Coaching Defaults
How coaches fail athletes because of their biases
One of the first presentations I ever gave was on goal setting. In this presentation, I went over the SMART framework and explained how if a climber could simply get their goal setting right, then everything else would fall into place. My thought at the time was that if a goal was specific and measurable and actionable, then the training behind such a goal would be simple.
Why did I believe this? Because I had just read a book about goal setting and was inspired by it. This isn’t an isolated incident. I have written and presented on dozens and dozens of topics that inspired me but, in time, tended to drop in importance. Periodization is cool, but it doesn’t really get you anywhere without attention to day-to-day sessions. A positive mindset might or might not help you. Flexibility is terrible for you, or flexibility might just be the solution you’re looking for.
In today’s world of climbing coaching, we still lack a set of best practices from which to coach. There are coaches who claim that rewiring your brain is the solution to unlocking your potential as a climber. There are those that feel that a breathing in yoga practice is going to get you to that next grade. Many, many coaches believe that developing greater finger strength is somehow going to unlock the sport for most of us. And then there is the coach that just tells you you need to climb more.
It’s not that any of these people are completely wrong. It’s just that the development of a complete athlete is more complex than we would like it to be.
