Winter is here! How to stay focused and make the most of a winter indoors

Its been ages since I managed to write a blog post! I have no excuses apart from the usual one of being busy, and I know its one you can all relate to! So how do we find time amongst the busy-ness to stay focused on the things that are important to us?

Firstly its important to carve out time to work out what is actually important. If climbing and improving comes into that list, then figuring out how much time you actually spend on those priorities comes next and how much time gets ‘wasted’ on things that we might regard as more trivial. We are all probably guilty of spending a bit too much time on social media, but how much time is too much time, and could you use this time for something else? I really like the app called ‘Mute’, for helping to set goals around phone use and highlighting your biggest weak spots.

The second problem with being busy is that we might find ourselves arriving at the wall with no time to think about what we want to get out of a session, how it links with our long term goals, and end up just doing what we have always done (or even just milling around chatting!). So again, carving out time to plan some sessions will really bring benefits as you can make the most of even tiny pockets of time. We now recognise that shorter, quality sessions are far better than longer low intensity sessions, but its tricky to get into that mindset if you’ve never trained in that way before.

And what about mental training? It really is something that can be done anywhere, but you have to have a plan. Early for a meeting? Thats five minutes spent visualising your summer project. Your climbing partner cancelled at the last minute? Thats an hour to practise mindfulness as applied to climbing.

If you would like more help in having a strategic approach this winter, then join me and John Kettle, Performance Coach, on 26/1/19 at the Beacon Climbing Centre in North Wales, for a day packed full of practical exercises and inspiring ideas. You’ll come away with some goals and plans, and a way to make the best use of your time indoors this winter.

For a draft program, please email [email protected]