Recently, I have been working with a number of clients experiencing fear. Fear that becomes so great that it disables their ability to perform effectively. Fear in the Oxford dictionary is defined as 'an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm'. Fear is the most common mental state that athletes propose impedes their performance. The ability to combat the debilitating and controlling effects of fear is also a fundamental psychological skill that most athletes lack. Whether this be fear of failing, fear of falling of fear of the unknown. Whatever the source, fear works against our ability and at times if not controlled, will render our ability useless. This article explores the background of fear and how exactly fear works in climbing.
FEAR
Let's begin by looking at the term fear. Fear is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be positive. Fear causes an increase in epinephrine which is also known as adrenaline. Increases in adrenaline can cause the following common physiological symptoms amongst climbers: our heart rates increase, our breathing gets quicker and we begin to sweat more. Theses bodily responses are required where there is an increase in intensity needed to pull through a particularly intense period. For example, high intensity moments like working through a crux.
Fear only works against us if we experience these feelings before getting on the wall or leading up to the climb. Keeping with our example above, if we needed extra adrenaline to power through a crux but find that we have already depleted our energy stores by using the energy at the start of the climb then we will fall off a lot earlier than what our ability would like. Fear in this negative sense can be associated to anxiety. Too much anxiety will lead to psychological and physical decrements.
This pattern in performance can be explained by the performance arousal curve by Yerkes and Dodson (1989). Depending on the level of arousal an individual has, this will dictate the outcome of our performance. Arousal in this sense will be in the form of adrenaline. To the left of the graph (low going on to medium stages of arousal), we can see that as adrenaline increases so does our performance. However, too much adrenaline will cause anxiety. Thus, rather than helping us, it impedes our performance. This is indicated on the right side of the graph (medium going on to low stages of arousal). In very anxious situations, we enter the stress zone. This zone is an athlete's worst nightmare and is termed 'choking'. Choking in the oxford dictionary is defined as the 'fail(ure) to perform at a crucial point of a game or contest as a result of nervousness'. For example, you might remember the crucial penalty shoot out between England and Germany in Euro 1996 where Gareth Southgate missed the deciding penalty kick which put Germany through to the final.
Ideally, we would like to be at the optimal level of arousal to appreciate our best performance. This optimal level differs between individuals and it is best achieved by thinking back to past experiences and reflecting on past successes and failures.
FEAR
Let's begin by looking at the term fear. Fear is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be positive. Fear causes an increase in epinephrine which is also known as adrenaline. Increases in adrenaline can cause the following common physiological symptoms amongst climbers: our heart rates increase, our breathing gets quicker and we begin to sweat more. Theses bodily responses are required where there is an increase in intensity needed to pull through a particularly intense period. For example, high intensity moments like working through a crux.
Fear only works against us if we experience these feelings before getting on the wall or leading up to the climb. Keeping with our example above, if we needed extra adrenaline to power through a crux but find that we have already depleted our energy stores by using the energy at the start of the climb then we will fall off a lot earlier than what our ability would like. Fear in this negative sense can be associated to anxiety. Too much anxiety will lead to psychological and physical decrements.
This pattern in performance can be explained by the performance arousal curve by Yerkes and Dodson (1989). Depending on the level of arousal an individual has, this will dictate the outcome of our performance. Arousal in this sense will be in the form of adrenaline. To the left of the graph (low going on to medium stages of arousal), we can see that as adrenaline increases so does our performance. However, too much adrenaline will cause anxiety. Thus, rather than helping us, it impedes our performance. This is indicated on the right side of the graph (medium going on to low stages of arousal). In very anxious situations, we enter the stress zone. This zone is an athlete's worst nightmare and is termed 'choking'. Choking in the oxford dictionary is defined as the 'fail(ure) to perform at a crucial point of a game or contest as a result of nervousness'. For example, you might remember the crucial penalty shoot out between England and Germany in Euro 1996 where Gareth Southgate missed the deciding penalty kick which put Germany through to the final.
Ideally, we would like to be at the optimal level of arousal to appreciate our best performance. This optimal level differs between individuals and it is best achieved by thinking back to past experiences and reflecting on past successes and failures.
How does fear work?
The feelings of fear date back to evolutionary times in which to keep man safe from predators, harmful situations or away from potentially dangerous objects the increase in adrenaline would ensue. This would then elicit the fight or flight response which gives man strength to stand up to that fear or run away from that fear thus ensuring their survival for generations to come.
In sport, if fear is felt it can cause unwanted anxiety which impacts our physical performance. Unlike evolutionary times, when we experience fear we must be able to harness this in, in order to make controlled and calculated decisions. For example, in climbing when we experience fear whilst on the wall we can't afford to allow our fight or flight instincts kick in. We must be able to overcome this initial reaction and control our arousal levels to make sure we are consistently performing at our optimal performance level.
As mentioned above, the responses to anxiety are the same for adrenaline. However, rather than expressing itself during periods of intensity, it expresses itself during periods where it should be easy for us. For example, take a climber who has a fear of falling and regularly onsights 7a in bouldering. However, when faced with a route, they fail to finish a grade 5c route which they should have done easily. The presence of fear elicits anxiety even before the climb has begun. This results in over gripping, incoherent thoughts and perhaps, feeling pumped (overly fatigued) resulting in the climber falling off (finally succumbing to the gripping effects of fear). Ultimately, it leads to fatigue much earlier on in performance. This can also be applied to other instances of anxiety. For example, social comparison, competitions, lead up to big competitions, nervousness etc.
The feelings of fear date back to evolutionary times in which to keep man safe from predators, harmful situations or away from potentially dangerous objects the increase in adrenaline would ensue. This would then elicit the fight or flight response which gives man strength to stand up to that fear or run away from that fear thus ensuring their survival for generations to come.
In sport, if fear is felt it can cause unwanted anxiety which impacts our physical performance. Unlike evolutionary times, when we experience fear we must be able to harness this in, in order to make controlled and calculated decisions. For example, in climbing when we experience fear whilst on the wall we can't afford to allow our fight or flight instincts kick in. We must be able to overcome this initial reaction and control our arousal levels to make sure we are consistently performing at our optimal performance level.
As mentioned above, the responses to anxiety are the same for adrenaline. However, rather than expressing itself during periods of intensity, it expresses itself during periods where it should be easy for us. For example, take a climber who has a fear of falling and regularly onsights 7a in bouldering. However, when faced with a route, they fail to finish a grade 5c route which they should have done easily. The presence of fear elicits anxiety even before the climb has begun. This results in over gripping, incoherent thoughts and perhaps, feeling pumped (overly fatigued) resulting in the climber falling off (finally succumbing to the gripping effects of fear). Ultimately, it leads to fatigue much earlier on in performance. This can also be applied to other instances of anxiety. For example, social comparison, competitions, lead up to big competitions, nervousness etc.
It explains why when you see novice climbers at a climbing gym, they are usually somewhat overly nervous, over grip and have increased heart rates even before leaving the ground. This energy could be used to work through the tough sections of a climb as expected of more experienced climbers. Instead they are wasting their energy due to the unexpected increase in adrenaline caused by anxiety. They are already in stress mode without having left the ground.
So the real culprit here is anxiety, not fear. If we start to communicate with our body and brain so that it effectively tells us when we need this spike in adrenaline, it would make climbing a lot more fun without being held back by anxiety. Seems simple, identify periods of anxiety and then tackle fear this way. In our next, we will look at methods to help identify periods of unnecessary stress/anxiety and how to control our bodily responses better.
Published 27 January 2016