Overcoming the Fear of Falling - FOF P1 - YouTube

take a fall if you are afraid

naah...

it's a clear, air fall

uuu... faaaaling!

(laughing)

it's getting hot in here

so take out all your clothes

and start falling

getting so high...

(laughing)

so how much falling have you done?

zero

zero... (laughing)

alright, let's begin, let's begin

so, rock climbing is a three part thing

we have strength, technique and mental

and what do the most people do when they fail on their climbs?

they go and... train harder

I wanted to see what would happen if I would take an average climber

and go on a short 10 days climbing trip

and focus purely on the mind

And the results were amazing

she went from 6b to...

aa.. nah. you will see

i never climbed relaxed outdoors

this is a head

it has a mind

a mind has problems

and the most common troublemaker for climbers is of course the fear of falling

we are gonna test this gentle way of getting rid of fear of falling

ok, I shit in my pants!

no no, no shitting in the pants, you shit in that little...

yes so either you know very well that you have this fear

or it could be that you're ignoring it and hiding it

but it still affects your performance

every time it gets hard you might get tense and then overgrip everything and fail

and eventually just blame on lack of endurance or whatever

so in this video I'm gonna tell you everything you need to know about the psychology of the fear

and lots of tips and tricks how to progress the Pyramid of the fearless climber

so let's start where everybody does

the bottom!

so you come to the climbing gym for the first time in your life

I really don't know how this works, it's there a special climbing knot?

where did you get these shoes from?

secondhand

you struggle your way up the wall

and then

Do I have to fall now?

yea

I don't want to fall now

I really don't want to fall down

you're totally safe

I don't trust it

my whole body is shaking

no I cannot I cannot

I will try to climb down a bit

ooo still...

why did I do this?

you're promising me it's going to be slow

yeah

I hate you

if you never done rock climbing before don't worry this is totally normal and

it happens to everyone just on different levels

in fact you know what let's test my assumption let's do a voting

on a scale from zero to three, how much you were afraid to let go on your first ever climb

of course with the rope or auto-belay

so pause the video and vote somewhere here

and then we will see

cool thanks

and now I have to say sorry for the girls in the previous clips

because to make somebody to climb all the way to the top

when the person is afraid of heights

is a bit cruel

it's a much better strategy to

let the person climb a little bit and then do a fall from not very high

and then climb higher do another fall it's much much easier

but of course it's all about showing you of what not to do

eventually you will let go

you will realize that you're still alive

not as bad as expected?

ok it was not as bad as I expected

It was just a moment of leting go but the actual fall is so slow

it was actually fun

so just keep doing falls and in couple of climbing sessions

you will upgrade yourself to the Top Roper

so on the second try today she will lead it

Yes I will, I will I promise

so this is the last Top Rope ever in your life, Yes?

ok yes

oh sorry!

what's the hardest route you've climbed? outdoors? yeah. 6B or 6B+

so at this level you are already comfortable at taking top rope falls

because you know that you're not gonna fall much

and you look into other climbers who are lead climbing and taking falls

and you think like... nah...

I'm fine with my rope going up from me not down

and that's totally fine enjoy, it have fun and as a side effect you will get fit

so 7A?

nooo...

yeah I think that you can do 7A thanks

but if you want to go on a climbing trips

and not rely on somebody setting up the top ropes for you

or you want to climb some fancier routes in the gym

then you need to start lead climbing

so climb number two now she starts lead climbing

it's a bit dark

you seem to be very sexcited

if I don't manage to do the 2nd quick draw will I fall to the ground?

no no way

ok then I'm confident let's go

take care of me okay otherwise my dad will kill you

so at this level people climb way below their physical capabilities

because obviously they are afraid to fall

start is hard, you say?

you can skip it

how?

I can help you

first I try

ok how can you help me up?

some technical difficulties and we are back to the show

yeah come on

take

take - is your best friend

followed by the best excuses

I'm getting hungry while I doing this route

food is on top

just think about it

he left some bananas on top

and of course grabbing the quick draw is also quite cool

you're speaking to fox in German?

yeah foxes are able to speak German

Oh he's so beautiful, wanna become my friend? maybe?

it's actually very normal to be afraid of falling

because that's the natural human survival thing kicks in

and in fact it's not about getting rid of the fear

it's about training your subconscious the animal mind

to judgethe safety of the situations correctly

you look down there is a Ledge you have to be afraid

if you're not afraid then something is not good for you

so the consequence is not to climb ledges?

