Why Is Climbing Such A Mental Sport?

I recently read the book Vertical Mind, which is all about helping climbers work on the mental side of the sport, and it got me thinking hard about why climbing is such a mental sport in the first place. So I did some digging. If you’ve ever stood under a route you know you’re strong enough to send and still couldn’t make yourself commit to the move, you already understand that climbing is a mental sport just as much as a physical one.

Why is climbing such a mental sport? Climbing is a mental sport because you’re constantly challenging yourself to solve and overcome the climbing problem, which takes mental strength and confidence. Problem-solving, pushing past self-doubt, and having the confidence to commit to every move are all essential for climbing.

The mental part of climbing is huge, especially compared to a lot of other sports, but it’s easy to overlook or misunderstand when you’re new. If you want to keep improving your climbing, you can’t just train your fingers and legs. You’ve got to train your head too. In a lot of ways that’s exactly what separates climbing from a purely physical activity, and it’s part of what makes people wonder whether climbing even counts as a sport at all.

What Makes Climbing A Mental Sport

There are a bunch of mental pieces that go into climbing, and if you work on them, they’ll help you level up on the wall. Below are some of the most common mental barriers and challenges you’ll run into as a climber.

Self Talk

Self-talk is one of the most recognizable mental barriers, and it’s usually the one climbers spot in themselves first. Say you’re mid-route and telling yourself you’re weak or not strong enough for the next move. In that headspace you’ll probably slip or come up short on the next hold. Flip that voice around, though, and positive self-talk can actually give you the little bit of extra drive you need to stick the move.

Speak To Me Softly, a video from Outdoor Research about the mental challenge of self-talk, shows this off perfectly.

Visualization

Visualization is a big one to get a handle on, because it helps with two parts of the climb:

1. While you’re reading the beta (figuring out how to complete the climb), picturing yourself making each move builds confidence and gives you the mental how-to you need to maximize your odds of topping out.
2. It’s also great for projects you’re working on. Say you’re stuck on one move with a super long reach. You can use visualization at home or away from the wall to mentally practice that move. Running it in your head over and over makes you a lot more likely to actually pull it off next time you’re back on the route.

Success Definition

A lot of us were taught that success means hitting the goal or beating the challenge outright. That definition can quietly wreck your motivation and headspace. 

In climbing, the goal is usually reaching the top by working through every challenge in the problem or route. But success, separate from the goal, is better viewed as improvement. 

If you get on the route for the 3rd or 4th time and make it one move higher than before, then you’ve succeeded.

When you define success as improvement, you feel more successful every time you climb, and the more successful you feel, the more confident you’ll be on the wall. Tracking those small wins is one reason a lot of climbers keep a climbing journal.

Fear of Falling

Fear of falling is one of the hardest things to deal with on the wall. A lot of the time our brain links falling with injury, pain, or worse, so it’s (rightfully) scared of it.

In some situations that fear is useful. It’s what stops you from weighting the rope before you’ve double-checked your knot and gear. But most of the time it just stops you from making moves you’re fully capable of making, and that’s when it becomes a real barrier to your mental climbing game.

This one is tough to beat, and honestly, you don’t really beat it. Instead you get better at coping with it, and over time the fear of falling turns into a quieter voice in your head.

Even Alex Honnold, who in the documentary Free Solo climbed El Capitan without any safety gear, showed that his chemical reaction to fear, though smaller than the average person’s, was still there.

Related Article: How To Deal With The Fear Of Falling

Fear of Failure

In the awesome book Vertical Mind, Don McGrath and Jeff Elison dedicate a whole section to overcoming your own fear of failure, plus helping your climbing partner through theirs.

Fear of failure usually comes down to worrying about how other climbers or people see us. If you’re afraid of failing, you might feel like others won’t want to climb with you anymore because you’re not as good as they are. Or you’re afraid because failing might say something about you as a person.

If you can remind yourself that other climbers don’t actually care whether you send it, they just care that you try, then that piece of the fear should ease up (with frequent reminders).

