If Nothing Else...

It’s winter time, which means performance season for some of you or training season for others. Either way, you’ve probably got some pretty big goals that you want to hit over these next few months. You should keep those goals, but while you do, I want you to embrace three words:

If nothing else…

As much as we all want to have big breakout seasons where we jump a few grades, what would really serve us best is just making a little bit of consistent progress year after year. Maybe the most understated way of getting better is to build fallback successes into your plan. Putting these things into action allow you to say, “If nothing else, at least I’ll get better from this one thing.”

Here are a few examples that I’ve seen people work into their climbing with great results:

• If you want to be more flexible, start every session with 10 minutes of mobility work before you hop on the wall. It won’t make you jump a grade overnight, but a year of consistent mobility work before every session will have a lasting effect on your climbing. If nothing else, I’m going to be more flexible.

• If you want to become more well-rounded as a climber, use your warm ups to build a better pyramid. If nothing else I’ll become a more skilled climber.

• If you never hangboard, add in two hangs per session. If nothing else, my hands will get a little stronger.

• Add 10-15 minutes of low intensity endurance work after your climbing sessions. If nothing else, my base fitness and recovery will be better.

Small additions like this are the easiest to overlook, but their simplicity leads to consistency. That consistency brings results, and those results help to fuel your motivation for the bigger wins. If nothing else, I’ll be better than I was.