian baseball referees. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 7, 11-22
• Buceta, J. M. (1985). Some guidelines for the prevention of excessive stress in athletes. International journal of sport psychology.
• Davis, J. E., & Cox, R. H. (2002). Interpreting direction of anxiety within Hanin's individual zone of optimal functioning. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 14(1), 43-52.
• Dosil, J., & Caracuel, J. C. (2003). Psicología aplicada al deporte. Ciencias de la actividad física y del deporte. Madrid. Síntesis.
• Landers, D. M., Wang, M. Q., & Courtet, P. (1985). Peripheral narrowing among experienced and inexperienced rifle shooters under low-and high-stress conditions. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 56(2), 122-130.
• Martens, R., Vealey, R. S., & Burton, D. (1990). Competitive anxiety in sport. Human kinetics.
• Nideffer, R. M. (1991). Entrenamiento para el control de la atención y la concentración. En J. M. Williams (Ed.), Psicología aplicada al deporte. Madrid. Biblioteca Nueva.
• Williams, J (1991). Psicología Aplicada al Deporte. Madrid. Biblioteca Nueva

RELATED LINKS

Competitive Anxiety in Climbing: "Redpoint Anxiety"
Competitive Anxiety in Climbing: Interpreting your "Redpoint Anxiety"

Competitive Anxiety in Climbing: Interpreting your "Redpoint Anxiety"

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Versión en español (Original Spanish published in 18 June 2009)

Anxiety is a negative emotional state that involves feelings of nervousness, worry, and foreboding which are related to the activation level of the body. It comprises a thought component (for example, self-doubts about a hard project, an onsight try or a competition) called cognitive anxiety, and a physiological component called somatic anxiety, that is related to the perceived physical activity (Weinberg & Gould, 1996).



This means that in the face of a maximum grade climb or a competition, we can experience:
- increased perspiration, heart rate or body rigidity, etc., that are signs of somatic anxiety;
- and/or feelings of worry, fear, insecurity, etc., signs of cognitive anxiety.

Pablo Barbero. Avilés 2005. Photo: David Munilla

How can we adjust the excess of anxiety?
There are techniques like progressive muscle relaxation, control of respiration, yoga, etc., that can help us with high somatic anxiety.
Regarding the excess of cognitive anxiety, among other methods that we will discuss later on, there’s the possibility of interpret those stimuli in a different way.
And this is key, because it is through this interpretation that we can start to minimize that uncomfortably high anxiety. Keep in mind that stress, and by extension anxiety, is the result of our personal interpretation of reality.

It’s not what we experience, but how we experience it. It’s not what we see, but how we see it.

This approach of reinterpreting your ‘redpoint anxiety’ is supported by catastrophe theory (Hardy, 1990) and reversal theory (Kerr, 1985), that suggest that the interaction between the physical activation levels and the thoughts associated to them is more important than their absolute levels (Weinberg & Gould, 1996).

There are two different perceptions of physiological activation
Martens (1987) makes the following distinction:
1- Positive and facilitating: The activation feelings are perceived as pleasant and motivating. For example “I can hear my heart beat, my muscles are tightening, I’m going to do it, how I like this pressure level”, or “Ok, I can feel my heart beating and I’m a bit nervous but I know this activation is normal and good, because it will help me focusing, and will allow me to push even harder and give a good fight. This is what this activation is useful for and it will help me link the route. Let’s go!”.

Still talking about this perception, we can also choose an approach that we will call neutral, where we ignore the negative thoughts and stimuli. We could think along these lines: “Well, now I’m nervous and insecure, but I know that once I begin climbing all of that will vanish and I’ll perform all right. A muerte!”. Or “yes, I’m nervous but this is normal, it’s a hard route and I want very badly to do it”.

2- Negative or debilitating: The athlete puts the emphasis on the negative consequences of this tension: “look how nervous I am, I’m shaking… I’ll mess everything  up and I’m going to fall, I will miss the dyno to that narrow pocket… how unpleasant, I want this to end right now”. If we look at it, we realize that this way of approaching the situation manages to make us ‘nervous for feeling nervous’, and
this is a showstopper, because you enter a loop that is very difficult to escape from.
However, if we are not aware that we are suffering from anxiety, we can’t try to adjust it, that’s obvious.