And if you’ve tied your failure to your worth, so that failing on a climb feels like being a failure, it’s important to remember your climbing is separate from who you are. Climbing might be your favorite thing in the world, but you’re a whole lot more than just a climber.

Meditation/Zen

Separate from all the mental barriers, there’s the meditative, zen state you can drop into while climbing, and it hits harder and more often than in most sports. That connection between your mind and body creates a flow that lets off stress and helps you not only focus but feel emotionally and mentally better after a session. It’s a big part of why so many people fall in love with climbing in the first place.

I’ve included this in the list of what makes climbing flow because it’s a mental state, so it’s another reason climbing is such a mental sport. Plus it’s one of the great mental benefits you get out of climbing that’s really hard to find in any other sport or activity.

Three Tips To Improve Your Mental Game In Climbing

This video by Epic TV was made back in 2015 with Louis Parkinson, a well-known climber in London. The video’s older, but the tips still hold up completely.

1. Minimize Hesitation: When you cut out the hesitation, you’re less likely to run into problems from not committing all the way. If you’re going for a dynamic move, you have to fully commit or you won’t reach the hold or grip hard enough to control it. Skip the hesitation and you’re way more likely to mentally “hulk” through a move, even if you don’t hit the hold perfectly.
2. Positive Self-Talk, Don’t Say “Can’t”: Self-talk is a powerful part of your mental game (see above). If you tell yourself you “can’t” do something, it gets harder to tell your body to grip harder or reach further when you actually can. “Can’t” limits what you can do, even when the move is well within your ability.
3. Believe In Yourself and Be Confident: Like not hesitating, feeling confident in the moves makes it easier for your body to pull them off. If you tell yourself you can get to the top, map out the moves in your head, and confirm to yourself that you can do them, they’ll come easier than if you doubted yourself. Your mind is powerful, and it’ll create physical limits if you tell it to. A lot of newer climbers hold themselves back this way without realizing it, which is why it shows up on plenty of lists of common beginner climbing mistakes.

Working on the mental side doesn’t have to be some big overhaul. It’s usually a few minutes here and there, over and over, until the good habits stick. If you like the idea of chipping away at it a little at a time, that’s basically what my free newsletter is built for. Every week I send one short climbing drill you can knock out in about 15 minutes, mental game included. You can grab the free weekly drills here and start putting this stuff into practice.

Frequently asked questions

Why is climbing such a mental sport?

Climbing is a mental sport because reaching the top is as much about your head as your hands. You’re constantly solving the problem in front of you, fighting off self-doubt, and finding the confidence to commit to moves you’re physically capable of. Fear of falling, fear of failure, and your own self-talk can stop you cold even when your body is ready, which is why the mental side matters so much.

What are the main mental barriers in climbing?

The big ones are negative self-talk, weak or missing visualization, defining success only as sending, fear of falling, and fear of failure. Each one can quietly hold you back on the wall. The good news is you can work on every one of them, and doing so usually helps your climbing more than another session of just pulling hard.

Can you actually train the mental side of climbing?

Yes. You can practice positive self-talk, visualize moves at home, redefine success as improvement instead of only topping out, and slowly get more comfortable falling in safe settings. Small, repeated reps are what make these habits stick, the same way you’d build any physical skill.

How do you deal with the fear of falling while climbing?

You don’t fully get rid of the fear of falling, you just get better at coping with it until it becomes a quieter voice in your head. Practicing falls in controlled situations, trusting your knot and gear, and reminding yourself the fear is usually louder than the actual risk all help. Even elite climbers still feel it. For a deeper dive, check out our guide on how to deal with the fear of falling.

Is climbing more mental than other sports?

Climbing leans on the mental side more than most sports because every route is a fresh problem you have to read and commit to, often with real consequences if you come off. On top of that, the flow or zen state you can reach while climbing is stronger and more common than in a lot of other activities, which is another reason people say climbing is such a mental sport.

Sara Climbing Coach, Climbing Trainer, Writer

Sara is the founder of Send Edition, author of '77 Drills to Help You Climb Better,' the creator of 'Elevate Your Climbing: Training Planner and Tracker,' and climbing coach.

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