Today, I would like to write about how we can improve our climbing proficiency levels. *The information written below is merely what I personally think may be helpful. Some of it may be incorrect.
I, myself, am not a super strong climber, but I hope it will be helpful for those who have just started climbing or who are seeking some information that will help in improving climbing proficiency leve.
Just keep climbing as many times as possible
I think the basic law of improving climbing skills is “the number of falls = speed of improvement.”
Unless you climb too hard and damage your body, I think it’s important to repeat the process of “climbing (and falling if not getting the top) as many times as possible.”
If you fall, that means you are tackling with a problem that is probably higher than your climbing level, so you will inevitably be in a state where you put quite a lot of burden on your muscles and tendons, and I believe that is exactly what is necessary for a progress.
When we first start climbing, I think we are in a state where we want to go climbing again and again whenever we have time even if you have sore muscles every time you go there.
During this time, our progress is quite fast, and every time we climb, we are able to send a new problem or get the move that we couldn’t do before.
I believe there is a vicious circle of progress working here:
・ Improving → Feeling good and wanting to go climbing again → Climbing whenever we have time → Getting stronger → Feeling good and… repeated thereafter
However, after some time, the growth curve will become gentler. I think this is unavoidable for some part, but one of the reasons may be that we have been able to climb up to a certain difficulty of problems, so we either consciously or unconsciously don’t take on a challenge of as many difficult problems as we used to.
I believe if we can go back to how we felt when we just started climbing and climb as many problems as possible at a pace that does not damage our bodies, we will be able to get to the next level.
I think it would be perfect if you keep finding a fun part of climbing at this time. It’s difficult to maintain our motivation if we just keep climbing difficult problems, but if we can climb with some kind of excitement as the one we had when we first started climbing, it will be easier to continue climbing.
Watch and learn from other climbers
This is a method consists of climbing with other climbers at the same level as yours or watching strong climbers, and if there is a move that you have not tried yet, you can try it.
You can discover some moves and different ways of holding that you would never come up with on your own, and by imitating them, you can expand your range of moves and will be able to deal with similar problems in the future.
Of course, there are times when you can’t imitate such a move at all, but even so, you can still confirm which moves you can do or you can’t do, which is certainly beneficial for you.
Take videos of your own climbing/moves
This applies to both outdoor climbing and indoor climbing. By taking videos of yourself climbing, you can analyze your own moves objectively.
・What is the difference between the move when I failed and the move when I got the move?
・ What is different from other good climbers’ moves?
・ Am I climbing smoothly overall? (Am I making moves that do not use wasteful energy?)
You can analyze these and make use of them for your next try.
Get good/enough nutrition and sleep
This applies to not only those who started climbing when they were young but also those who started climbing after reaching a certain age. I believe “nutrition” and “sleep” are two especially important factors for building a stronger body.
In order to become a stronger climber, you may need to climb and/or train hard with a certain amount of intensity (to the extent that you can exert all your strength), but this is accompanied by the destruction of muscle fibers and tendons.
During this period, if you get enough nutrition and sleep and rest for a long time, your body will transform into a stronger one.
By improving the quality of food and sleep, I think it will shorten this destruction —> rebuilding cycle and bring it closer to the ideal cycle period.
With regard to food, I feel we can pay attention to the following:
・Consume plenty of protein for tissue recovery, and try to consume some quality fat for your various hormones.
・Consume a proper amount of good carbohydrate to help release insulin, which assists in delivering these nutrients to each cell
・Take enough vitamins and minerals to facilitate the proper use of those nutrients above in your body
You can also improve your sleep quality by doing some of the following:
・ Adjust the temperature and humidity of the bedroom to favorable ones
・ Avoid excessive stimulation before falling asleep (smartphone and TV light, stimulating food and drink, music that lifts your mood)
・ Use materials with soft and pleasant texture for bedding and pajamas
・ Smell relaxing aroma and/or meditate
・ Bring your body temperature to an appropriate temperature (I feel it’s best to fall asleep when your body temperature drops after warming up in a bath or shower)
In addition, in order to deliver nutrients to every part of your body and eliminate waste products from your body, it is important to maintain good blood circulation.
It is also important to keep your body warm on a regular basis, take a good hot shower to promote blood flow, and if possible, relax in a bath or hot spring to improve blood circulation while you are recovering from fatigue.
What I often feel is that the next day after bathing in a hot spring, the fatigue level that I feel is different.
Now that I live in Japan, I would like to make the most of the Japanese custom of bathing.
To be honest, what I love about Japan is that there are so many hot springs (in addition to the fact that there are many fresh and tasty fish and seafood). 
Aggressive way: Put your fingers on the door frame top and put your weight on it
This is a method by which you put your fingers on the door frame top and place your weight on them. The main premise is that the door frame is sturdy enough to support your weight.
As you try harder problems, you will eventually have to hold small holds, so gaining finger strength will definitely make your climbing easier. Therefore, in order to become a stronger climber, strengthening your fingers will be a shortcut to your progress.
A Youtube video that I watched before says that it’s not necessary to pull up your whole body to make your feet in the air when putting weight on your fingers, and that if you can put your weight firmly on your fingers while standing on tiptoes, you can get enough stimulation.
You can hang for 10 seconds, rest for 50 seconds, then repeat it again.
Reference video (in English):
Additional method: Go climbing outdoors
There are many strong climbers who don’t go outdoor bouldering, so I can’t say if this method is effective, but I feel that I’m getting a bit stronger every time I go outdoor bouldering.
The following reasons are what I think why going outdoor climbing makes us stronger.
・Because you need to do some moves at heigh places or moves in areas where the landing point is dangerous, which surely involves fear, we tend to exert more force than necessary → Improve muscle strength
・There is a bit higher risk of injury compared with indoor climbing, so we tend to stay away from dynamic moves and climb carefully → Improve holding power
・As there are many crimpy problems in outdoor climbing compared to indoor climbing, it is inevitable to hold small, crimpy holds → Improve crimping strength.
・Because it often involves a long trip to the outdoor climbing areas, it will be a valuable opportunity, so we tent to climb for a long time until we get exhausted → Improve physical strength
These are some advantages of climbing outdoors that I can think of. Of course, there are risks of getting injured, scratching your skin, and so on, but I think climbing outdoors is still a great option as a holiday activity.
Above all, I love climbing outdoors as we can enjoy it in a similar way to going on a picnic, and if we go to bath in a hot spring on the way home, it will be a perfect way to spend a holiday.
(*Please be sure to follow the manners when climbing outdoors.
Example: Do not throw away garbage, do not speak loudly, brush boulders/rocks after climbing, etc.)
I hope some information written in this page will be useful for you.