the takeaway is - the fear is here for a reason and sometimes you need it

and some situations are dangerous and you should be feeling fearful

and that's ok

but what about the safe situations after all most of the climbing situations are safe right?

yes but your subconscious mind doesn't know that

it doesn't have enough past experiences

past training to be sure that it's safe

but you can retrain what's going on underneath

how?

by putting yourself into these situations and having good outcomes

ok not that bad

here you go that's what you need

if you go into fearful situation and you have fearful outcome

so if you go and take a huge jump or a whip on the rope

you are training your subconscious next time to be even more afraid

or another common mistake I see people do is thinking that

oh I'm not strong enough for lead climbing and then we go and train harder

but it's like learning how to swim by going for a run

you're not gonna learn how to fall by doing pull-ups you need to fall

because one of my biggest fears is that I break my feet

when I'm crushing against the wall

so you need to A have a good belayer

which gives you a soft catch so you're not smashing yourself to the wall

In fact, before I made Hanna fall

I climbed myself first

to test her belayer and falls myself

you are a bit too tight o the slack to be honest

yeah? yeah!

yea much better

that's nice, that was a perfect catch

and then know or learn how to absorb landing

it's like in bouldering when you're falling onto the crash pad

you are not going like stiff into it you will break yourself

so on the wall it's the same you are trying to be soft like a cat

absorbing the impact of all your...

little bones

they are huge actually

and then we did some practice falling

so you tell me when to fall! OK!

starting from very small when the quick draw is still above you

and then gently increasing the Falls little by little

you have to be very observant of your feelings inside you go like oh

I feel this uuugh, I don't like the situation

so don't push yourself

stop here look down is it safe to fall if you're not sure ask your belayer

and your belayer has to be reliable enough to tell you

that yes it's actually safe it's not like - yeah yeah yeah fall fall

and then just take a little fall it can be while the quick draw is above you

you can fall again on this position

you will immediately notice a huge relief inside

you go to the same spot and you will be like oh that feels way way better now

go a little bit more once you notice this uugh inside you take a little fall

take a fall here

how was that?

ok

problem is I forgot breathing while I'm falling

and I just breath when I landed

because if you go past that point you will be freaking out

and you will be locked and unable to move

think, do anything, if you fall you might freak out

and once you get a little bit more comfortable on taking little falls

you can progress to what I call touch and fall game

so here instead of just letting go and falling

you're doing a little move touching the wall and letting go

Here is no holds so, I'm gonna fall anyway!

yeah! just take a fall

okay attention!

nice that was a good one! good job!

Thanks to my belayer

this is way easier for your brain because you're not thinking about letting go and falling

you're thinking about touching the wall or doing a dyno and touching the wall

would you be comfortable falling here?

nooo...

then do it

I will swing?

just very little if he gives you slightly more slack you will be fine

how was that?

o.k.

and another good tip is to breathe out when you're falling, so something like

this relaxes your body and when you're relaxed

you are more aware of the fall itself and you can brace for the impact much better

than just being stiff and bang in to the wall

and now you can take a little fall since you love swinging

oh, nice catch

and the guys are usually less afraid to fall than the girls

no that's not true we're just better at hiding it

because it's not very cool to be afraid of something

or if the guy is very strong

he is just trusting on himself that he's not going to fall then he's not afraid

but keep pushing your climbing difficulty

and eventually you end up in situation when you can no go

and then you grab the quick draw! right?!

aaah, I'm pumped!

keep going! finish it!

give me a take!

Why do you think he gave up?

because he's pumped and a little afraid maybe

you think he's afraid?

a little maybe, because he can not see that much

you know what I mean? Yea yea! :)

so? still not freaked out?

not freaked out but I would like if I would say that I'm fearless

especially when it comes to swing

yea I need to do it more often I think

yea! step by step, slowly

Hanna was doing exceptionally well on these fear of falling games

but for you depending on your mental state

it might take a little bit longer

but don't do this for too long

try to move to the next level on the pyramid as soon as possible

because this is where all the fun begins

you will do things that you used to think it's impossible for you

this f*#**# thing is my hold.... Climbing!

that boosts your self-esteem like crazy

and then you will start progressing on your climbing difficulties really quickly

so in the next video I'm gonna show you how to project hard routes

without spending too much time

and having a lot of fun while massaging your fear of falling

how do you feel? amazing!

this part was so much fun

now you can look down

ohohoh... better not... bye bye...

and I usually don't say this but do the YouTube things

write a comment, click a LIKE

that really helps me and if it helps me I will continue doing these videos

that are gonna help you

so thank you, and see you in the next one