We can follow these steps in order to control our activation:

1.  Learn to recognize it, and even identify which stimuli o situations make us more nervous, so that we can prevent them or refocus them (this will be the topic of a later post),
2. After that, adjust the interpretation of that anxiety as we discussed in this blog post;
3. Lastly, develop an appropriate coping strategy; this will be explained in the last posts of this series.

So, are you aware of your anxiety and how it influences your performance? And… what interpretation will you choose?

REFERENCES

• Hardy, L. (1990). A catastrophe model of anxiety and performance. In J.G. Jones & L. Hardy (Eds.). Stress and performance in sport. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
• Kerr, J. H. (1985). The experience of arousal: A new basis for studying arousal effects in sport. Journal of sports sciences, 3(3), 169-179.
• Martens, R. (1987). Coaches guide to sport psychology. Champaign, IL. Human Kinetics.
• Weinberg, R. S. & Gould, D. (1996). Fundamentos de Psicología del deporte y el ejercicio físico. Barcelona: Ariel Psicología.

RELATED LINKS

Competitive Anxiety in Climbing: "Redpoint Anxiety"

Precompetitive Anxiety in Climbing: "Redpoint Anxiety"

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Versión en español (Original Spanish published in 21 May 2009)

Imagine that you are working or onsighting a route that will be your new maximum grade:

How do you manage those attempts?
Have you ever felt that you fell because you couldn't control your anxiety?
Reversely, have you sent a route because you managed to stay focused and motivated and performed at your 100%?
How significant is that particular try or redpoint to you?
Are there any thougts or external factors that make you more tense? Do you know how to identify them when they appear?
What consequences does anxiety have over your performance?
Do you have any strategies to mitigate or take advantage of that tension?

The society we live in defines success as realizing a concrete result or obtaining certain status or tangible goods: earning the right kind of money, getting some job position, buying a house or driving certain car...
In sports this translates into winning/losing terms, an this way victory is demanded for fulfilling some political, financial, social or even emotional agenda for those who seek social recognition. Failing that, scholarships are withdrawn, coaches are fired, and, even worse, the word failure is brought up. Soccer and olympic athletes are obvious examples.

Training for the sake of self-improvement does not have the same appeal. For example, a climber can feel compelled to climb certain grade, achieving some result in competition or doing some renowned testpiece.
The problem is that all this pressure leads many athletes to -mistakenly- believe that they need to prepare their mind for maximum performance. In fact, what is really needed more often than not, is keeping at bay that pressure and anxiety.

A certain degree of acitvation is good for performance, but the key is determining what our right level of activation is, because an imbalance in this factor often becomes a problem. Actually, one of the more frequent causes that athletes report for not being able to reach their full potential is the difficulty of coping with competitive anxiety.
Assuming this approach, what we really need many times is to prepare our minds to avoid instability.

There are climbers who get to the crux and blank out, or get too tense and miss, that get distracted, or picture themselves failing and fall after reaching without conviction for the next hold. They often send the route when they feel very tired, or just want to "clean the route" or "train" in the route. They have unconsciously used an strategy for climbing with less pressure, and it has worked for them.

During the next entries we will talk about the perception and correct channeling of anxiety, the most common sources of stress, effective methods when facing a challenging route or a competition, and how all of this is linked to self-confidence and performance.

NEXT ENTRIES

Precompetitive Anxiety in Sport Climbing: Interpreting your "Redpoint Anxiety"
Redpoint Anxiety in Sport Climbing: What does stress you? (I)
Redpoint Anxiety in Sport Climbing: What does stress you? (II)
Redpoint Anxiety in Sport Climbing: Coping Strategies (I)
Redpoint Anxiety in Sport Climbing: Coping Strategies (II)
Redpoint Anxiety in Sport Climbing: Coping Strategies (III)